Our ranking formula

Inputs

State fees and rules come from the state's documents, and each is cited with its month. Company prices are copied from published pricing on the date shown in each calculator.

Running totals explained

Take year one, then add one renewal for every later year: that gives each running total in the calculators. The state line adds the filing fee, the year-two and year-three reports and any minimum tax; unpriced costs stay out. We look up to ten years ahead for the year one running total goes past another.

The ranking formula

1. Calculated three-year cost (41%). Year one plus two renewals using each company's published prices. Every filer owes the same state fee, so it is calculated on its own line and kept out of the ranking.
2. Filing work in the price (27%). The recurring jobs the price handles: registered agent, state report, EIN application and availability in other states.
3. Renewal change (13%). The shift between the year-one price and the renewal price. Smaller changes rank higher.
4. Break-even year (10%). The year one service's running total goes past another's, found by the calculator on each page.
5. Input clarity (9%). Whether the first-year price, renewal and state fee are all published so the inputs can be checked.

If two results are close, the page names the input that separated them and what the lower result still offers.

The order is Formation Calc's own editorial reading of these inputs and is not a customer rating.

Who appears in the results

Mainstay Filing and the agent services of each state fill the calculators, provided they publish a price.

Not included

Editorial ranking only: no customer ratings, no legal or tax advice.