The grading criteria

We cite the state for every fee, form and rule, with the month of reading.

A chapter holds an answer, a facts box, recommended services, numbered sections, a cost table and review questions. The state total adds the filing, two years of reports and any minimum tax. We do not add variable costs such as publication.

1. Tuition over three years (34%). The first-year price plus two renewals, read from each company's own price page. The state charges every filer the same fee, so the academy prints it in its own line and keeps it out of the grade.
2. Chapters the price completes (30%). How much of the course the price finishes for you: the formation or registration filing, a full year as the registered agent, the repeating state report and the EIN application.
3. Second-year bill (12%). What the service charges from year two on, and whether that differs from the opening price.
4. Fit for the state syllabus (14%). How closely the plan follows the state's own rules: when reports fall due, what a late filing costs, the address the agent must keep and whether a second state is likely.
5. Clarity of the price list (10%). Whether a reader can see the whole price before paying, with the state fee shown separately at the amount the state sets.

When two services land within a few points of each other, the lesson says which criterion made the difference and what the runner-up still does well.

Grades are Biz Formation Academy's own editorial marks from these criteria and are not customer ratings.

We list Mainstay Filing plus the state-focused agent services, each priced from its own pages.

Customer ratings, customer quotes and legal or tax advice are all absent. The order of each list is the editorial board's own grade from the criteria above.