Northwest Registered Agent review

Key takeaways

• Price: $39 plus the state fee, one package, with the first year of registered agent service included.
• From year two: $125 a year for the agent ($100 per state for five or more), a price Northwest says it hasn't raised in 20 years.
• Privacy: Northwest's address goes on your filings by default, and its privacy policy says it never sells customer data.
• Watch out for: automatic enrollment in a $100 plus state fee annual report service, charged about 90 days before your deadline.
• Reputation: BBB A (not accredited), 4.7 from 1,881 Google reviews, but 4.1 on Trustpilot with about 28% one-star reviews.
• Who it suits: home-based owners and anyone who'll keep a paid agent for years.

Northwest at a glance

What the $39 LLC package includes

Northwest sells one LLC package instead of tiers. Here's what its own pages say the $39 covers, and what costs extra.

Every formation path we saw bundles Northwest as your registered agent. Northwest doesn't publish a price for forming with them and using someone else as agent.

Registered agent service and mail limits

Agent service is $125 a year after the free first year, or $100 a year per state once you have five or more states. It auto-renews; Northwest says it sends an invoice about a year in and that you can cancel "anytime in your portal with no fee." Switching to Northwest is free: it files the change and pays the state fee.

• Legal and state mail: scanned the day it arrives at the local office, with an alert to you and a follow-up if important mail goes unread. You can opt in to have legal notices emailed to your attorney.
• Regular business mail: a small number of free scans per year, then $15 per document. Northwest's pages disagree on the number: some say 10 a year, others say 5.
• A cap in the fine print: the terms say agent service "includes up to 15 legal documents per year," while the agent page promises "no hidden fees or per document charges." Most small LLCs never get close to 15 legal documents, but the two statements don't match.
• Packages: "generally refused or held 14 days."

The annual report auto-enrollment

This is the single most common complaint we found, so it gets its own section. Northwest's annual report page says: "When you sign up for our registered agent services, you'll automatically be enrolled in our renewal service. You'll be charged when we file your annual report." The fee is $100 plus the state fee, charged to your card about 90 days before your state's deadline.

Some owners like this: their LLC never falls out of good standing. Others only notice when the charge lands. In Wyoming, for example, one owner was confused by a $163 invoice that turned out to be Northwest's $100 plus the state's $63. If you want to file yourself for the state fee only, cancel the renewal service from the Services tab in your account right after you sign up. Northwest says it takes a few clicks and no phone call.

"They just decided to opt the organization in without consent for $125 charge"

r/llc, May 2025. Northwest's official account replied: "We're sorry for this error-- we're updating our systems to make filings easier and messed this up for you."

Every Northwest add-on price

We couldn't find published Northwest prices for expedited filing, a general DBA, dissolution or amendments; it offers free form templates for some of those. California fictitious business names are $125 plus county fees. If you have a Social Security number, skip the $50 EIN and apply free with the IRS.

The free domain, website, email and phone line

Northwest pitches these as free for as long as you're a customer, not as a first-year trial. The limits are in the details: the domain is covered up to $25 a year with a 60-day transfer lock, free hosting is 250 MB, and the free email plan is one inbox. They're handy for a placeholder site. Customers are less kind about them than about anything else Northwest sells. A Northwest-voiced reply on Reddit agreed with a customer that "the website builder is total shit," and BBB complaints in 2026 involved a domain transfer that disrupted email and a free domain that wasn't held.

How fast Northwest files, and what checkout looks like

Northwest advertises same-day processing, qualified as "same-day in many states" because "some states have their own processing times we can't speed up." Final approval depends on the state.

We walked the checkout for Texas, Delaware and New York up to the account step. The steps are Formation, Company Name, Account and Payment. The order summary said "Renews at $125/yr" in plain sight, and the only upsell we saw, an EIN filing for $50 or $200, was not pre-ticked.

New York's checkout showed $205 against the state's $200 filing fee. New York also requires newspaper publication, which Northwest estimates at about $1,000 in New York City and about $100 in Albany using its address. See our New York guide.

Refunds and the terms you agree to

Northwest's terms page is short and written in plain English. The parts that matter most, quoted directly:

"Purchases are generally non-refundable after 90 days (state fees never refundable)."

"You may cancel services anytime in your portal with no fee (past-due balances remain)."

"Compliance Service is included with registered agent service and billed via auto-pay; invoices issued 90 days before due dates."

• Inside 90 days: the terms don't say. Customers report that refunds of agent service come only after you've appointed a new agent with the state, and one non-US customer was offered a refund only as a check mailed to a US address.
• Disputes: Washington law, a one-year deadline, and Northwest may choose individual arbitration (no class actions).
• Liability: limited to what you paid in the prior 12 months.
• Marketing: you consent to service and promotional calls, texts and emails.
• Guarantees: "Guaranteed On-Time Filing" for annual reports, and a partner page promises free amendments if Northwest makes an error. No general money-back guarantee for formation was published.

Privacy by Default

Privacy is the main reason people pick Northwest. It lists its own address on your public filings wherever the state allows, signs as organizer so your name isn't needed there, and leaves optional name and address fields blank. Its privacy policy says: "We never sell personal information or data to marketing firms, use it for cross-context behavioral advertising, targeted advertising, or profiling." It asks for a Social Security number only if you buy the EIN service, and it says it erases BOI report data after filing.

