LegalZoom vs Rocket Lawyer 2024: Best Online Legal Services
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$178
$140
To discover whether this provider is the right fit for your business needs, read through our Rocket Lawyer vs LegalZoom comparison for more information.
About LegalZoom
LegalZoom is a one-stop-shop for online legal services. The company offers a variety of legal services right from business incorporation services to trademark acquisition to estate planning and many other features in between.
The company was established in 1999 when the founder envisioned a world with affordable and accessible legal services for all. To date, they have formed more than 2 million companies and offered advice to more than 4 million people.
The company is very comprehensive and its legal services are well spread in all 50 states. They have expanded to the UK as well. With this provider, you are sure to register your limited liability company (LLC), C-corporation, S-corporation, limited liability partnership among others.
About Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyers boast a ton of experience, probably the best in the industry. Since its formation in 2008, the provider has helped over 20 million businesses in various ways including LLC formation and legal services.
Despite handling large clients, the company has made a huge stride in their customer support and rarely meets negative customer reviews among the users of late. Though it is not the best LLC service provider you will find in the market, Rocket Lawyer is a great deal to entrepreneurs who may need more legal assistance. They offer a range of legal documents or forms that you will never find in any other service.
To discover whether this provider is the right fit for your business needs, read through our Rocket Lawyer vs LegalZoom comparison for more information.
| LegalZoom | Rocket Lawyer | |
| Basic Formation | $178 | $140 |
| Registered Agent (standalone) | $299/yr | $150/yr |
| Full Formation | $477 | $290 |
| Detail | Read Review | Read Review |
| Link |
LegalZoom vs Rocket Lawyer – Brand comparison details
Best Overall Pricing and Value: Rocket Lawyer
LegalZoom
LegalZoom offers formation services at $99 plus state fees and still offers all the necessary features needed to form an LLC. These features include the business filing and name check, articles of organization, LLC guide for next step, and lifestyle customer support.
Their top tiers, Standard and Express Gold offer additional features including expedited processing speed. However, their top packages seem expensive for company formation, as the middle package is charged at $329 plus state fees while the topmost package at $349 plus state fees.
Despite being this expensive, most of the common features are separately purchased at a higher price. For instance, the EIN must be bundled with an operating agreement and this will cost you $159.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer base formation package is charged at $99.99 in addition to state fees and offers all the necessary LLC formation and incorporation. These include preparation and filing of articles of organization with the secretary of state, as well as business name availability check.
Rocket Lawyer does not have other packages and once you provide your information, they will walk you through add-on features. You will have to decide whether you want to pay for their expedited turnaround time for your LLC formation. You will also have to decide whether you would want them to obtain for you a Federal Tax ID Number.
Rocket Lawyer offers you a binder with your business name embossed on it, a personalized decorative seal, and sample forms at affordable pricing. However, the registered agent service is not included in their formation package and it is up to you to decide whether you want them to fill this role for you.
But if you want to get to the heart of Rocket Lawyer’s business model, subscribe to their premium membership plan after which your cost will be $39.99 per month. This plan will offer you legal services at a discounted rate as well as 7 days of free trials.
Best Track Record & Experience: Rocket Lawyer
LegalZoom
LegalZoom is one of the most experienced online business entities despite not being the oldest. It came into the picture in 1999 and since then, has helped around 4 million people in various ways.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer was formed just in 2008 and has served an incredible 20 million customers. This is definitely the industry’s best experience.
Many people prefer Rocket Lawyer due to their premium membership plan that enables you to access all Rocket Lawyer documents for free. You can make as many forms and contracts as you like and store documents online.
Best Common Features: Both are Good
LegalZoom
LegalZoom offers several common features such as registered agent services, operating agreements, articles of organization, foreign qualification, and much more.
However, most of their common features are common at a cost. For instance, the registered agent services are charged expensively. Even more, EIN bundled with operating agreement also cost a lot.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer offers several common features including preparation and filing of your articles of formation as well as a business name availability check with your state.
This service also offers several common features ranging from basic LLC formation and compliance to legal services. These providers do the paperwork and filing of articles of organization in the state where you are forming your business.
Other common features offered include registered agent services, operating agreements, and EIN acquisition.
Best Customer Support: LegalZoom
LegalZoom
LegalZoom has great customer service thanks to its wide-reaching customer service center and extended call hours. You can reach out to their customer support team via email, live chat, or phone call from Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m Pacific times. They also offer some extra time on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. pacific time.
However, we have to admit their email communication is a hit or miss. This is not surprising given the size of the company. They handle several clients and this may result in delays. If you want to reach out to them faster, contact them via phone call.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer is known to offer great customer support services as well. You can reach out to the company’s customer service reps via email or phone call from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. pacific time. on weekdays.
