Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom: Which is best in 2024? (2024)

Starting a new business can be daunting, especially without help. That’s where company formation services like Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom come in. They can help you get set up and even provide ongoing support as you grow your business.

Your job is to make the best decision you can for your business. Our job is to do the research and provide the information you need to do that. That’s why we did a thorough comparison of Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom, putting them through their paces by looking at how much they cost, how easy they are to use and what actual users think about them. Let’s take a look at what we found.

Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom snapshot

Plan pricing

Rocket Lawyer pricing

Rocket Lawyer’s pricing is a little unique. It doesn’t have typical “filing plans” like other company formation providers. To file for a new business, you’ll have to select one of its RocketLegal plans. If you go with the monthly RocketLegal plan, you’ll pay $39.99 for the subscription and an additional $99.99 to file for your business. The RocketLegal plan includes unlimited consultations with an attorney on new items.

If you choose the annual RocketLegal+ plan for $239.88, then your business filing is free (plus state fees). The other perk of the RocketLegal+ plan is that you get half off any of Rocket Lawyer’s other services, including a registered agent, trademark filing, tax preparation and attorney help. Also, you get up to six free legal document reviews by an attorney.

If you need ongoing access to legal templates and e-signature services, then the RocketLegal+ membership is a no-brainer. You’ll get your business filing for free and have lots of other resources at your fingertips should you need them, including attorney support.

Services that are often included in other providers’ paid filing plans — like getting a federal employer identification number (EIN) — are additional charges with Rocket Lawyer.

LegalZoom pricing

LegalZoom’s Basic plan doesn’t have a service fee for LLC filing. You pay only your state’s filing fees, so it essentially costs the same as if you’d filed on your own. However, if you’re filing for a partnership or corporation, expect to pay at least $149. Nonprofit filing starts at $99. LegalZoom’s LLC and corporation filing plans all include a complimentary business website using WIX, but partnership and nonprofit plans don’t.

If you decide to go with one of LegalZoom’s paid plans, you’ll get some add-ons, including legal templates, help with your operating agreement and federal EIN tax ID filing, phone support and consultations with tax and business insurance specialists.

If you upgrade to LegalZoom’s Premium plan, the perks really kick in, including access to an experienced attorney for 30 days. Sessions are 30 minutes max, making them perfect for specific legal advice or to review critical documents/contracts.

For other business structures (corporations, nonprofits, partnerships), paid plans don’t add much, except expedited processing and a little quicker delivery of completed filing documents.

Using LegalZoom’s Basic plan to file for an LLC makes a lot of sense. You avoid the hassle of dealing with the state without paying any extra fees. The Premium plan can be a great fit for startups that need legal support. In contrast, the Pro plan falls a little flat, costing $250 more than the Basic plan but only adding a few services that can be found elsewhere for cheaper. Unless you are really pressed for time, just use the Economy package for corporation, partnership and nonprofit filings.

Verdict: Rocket Lawyer is cheaper for ongoing legal services but LegalZoom is cheaper for filing

If you want to file to form a business that you know will need ongoing legal templates and services, Rocket Lawyer is your best bet. Its RocketLegal+ plan is around half the annual cost of LegalZoom’s legal plan and includes unlimited attorney consultations on new matters and up to six legal document reviews per year. But, if you’re looking to file for your business as cheaply as possible, LegalZoom’s Basic plan is a solid choice.

A la carte business formation services and cost

Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom offer a variety of business formation services, both in their plans and as a la carte options. Let’s take a look at what’s offered and how much each service costs.

Rocket Lawyer business formation services

Rocket Lawyer offers several business formation services, including:

• Federal EIN filing
• DBA name assistance
• Legal services
• Business license search
• Operating agreement template
• Trademark filing
• Free contract and legal templates

All in all, Rocket Lawyer offers a robust set of business formation services, even helping with things like publication, which many company formation service companies don’t help with.

Note: Arizona, Nebraska and New York require new LLCs and corporations to publish a notice of their formation in local newspapers, which is known as publication. For more info on publication, check out our article on LLC costs.

