Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Which is Best for Your Business?

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Differences, pros & cons in 2024

Brynne Conroy

BLUEPRINT

Updated 1:54 p.m. UTC Oct. 24, 2023

Blueprint Rating

Learn More

Via Rocket Lawyer's website

Pros

Free LLC formation for new members.
Great customer reviews.
Membership provides ongoing legal support.

Cons

Customer support is lacking.
Only one LLC service plan.
Limited LLC plan add-ons.

Blueprint Rating

Learn More

Via LegalZoom's website

Pros

Offers a free LLC service.
Free package includes a Wix website.
Premium plan comes with advice from an attorney.

Cons

Free package has limited services.
Expensive registered agent service ($299 per year).
Mid-tier plan is expensive compared to other LLC services.

Featured LLC service offers

ZenBusiness

Learn More

Via ZenBusiness’ website

Free version available

Yes

Lowest published package price

$199

Live chat

Yes: Human

LegalZoom

Learn More

Via LegalZoom’s website

Free version available

Yes

Lowest published package price

$249

Live chat

Yes

Northwest Registered Agent

Learn More

Via Northwest’s website

Free version available

Lowest published package price

$39

Live chat

Yes

LegalZoom is an all-in-one stop for business formation services that’s been around since 2001. The online platform can help you complete tasks and processes, such as setting up your LLC and appointing your registered agent. It also has services for personal legal matters such as divorces, trusts and wills.

Rocket Lawyer is a similar company that’s been on the scene since 2008. It has a focus on small- to medium-sized businesses and provides many of the same personal legal services that LegalZoom does.

There are pros and cons of using each service. Today, we’ll dive into the similarities and differences. Bear in mind that while using an online platform can sometimes be cheaper than hiring a personal lawyer who can customize all your documents, both LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer charge enough extra fees that it’s worth running the math on both options.

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: LLC services

Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom provide a similar suite of products, providing LLC formation services and legal consultations through their subscription plans. Both services can get quite pricey in terms of fees compared to other companies on our best LLC creation services roundup. However, if you want built-in legal help, it may be worth the cost, depending on your circumstances.

LegalZoom does provide a free Wix site to everyone who uses their LLC services, which is something Rocket Lawyer does not offer. That said, the amount of money you save by using Rocket Lawyer’s services over LegalZoom’s may be enough to justify paying for your own website independently. Plus, Rocket Lawyer allows you to view all of your documents via your online portal, while LegalZoom only provides limited access.

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Registered agent services

Of the two, Rocket Lawyer is the cheaper option for registered agent services. If you’re not a member, the fee is $149.99 per year, but if you do have a membership, the price is bumped down to $111.99 per year. At LegalZoom, you’ll pay $249 per year for registered agent services.

Both companies offer a similar level of service, uploading any documents received to your account and emailing you a notification. In some instances, LegalZoom will also send you a postcard via snail mail to notify you of particularly important documents.

Should your notifications contain any documents that would require attorney review or assistance, both services provide access to lawyers through additional subscription plans. These include free consultations, attorney discounts, document reviews and more.

Rocket Lawyer’s $39.99 per month membership plan includes attorney document defense, 30-minute lawyer consultations on any issue and up to 40% off Rocket Lawyer network attorney services. LegalZoom’s attorney plan starts at $39.08 per month (billed annually) and offers unlimited 30-minute legal consultations on new matters, annual business evaluations and legal checkups, a legal document review (up to 10 pages) and 25% off of attorney services.

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Cost

	BASE PLAN	MID-TIER PLAN	HIGH-TIER PLAN	REGISTERED AGENT SERVICES*
Rocket Lawyer	$39.99 per month + state filing fees	Single-tier plan available only	Single-tier plan available only	$111.99 for members $149.99 per year for non-members
LegalZoom	$0 + state filing fees	$249 + state filing fees	$299 + state filing fees	$249 per year

_{*The registered agent is an annual recurring fee. In some cases, companies waive it for the first year or other specified period of time. It’s also included in some companies’ plans.}

LegalZoom has three packages that can help you set up your LLC. You won’t be charged any fees by LegalZoom for the free basic package — but you will have to pay state filing fees. This package includes articles of organization, name check service, a Wix website and access to email and chat support. It lacks phone support.

