The honest cost of forming an LLC — ours included.
“$0 LLC” offers make their money on what renews later. Corpus shows one flat, all-in price before you pay — state filing fee, a full year of registered agent, an optional EIN — and the registered agent renews at $99/yr flat, disclosed on day one. Here's the five-year math.
Most states land between $250 and $350 all-in — your exact price appears in the chat before you enter anything else.
What a “$0 LLC” actually costs
Five-year totals for an LLC + registered agent, excluding state fees (everyone pays those). Competitor figures are their own advertised prices, checked on the dates shown.
| Provider | Advertised | Registered agent, yr 2+ | Honest 5-yr total | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LegalZoom | “$0” + state fees | $249/yr registered agent | ~$996+ | Form-filler + upsells; RA renews at $249/yr after year 1 as of 2026-07-05 |
| ZenBusiness | “$0” Starter + state fees | $199/yr RA (+ “Worry-Free” auto-renews $199/yr) | ~$796–$1,592+ | Template SEO pages; two separate $199/yr auto-renewals as of 2026-07-05 |
| Corpus | $250–$350 all-in (state fee included), shown before payment | $99/yr flat — stated at checkout on day one | ~$616 | AI agent does the paperwork with you; a human approves your exact filing (cryptographically hash-locked); cited local-law answers where our corpus covers; optional $75 EIN add-on |
And no — we're not the absolute cheapest either. If all you want is the cheapest possible registered agent, a couple of old-school flat-fee services beat our 5-year total by roughly $15 a year, and we'd rather tell you that than hide it. The difference buys an AI agent that does the paperwork with you, a cryptographically hash-locked human approval on your exact filing, and cited local-law answers wherever our corpus covers.
Totals exclude state filing fees (everyone pays those to the state) and assume advertised renewal rates hold. Corpus total uses the typical bundle minus the state fee. Competitor figures are their own published prices, checked on the dates shown — if we're out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
What the flat price includes
One Stripe checkout, one number. The exact all-in price for your state appears in the chat before you enter anything else — most states land between $250 and $350.
Whatever your state charges to form the LLC is inside the quoted price, not a surprise at the end of a checkout maze.
Registered agent renews at a flat $99/yr after your included first year — cancel anytime.
The IRS issues EINs free at irs.gov if you apply yourself; we charge $75 to do the application for you. Your call, stated plainly.
Built for people who build with AI
Corpus was itself built at an AI hackathon by a founder orchestrating an agent swarm — “built by and for the AI generation” is the literal origin story, not positioning. It started as a civic-transparency fight: a 240-day public-records battle with Philadelphia, MS ended with us photographing the city's code book and publishing it ourselves.
If you shipped a product with Claude, Cursor, or v0 and it's turning into a real business, this is the formation service that works the way you do: a conversational intake, flat pricing shown before payment, and receipts for every claim below.
Asked by people who read the fine print.
What does it cost after year 1?
Your registered agent renews at a flat $99/yr — stated here before you ever pay, and you can cancel anytime. There are no other recurring Corpus fees. (Your state may charge its own annual-report fee — ask in the chat what your state requires.)
Why isn't Corpus $0 too?
Because nothing is $0. A “$0 formation” still costs the state fee at checkout, and the provider earns it back on what renews later — registered agent commonly runs $199–$249/yr at the big brands. We'd rather charge one honest number up front and a flat $99/yr after. If the five-year math didn't favor us, we wouldn't publish the table.
What does “hash-locked human approval” mean?
Before anything is filed or any money moves, your exact filing payload is snapshot-hashed and a human approves that hash — so what was approved is provably what gets filed. The agent's activity also runs on a public console anyone can audit.
What if I'm not ready to form anything?
Then don't — the law library behind this service is free with no account, and the field guide below covers the procedural facts first-time founders usually learn the hard way. Form the LLC when the business is real.
Not ready to file yet?
Take the pre-launch legal checklist — the procedural facts first-time founders usually learn the hard way, in one page. Leave your email and we'll also send you launch updates, or just read it now.
No email required — read it now →