Best LLC formation services in Illinois

What are the steps to form an LLC in Illinois?

Pick a name, line up a registered agent, file the Articles with the Secretary of State, then get an EIN and sign an operating agreement. The annual report follows each year after that.

The order counts most at the start: the name has to be free and the agent has to qualify before the Articles go in.

1. Choose and check the name. Confirm with the Secretary of State that the name you want is available. If filing has to wait, a name reservation costs $25; the official sources cited here don't give how long a reservation lasts, so check that with the Secretary of State before paying.¹
2. Decide on a series structure, if you need one. Illinois lets an LLC set up separate series under one company. That choice changes the filing fee from $150 to $400, and the annual report then costs $50 more for each series with a certificate of designation in effect. Most single-business owners don't need it.¹
3. Line up a registered agent. The LLC must continuously maintain in this State a registered agent and registered office (805 ILCS 180/1-35). The agent can be an individual resident of this State or any other person authorized to transact business in this State, so an owner who lives in Illinois can take the role, and so can a commercial service. The Illinois registered agent guide explains who qualifies and what being your own agent involves.²
4. File the Articles of Organization. You submit the Articles of Organization to the Illinois Secretary of State, Department of Business Services. The state's form number, filing methods and processing times aren't in the official sources this page cites, so check the Secretary of State's business services site for the current form and how to submit it.¹
5. Plan for processing time. Because no official processing time is cited here, treat any service's speed claim as its own handling only. ZenBusiness, for one, says its processing time excludes Secretary of State time, and Harbor Compliance says it can prepare and file the forms to create most LLCs in one business day, before the state responds.^{3, 4}
6. Get an EIN. The Employer Identification Number is the LLC's federal tax ID, issued by the IRS once the state has approved the LLC. Banks commonly ask for it, and some packages below include the application.
7. Sign an operating agreement. The members' contract covers ownership shares, voting, and what happens when someone leaves or dies. It stays with the members rather than going into the Articles, and a bank or a co-owner may ask to see it.
8. Diary the annual report. Every Illinois LLC files one, at $75, plus a penalty if delinquent. It asks for the LLC name, registered office address and registered agent, principal place of business, and names and business addresses of managers (or members with manager authority). Missing it can lead to administrative dissolution: the statute lists an LLC that has failed to file its annual report and pay its fee as required by this Act. Due dates and penalties are on staying compliant in Illinois.^{1, 5, 6}

An LLC already formed elsewhere doesn't follow these steps. It files an application for admission instead, for $150; the Illinois registered agent guide covers its agent requirement.¹

How much does an Illinois LLC cost with and without a service?

The state's fees don't change with the route you choose; every package price below comes on top of them.

For a standard LLC the one unavoidable formation charge is $150. A series LLC pays $400 instead. The next table lists each provider's agent price, renewal and cheapest package, in the order of the site's provider table: our score, highest first, with ties in our editorial order.

Illinois adds a report fee every year, so what a package does about the report is worth checking alongside what it adds at formation.

Where the cell says a provider doesn't publish something, the package page we checked is silent on it, so ask before ordering. First-year and later-year totals, agent renewals included, are worked through on the cheapest ways to form an Illinois LLC.

What does each formation package cover for an Illinois LLC?

Below are each provider's published package terms, in the site's provider table order (how we score). The agent services themselves are compared on Illinois registered agent services compared.

Tailor Brands

Lite costs $0 plus state fees, with the LLC processed within 14 business days on Tailor Brands' side; its description says it has no annual compliance, operating agreement or branding tools. Essential, at $199/yr plus state fees, has the LLC processed within 1 business day and adds annual compliance (report filing and updates) and an operating agreement. For an Illinois LLC that report piece has a real job every year. The agent isn't listed in either package and is sold at $199/year; the EIN service is offered, price not published. Essential and Elite ($249/yr plus state fees) are priced per year.^{7, 24, 25}

ZenBusiness

Starter is $0 + state fees (does not renew), with standard 7-10 day processing, a figure that excludes Secretary of State time. It includes Worry-Free Compliance free for 1 year (then $199/yr), so the yearly price applies once that free year ends. On Starter, EIN and operating agreement are +$99 add-ons. The agent is an add-on +$199/yr on every tier. Pro ($199 + state fees, renews at $199/yr) builds in state-required annual report filings and up to 2 amendments per year, plus the EIN and an operating agreement template. A Rush upgrade on Starter costs +$79.³

LegalZoom

LegalZoom's Basic tier is $0 + state filing fees and lists Articles of organization. Other items are priced separately, among them the EIN at $79, operating agreements that start at $99, and the agent at $249/year (first-time registered agent customers). Its annual report service is $99 plus state fees. The next tier, $249 + state filing fees, adds attorney consultations, 30 days included, then $49/month auto-renew, so the monthly charge starts unless it is cancelled within that month.^{9, 10, 26, 27, 28}

