Best LLC formation services in Kansas

How do you form an LLC in Kansas, step by step?

Pick a name the state will accept, settle who will be the resident agent, file the Articles of Organization online or on paper, then get your EIN and sign an operating agreement.

The order counts mostly at the start. The Articles ask for the agent and registered office, so decide those before you sit down to file.

1. Check the name. Make sure no existing Kansas business already uses it before you file. The state doesn't publish a name reservation fee that we could verify, so check with the Secretary of State if you want to hold a name first.
2. Decide who will be the resident agent. Under K.S.A. 17-7925, the agent may be "The covered entity itself," an individual resident in this state, or a listed business entity. The registered office must be an address in Kansas where the resident agent may be regularly present. A resident agent is the Kansas term for the person or company that accepts lawsuits and official notices for the LLC. Who qualifies, and what the address rules mean in practice, is covered in the Kansas resident agent guide.^{2, 3}
3. Complete the Articles of Organization. Its official name is Articles of Organization (Form DL). A service fills it in from your order.¹
4. Choose online or paper. You can file online or by mail (paper form), and online is cheaper ($85 online against $90 by paper). Its form instructions add one warning for online filers: do not complete and mail the paper form. For paper filings, the state doesn't publish a turnaround.^{2, 4}
5. Keep the certified copy. After an online filing, the state's form says processing takes minutes, with a certified copy printable immediately. Save it; banks often want proof the LLC exists.⁴
6. Apply for an EIN. The Employer Identification Number is the LLC's federal tax ID, issued by the IRS rather than the state. Some packages below include the application and others charge for it.
7. Sign an operating agreement. It records who owns what, who makes decisions and what happens when an owner leaves. Co-owners and banks often ask to see one.
8. Mark your report year. The Information Report is due by April 15 of the even or odd year matching the year the LLC was formed, so an LLC formed in an odd year reports in odd years. Staying compliant in Kansas covers what the report asks and what happens when it's missed.⁵

An LLC formed in another state that wants to do business in Kansas registers instead of forming; that filing costs $115 and is paper filing only.⁶

What does a Kansas LLC cost with and without a service?

The state's charge doesn't change with who files, and every service on this page adds it to its own price.

Kansas doesn't publish an expedite option, and with online processing measured in minutes there is little to speed up on the state's side. Any rush fee a service charges buys faster handling of your order by that service. The next table lists each provider's agent price and cheapest package in the order of the site's provider table, which follows our score, highest first, with ties in editorial order.

What the cheapest package of each provider includes beyond preparing and filing the Articles:

"Not listed" means the published package description doesn't mention the item, so ask the provider before you order. First-year and later-year totals, agent renewals included, are worked out on the cheapest ways to form a Kansas LLC.

What does each provider's formation package include for Kansas?

The paragraphs below cover only each provider's published formation terms, in the order of the site's provider table (how we score).

Because a Kansas online filing clears in minutes, the processing times providers quote are mostly their own preparation time. Keep that in mind when a package charges more for speed. The agent services themselves are compared on choosing a resident agent in Kansas.

Tailor Brands

Lite costs $0 plus state fees, processes the LLC within 14 business days and includes a business coaching platform; its description also notes no annual compliance, operating agreement or branding tools. Essential, at $199/yr plus state fees, processes the LLC within 1 business day and adds annual compliance (report filing and updates), operating agreement. Essential and Elite ($249/yr plus state fees) are yearly charges, while Kansas's report falls due every other year, so in the years between reports the compliance part has no state report to file.⁷

The package descriptions don't mention a resident agent. Tailor Brands lists its agent service at $199/year (renews at the same price), and for the EIN it lists: EIN filing service offered; price not published.^{8, 9}

ZenBusiness

Starter is $0 + state fees (does not renew) with processing of 7-10 days, and ZenBusiness says that time excludes Secretary of State time. Starter includes Worry-Free Compliance free for 1 year (then $199/yr); the EIN and operating agreement are +$99 add-ons. A Rush upgrade +$79 on Starter shortens the wait. Pro, $199 + state fees, renews at $199/yr, includes the EIN and operating agreement, with processing listed as Pro/Premium: 1 day. The agent isn't in any package (Not included; add-on +$199/yr), though its agent page offers 50% off the first year ($99) when you form an LLC.^{10, 31}