LegalZoom business formation services

LegalZoom’s suite of business formation services is impressive. Here are a few examples:

• Registered agent
• Federal EIN filing
• Dba name assistance
• Business license search
• Operating agreement generation
• Business name reservation
• Legal services
• Free contract and legal templates

The provider offers many core business formation services, both as part of its paid plans and as a la carte options. It can help with business name reservation, which Rocket Lawyer can’t, but it doesn’t have the functionality to help with publication services.

Additionally, LegalZoom, like Rocket Lawyer, offers legal support along with its other business formation services. This is a big value-add for startups that have more complex formation situations. For example, if you’re patenting a new process or product, then it’s critical to get legal support upfront. Or, if you have investors, using a business attorney to make sure that all the terms of the investments and profit sharing are spelled out in the operating agreement will save major headaches down the road.

Verdict: Rocket Lawyer has the edge on quantity of services but LegalZoom is more cost-effective for everything other than legal services

Rocket Lawyer has a slight edge on the quantity of business formation services offered. However, many are quite expensive compared to other providers, making LegalZoom the more cost-effective choice. The one exception to this is that Rocket Lawyer’s legal plan is cheaper than LegalZoom’s legal plan.

Processing time

Processing time for filing applications fluctuates based on how quickly the provider processes your application and how fast the state runs it through its system. Sometimes, the state has a backlog of applications, which can slow down processing speeds. Let’s look at Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom to see how they compare.

Note: Processing time estimates for LegalZoom don’t include the time it takes for the state to file the application.

Rocket Lawyer processing time

Rocket Lawyer advises customers to expect at least one to three weeks for most applications to process. Unlike many other company formation providers, Rocket Lawyer doesn’t offer any kind of expedited filing option.

LegalZoom processing time

LegalZoom’s processing time averages from five to 14 business days for its LLC plans. For a $99 upcharge, LegalZoom will expedite your application, processing its portion of the paperwork in one business day (doesn’t include state processing time).

If you are filing to form a corporation, the filing will process in one to two business days if you expedite it. For partnerships, the average is seven to 10 business days for an expedited application. LegalZoom isn’t as clear for nonprofits — there is an expedited option but no specific timeline is given.

Expedited filing is included for free for corporations, nonprofits and partnerships if you get the Express Gold plan. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay the upcharge just like with an LLC.

Verdict: LegalZoom’s expedited filing option gives it the edge

For standard processing, Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom are pretty similar, with both taking several weeks to process. However, LegalZoom does offer an expedited filing option for $99, which gives it an advantage over Rocket Lawyer.

Ease of use

For a service to be truly helpful for business owners, it needs to be relatively easy to use. That’s why we put Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom to the test, going through the setup process and checking out user dashboards for both providers.

Note: In this Rocket Lawyer vs. LegalZoom comparison, we ran through the setup process for each provider but didn’t actually submit our filings.

Rocket Lawyer ease of use

Rocket Lawyer’s business registration process is pretty straightforward. You simply click through pages, add your business info when asked and select which add-ons you want as you go along. Let’s get into it.

Rocket Lawyer’s sign-up process

To start Rocket Lawyer’s process, you’ll navigate to its Start a business page. You put in your desired business name and then hit the orange “Get started” button.

You’ll then go through a series of pages where you enter general business info, like your address, desired business structure and the general nature of your business.

After you’ve filled out your info, you’ll be guided through pages asking what service add-ons you want. If you don’t want the add-on, you simply select the “I’ll do it myself” box and hit the orange “Continue” button.

After navigating through several of those pages, you’ll run into this page, which asks which RocketLegal membership you want to sign up for. You have to choose one of the options to move forward.

Note: If you have questions at any time, you can always click on the “Questions?” button at the bottom right of the page for support.

Once you make your selection, you’ll be taken to a review page. Be sure to look everything over and make any necessary changes to your business info or add-on selections. You can click the little notepad/writing stylus icon at the top right of the section to go back and make changes.

On the last page, you’ll see all your charges clearly spelled out. You’ll then input your credit card information for payment.