The Pro package is the next largest. It includes everything in the basic package, plus an operating agreement, an EIN, a business license guide specific to your region and access to customer service by phone.

The Premium plan includes everything in the Pro package, plus free amendments to your LLC formation documents for the first 30 days. There are extra legal services but these are only 30-day subscriptions that come with a $49 per month fee after the first month. These trial services include attorney consultations and reviews of your legal contracts and documents, one copyright registration and a library of customizable legal forms.

Rocket Lawyer works differently. There aren’t tiers per se, but there are different prices for LLC formation depending on your membership status. If you purchase LLC formation services a la carte, you’ll pay $99.99 + state filing fees.

You can also subscribe to Rocket Lawyer’s entire suite of services for $39.99 per month, or $479.88 per year. You can bring this price down by paying annually instead of monthly. If you pay annually, membership only costs $239.99 per year. Right now, Rocket Lawyer is offering a free, 7-day trial for its subscription membership, so you could theoretically get the free LLC formation and then cancel your membership before the free week is up.

Just like with LegalZoom, “free” isn’t actually free. You’ll still have to pay state filing fees. Free LLC formation is only available to new members. Existing members get 25% off the $99.99 a la cart price. While both services charge a lot of extra fees, Rocket Lawyer’s prices are cheaper. Its membership plan offers deeper discounts on attorney services and additional discounts on business services such as tax preparation and trademark application services.

Learn more about LLC formation costs by reading our costs to start an LLC guide.

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Features

	BASE PLAN	ONLINE DOCUMENT ACCESS	MOBILE APP	LEGAL SERVICES
Rocket Lawyer	Yes, purchase required	Yes	Yes	Yes
LegalZoom	Yes, with plan signup	Yes	Yes	Yes, but only for the first 30 days under select services for Premium packages

Affordable legal services is where Rocket Lawyer really shines. If you have a membership, you’ll get free access to common legal documents, Document Defense — a service in which a lawyer helps you enforce your business contracts — and the ability to ask a lawyer specific questions, 30-minute attorney consultations, 40% off of attorney services and 25% off Rocket Lawyer registered agent services. After the free trial is over, you’ll also get access to 30-minute consultations with a lawyer on new business matters only.

With the premium package, LegalZoom gives you 30 days of free 30-minute consultations with an attorney for new business matters only. They’ll also review new business documents and contracts. But after those first 30 days, you’ll be charged $49 per month for this service unless you cancel the subscription. LegalZoom has a similar arrangement for its copyright registration services and access to its legal forms library.

Both LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer will research your business name before registering your LLC with the state. While both technically offer online document access, Rocket Lawyer comes out on top in this domain. You can access all of your documents via your online portal, while LegalZoom will only allow you to access articles of operation, operating agreements or bylaws, and signing instructions.

Both companies also have an app, but Rocket Lawyer’s app has earned far better user reviews. It has 4.9 stars in the App Store and 4.7 on Google Play. LegalZoom’s app is only available in the App Store, where it gets 3.3 stars. Negative reviews often contain complaints about both the app and LegalZoom’s services.

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Add-ons

	ANNUAL REPORT FILING	EIN	REAL ESTATE DOCUMENTS
Rocket Lawyer	$49.99 + state filing fees for members $75 + state filing fees for non-members	$59.99	Large, free library
LegalZoom	$99 + state filing fees for standard service $119 + state filing fees for expedited service	Included in Pro and Premium packages, but $79 if purchased as an add-on	$29 – $49 for residential leases $249 – $289 + fees for quit claim deeds

You’ll want to be careful before engaging with either Rocket Lawyer or LegalZoom’s services. There are lots of extra fees. For example, both companies provide annual report filing, but you’ll pay for it. At $49 compared to LegalZoom’s $99 fee, it’s less expensive at Rocket Lawyer than LegalZoom — even if you don’t have a Rocket Lawyer membership.

Employee Identification Numbers (EINs) are included in LegalZoom’s Pro and Premium packages. Technically, at Rocket Lawyer, an EIN will cost you $59.99. However, its customer service representatives recommend visiting the IRS’ website to file for an EIN yourself. It’s free through the IRS, and it is a relatively simple process. If you still want assistance, you may ask the sales department for a discount, which can get you as much as $20 off.

