Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom: Comparing LLC Formation Services

Many entrepreneurs who want to start their businesses don’t know how to register their LLC (limited liability company) and stay compliant with the state laws. An LLC filing service is an excellent way for business owners to incorporate their company and keep up with annual compliance documents without spending thousands of dollars on a lawyer. 

Tailor Brands and LegalZoom are some of the best LLC services on the market. But are they the right fit for your business? Is there a better alternative for you? This article will compare LLC formation services, registered agent services, customer support, and more for Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom. 

Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom: At a Glance

• Although Tailor Brands offers cheaper pricing for their LLC formation services compared to LegalZoom, those plans are relatively basic. The majority of Tailor Brands’ packages focus more on marketing and branding. 

• LegalZoom offers more customization than Tailor Brands. The latter’s compliance services options are locked behind their premium package, whereas LegalZoom customers can pick and choose.

• Suppose personalized customer support from a real person is essential to you. Tailor Brands provides mostly automated support through FAQs, blog articles, and a chatbot.

Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom: What Sets Their Formation Services Apart

Tailor Brands was founded in 2015 in New York City and initially offered small business owners branding and marketing services at an affordable price. Since then, it has become a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs who want to legally launch their business, create a logo, and build a business website. 

Founded in 2001, LegalZoom has helped more than 3.5 million entrepreneurs start their businesses and run them per state and federal laws. They focus exclusively on legal services and do not provide creative marketing services like logo creation. 

Overall, there are quite a few differences between Tailor Brands’ & LegalZoom’s LLC formation services, registered agent services, legal services, prices, customer support, and ease of use. Let’s dive in. 

Business Formation Pricing

Tailor Brands needs to be more transparent about pricing. You don’t know how much you have to pay for their services before going through their questionnaire, creating an account, and giving them personal data like your name, phone number, and email address. 

Once you reach the end of the questionnaire, you will see that they offer three different business formation packages: 

• Lite package. The cheapest starter package. It offers LLC formation in your chosen state with standard 14-day processing after a one-time payment of $49 + state filing fees. You don’t get any additional services with this basic plan. 

• Essential package. In addition to LLC formation, this package includes an annual compliance report and an operating agreement so your business can stay in good standing with the law. The LLC formation process is also faster: Tailor Brands processes your case in two business days. You will be charged $199 annually. 

• Elite package. The most comprehensive service that Tailor Brands offers. For $249/year, you will get an LLC formation, an annual compliance report, an operating agreement, and business-building tools, such as 1-year free domain, eight free logos, a website builder, a digital business card, social media post maker, and a business card tool.

You can also get upsells, such as registered agent services for $199/year and an Employer ID Number (EIN) for a one-time fee of $99.  

With LegalZoom, you can incorporate different types of businesses. The price of your package depends on which business structure you are incorporating. 

• Limited Liability Company (LLC): $79 + state filing fees

• Corporation (C-Corp or S-Corp): $149 + state filing fees

• Doing Business As (DBA): $99 + state filing fees

• Nonprofit: $99 + state filing fees 

There are also add-ons available. For example, you can add an operating agreement for $99, an operating agreement and EIN for $159, and an operating agreement, EIN, and business licenses for $199. 

Once you incorporate, you can hire LegalZoom for other legal services, such as registered agent services for $299/year, annual reports for $99 + state filing fees, trademark registration for $599 + federal fees, and more. 

Overall, Tailor Brands offers a cheaper service than LegalZoom. However, it’s important to note that Tailor Brands & LegalZoom packages are very different and hard to compare. While both companies offer LLC incorporation services, LegalZoom offers various legal services as add-ons. Legal add-ons with Tailor Brands are pretty basic, focusing on marketing and branding. 

Turnaround Times

The time it takes to form an LLC with Tailor Brands depends on whether you choose their Lite, Essential, or Elite packages.

If you buy the Lite package ($49 + state filing fees), you can expect a turnaround time of 14 business days + state processing times. The premium packages (Essential and Elite) offer expedited processing times as fast as two business days. They cost $199 + state filing fees and $249 + state fees, respectively. 

LegalZoom’s standard processing time with their Economy package can take five to ten business days. However, LegalZoom also offers rush filing for an additional cost: 

• Standard package: 5-day priority processing for $329 + state filing fees

• Express Gold package: 1-day express processing + expedited shipping for $349 + state filing fees

Overall, LegalZoom charges higher prices for rush filing than Tailor Brands. 

Moreover, when you invest in premium packages with Tailor Brands, you get various add-ons in addition to rush filings, such as annual compliance, an operating agreement, and digital marketing tools. 

With LegalZoom, the only difference between the Economy package ($79) and the Standard package ($329) is expedited processing, a personalized notebook, and a kit to store essential documents. LegalZoom packages need more depth than the valuable additional services that Tailor Brands offers when you upgrade. 

