We have never been a Northwest Registered Agent customer. Our own LLC went through Bizee in 2024, and we’re not going to form a second company just to write a review. So this Northwest Registered Agent review rests on what Northwest publishes: its prices, its terms of service and its cancellation page, all read in September 2026. Where that falls short of a hands-on test, we say so.
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The short verdict
Northwest is a good fit if you want your home address off the public record and a registered agent bill that stays low year after year. At $125 a year once the free first year is over, it had the cheapest renewal of the four services in our best LLC service guide.
It’s a weaker fit if you want the EIN and everything else in one order, or if you need to know how long the filing will take. Northwest doesn’t include the EIN, and we couldn’t find a turnaround time on its US LLC pages.
Is Northwest Registered Agent legit?
Yes, in the plain sense. It’s a real company based in Spokane, Washington, it acts as registered agent in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and it publishes its prices and terms where anyone can read them. The $39 is the actual package price, not a teaser that doubles at checkout.
So legitimacy isn’t really the question. The questions are what you pay after year one, what the free extras actually cover, and what happens if you leave. Those are the next sections.
What the $39 LLC package includes
Northwest sells one LLC package at $39 plus your state’s filing fee. There are no tiers to compare. When we checked, it covered:
- filing your articles of organization with the state
- the first year of registered agent service
- an operating agreement
- Northwest’s business address to use on your public filings
- a domain name, a basic website, a business email and a phone line
The EIN isn’t in there. Northwest charges $50 for it if you have a Social Security number and $200 if you don’t. With an SSN, you can also get one yourself from the IRS for free, online, in a few minutes during IRS hours. Our Bizee Standard package included the EIN, which is part of why it cost more on day one.
State fees come on top and vary a lot. Northwest’s own page quotes a range from $40 in Kentucky to $500 in Massachusetts. Our LLC cost by state page has the figures for the states we cover.
Northwest Registered Agent cost from year two
The registered agent is where formation services make their money, because your LLC needs one for as long as it exists. Northwest’s registered agent page lists the service at $125 a year per state, dropping to $100 per state if you have five or more.
For comparison, Bizee, which is still our agent, lists $149 a year. ZenBusiness and LegalZoom were at $199 and $249 when we checked.
Two years with Northwest as your agent and no extras comes to $39 plus $125, so $164 before state fees. Add the EIN and it’s $214 with an SSN or $364 without one. That’s still cheap. The monthly add-ons in the next section are what can change the math.
Mail, privacy and the “free” business address
Privacy is Northwest’s main selling point, and it’s the part of the offer worth reading closely. When Northwest is your agent, its address goes on your public filings, so a search of the state’s business database shows Northwest’s office, not your house. The company calls this Privacy by Default and says it never sells client data.
Legal documents, meaning the lawsuits and state notices a registered agent exists to receive, are scanned at the office where they arrive and uploaded to your account. Ordinary business mail is another story. Northwest’s business address page says the free address covers up to five pieces of mail a year. Past that, you need Mail Forwarding at $20 a month, offered only in some states, or the Virtual Office at $29 a month.
Five letters a year is plenty for an LLC that only hears from the state and the IRS. If you plan to put that address on invoices, your bank account and your website, you’ll blow through five quickly, and $20 to $29 a month is $240 to $348 a year on top of the agent fee. Decide which address your customers and your bank will use before you order.
The annual report service
Northwest also sells an annual report service at $100 plus the state fee. Once you’re signed up, it charges the card on file about 90 days before your state’s deadline.
That’s useful if you know you’ll forget. It’s also $100 a year for a form most states let you file online in ten minutes. If you’d rather do it yourself, put the deadline in your calendar the day the LLC is approved. Our state guides, like the one for Wyoming, give each state’s due date and fee.
How long the filing takes
We didn’t find a turnaround time on Northwest’s US LLC pages. Two things decide the wait: how fast the service submits your paperwork, and how long the state then takes to approve it. The second part is out of every service’s hands.
If a bank appointment or a first contract depends on the LLC existing by a certain date, ask Northwest before you pay. For what it’s worth, our Bizee order in 2024 took a little over 30 days from checkout to having everything in hand, without paying to expedite.
Cancelling, and the clause worth knowing
On paper, cancelling is easy. Northwest’s termination page says you can cancel any time from the client portal, with no cancellation fee, though you still owe any past-due balance.
Two other lines on that page matter more. If you cancel part of a discounted bundle, you may owe the regular, non-discounted price for what’s left. And once service ends, Northwest stops forwarding legal documents and may remove itself as your agent, while saying it won’t file anything to do so. In its own words, that “could put your company(s) in default.”
So the order matters. Before you cancel, file a change of registered agent with the state and check that the new agent shows on the record. Cancel after that, not before.
We found no refund clause in the terms of service (updated August 2026) or on the termination page (updated November 2025). That isn’t the same as a no-refund policy, but nothing in writing promises one. ZenBusiness and LegalZoom both publish a 60-day refund window on formation orders, so if a refund matters to you, ask Northwest first. Its terms also cap its liability at what you paid it over the previous 12 months.
If you live outside the US
Northwest will form an LLC for a non-resident and act as its agent, and it sells an EIN service for owners without an SSN at $200. Its own guide explains that this route goes through Form SS-4 by fax or mail and repeats the IRS advice to allow four to five weeks. That’s the IRS’s timetable, and it’s the same whichever service you use. Our guide for non-US residents covers the whole path.
One thing no package files for you by default: a foreign-owned single-member LLC owes Form 5472 every year, even with no income, and missing it costs $25,000.
Northwest or Bizee?
We can only compare these two from different angles: Bizee as paying customers, Northwest from its published terms. With that caveat, the choice is fairly clear.
Pick Bizee if you want the EIN and the operating agreement in one order and you’d like someone to email when a state letter looks alarming. Our Standard order was $199 plus the state fee, support answered in under an hour every time, and the agent renews at $149 a year. The details are in our Bizee review.
Pick Northwest if keeping your address private matters most and you’d rather pay less every year after the first. Budget for the EIN separately, or get it free from the IRS yourself.
Who Northwest suits, and who it doesn’t
Northwest suits you if you run the business from home and don’t want that address in a public database, if you’re comfortable getting the EIN on your own, and if the LLC won’t get much mail.
It’s the wrong pick if you want everything, EIN included, in one package with a known timeline, or if you plan to route all your business mail through the agent’s address, where the five-piece limit starts costing money.
And if you have an address in the state you’re forming in and don’t mind it on the public record, you might not need an agent service at all. You can act as your own registered agent, as our registered agent guide explains.
FAQ
Is Northwest Registered Agent legit?
Yes. It’s a Spokane, Washington company that acts as registered agent in all 50 states, and it publishes its prices and terms. The things to check are the cost after year one, the mail limits and the cancellation terms.
How much does Northwest Registered Agent charge per year?
$125 a year per state, or $100 per state from five states up, when we checked in September 2026. The first year is included when Northwest forms your LLC for $39.
Is Northwest better than LegalZoom?
It’s cheaper. LegalZoom’s registered agent was $249 a year against Northwest’s $125. LegalZoom’s Pro and Premium packages add attorney consultations, which Northwest’s package doesn’t list. If you don’t need a lawyer on call, Northwest costs less every year.
Does Northwest include an EIN?
No. It’s $50 with a Social Security number and $200 without one. With an SSN, the IRS gives you one for free online.
Can I cancel Northwest at any time?
Yes, from the client portal, with no cancellation fee. Appoint a new registered agent with the state first, because Northwest stops forwarding documents once your service ends.