LegalZoom

The cheapest package, $0 + state filing fees, covers the Articles of organization. Several items are priced separately: an EIN for $79, an operating agreement (Starts at $99), and the agent at $249/year (first-time registered agent customers). The middle package ($249 + state filing fees) adds attorney consultations on these terms: 30 days included, then $49/month auto-renew.^{12, 13, 14}

Bizee

Bizee's Basic package, at $0 + state fee, includes Registered Agent (1st year included); after that year the agent renews at $149/year (ongoing annual fee). With Basic, the EIN ($70) and the operating agreement (+$99) are extras you add at checkout. Standard, at $199 + state fee, is Basic plus EIN, operating agreement, faster processing (~2 weeks), and Bizee says its timing includes expedited filing. Premium ($299 + state fee) lists expedited filing (~4 business days). Each of those timings is far longer than the state's own processing of an online filing.^{16, 17, 32}

Swyft Filings

Basic is $0 + state fees and processes in 7-10 business days. Standard, at $169 + state fees (promotional, 'SAVE $30'; regular $199), adds custom organizational minutes, custom banking resolution, business banking essentials, operating agreement, and its timing is listed as Standard 3 business days. No resident agent appears in the packages; the agent service is $149 per quarter ($596/year). Every plan comes with a trial of its report service, ComplianceGuard $199/year, on these terms: 14-day free trial then auto-charged; with a Kansas report due only every other year, decide before the trial ends whether a yearly plan suits you.^{18, 33, 34}

doola

doola's Starter is $297/yr, a yearly plan, and includes LLC filing, EIN, US bank account guidance, US business address, registered agent. It says it files within 1-2 business days. doola states it works with US citizens and with a non-resident without a US SSN; founders in that position can compare options on agent services for non-resident founders.^{19, 20, 35}

Northwest Registered Agent

The Northwest LLC package is $39 + State Fees and bundles the filing with a free domain name, open source website, phone line, business email, business address, brand protection. Its corporation page says formation includes a year of agent service, but its LLC page doesn't say so, so ask before you order an LLC. On its own the agent is $125 per year. Northwest lists the operating agreement as: Free template. The EIN costs $50 (with SSN); $200 without SSN.^{21, 23, 36}

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer ties formation to a membership: First registration free with a Rocket Lawyer membership. Memberships bill yearly at $149/year for Standard, $249/year for Plus and $349/year for Pro, and the offer excludes government and third party fees. The agent is $125 with a Plus or Pro membership, which rules out Standard. The EIN is $70 with Plus or Pro membership, and no operating agreement is listed with formation.^{25, 26, 37, 38}

InCorp

InCorp's formation service is priced starting at $99 plus state fees, and its package lists Live chat and phone support included. The agent is sold separately at $129 per state per year. Its rush option, a $50.00 InCorp expedite fee, speeds up InCorp's own handling. The EIN is a separate service at $69, and no operating agreement is itemized.^{27, 28, 29, 39}

Harbor Compliance

Harbor's formation price reads: Starting at $99 plus state fees. On timing, its page says: Most LLCs prepared and filed in one business day. It lists these items: Name check, articles, registered agent, EIN, operating agreement. It doesn't publish which tier carries which item or how long an included agent lasts. The standalone agent is $99 first year (new customers), renewing at $159 annually, and non-renewal needs notice at least 90 days before the end of the current term.^{30, 40, 41, 42}

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

A do-it-yourself filing costs $85 online and takes minutes, so in Kansas a service mainly buys help with the form, the agent and the extras rather than speed or access to a faster state queue.²

Doing it yourself is realistic here. The state returns a certified copy right away, and Kansas lets the LLC or an owner who lives in the state act as resident agent, so there may be no agent fee at all. The trade-off is that the registered office must be an address in Kansas where the resident agent may be regularly present, and that address is named in the Articles.

A service makes more sense when you want an outside agent's address in that field, when no owner lives in Kansas, or when you want the EIN and operating agreement handled together. Be clear on what you're paying for. A package's quoted days are its own processing, and a provider's rush fee doesn't touch a state step that already takes minutes.

Look past the first bill. Several packages include a free or discounted first year of an agent or compliance service that renews later at full price, and some packages are themselves yearly. Kansas asks for its report every other year, so a compliance plan billed annually charges you in years with no state report due. If you want an address other than your home for the LLC's other fields, some providers sell one; Swyft Filings lists a business address and virtual mailbox at $29/mo. Owners with co-owners or investors may want a lawyer to review the operating agreement instead of relying on a template. The glossary defines the filing terms.¹⁸