Best Registered Agent Services in Texas
We at the MarketWatch Guides team have rounded up the best professional registered agent services in Texas. Any one of them could help if you want a legal entity — instead of an individual — to be your registered agent.
Here are our top picks and what they excel in:
- Best Overall: Bizee Powered by Incfile
- Fastest Turnaround Time: ZenBusiness
- Best Customer Service: LegalZoom
- Best for New Businesses: Swyft Filings
- Best on a Budget: Northwest Registered Agent
Below, you’ll find deeper insight into these Texas service providers.
Bizee Powered by Incfile
Description: Incfile is now called Bizee, but the company offers the same registered agent services. Bizee will forward you important legal documents via a dashboard and send you emails and texts when new documents are in your dashboard. Along with its registered agent services, Bizee helps with other aspects of LLC formation and maintenance, including securing business licenses and permits, submitting annual reports and registering trademarks.
Cost: Bizee’s registered agent service is free for the first year, but the service is only available through a package. Bizee offers three packages: Silver, Gold and Platinum. The Silver package is $52, the Gold package is $251 and the Platinum package is $351. Each package fee is a one-time payment, and keeping Bizee as your registered agent after the first year requires an additional $119 per year.
Pros/Cons: Below are the pros and cons of Bizee.
Pros
- Offers registered agent services for free for the first year
- Has thousands of good customer reviews on Trustpilot
- Doesn’t require contracts or obligations for its registered agent services
- Provides a variety of business formation services
Cons
- Can be difficult to get in touch with a customer support agent
- Doesn’t offer Employer Identification Number (EIN) help in its packages
ZenBusiness
Description: On top of registered agent services, ZenBusiness offers other services to help form Texas LLCs and corporations. The company can help reserve business names, ensure tax compliance, create operating agreements and more. Additionally, the company files documents fast, allowing businesses of any size to get up and running quickly.
Cost: The registered agent service at ZenBusiness is $199 per year. This price includes scanning and uploading important documents to your dashboard and sending mail notifications about legal documents that need your attention. You can also get ZenBusiness’s registered agent service by signing up for one of its three packages.
Pros/Cons: Below are the pros and cons of ZenBusiness.
Pros
- Takes only a few minutes to set up as your Texas registered agent
- Has favorable customer reviews on Trustpilot
- Offers a wide variety of business services
- Forms Texas LLCs for free, leaving only the state filing fee to pay
Cons
- Has limited website builder features
- Has pricey add-on services
LegalZoom
Description: LegalZoom is a well-known legal service provider that helps owners start, run and protect their businesses. Its vast array of offerings includes registered agent representation, trademark registration, business registration and annual report creation. LegalZoom also has business attorneys on staff to assist with basic legal needs.
Cost: The registered agent service at LegalZoom costs $249 per year. Though pricey, it comes with some unique amenities. LegalZoom will not only receive and forward official documents, but it will also email you about tax and annual report deadlines and provide you with unlimited cloud storage for documents.
Pros/Cons: Below are the pros and cons of LegalZoom.
Pros:
- Offers an extensive suite of business and legal services
- Provides customizable legal forms
- Has good customer reviews on Trustpilot
- Has a mobile app for its customers
- Delivers customer support on weekdays and weekends
Cons
- Has expensive registered agent services
- Can cost a lot for add-on services
Swyft Filings
Description: Swyft Filings is a business formation company. Like other providers in the industry, Swyft offers registered agent services. However, it also helps with other aspects of forming and maintaining businesses, such as filing annual reports and handling amendments.
Cost: Swyft Filings offers three packages, but none of them include registered agent services. You’ll either have to add this offering to your package or purchase it as a standalone. Either way, the cost is $199 per year.
Pros/Cons: Below are the pros and cons of Swyft Filings.
Pros
- Provides a basic free package
- Offers various business services
- Has good customer reviews on Trustpilot in line with other providers’ Trustpilot profiles
Cons
- Doesn’t include registered agent services in any packages
- Doesn’t cover all of the formation paperwork in the basic package
Northwest Registered Agent
Description: Northwest Registered Agent provides multiple business formation services. Choosing the company as your Texas registered agent means you’ll receive document scanning and mail forwarding.
Cost: The registered agent service at Northwest Registered Agent costs $125 per year. This price makes the company the cheapest Texas registered agent service provider, which is perfect for budget-conscious business owners.
Pros/Cons: Below are the pros and cons of Northwest Registered Agent.
Pros
- Offers affordable registered agent services
- Doesn’t sells your data
- Has free links to the necessary formation documents that you can use even if you’re not a customer
Cons
- Has average customer reviews on Trustpilot compared to the other providers on this list
- Provides fewer services than its competitors
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| Start Now | Start Now | Start Now | Start Now | Start Now |
- Service not offered.
- Service included in basic package.
- Service free for one year.
- Service available for additional fee.
Note that formation companies may offer promotional deals or additional free services.
What Is a Texas Registered Agent?
A Texas registered agent works on behalf of a Texas business, acting as the main point of contact for official documents. The documents could be anything from tax papers to legal notices. It’s the registered agent’s responsibility to receive these documents and forward them to the business. The agent usually alerts the business via email, text or mail, but some of them also have an online dashboard to view the documents.