It’s important to remember that the LLC formation process ultimately depends on government timelines and varies by state. Tailor Brands and LegalZoom can only control their internal processing times, not the state’s. 

Registered Agent Service

The law requires your LLC to have a registered agent (RA) to receive important legal documents and communications on behalf of your business. For example, your registered agent may receive subpoenas, lawsuits, IRS documents, or debt collection letters. 

You can designate yourself as the registered agent for your new business or decide to invest in a registered agent service. Even if your small business is included in the 24% of home-based businesses, a registered agent service provider is a better alternative for multiple reasons.[1] 

• Flexibility. The law requires registered agents to be present at their indicated location Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Failing to comply with this requirement may result in legal issues for your business. 

• Privacy. Your registered agent’s address becomes part of the public record, so hiring a registered agent service helps you keep your information private. 

• Peace of mind. Investing in a registered agent service ensures that critical legal documents and communications won’t get lost. 

Tailor Brands offers a registered agent service for $199/year. They do not publicly advertise it on their website, but you can opt into it during the business formation services checkout. 

LegalZoom registered agent service costs $299/year and offers the following benefits: 

• Alerts whenever mail is received

• Emails about critical tax and annual report deadlines

• $1M in identity theft protection and credit monitoring services

• Unlimited cloud storage

Compliance Services

After incorporation, your business entity must keep up with compliance-related documents and reports to stay in good standing with the state. Some examples of compliance documents are your operating agreement, articles of organization, employer identification number, and annual reports. 

Tailor Brands offers compliance services with its Essential and Elite packages. Both of these packages include an operating agreement and annual compliance. You can also decide to add an employer identification number as an add-on. Aside from these services, Tailor Brands does not offer any other legal compliance services. 

LegalZoom offers a diverse range of compliance services, such as: 

• Operating Agreement: $99 + fees

• Annual Report: $99 + fees 

• Initial Report: $35 + fees

• Record keeping: $99/year for unlimited usage

• Compliance calendar: $69/year

• Bylaws and resolutions: $99

You can invest in these services on a one-off basis whenever needed. 

Overall, LegalZoom offers more options for worry-free compliance than Tailor Brands. The price points are hard to compare since an operating agreement and annual compliance documents are baked into Tailor Brand’s premium packages and are unavailable as standalone services the way they’re offered through LegalZoom.  

Legal Services

Tailor Brands does not offer other legal services besides basic LLC formation with complementing compliance services.

Instead, they strongly focus on helping you with marketing and branding for your business with an AI logo maker, graphic design offers, and DIY templates to build your website. 

In contrast, LegalZoom offers legal advisory services through its Business Advisory Plan subscription. Once you choose either a 6-month or a 12-month plan, you will get access to a vetted lawyer network and the following benefits: 

• 30-minute independent attorney consultations on new legal matters

• Contract and legal document reviews (up to 10 pages)

• Annual business evaluation (12-month plan only)

• Unlimited downloads from a legal form library

• Discounts on other LegalZoom offerings

Both the 6-month and the 12-month plans are prepaid. The 6-month plan is billed twice a year at $259 ($43.16/month), and the 12-month plan is billed once a year at $469 ($39.08/month). 

LegalZoom also offers done-for-you legal services in a variety of areas, such as: 

• Business compliance

• Legal forms and agreements

• Business changes and filings

• Taxes, licenses, and permits

If you are looking for an online service that will help you with legal services to run your business, LegalZoom is a more robust option than Tailor Brands. With 36-53% of small businesses sued every year, we wouldn’t fault you for emphasizing this.[2] Tailor Brands focuses on marketing and branding more than legal services.

Add-On Business Services

Tailor Brands offers various non-legal business services that can help your brand grow. When 50% of surveyed small businesses report a lack of marketing plans, being able to rely on an outside service can be essential to growth.[3] They position themselves as an all-in-one stop to help your business stand out from the crowd online. 

Some of the business services that Tailor Brands offers include: 

• Logo design: use an AI logo maker to create your logo in just a few minutes

• Website design: use DIY templates or an automatic website builder

• Domain service: secure a unique domain name

• Business mailbox: create a professional email address

• Digital business card: show off your logo on branded merchandise 

LegalZoom offers various add-on business services but is less focused on marketing and branding than Tailor Brands. With LegalZoom, you can get the following: 

• Corporate supplies, such as a company seal or stock certificates 

• Certified copies of documents your business has filed with the state

• Certificates of Good Standing to show that you submitted all necessary reports and fees 

Tailor Brands and LegalZoom offer critical add-on business services but have different focuses. While Tailor Brands is more marketing-oriented, LegalZoom leans on the compliance side. 

Customer Support

Tailor Brands primarily offers automated customer support. You can browse resources and FAQs on their Help Center page or try to find an answer to your questions on their blog. You can use a chatbot if you can’t find the necessary information.  

