Every Florida LLC has to designate a registered agent — a person or company with a Florida street address available during business hours to receive legal documents and official state notices on behalf of the LLC.
You can be your own registered agent. You can also list a friend, your accountant, your attorney, or a commercial service. Most owners use a commercial service for two reasons: privacy (your home address doesn't end up on public record) and compliance (the service is reliably present during business hours).
This guide compares the seven services that account for ~95% of Florida LLC registered agent appointments in 2026.
We're an affiliate of Northwest Registered Agent and ZenBusiness. We earn a commission if you sign up through our links. The recommendation order in this guide is based on our actual analysis — Northwest is the pick for most owners, and we'd say so even without the affiliate relationship.
The summary
| Service | Annual Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Northwest Registered Agent | $125 | Most Florida LLCs |
| Harbor Compliance | $89 | Owners optimizing for lowest cost |
| ZenBusiness | $199 | LLC owners using ZenBusiness for formation |
| Rocket Lawyer | $149 (with subscription) | Owners who want bundled legal templates |
| LegalZoom | $249 | Owners with existing LegalZoom services |
| CT Corporation (Wolters Kluwer) | $300+ | Multi-state enterprise owners |
| Bizee (formerly Incfile) | $119 | Owners using Bizee for formation |
Northwest Registered Agent — the default pick
- Annual price: $125
- First year free when you form your LLC through Northwest's $39 formation service
- Mail scanning: Free, included
- Online dashboard: Yes, with document download
- Customer service: Phone-answered (a rarity in this category)
- Privacy: Doesn't sell your data — explicitly. Most competitors don't make this commitment.
Northwest is the longest-running independent registered agent service (founded 1998) and the most consistent recommendation among Florida small-business attorneys we've spoken with. The $125/year price is mid-market — Harbor Compliance is cheaper, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom are more expensive — but the operational quality is at the top of the category.
What makes them the default:
- The privacy commitment is real. Northwest's "Privacy by Default" policy means they don't sell your information to data brokers. Most competitors do, which is part of why "free" or near-free services exist — they monetize the data.
- Free mail scanning included. Mail addressed to your registered agent gets scanned and uploaded to your dashboard. Competitors charge $20–$50/year extra for this.
- Real human phone support. Call them and a person answers. This sounds basic; it's increasingly rare.
The catch is the price floor — at $125/year, Northwest isn't the cheapest. If you're optimizing strictly for lowest annual cost, Harbor Compliance is $89.
Hire Northwest as your registered agent →
ZenBusiness
- Annual price: $199
- First year: Free with paid formation packages ($199 Pro, $299 Premium)
- Mail scanning: Yes
- Operating agreement template: Included free
ZenBusiness's value comes from the bundle: if you're using ZenBusiness to form your LLC anyway, the registered agent service is rolled into one of their paid formation packages. As a standalone registered agent service, ZenBusiness at $199/year is more expensive than Northwest at $125.
ZenBusiness has a strong reputation for customer service and a clean dashboard. Their operating agreement template is genuinely useful for single-member LLCs. The brand is younger than Northwest's but has scaled fast.
Use ZenBusiness for formation + RA →
Harbor Compliance
- Annual price: $89
- Mail scanning: Yes (limited)
- Operating in: All 50 states
Harbor Compliance is the price leader for owners who want a real commercial service without paying Northwest's premium. At $89/year, you're paying $36/year less than Northwest.
The tradeoffs: Harbor Compliance's customer service is email-first (no phone-answered support on the basic tier), the dashboard is functional but less polished than Northwest's, and the company sells more aggressive upsells in the customer-portal experience.
For owners who don't need bells and whistles and want the lowest price from a real service, Harbor Compliance is fine.
Rocket Lawyer
Annual price: $149/year (Premium subscription required at $39.99/month, which then includes RA service)
Rocket Lawyer bundles registered agent service with a broader legal-templates subscription. If you're already paying for Rocket Lawyer's legal templates, the marginal cost of adding registered agent is reasonable. If you're only buying registered agent, you're paying ~$480/year ($39.99 × 12) to get a $149 service, which is a bad deal.
Skip unless you're already a Rocket Lawyer subscriber.
LegalZoom
Annual price: $249
LegalZoom is the brand-name option. The price is the highest in this comparison, and the service is functionally equivalent to Northwest at half the price. LegalZoom's value comes from cross-selling other legal services (trademarks, contracts, copyright) to existing customers. As a standalone registered agent service, it's overpriced for what you get.
CT Corporation (Wolters Kluwer)
Annual price: $300+
CT Corporation is the choice for multi-state enterprises with 10+ entities and an in-house counsel team. They specialize in compliance management at scale, with strong service-of-process notification systems. For a single-LLC owner, CT is overkill at 2–3× the price of Northwest.
Bizee (formerly Incfile)
Annual price: $119/year (after a free first year if you form your LLC through their free package)
Bizee's hook is "free LLC formation" — you pay $0 + state fees, and the registered agent service is included free for year one. Year two it costs $119/year.
The catch is Bizee's "free" formation package upsells aggressively during checkout, and the registered agent service quality is average. If you want the cheapest first-year experience and you're comfortable shopping around for a different RA service in year two, Bizee is fine. If you want to set it and forget it, Northwest is more reliable.
When to be your own registered agent
It's legal to be your own registered agent in Florida. Two situations where it makes sense:
- You have a permanent Florida business address you don't mind being public. A real commercial location, not your home.
- You're physically present at that address during business hours, predictably.
If both are true, you're saving $89–$300/year and the only meaningful tradeoff is putting your address on public record.
If either isn't true, hire someone.
When to switch registered agents
Switching is straightforward — file a "Statement of Change of Registered Agent" with Sunbiz for $25, and you're done. Most owners switch when:
- Their original "free with formation" first year is ending and the renewal price jumps
- They started as their own agent and want to remove their home address from public records
- Their existing RA is unresponsive or they got hit with a missed notification
Northwest, ZenBusiness, Harbor Compliance, and Bizee all handle the switch paperwork for you as part of their onboarding.
Our pick
For 80% of new Florida LLCs, Northwest Registered Agent is the right call. The $125/year is more than Harbor Compliance's $89, but the customer service quality, the privacy commitment, and the included mail scanning are worth the $36 difference for most owners.
Hire Northwest as your Florida registered agent →
If you want lowest absolute cost: Harbor Compliance. If you're forming through ZenBusiness anyway: stay with ZenBusiness.
Next: the annual report
If your LLC is already formed and active, the next compliance task on your calendar is the Florida Annual Report, due May 1. Read Florida LLC Annual Report: Complete 2026 Filing Guide →