However, their customer service can be a hit or miss sometimes and this may be due to the company size. Besides, they don’t offer extended time like LegalZoom.
Best Turnaround Time: LegalZoom
LegalZoom
LegalZoom turns around time depending on the package you choose, not the state filling speed. The more expensive package has expedited filing that will have your documents processed within 7-10 days.
T Standard package on the other hand is not far off and will have your documents processed within 15 days. Meanwhile, you will have to wait for 30 days to have your documents processed by the Basic package.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer filing speed will depend on the state you are incorporating your business. To get an estimate of the turnaround time of the state where you are forming your LLC, click through the order forms. This will lead you to the page where you decide whether or not to have expedited filing. On that page, you can access an estimate of the number of days for both expedited and standard processing of every state.
In general, the difference between these two services in terms of the turnaround times is too negligible. But if you can pay extra for the LegalZoom Express Gold package, you are sure to get a slightly greater speed.
Best Ease of Use: Rocket Lawyer
LegalZoom
LegalZoom has a very modern and well-updated website making the ordering process faster. However, there are two major concerns with this provider when it comes to ease of use.
To begin with, LegalZoom has some annoying upsells that may end up piling their formation cost by a great value. Secondly, they don’t readily give their packages until you go through the upsells. This makes their website a bit slow.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer’s user interface is efficient too. Unlike LegalZoom, the provider takes you directly to choose the plan, which includes the free trial and the premium plan. From there, you can look through their various services and legal documents and choose what suits your needs.
Even though they have upsells, not as overwhelming as those of LegalZoom.
Best Additional Services: Both are great
LegalZoom
In addition to a banking resolution that will help open a business checking and service account, LegalZoom offers several additional legal features that their customer can use. These include free monthly copyright filings and access to more than 160 legal documents.
Even more, they offer intellectual property services such as patent services and trademark applications to business owners who want to start their LLC business.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer has several additional features right from business formation services. This includes a hard copy of your business formation documents and the ability to e-sign legal forms. The good news, the company offers step-by-step assistance on how to fill the forms. Even more, they keep the forms stored in your account for up to 1 year.
Rocket Lawyer has also introduced a legal health score system for businesses. This service helps both large and small companies review where they stand as far as an online legal service is concerned.
The bottom line is, when it comes to additional features, both Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom are great and this seems like a tie.
Which Should You Choose?
In addition to LLC services, Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom are geared towards offering legal features. This makes them one of the closely matched and confusing business entities.
However, we are optimistic our Rocket Lawyer vs LegalZoom comparison has made things a little easier for you. If you want us to help you do the choosing, here is our recommendation.
Choose LegalZoom if:
You want your legal questions answered as they come. LegalZoom has extended service hours. Besides, LegalZoom makes it easier to open a bank account. It has a banking resolution to help you open a banking checking and saving account.
Choose Rocket Lawyer
You want a wide range of digital legal forms that LegalZoom doesn’t offer. Besides, it is a better deal for business owners that value unrivaled industry experience and great customer service.
Conclusion
For online legal services, Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom always outshine other business services. However, from our Rocket Lawyer vs LegalZoom reviews, it is clear that Rocket lawyer does offer a couple of advantages over LegalZoom right from the LLC formation services to legal help.
With that said, we think Rocket Lawyer is a better option. However, we highly recommend Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom to a business owner who will require some online legal services along the way. If you are looking for the best LLC formation service, neither of these two companies is our top pick. Feel free to browse through our website to find out what our top LLC services have to offer.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer have refund policies, the difference is the duration given to cancel your subscription. You may get your money back if you cancel your LegalZoom first subscription within 60 days while Rocket Lawyer will require you do that within 30 days.
Both LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer will take you through some upsells on their site during your LLC formation process. However, Rocket Lawyer’s upsells are not so overwhelming and pushy.
LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer’s websites are great with the former boasting a more modern website. However, due to its numerous upsells on the site, Rocket Lawyer will offer you a faster subscription service.
Rocket Lawyer’s monthly premium membership is the best deal since it provides valuable discounts and several free legal documents.
Both LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer offer attorney advice and document review by attorneys before they are filed. However, from our Rocket lawyer vs LegalZoom comparison, it is clear that Rocket Lawyer is a better LLC service provider.
For an affordable and efficient LLC formation service, Zenbusiness and IncFile offer something much better. For instance, IncFile will leave you with only state fees to worry about making them great for both large and small business formation.
An online legal service will connect you to various attorney services but they are not an exact substitute to the first-hand advice of attorneys. However, if you want to access attorney services at an affordable cost, these two online providers are the ones to go for.
Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom are legal service providers that allow access to a variety of legal documents and connect clients to attorneys. However, their legal documents are not substitutes for the advice of attorneys.