If you want personalized support from a real person, you can submit a request, and a member of Tailor Brands staff will get back to you via email to assist you. 

LegalZoom offers customer support over the phone Monday through Friday, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT on the weekends. You can also contact them through a form on their website, and they will email you back. 

According to customer reviews on Trustpilot, clients have experienced long wait times and low-quality assistance with LegalZoom. Tailor Brands is more responsive but doesn’t offer customer support over the phone. 

Similarities Between Tailor Brands and LegalZoom

There are very few similarities between Tailor Brands and LegalZoom, aside from the fact that they both offer LLC formation services and complementary services that accompany LLC formation.

In addition to LLC filing services, Tailor Brands offers various marketing and branding services, while LegalZoom sticks to legal services and advice. Both are important to run a successful business, so Tailor Brands and LegalZoom are not necessarily mutually exclusive. 

Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom: Customer Reviews

Both Tailor Brands and LegalZoom have a fair share of negative reviews. 

The most frequent complaints about Tailor Brands involve jumping through hoops to talk to a real person for customer support, getting charged for a service that was never correctly performed, and needing help to cancel their subscription. 

Positive reviews for LegalZoom emphasize how cheaper it is to go with an online legal service provider than to hire a lawyer and the platform’s ease of use. However, multiple reviews also highlight long wait times on the phone and negative experiences with customer support. 

Alternatives to Tailor Brands and LegalZoom

Tailor Brands and LegalZoom are decent service providers, but there are better LLC formation services out there. Numerous negative reviews and experiences make small business owners turn to alternatives like Swyft Filings. 

Featuring over 20,000 positive reviews, Swyft Filings has multiple advantages to offer over both Tailor Brands and LegalZoom, such as: 

• Better rates. It only costs $49 + filing fees to incorporate with Swyft Filings. In contrast, LegalZoom charges anywhere from $79 to $149 + filing fees. Similarly, Swyft Filings offers a comprehensive registered agent service for only $149/year, Tailor Brands charges $199 annually, and LegalZoom charges a whopping $299/year. 

• Reliable customer service. You can contact a real business specialist by phone at (877) 777-0450, from Monday - Friday: 9am-6pm CST or send in a message from the Support page on the website.

• Speedy processing times. Swyft Filings has some of the fastest turnaround times in the industry, but you can also add Express Processing or Same Day Processing. 

Deciding Between Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom

Overall, Tailor Brands and LegalZoom offer a comparable LLC formation service with rush filing and additional services available. Tailor Brands focuses more on marketing and branding, while LegalZoom specializes in legal services and advice. 

However, with negative reviews for Tailor Brands and LegalZoom, business owners are looking for alternative solutions. Swyft Filings offers a comprehensive business formation service at a lower price point and with better, more personalized customer service.

FAQs

How much does it cost to start an LLC?

It depends on the legal service provider you choose. Tailor Brands charges a one-time fee of $49 + state filing fees for its basic Lite package and $249/year + state filing fees for its robust Elite package. LLC formation with LegalZoom costs $79 + state filing fees, but getting rush filing can bump the price to over $300. 

Is Tailor Brands or LegalZoom a better way to start an LLC?

If you are looking for a basic LLC filing service, Tailor Brands offers a cheaper rate of $49 + filing fees, while LegalZoom charges $79 + filing fees. If you want to invest in a more comprehensive package, knowing that Tailor Brands offers more marketing and branding services is essential. At the same time, LegalZoom focuses on legal services and advice.  

Is Tailor Brands cheaper than LegalZoom?

It depends on the individual package and how many add-ons you want, but Tailor Brands generally offers cheaper rates than LegalZoom. Tailor Brands’ most expensive package runs at $249 + filing fees, while LegalZoom offers the Express Gold package for $349 + filing fees. 

What company offers ongoing legal services?

LegalZoom offers a prepaid Business Advisory Plan for either 6 or 12 months to provide ongoing legal advice services. Tailor Brands does not offer ongoing legal services. Instead, they focus on marketing and branding for your business, such as logo creation and website design. 

What are some Tailor Brands and LegalZoom alternatives?

Swyft Filings is a smart alternative to Tailor Brands and LegalZoom because it offers a significantly better customer experience and lower rates for most services. In addition to essential LLC formation services, Swyft Filings also provides a registered agent service, annual reports, an LLC operating agreement, business licenses and research services, and more. 

Bibliography

1. Small Business Administration. “Frequently Asked Questions About Small Business, 2020.” Accessed December 12, 2022.

2. Small Business Administration. “Impact of Litigation on Small Business.” Accessed March 13, 2023.

3. Outbound Engine Marketing. “Stress, Time & Growth: Factors Affecting Small Business Marketing in 2019.” Accessed December 12, 2022.