What a registered agent does, and what you are actually paying for
Francis Webb, Founder, 1 Day EIN LLC
Every US LLC is required by its state to have a registered agent. It is one of the least understood line items in company ownership — and one of the most variably priced. The identical statutory role sells for anything from $50 to $299 a year, and at the top of that range it is rarely explained what the money buys.
This page explains the legal function from the statutes of the two states we form in, Wyoming and Colorado, and then separates the three things bundled under "registered agent" pricing so you can see which of them you are actually paying for.
The legal function, from the statute
A registered agent is the person or company designated to receive service of process — lawsuits — and official state correspondence on behalf of your LLC, at a physical address in the state, during business hours.
Wyoming: every business entity must maintain a registered agent and a registered office "located at a street address in Wyoming which shall be a physical location" — W.S. 17-28-101. The agent can be an individual of at least 18 who is a Wyoming resident, a business entity, or a commercial registered agent serving ten or more entities. Agents must also maintain an email address the Secretary of State can use to serve documents.
Colorado: every domestic entity on record with the Secretary of State "shall continuously maintain a registered agent" — C.R.S. 7-90-701. The agent can be an individual of 18 or over whose primary residence or usual place of business is in Colorado, or an entity with a usual place of business there. Any filing appointing an agent must confirm the appointee has consented.
Both read 16 September 2026.
That is the whole legal job: exist at a real in-state address, accept legal and state documents, pass them to you, and consent to the role on the public record.
Why it matters more when you are not in the country
For a US resident the agent is mostly a formality — worst case, a process server finds them at home. For a non-US owner the agent is the only legally reliable point of contact your company has inside the United States. If a lawsuit is served and your agent fails to pass it on, a default judgment can be entered against your company without you ever knowing the case existed. If the state sends a compliance notice and nobody forwards it, the first you hear may be that your company has been dissolved — the timelines for that are in what happens when an LLC falls out of good standing.
The agent is also the reason your company cannot simply lapse into anonymity: Wyoming's fee schedule prices reinstating a dissolved company at $100 — but $350 if it has no registered agent (Wyoming SoS fee schedule, read 16 September 2026). The state prices agentlessness as the more expensive problem.
The three things bundled under one price
"Registered agent service" as sold usually contains up to three separable things:
1. The statutory role itself. Receiving service of process and state mail. This is a commodity — the statute defines it identically for every provider, and the cheapest agent and the dearest one perform the same legal function.
2. A usable mailing address. The agent's address is not automatically a business address you can use. Most agents will accept only legal and state documents at it, and several banks will not accept a registered agent address as a company's principal place of business — covered in the banking guide. A real US business address, with mail opened, scanned and delivered to you, is a different service and is usually priced separately.
3. Compliance monitoring. Knowing the annual report deadline, telling you, or filing it for you. Also separable, also often an upsell.
When you compare agent prices, you are comparing which of these three are inside the number.
What the market charges
On the published figures read for our comparison guide on 8 September 2026:
| Provider | Agent renewal, per year | US business address |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Day EIN | $50, address included | Included — mail opened, scanned, delivered to your portal |
| Northwest | $125 | $29/month extra |
| LegalZoom | $249 | $29/month extra |
| doola | inside the $297/yr subscription | included |
| Firstbase | $299, states it includes annual report filing | $35/month or $315/yr extra |
| Clemta | inside the $349/yr subscription | included, 3 scans a year |
Figures as read 8 September 2026 from the pages linked in the comparison guide. Prices move — check before you buy.
Two honest notes on that table. Firstbase's $299 states that it includes filing the annual report, which ours does not — our report filing is a separate service. And Northwest's $125 is a plain agent with nothing bundled, which is a perfectly rational buy if you already have a US address and file your own reports.
And the cheapest agent of all: yourself, for $0. Both statutes allow an individual resident in the state to be their own agent. If you live in Wyoming or Colorado, you do not need to buy this service at all. If you are reading this from outside the United States, that option does not exist for you — which is why this market exists.
What a registered agent does not do
An agent does not make your company compliant, file your taxes, keep your books, give legal advice, or defend the lawsuit it hands you. It is a letterbox with legal standing. Anything sold above the statutory function is one of the other two bundled services — judge it as that.
What we sell, stated plainly
Our registered agent and US business address service is $50 a year from year two (the first year is included in formation), for either Wyoming or Colorado. The address is a real street address; mail is received, opened, scanned and delivered to your document portal. The state annual report is a separate service at $150 including the state's own fee, or everything — agent, address, report and the annual federal filing — is one $350 Compliance Plan renewal. All three prices are on /pricing, which is the single place we publish prices.
This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Statutes and fee schedules were read on 16 September 2026 and are linked above, including the Colorado SoS fee schedule; competitor figures were read 8 September 2026 for the comparison guide. We re-check every figure quarterly; the next check is due 1 December 2026.