Rocket Lawyer dashboard

Rocket Lawyer’s dashboard is among the simplest we’ve reviewed; everything is pretty straightforward and self-explanatory. On the main dashboard page, you can see your in-progress orders and filings at the bottom of the page.

The Make documents tab is where you can select legal templates and edit them to fit your business needs. If you need e-signatures, that’s what the Sign documents tab is for. You can upload existing documents to the Add documents tab, which functions as a hub for whatever documents you want to maintain digitally.

If you want Rocket Lawyer to help you with your taxes, you input all your information and manage that from the Taxes page. The Start a business tab routes you back to the main page on the site where you started the filing process. The Home tab does the same, rerouting you to Rocket Lawyer’s main page.

The Ask a lawyer tab is one to get familiar with, as it’s where you can ask your questions to qualified business attorneys.

Last but not least, the Explore tab is a great one to check out. Rocket Lawyer has a lot of good resources on this page related to startups and legal support, which are helpful when you’re getting started.

Rocket Lawyer is pretty basic, but the sign-up process is smooth and the dashboard is easy to use and navigate.

LegalZoom ease of use

We ran through LegalZoom’s sign-up process using a few different business structures. In addition, we filled out a few templates and clicked around the dashboard to make sure we had a good feel for what we were dealing with.

LegalZoom’s sign-up process

Whether filing for an LLC, corporation, partnership or nonprofit, LegalZoom has a similar sign-up process. It’s laid out page by page. You click through, inputting your business information and selecting add-ons along the way. Here’s the first page you’ll see if you’re starting an LLC:

Different pages have different fields, some required and some optional. For example, on the second page of the sign-up process, you can enter your phone and email address, but it’s not required to proceed.

Once you have filled out your basic info, you move into the additional services section of the process. This is where it’s critical to examine the fine print. For example, the page below explains how LegalZoom can help with ongoing reporting requirements, but it isn’t immediately clear that the service costs extra. You have to look at the “View terms” section to see that it’s an upcharge of $199/year for the Total Compliance package.

That’s why we recommend clicking on all smaller text that says anything like “More info” or “View terms.” It will keep you from signing up for something accidentally.

The second to last page is the review page, which allows you to review all your selections and make any final edits or changes.

One thing that is nice about LegalZoom is how easy it is to edit your information. All you have to do is click on the orange edit link to the left of the service to navigate to that section and make the changes you need.

LegalZoom dashboard

LegalZoom’s dashboard isn’t complicated. The Home tab is where you can see your most recent business activity, and the other tabs are relatively straightforward.

One tab we recommend learning your way around is the Compliance tab. This is the best place to keep an eye on essential business requirements like annual reports, business license renewals and other important notices.

In the Documents tab, you can manage business documents such as invoice templates, contracts, legal forms and much more. This is also where you’ll manage e-signatures if your plan supports that feature.

The Legal tab is the spot where you can set up appointments with attorneys — if you have the Premium plan or subscribe separately to one of LegalZoom’s legal plans. And lastly, the Virtual mail tab is where you can see your business mail if you use LegalZoom’s virtual mailbox service.

Verdict: Rocket Lawyer’s sign-up process and dashboard are simpler and more streamlined

LegalZoom’s sign-up process and dashboard aren’t difficult or complicated. But, they are a little clunkier than Rocket Lawyer’s and don’t do as good of a job highlighting how much add-ons will cost. Rocket Lawyer is very transparent throughout, keeping things simple and a breeze to navigate.

Customer support

Both Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom provide phone, chat and email support. We contacted both companies using all available support channels. Here’s what we discovered.

Rocket Lawyer customer support

• Times available: Monday-Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT
• Phone: (877) 881-0947
• Email: support@rocketlawyer.com
• Chat is also available

Rocket Lawyer has phone, chat and email support available Monday through Friday.

From what we noticed, Rocket Lawyer likes to defer many questions from chat to its phone support sales team. So, if you prefer talking on the phone, Rocket Lawyer is a good fit. The phone representatives we talked to were very knowledgeable and helpful.

While Rocket Lawyer advertises and technically offers chat support, in our experience there are often no live agents available. Several times, we did connect with a live agent who was able to answer our questions. But other times, we were either told to call the sales team or there just wasn’t an agent available, and the chatbot said we would receive a reply to our question via email.