Privacy has limits Northwest can't remove. Some states require a member, manager or principal address on the record. Northwest addresses can't be used to verify a Google Business Profile, and Wolters Kluwer (a competitor) notes the default may complicate opening a business bank account.

What Northwest doesn't do

• Give legal advice ("We are not a law firm or fiduciary"), except through Law on Call in Utah and Arizona.
• Prepare taxes or handle IRS questions. Its own guides call IRS and business license questions "tricky."
• File business licenses. It publishes guides only.
• Include an EIN, expedited state processing or annual report filings in the $39 price.
• Accept large packages, or act as your return address.
• Offer mail forwarding or a virtual office in every state (24 states are listed).
• Keep scanned mail forever. Originals are shredded after 50 days.

What customers say about Northwest

The pattern is "love it or hate it." On Trustpilot, about 64% of reviews are five stars and about 28% are one star, with little in between. Trustpilot notes Northwest hasn't recently used its invitation system, and Northwest replies to 96% of negative reviews. Many five-star reviews name a rep right after a phone call, which suggests reps ask happy customers directly.

The BBB grades Northwest A (it isn't accredited) and lists 37 complaints in three years, 10 in the last 12 months. Most end as "answered" rather than "resolved." Recent examples: an Illinois filing with the wrong county and the owner's home address, an annual report that wasn't filed, $413 in renewal charges the customer couldn't match to invoices, and a refund sent to a closed bank account.

What people praise

• Real people on the phone. The most common praise by far, often naming the rep.
• Upfront pricing. No pre-ticked add-ons and a renewal price that hasn't moved.
• Privacy. Northwest's address on filings and no data selling.
• Non-US owners served, including Wyoming LLCs owned from abroad.

"Customer service is top tier. I talked directly to a person (which surprised me)"

Trustpilot, featured review

What people complain about

We sorted about 75 recent items (Trustpilot, BBB complaints and reviews, Reddit and forum posts). These counts show direction, not statistics.

"They try to ridiculously charge you $15 per piece of mail received to Open or Forward."

BBB one-star review, July 2026

What Reddit says about Northwest

Northwest is the service Reddit recommends most for LLCs, and that deserves a careful read. Across 23 threads from 2022 to 2026, about 9 leaned positive, about 9 negative and the rest neutral. Some of the praise isn't neutral: users point out affiliate links in top comments, a few "advice" replies include referral links, and Northwest runs disclosed staff accounts and its own subreddit. The complaints, on the other hand, are specific and consistent.

"Legit, and I believe better than most other services. Main reason for this is their pricing."

r/llc, February 2025

"The top comments on some of the threads are very clearly affiliate links"

r/llc, October 2024, the original poster of the same thread

"extremely slow to respond to emails (sometimes over a week) and are rarely reachable by phone"

r/llc, February 2025

"They told me that they cannot cancel my services and submit a refund request until I change my registered agent on the state website."

r/llc, October 2024

"It's $125/year per state. If you scale to 50 states, you're paying $6k a year just for a mailbox."

r/Business_Ideas, March 2026

"they're low-key, reliable, and don't nickel-and-dime you like some of the others"

r/llc_life, July 2025

What other review sites say

Editorial reviewers are consistently positive on price, privacy and phone support. Almost all earn affiliate fees from Northwest, as we do. NerdWallet is the only big outlet we found that marks it down for customer sentiment. Several Business.com articles about Northwest are labeled as sponsored by Northwest, so we don't count them.

Is Northwest Registered Agent legit?

Yes. It's a long-running company that files real paperwork, holds a BBB A rating, and has close to 1,900 Google reviews averaging 4.7. We found no FTC or state attorney general action against it and no data breach. The court cases we found were dismissed or named Northwest only as someone else's registered agent.

The Registered Agents Inc. connection

Northwest doesn't explain who owns it. Public records point to a close relationship with Registered Agents Inc., a firm founded by Dan Keen:

• A 2012 Northwest customer notice, archived on Google Groups, is signed "Dan Keen - owner."
• Northwest's press releases on GlobeNewswire are issued under the source name "Registered Agents Inc."
• The BBB lists a Northwest location at 30 N. Gould St. in Sheridan, Wyoming, the same building ICIJ identifies as Registered Agents Inc.'s Sheridan office.

Registered Agents Inc. has drawn critical reporting. Reuters (December 2023) found it represented Wyoming LLCs linked to cyberattacks. WIRED (March 2024) reported former employees' claims that it formed companies using made-up officer names, which the company called "outdated and patently wrong." ICIJ reported that more than 266,000 companies used the Sheridan address. None of that reporting accuses Northwest of mistreating its own customers. It's context for anyone who cares about who's behind their agent. In 2026 the Wyoming Secretary of State began audits of commercial registered agents at that address; we found no published result.

Who should use Northwest

How to use Northwest without surprises

1. Check that the package you're shown is the $39 one with everything listed above.
2. Leave the EIN box unticked if you have an SSN, and apply free with the IRS.
3. Decide on the annual report service on day one. Keep it if you want hands-off filing; cancel it under Services if you'll file yourself.
4. Note your renewal date. The $125 agent fee comes due about a year after formation.
5. If you leave, appoint your new agent with the state first, then cancel in your portal.

What Northwest costs in your state

Your year-one bill is Northwest's $39 plus the state filing fee. State fees on our site run from $35 in Montana to $520 in Massachusetts.

See LLC costs for all 50 states and DC.