Best LLC formation services in Maine

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

Check the name, choose the agent, complete the Certificate of Formation, mail it with the fee and decide on expedite, then get an EIN, sign an operating agreement and diary the first annual report.

1. Check the name is free. Search the state's records before you complete the form. If you need to hold a name while something else is settled, the Application for Reservation of Name costs $20; the state pages we cite don't confirm how long a reservation lasts, so ask the Division if timing is tight.¹
2. Choose your registered agent. Under 5 M.R.S. § 104 and § 105, the agent's address must be "An actual street address or rural route box number in this State." If the agent is registered with the state as a commercial agent, the filing gives "The name of the represented entity's commercial clerk or commercial registered agent"; otherwise it gives "The name and address of the entity's noncommercial clerk or noncommercial registered agent." Who may serve, including whether you can act as your own agent, is explained in the Maine registered agent guide.³
3. Complete the Certificate of Formation. The Division posts the Certificate of Formation (Form MLLC-6) as a fillable PDF form with fee. A service fills it in from your order; filing yourself, you type it on screen and print it.^{1, 2}
4. Send it in. The forms page describes the method this way. By mail (fillable PDF form with fee; credit card via payment voucher). No online formation filing is listed. The PDF accepts a check, a money order or a credit card via payment voucher.²
5. Decide whether to pay for speed. Standard handling is 40 to 55 business days. The certificate's own instructions offer the paid tiers 24-hour (next business day) $50 and immediate (same business day) $100, charged per entity. A formation service's rush option speeds up its own preparation; the Division's expedite tiers are what shorten the state's part.^{1, 2}
6. Get an EIN. The IRS issues the federal Employer Identification Number, usually after the state has approved the LLC. Banks, payroll providers and many clients ask for it. Some packages below include it.
7. Sign an operating agreement. It is an internal document that sets out who owns the LLC, how decisions are made and what happens when a member leaves. Several packages include a template.
8. Diary the first annual report. Maine's Annual Report (Form MLLC-13) costs $85 and is due January 1 to June 1; the first report is due the year after formation. Filing after the deadline (June 1 each year) adds $50 in addition to the $85 report fee. Staying compliant in Maine covers that report and the rest of the ongoing rules.^{1, 4, 5}

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

The Division's fees don't change with the route you take, and every package on this page adds them to its own price.

Expedite is charged per entity, so a next-business-day filing adds $50 to the $175 certificate fee. The table that follows lists each provider's registered agent price and lowest formation package, ordered by our score, highest first, with ties in editorial order.²

The next table shows what each cheapest package includes beyond preparing and sending the certificate.

"Not listed" means the published package description doesn't mention the item, so ask before you order. The year-by-year totals, with agent renewals and the annual report, are worked through in the cheapest ways to form a Maine LLC.

What does each provider's formation package include in Maine?

Each paragraph covers one provider's published package terms, in the table's order: our score, highest first, ties in editorial order.

Because Maine's own processing is slow, the speed a provider advertises describes its preparation work, not the Division's. Where a provider says nothing about paying the state's expedite fee, its published terms don't show that fee as included. Registered agent services for Maine compares the agent side of each provider in more depth.

Tailor Brands

Lite, the cheapest package, is $0 plus state fees and processes the order within 14 business days. Its own description notes no annual compliance, operating agreement or branding tools. Essential, at $199/yr plus state fees, moves processing to within 1 business day and adds annual compliance (report filing and updates), operating agreement; in Maine the report-filing part has a real job, because the LLC files a report every year. Essential and Elite ($249/yr plus state fees) are yearly charges. No package description says a registered agent is included, and the agent is sold at $199/year (renews at the same price). Tailor Brands offers an EIN filing service but doesn't publish its price.^{6, 7}

ZenBusiness

Starter is $0 + state fees (does not renew), with processing of 7-10 days that excludes Secretary of State time; in Maine the Division's own wait is added after that. Starter includes Worry-Free Compliance free for 1 year (then $199/yr), and the EIN and operating agreement are +$99 add-ons. Faster handling costs extra (Rush upgrade +$79 on Starter). Pro ($199 + state fees, renews at $199/yr) includes ongoing filing compliance (state-required annual report filings and up to 2 amendments per year), which covers the Maine report each year it stays active. No ZenBusiness package includes the agent: it is listed as Not included; add-on +$199/yr, though its pages offer 50% off the first year ($99) when you form an LLC.^{9, 29}

LegalZoom

The cheapest LegalZoom package costs $0 + state filing fees and lists Articles of organization among its items. Several extras are priced on their own: an EIN at $79, an operating agreement that starts at $99, the registered agent at $249/year (first-time registered agent customers), and a single annual report filing at $99 + state filing fees. The middle package ($249 + state filing fees) adds attorney consultations, with 30 days included, then $49/month auto-renew.^{11, 12, 13, 14, 30}

