Firstbase review: startup operating system pricing and the RA catch
Data last updated: Apr 21, 2026Overview
Firstbase was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in New York with a second office in Sao Paulo, which is a clue to the customer base. It competes most directly with doola and Stripe Atlas on the non-US founder segment, and with Bizee and Northwest on US founders who want a more software-flavored experience. The product positions itself as the platform you run the company on, not just a formation service, which is why the pricing is sliced into modular subscriptions (Agent, Mailroom, Accounting, Tax Filing) that you stitch together.
Over 30,000 formations processed. Trustpilot sits at 4.8 across 1,045 reviews, up from 650+ earlier in the year, which is a healthy growth signal for a service of this size. Mercury is the named banking partner and Mercury's KYC runs automatically once your Delaware or Wyoming filing clears. Firstbase files in Delaware and Wyoming only, which rules it out if you want to form in any other state (doola files in all 50).
Where Firstbase fits, and where it doesn't
Good fit for Firstbase
You are a founder who wants software-grade UX around formation, EIN, bank account opening, and ongoing compliance, and you have read the pricing page closely enough to know that Agent is a separate line item. You want Delaware or Wyoming specifically, because those are the two states Firstbase files. You plan to use mail scanning and a compliance dashboard every month, which makes Firstbase One's $2,388/yr actually reasonable rather than a nice-to-have. You are a non-US founder who likes the operating-system framing more than doola's subscription-only model. You have raised or plan to raise a small round and want accounting and tax handled inside the same platform.
Look elsewhere if
You want the cheapest US-founder LLC formation with a one-time fee and a low RA renewal (better match: Northwest at $100 formation promo plus $125/yr flat RA, or Bizee Basic at $0 plus $119/yr RA after year one). You want to form an LLC in a state other than Delaware or Wyoming. You want purely annual subscription pricing without a one-time formation fee (better match: doola). You are raising institutional funding and want a Delaware C-corp with attorney-grade cap table paperwork (better match: Clerky or Stripe Atlas).
Pricing tiers
All prices exclude state filing fees. State fees range from $35 in Montana to $500 in Massachusetts depending on where you form.
| Tier | Price | RA year 1 | RA renewal | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | $399 | Not included | $299/yr | One-time $399 formation fee. Includes company formation in Delaware or Wyoming, expedited EIN setup, bylaws and stock purchase templates, and bank account opening assistance. Registered agent is sold separately via the Agent product at $299/yr per state. State filing fees are billed by Firstbase on top of the $399. |
| One (Start bundle) | $399 Renews $2,388/yr | Included | $299/yr | Firstbase One bundles Start (one-time $399 formation) with Mailroom Premium, Agent Autopilot, Accounting, and Tax Filing at $199/month billed annually at $2,388/yr (advertised as 45% off individual products). Agent subscription included while the bundle is active. |
Pricing honesty
The $399 Start number is the one readers remember, and it does not include registered agent service. That matters because every US LLC needs a registered agent by law. Firstbase Agent is $299/yr per state, sold as a separate subscription, so the actual year-one cost for a Firstbase Start customer who also subscribes to Agent is $698. Over three years, Start plus Agent costs $399 one-time plus three years of $299, totaling $1,296. For comparison, Bizee Standard plus three RA renewals runs $199 plus two renewals of $119, totaling $437 over the same period; Northwest is $100 plus two renewals at $125, totaling $350.
Firstbase One at $2,388/yr billed annually bundles Start, Mailroom Premium, Agent Autopilot, Accounting, and Tax Filing. Advertised as 45% off the individual products, and the math roughly holds if you would actually use all five. Most solo founders would not; the bundle is aimed at venture-backed teams spending money on accounting and tax anyway. If you are a non-US founder running an e-commerce LLC, doola Tax and Compliance at $1,499/yr covers a similar scope for less.
Mercury banking is free of platform fees and Firstbase does not bundle banking into its price, so the $399 plus $299/yr math is the honest all-in for a single-state US LLC that needs formation, EIN, and compliance.