Bizee

Bizee's Basic package is $0 + state fee and lists "Registered Agent (1st year included)"; after that year the agent renews at $149/year (ongoing annual fee). Standard ($199 + state fee) is Basic plus EIN, operating agreement, faster processing (~2 weeks), and Bizee says that timing includes expedited filing. Bought alone, the EIN is $70 and the operating agreement +$99. Bizee doesn't say how its timings line up with the Secretary of State's own processing in Illinois.^{11, 29, 30}

Swyft Filings

Swyft's Basic package is $0 + state fees; it covers the Articles and processes in 7-10 business days. Every tier comes with a Trial of ComplianceGuard. For the paid service, Swyft lists a 14-day free trial then auto-charged, at $199/year. Since an Illinois LLC does owe a report, the service has something to do here; an owner who plans to file alone would need to cancel during the trial to avoid the charge. Standard, at a promotional $169 + state fees, adds an operating agreement among other documents. The agent isn't in any package and costs $149 per quarter ($596/year).^{12, 13, 31}

doola

doola's Starter plan is $297/yr and includes LLC filing, EIN, US bank account guidance, US business address, registered agent. It is a yearly plan, so the price recurs in year two. doola says it files within 1-2 business days; the state's time comes after that. doola says it can help a US citizen or a non-resident without a US SSN; agent services for non-resident founders covers that case. The Starter description doesn't mention annual report filing, which an Illinois LLC will need each year.^{14, 15, 32}

Northwest Registered Agent

Northwest's LLC package is $39 + State Fees and adds a free domain name, open source website, phone line, business email, business address, brand protection. Whether the agent's first year comes with an LLC order isn't clear. Northwest's corporation page describes its price as a total that includes one year of registered agent service, but the LLC page doesn't repeat it. On its own the agent is $125 per year, and agent customers will "automatically be enrolled in our renewal service", which files the Illinois report for $100 + state fees. Its operating agreement is listed as "Free template", and the EIN service costs $50 (with SSN); $200 without SSN.^{16, 17, 33, 34, 35, 36}

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer ties formation to a paid membership, and its listing reads "First registration free with a Rocket Lawyer membership". Memberships are Standard at $149/year, Plus at $249/year and Pro at $349/year. State fees are extra. The agent needs Plus or Pro ($125 with a Plus or Pro membership), the EIN is $70 with Plus or Pro membership, and report filing is $100 with Pro membership, excluding state fees. No operating agreement is listed with the package.^{18, 19, 37, 38, 39}

InCorp

InCorp prices formation starting at $99 plus state fees. Its package page lists only support, not an itemized set of documents. The agent is a separate purchase: registered agent sold separately at $129 per state per year. InCorp charges its own expedite fee ($50.00), and its fee list says any state expedite fee is extra. Its report filing service, $89 + state fees, has the lowest published price of the providers here.^{20, 21, 40, 41}

Harbor Compliance

Harbor's formation starts at $99 plus state fees, and the page names the filings it handles (Name check, articles, registered agent, EIN, operating agreement), but it doesn't say which tier includes which item or how long a bundled agent lasts. The agent on its own starts at $99 first year (new customers) and renews at $159 annually. Harbor's report service is $199 per state per year plus filing fees, level with Swyft's ComplianceGuard as the highest published report-filing price here.^{22, 23, 42}

Should you file the Illinois Articles yourself or use a service?

Filing yourself costs the state's $150 and some time on the form, while a service adds its own fee for submitting the same Articles.¹

The bigger difference over time is the annual report, which comes back every year whichever route you take.

If you live in Illinois you can name yourself as registered agent under 805 ILCS 180/1-35. That removes the agent fee, but your address then appears in the agent field on each annual report, and someone has to be at that address to receive legal papers. A commercial agent's office goes in that field instead; the other names and addresses the report asks for, including managers' business addresses, are still yours to give.²

Filing the report yourself costs the $75 fee. A service will do it for a fee of its own, from $89 + state fees at InCorp to $199 per state per year plus filing fees at Harbor Compliance, and Northwest enrols its agent clients by default. Ask whether a quoted price includes the state's fee, because most of these are listed before it.^{1, 21, 23}

Watch for charges that start later. Several packages carry a free or discounted first year that renews at full price, such as ZenBusiness's Worry-Free Compliance free for 1 year (then $199/yr), and some plans are billed every year rather than once. Owners with partners or outside investors may want a lawyer to draft or review the operating agreement instead of using a template. The glossary defines the filing terms, how annual reports work covers the report in general, and agent providers with deadline tools are on agents with compliance tools.³