ZenBusiness vs LegalZoom 2023: A Head-to-Head Comparison

Founded in 2015, ZenBusiness is one of the newest LLC formation services. However, it has established an impressive customer base in a few years and does not show any signs of slowing down.

ZenBusiness has served thousands of customers and receives mostly positive feedback, as shown in its many 4- and 5-star reviews online. For instance, they have a 4.7-star rating out of over 10,000 reviews on Trustpilot.

While ZenBusiness does not have the decades-long experience of other companies, it has established a positive track record in the industry.

LegalZoom is one of the most recognizable internet companies. Formed in 2001, it has helped millions of customers file business formation documents.

LegalZoom has served more customers than many other companies combined. However, it does not have as many positive customer reviews as ZenBusiness.

Its overall reviews on Trustpilot, for instance, are slightly lower and fewer in number than ZenBusiness. Despite having been in the market longer, it has a 4.5-star rating from over 1,600 reviews.

While LegalZoom certainly has some satisfied customers, reviews are more of a mixed bag.

LegalZoom is the clear choice if you are looking for a company with industry experience. However, ZenBusiness has more satisfied customers and has established a solid reputation within a few years.

ZenBusiness offers customer service through various modalities, including phone, chat, and email. Most of its agents are helpful and friendly, with minimal wait times.

ZenBusiness is also one of the few companies that offer chat customer support, which benefits many customers who have a question but cannot place a phone call.

LegalZoom also provides live customer support via phone, chat, and email. LegalZoom has a more extensive customer base than ZenBusiness, and this difference is apparent in the long response times.

Its email support is notorious for taking days to resolve questions, with some customers waiting up to a week before getting a reply.

Once they do hear back, people find that most answers are general and do not address specifics. However, LegalZoom’s phone support is much better. The response times are short, and most agents are helpful and friendly.

While you will likely receive a quicker response from ZenBusiness during business hours, LegalZoom agents are available for more hours. LegalZoom is likely the best option if you often wait until the weekend or evening to call customer support.

The ZenBusiness website is simple, and you can fill out the order form quickly. You first need to select the package you’d like to purchase and provide some basic information on your LLC.

ZenBusiness attempts to upsell you during the registration process, which can be distracting, making the order process a bit more cumbersome.

LegalZoom’s registration process is different from most other LLC formation companies. You start by entering your personal information instead of selecting a package. You add basic information about your company and the LLC’s owners.

LegalZoom then guides you through several upsell attempts — some exceeding $1,000 — before it allows you to select your package. These upsells make the registration process long and difficult to navigate.

Despite both companies having upsells to deal with during registration, ZenBusiness has a more simple, straightforward process.

Getting started with LegalZoom is complex and often results in customers adding hundreds of dollars of unnecessary products to their bills. Dismissing most of LegalZoom’s upsells is important if you decide to use its service.

Receiving your finalized LLC documents can take a few days to a few weeks — it all depends on how long it takes your state to approve applications. ZenBusiness’s document turnaround times correspond with your state’s processing speeds.

You can find a list of average wait lengths per package on the ZenBusiness website. The Starter package takes four weeks, the Pro package takes two weeks and the Premium package takes an average of five days.

LegalZoom processes business formation documents in the same way as ZenBusiness. Processing times depend on your state and not the level of package you choose. However, it seems that the cheaper packages do have longer turnaround times.

For example, its most affordable package processes documents in 30 days, while its most expensive package processes in an average of seven days.

Either service is a solid choice when comparing ZenBusiness vs LegalZoom. Your document turnaround times correspond with your state’s requirements, not the money you spend.