What you'll actually pay
Sticker prices on formation services rarely reflect what a real filer ends up paying. This is the honest math for Firstbase across three common buying patterns. All figures exclude state fees, which are identical regardless of service.
| Scenario | Year 1 total | Year 2+ annual | 5-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Just the basics Cheapest tier, skip the EIN and OA add-ons. Get your EIN from the IRS yourself. | $399 | $299/yr RA | $1,595 |
| Common buyer: EIN and operating agreement included Most new LLCs end up here. Adds $70 EIN and $99 OA where the service sells them as add-ons. | $399 | $299/yr RA | $1,595 |
| Standalone registered agent only You formed the LLC elsewhere and just want Firstbase as your RA. | $299 | $299/yr | $1,495 |
Feature summary
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
Strong software UX and compliance dashboard that competitors with older codebases (LegalZoom, Bizee) cannot match. Mercury banking flow is seamless once the filing clears, which is a real advantage over formation services that leave banking as an exercise for the reader. Mail scanning is actually included in the Mailroom product, not a bolt-on feature. International founders are supported and the flow is designed around non-US KYC. 24/7 chat support covers time zones. Trustpilot at 4.8 across 1,045 reviews is a strong signal, and review count is growing, which suggests happy recent customers rather than a stale sample. Firstbase One consolidates five tools that most operating startups buy anyway, so the bundle price is honest if you actually use the components.
Weaknesses
The $399 Start headline hides that registered agent is a separate $299/yr subscription. No standalone registered agent renewal under $299; that is expensive compared to Northwest's $125 or Stripe Atlas's $100. Only Delaware and Wyoming filings are supported, so a Texas or Florida founder needs a different service. No phone support channel. No free tier. The Firstbase One bundle only makes sense if you commit to using accounting and tax filing, otherwise the a la carte math beats the bundle. Pricing page requires careful reading to figure out the real all-in, which is the opposite of the transparency Northwest offers.
Support quality
If you're paying for a formation service, support quality is half of what you're buying. The other half is convenience. A service that can't answer a Tuesday-afternoon filing question is harder to justify than one that picks up the phone.
Phone
Not offered
Available
Live chat
Firstbase markets 24/7 global support for founders; no public phone number is listed.
Firstbase covers the basics but doesn't offer the full range. Good enough for most filers, but if you anticipate a lot of back-and-forth during filing, a service with live chat is worth considering.
Ratings and review volume
A 4.8 from 50 reviews is noise. A 4.7 from 25,000 is signal. Review volume matters as much as the star rating because formation services that actively solicit reviews push their rating up and the sample size way up, while services that don't solicit tend to have smaller samples skewed by motivated complaints.
Mid-volume sample with a solid rating. Not as statistically strong as services with 10,000+ reviews, but 1,045 reviews is enough to treat the rating as real rather than noise.
Frequently Asked Questions
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How much does Firstbase actually cost?
Start is $399 one-time and covers formation, EIN, and bank account setup through Mercury. Registered agent is not included in Start; Firstbase Agent is a separate $299/yr per-state subscription, which pushes the real year-one total to $698. Firstbase One bundles Start plus Mailroom Premium, Agent, Accounting, and Tax Filing at $2,388/yr billed annually. State filing fees are billed on top of both.
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Does the $399 Start tier include registered agent?
No. This is the most common misread on Firstbase's pricing page. Start covers the formation filing, EIN, and banking setup, but the registered agent (Firstbase Agent) is sold as a $299/yr separate subscription. Every US LLC legally needs a registered agent, so assume you are paying $698 in year one, not $399.
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Is Firstbase One worth $2,388 a year?
Only if you actually use Accounting and Tax Filing. Firstbase One bundles five products (Start formation, Mailroom Premium mail scanning, Agent registered agent, Accounting bookkeeping, and Tax Filing) that are 45% cheaper as a bundle than buying them separately. For a venture-backed team that would pay for accounting and tax regardless, the bundle is rational. For a solo founder who would do their own books, stick with Start plus Agent and save roughly $1,700/yr.