Every business in Texas needs a registered agent. The public, the courts and the government require a surefire way to get a hold of you, and a registered agent serves that purpose. You’ll want to look for one when you start your LLC to comply with state laws.
What Does a Texas Registered Agent Service Do?
The primary responsibilities of a registered agent service are to accept official documents on behalf of your company and forward them to you via email, text or mail. However, some of the best registered agent services have additional offerings, such as access to an online account to view your legal documents.
It’s also common to find registered agent services paired with other services that help business owners form and grow their LLCs. However, it’s important to not get so excited about the additional offerings that you overlook the qualifications Texas wants your registered agent service to meet. The state requires a registered agent service to be authorized to conduct business in Texas and have a Texas business address (not just a P.O. box). The agent must also be available during normal business hours.
Types of Registered Agents in Texas
There are two main types of registered agents: a company representative and a third-party provider. The latter is helpful if you’re really new to and confused about business ownership. These providers have on-staff experts to help you with not only being your registered agent, but also filing your formation paperwork, writing your operating agreement, securing your trademark and other tasks related to forming and maintaining your business. The downside is that it may take time to research which provider to choose. It can also be pricey.
The other route is to use a company representative, such as a business owner, officer or employee. The best part about this option is that it’s free. However, the individual needs to be a Texas resident, which may be a problem if you have a remote workforce. Another drawback is that it doesn’t promote privacy. This person has to provide their full name and physical address, which becomes publicly available.
How Much Does a Texas Registered Agent Cost?
The cost of a registered agent varies. It’s free if you do it yourself, but if you want help from an LLC service provider, it can be anywhere from $100 to $300 per year. If you bundle registered agent services with other formation services, you’ll pay even more. In fact, some providers only offer registered agent services as an add-on or as a part of their packages.
This can be a hefty price for new business owners to pay, especially when you consider the cost of starting a Texas LLC. The state fee is $300 to register in-state businesses and $750 to register out-of-state companies with Form 205: Certificate of Formation.
How To Choose a Registered Agent in Texas
To choose a registered agent, start by deciding if you want to do it yourself or hire a service. If you decide to outsource your registered agent, start by making a list of every provider you’re considering. Then, compare them against each other based on the following criteria:
- Read reviews on Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to assess customer experience (e.g., customer support responsiveness).
- Consider what comes with the registered agent services.
- See if there are any add-on services you may want to use now or in the future.
These factors should help you narrow down your possibilities to one top pick.
How To Designate a Registered Agent in Texas
The person or organization you choose to be your registered agent will have to show that they’ve consented to this designation. Texas requires your registered agent to do this by completing Form 401-A. This document asks for your registered agent’s name and signature as well as your company’s name and the date.
Form 401-A doesn’t need to be filed with the Texas Secretary of State unless you prefer to do so. In that case, the filing fee is $15. Either way, it’s important to keep this document somewhere safe and accessible in case you ever need it.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Texas resident or an organization authorized to conduct business in Texas can be a registered agent.
A Texas registered agent must provide their personal or business address. It can’t be a P.O. box, and it must be available to receive mail during regular business hours.
The cost of a registered agent in Texas is free if you use a representative from your company. However, if you use a registered agent service, you could pay anywhere from $100 to $300 per year.
A business entity can’t be its own registered agent in Texas. In other words, you can’t list the company’s name and address as the registered agent. However, if you’re an officer, owner or employee, you can be the registered agent.
You need to file Form 401: Statement of Change of Registered Office/Agent to change your Texas registered agent. Send the completed form (and the $15 fee) to the Austin, Texas, address on the document.
You can search for customer reviews on Trustpilot, BBB and Google. These reviews should give you an idea of the quality of service from a Texas registered agent.
You can serve a registered agent by getting a summons from the court clerk. This summons will include basic information on the matter, such as the plaintiff and defendant’s names, the reply-by date, and the plaintiff’s attorney. Delivering the summons to the registered agent means that they’ve been served.
You can search for a company’s registered agent as soon as the business is legally formed. Sometimes, a quick Google search will lend the answer. Other times, you’ll need to contact the secretary of state’s office.
The name and address of a Texas registered agent must stay up to date. If this information changes, you must file Form 408: Change by Registered Agent to Name or Address with the Texas Secretary of State. Send the form to the Austin, Texas, address in the instructions, and pay the $15 fee.
The Bottom Line
Having a registered agent for a Texas LLC is critical. Not only are they required by the state, they also help you run your business by receiving important legal mail on your behalf.
Being that this role is so essential, make sure you choose this person or entity carefully. Take the time to research your options to find the best fit for your company.
Local Registered Agent Resources
Methodology
To provide consumers with objective and accurate information, our credentialed legal experts created a comprehensive rating system for Limited Liability Company (LLC) services. We researched five online LLC, registered agent and trademark registration services, including ZenBusiness, LegalZoom, Swyft Filings, Northwest Registered Agent and Bizee (formerly Incfile).
We conducted a survey in 2024 of 200 professionals who were currently using LLC services or had used LLC services within the past year. We analyzed the results of this survey to determine the following rating criteria:
- Features (20%)
- Value for Money (25%)
- Customer Service (20%)
- Usability (25%)
- Reputation and Credibility (10%)
Visit the full LLC methodology page for more details on our rating system.
If you have questions about this page, please reach out to our editors at editors@marketwatchguides.com.