Rocket Lawyer has a more extensive library of documents for real estate, like eviction notices and affidavits of title. Granted, you’re getting a boilerplate template. If you want any modifications and want to ensure those modifications are legal, you have to pay to speak with a Rocket Lawyer attorney.

LegalZoom does customize your real estate documents, but it charges you to do so. Its offerings are also slimmer. In its suite of business products, it provides residential leases and quit claim deeds only, for which Rocket Lawyer does have free templates.

At LegalZoom, expedited quit claim deeds are $40 more expensive than those with standard delivery, but they’ll get to you faster. Standard quit claim deeds take five to seven days, while the expedited service cuts that time down to two days. For residential leases, the $29 rate gets you one week of revisions, while the $49 package gives you six months to make revisions.

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Customer support

	24/7 CUSTOMER SUPPORT	PHONE SUPPORT	LIVE CHAT	KNOWLEDGE BASE/HELP
Rocket Lawyer	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
LegalZoom	No	Only at the Pro and Premium tiers	Yes	Yes

Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom both offer similar customer service features. Both companies offer phone service, but LegalZoom only offers it to Pro and Premium clients. That said, once you have access to customer support via phone, LegalZoom has more expansive hours. You can reach representatives from 5 a.m. through 7 p.m. PST on weekdays and 7 a.m. through 4 p.m. PST on weekends. Rocket Lawyer’s hours are only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT on weekdays.

Both companies offer live chat, but LegalZoom’s is more helpful. Many of the questions you may ask at Rocket Lawyer will get you a referral to their phone customer service line. The phone line is where you will find extremely helpful representatives to answer your questions.

Overall, both services are quite popular among users. Rocket Lawyer has a 4.7-star rating on Trustpilot with over 7,000 reviews. LegalZoom has a rating of 4.5 out of five stars on Trustpilot with over 3,000 reviews.

Which company formation service is right for your business?

Both Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom come with a lot of extra fees. There are cheaper LLC formation services out there when all is said and done.

However, if you’re looking for access to legal consultations, the fact that LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer both provide them is a big deal. Between the two services, Rocket Lawyer’s subscription is cheaper. When you have this membership, it also knocks down the cost of other add-ons like registered agent services and annual report filings.

If weekend customer service hours are imperative, or you prefer to conduct customer service inquiries through live chat, LegalZoom may be the better fit. Just bear in mind that its premium customer support features are likely to be more expensive than going with a competitor with fewer support options.

Featured LLC service offers

ZenBusiness

Learn More

Via ZenBusiness’ website

Free version available

Yes

Lowest published package price

$199

Live chat

Yes: Human

LegalZoom

Learn More

Via LegalZoom’s website

Free version available

Yes

Lowest published package price

$249

Live chat

Yes

Northwest Registered Agent

Learn More

Via Northwest’s website

Free version available

Lowest published package price

$39

Live chat

Yes

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

In its free plan, Rocket Lawyer offers members free business document templates, ongoing legal support, a well-received mobile app and discounts on add-on services such as registered agent services and access to a network attorney. However, unlike many competitors, it does not offer free registered agent services in its plan, is somewhat expensive compared to other LLC formation services (at $239 per year) and does not offer a free plan for LLC formation services.

For example, ZenBusiness offers free LLC formation services with an annual report and ongoing compliance alerts free for the first year. And, Bizee and Inc Authority offer free registered agent services in their free LLC formation plans.

LegalZoom offers free LLC formation services, which include a free name check and Wix website, legal services in its Pro plan and a 60-day guarantee that either refunds your money or replaces the product with a satisfactory one.

However, its add-ons can be expensive. It also does not offer free registered agent services for the first year like many competitors do and its free plan has few features compared to some competitors’ free plans. For example, Bizee’s free LLC formation plan includes free registered agent services for one year, and after the first year, its registered agent services are $119 per year compared to LegalZoom’s $249 per year.

Some LLC formation services offer deals and features LegalZoom does not. For example:

Bizee offers a free LLC formation plan with free registered agent services for one year. This same plan at LegalZoom is $249 for one year.
Inc Authority also offers a free LLC formation plan with free registered agent services for the first year. In addition, it offers a free state and federal tax planning consultation and business credit and funding analysis with this plan, features that cost extra at LegalZoom.
Active Filings has a free LLC formation plan that includes one year of registered agent services, a free annual report and ongoing filing deadline alerts to help you stay compliant.