Rocket Lawyer’s email support team is supposed to respond to requests in one to two business days. From our experience, that is a bit ambitious, as it took at least two days for most of our requests to be addressed. And, in several emails, questions we asked weren’t answered adequately or overlooked entirely when we did get a response.

LegalZoom customer support

• Times available: Monday-Friday, 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT, Saturday and Sunday 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT
• Phone: (855) 787-1922 (sales), (888) 379-0854 (support), (888) 310-0151 (cancel subscription)
• Email: No clear support address
• Chat is also available

Although LegalZoom does have phone, chat and email support, phone support is only available to customers who shell out for the Pro or Premium plan. And, it’s hard to nail down the correct number to call, as LegalZoom has different numbers advertised in different places. And, the number to cancel is yet another number altogether, buried deep in the fine print.

Our experience with LegalZoom’s customer support was fine, but not stellar. When we called phone support, our question was resolved quickly. But, there isn’t any clear advertised support email address anywhere on the site that we could find. Eventually, we got an email address for a specific support agent via chat. When we emailed that address, they emailed back within five minutes and answered our question.

LegalZoom’s chat support is a bit complicated. If you aren’t signed in but want to chat with a support agent, the chatbot shuts down the chat window and gives you a phone number. To chat with a support agent, you need to be signed into your account. However, you can chat with a sales agent at any time via chat. Two of our experiences were helpful, and we got the answers we needed. The other two were much more difficult; we felt like we were the ones working to clarify the information and get the right answer, instead of the other way around.

Verdict: LegalZoom is quicker to respond than Rocket Lawyer

Although we had good and bad support experiences with both providers, LegalZoom was, on average, the quicker of the two providers to respond. And, LegalZoom’s chat support is actually available when it says it will be, unlike Rocket Lawyer’s, which was rarely available. We recommend using phone support when possible as that seems to be the best way to get quick and reliable answers from both providers.

User reviews

Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom have thousands of reviewers who have rated their services. There are many review sites out there, but the only two that have significant enough reviews to compare are the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Trustpilot. We also checked mobile app reviews on the App Store (iOS) and the Play Store (Android).

Rocket Lawyer user reviews

At the time of reporting, Rocket Lawyer was just shy of a 4.6-star rating on the BBB with over 330 customer reviews. On Trustpilot, it has a 4.7-star rating with over 7,000 reviews. Its app has a 4.9-star rating on the App Store (iOS) with over 8,400 reviews and a 4.8-star rating on the Play Store (Android) with over 6,200 reviews.

LegalZoom user reviews

LegalZoom has high marks with both the BBB and Trustpilot, coming in at 4.6 stars from the BBB (6,300 plus reviews) and 4.5 stars from Trustpilot (over 3,300 reviews). LegalZoom used to have an Android app but it has been discontinued. LegalZoom’s iOS app, available on the App Store, is rated at 4.4 stars with over 1,300 reviews.

Verdict: Rocket Lawyer is rated slightly higher than LegalZoom

Although both Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom have good reviews, Rocket Lawyer has the advantage. On the BBB, both companies are deadlocked at a 4.6-star rating. But on Trustpilot and the App Store, Rocket Lawyer shines a bit brighter than LegalZoom.

Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom provide startups with multiple kinds of support

What sets Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom apart from many other company formation providers is their ability to offer multiple types of support to startups. They not only help you file but also provide access to legal services that could prove critical to structuring your business correctly for growth and sustainability.

When should you choose Rocket Lawyer?

Rocket Lawyer’s strength is in its ease of use. If you anticipate routinely needing legal forms, electronic document signing and the occasional bit of legal advice, Rocket Lawyer could be a great fit. You can file to form your business, store your documents online, access legal templates and have attorney support in your back pocket if you need it.

When should you choose LegalZoom?

First and foremost, if you are looking for free filing (not including state fees), LegalZoom is the way to go. It’s also a solid option for startups that want flexibility and lower commitment. And, last but not least, if you need quick filing or are filing to form a partnership, LegalZoom is your best bet.