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Is Firstbase better than doola for non-US founders?
They serve similar customers differently. doola is a flat annual subscription ($222/yr Starter, $1,499/yr Tax and Compliance), while Firstbase pairs a $399 one-time formation fee with a $299/yr Agent subscription. Over three years, doola Starter runs $666 total, and the equivalent Firstbase configuration (Start plus Agent) costs $1,296. For richer service tiers, Firstbase One at $2,388/yr sits close to doola Business-in-a-Box at $2,249/yr. Firstbase has stronger dashboard UX. doola has a bigger non-US customer base and more Trustpilot reviews.
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How much is Firstbase's registered agent?
Firstbase Agent is $299 per year per state, sold as a standalone subscription and bundled into Firstbase One. That is notably higher than Stripe Atlas's $100/yr renewal, Northwest's $125/yr flat rate, and Bizee's $119/yr. The Agent product does include annual report filing support and BOI filings, so part of the premium is justified as ongoing compliance rather than pure registered agent.
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Does Firstbase handle banking?
Firstbase's formation flow hands off to Mercury for the actual bank account, which is the same model doola and Stripe Atlas use. Mercury is not owned by Firstbase; the integration benefit is that Mercury's KYC runs automatically once your Delaware or Wyoming filing clears, rather than you re-typing company details into Mercury's onboarding form.
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Is Firstbase's Trustpilot rating legitimate?
4.8 across 1,045 reviews, up from 650+ earlier in the year. Growing review count is a healthier signal than a static sample, and 1,000+ reviews is enough to treat the average as meaningful. That compares to Bizee at 4.7 across 25,000+ (much larger sample, similar average) and doola at 4.6 across 2,005 (smaller sample, similar average). All three look healthy.
Compare Firstbase to another formation service
Side-by-side pricing, features, support, and ratings against every other service we cover.
Sources
- Pricing: www.firstbase.io/pricing · verified April 21, 2026
Start is a one-time $399 formation fee. Firstbase One bundles Start with Mailroom Premium, Agent, Accounting, and Tax Filing at $199/month billed annually ($2,388/yr). - Registered agent renewal usd: www.firstbase.io/pricing · verified April 21, 2026
Firstbase Agent is $299 annually per state, sold as a standalone subscription and covered within Firstbase One. - Features: www.firstbase.io/ · verified April 21, 2026
Homepage states: 'Form your LLC or C-Corp. No paperwork or legal headaches. Our platform automates the entire company formation process.' Mailroom product offers mail scanning; Agent product offers compliance dashboard and annual report filings. - Banking partner: www.firstbase.io/pricing · verified April 21, 2026
Firstbase lists banking account opening assistance as part of Start. Mercury is the named partner surfaced consistently across the product pages and founder reviews. - International: www.firstbase.io/ · verified April 21, 2026
Marketed for founders in 188 countries; the $899/yr tax filing tier for single-member LLCs non-US owned is explicit on the pricing page. - Founded: www.ycombinator.com/companies/firstbase-io · verified April 21, 2026
Y Combinator profile and Crunchbase both place Firstbase's founding in 2019. Some sources cite 2018. - Headquarters: www.firstbase.io/about · verified April 21, 2026
About page references NYC and Sao Paulo offices; Crunchbase and LinkedIn list 447 Broadway, New York as HQ. - Support: www.firstbase.io/ · verified April 21, 2026
Homepage advertises 24/7 global customer support. No public phone number listed on the homepage or pricing page; support routed through help.firstbase.io. - Ratings: www.trustpilot.com/review/firstbase.io · verified April 21, 2026
Trustpilot shows Firstbase.io at 4.8/5 across approximately 1,045 reviews per the 2026 snapshot. Review count has grown from 650+ earlier in the year.