Bizee

Basic is $0 + state fee, and its listing reads "Registered Agent (1st year included)"; the agent then renews at $149/year (ongoing annual fee). The EIN ($70) and operating agreement (+$99) are add-ons on Basic and included in Standard ($199 + state fee), which also lists faster processing (~2 weeks). Bizee says its Standard timing includes expedited filing, and Premium lists expedited filing (~4 business days). Against a state queue of 40 to 55 business days, ask Bizee whether those timings include Maine's paid expedite or rely on it.^{15, 16, 31}

Swyft Filings

Swyft's 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 it processes in 3 business days on Swyft's side before the Division's own queue begins. Neither lists a registered agent. The agent is $149 per quarter ($596/year). Every LLC plan starts a trial of ComplianceGuard $199/year, a 14-day free trial then auto-charged. That service files annual reports, so a Maine owner may want it, but the charge starts unless you cancel.^{17, 32, 33}

doola

doola's Starter plan is $297/yr, a yearly charge, and includes LLC filing, EIN, US bank account guidance, US business address, registered agent. doola says it files within 1-2 business days, after which the Division's processing applies. It works with US citizens and with a non-resident without a US SSN. For founders outside the country, agent services for non-resident founders compares the options.^{18, 19, 34}

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. Its corporation page describes the price as "a total that includes one year of registered agent service"; its LLC page doesn't say so, so confirm before ordering. The agent alone is $125 per year. The operating agreement is a free template, and the EIN costs $50 (with SSN); $200 without SSN.^{20, 21, 22, 23, 35}

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer ties its formation price to membership (First registration free with a Rocket Lawyer membership). Memberships are billed yearly: Standard $149/year, Plus $249/year, Pro $349/year. The registered agent is $125 with a Plus or Pro membership, so Standard members need to upgrade to get one. The EIN is $70 with Plus or Pro membership. The formation offer lists no operating agreement.^{24, 25, 36, 37}

InCorp

InCorp prices its formation service starting at $99 plus state fees, and its package description lists "Live chat and phone support included." The agent is extra. It is sold separately at $129 per state per year, and its expedite option is a $50.00 InCorp expedite fee, with the state expedite fee extra; in Maine that means the Division's charge is added to InCorp's. No EIN or operating agreement is itemized in the package, though an EIN service is sold on its own (EIN Service $69).^{26, 27, 38, 39}

Harbor Compliance

Harbor's formation service is priced starting at $99 plus state fees and its formation page lists Name check, articles, registered agent, EIN, operating agreement. Which tier includes which item isn't published, and neither is how long an included agent lasts. On timing, Harbor says Most LLCs prepared and filed in one business day and that the state response varies; for the state's side it lists Expedited state processing available in most states (price not published). The agent alone costs $99 first year (new customers) and renews at $159 annually.^{28, 40, 41}

Should you file the Maine certificate yourself or use a service?

Filing yourself costs $175 plus any expedite. A service saves typing and postage, not state time: the Division's queue is the same for everyone who doesn't pay its expedite fee.²

That last point shapes the decision in Maine more than in states that take formation filings online. Because the forms page describes mail-in filing and lists no online option, a do-it-yourself filer prints, signs and posts the certificate, then waits. A service that files within 1 business day (Tailor Brands Essential) or within 1-2 business days (doola) gets the paper to the Division sooner, but approval still follows the state's queue of 40 to 55 business days unless an expedite tier is paid. If you have a lease, a contract or a bank appointment that needs the LLC to exist, the $50 next-business-day tier is where the time is bought.

The agent is the second question. A noncommercial agent costs no yearly service fee, but the filing then gives "The name and address of the entity's noncommercial clerk or noncommercial registered agent" and that agent has to be available at the address. A service puts its own details in the agent field instead; that is true of every commercial agent and doesn't change any other address on your filings. Some providers also sell a separate business address, such as Swyft Filings' virtual mailbox at $29/mo; Standard 1 month free; Premium 3 months free.^{3, 17}

The third is the annual report. Filing Maine's report yourself each year costs only the state's $85; a package that includes report filing, such as ZenBusiness Pro or Tailor Brands Essential, charges every year for doing it. Bundled trials can turn into charges: Swyft's report plan comes with a 14-day free trial then auto-charged. Owners with partners, investors or a licensed profession may want a lawyer to review the operating agreement rather than relying on a template. The Maine registered agent guide covers the agent rules, and the glossary defines the filing terms.³³