LegalZoom vs. Rocket Lawyer (2023 Comparison): Who’s Better?

Jump to The Winning Service

LegalZoom is one of the older and more respected online LLC formation services out there. However, that doesn’t mean that the more fresh-faced company of Rocket Lawyer isn’t an option to consider.

Many business owners may be confused by the many packages and services offered by these companies, so let’s try and clear these up. We are going to put these companies head to head and see which one offers a better service. Let’s get started.

Our 5 Criteria to Evaluate Both Companies

In order to see whether LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer offers the better service, we are going to need some criteria to compare the two. Here are the five criteria we are going to use to measure these contenders.

Price and Features: Obviously, one of the first things anyone is concerned about when they are considering a service is how much does it cost. We are going to consider this, but in order to understand the value each company offers, we need to look at the features they offer as well. Between the two companies, there are multiple packages to consider, and this makes it a little less straightforward, but we will take a look at each of their packages and see what price, features, and value each offer.
Customer Support: Often times when forming a new business or upgrading an old one, problems will arise. When this happens, it is important for your LLC formation service to be there to help. We will take a look at what support you can expect from these formation services and whether they will be there when you need them.
Ease of Use: When you are paying an LLC formation service to do the filing for you, naturally, you expect them to make the process easy. We will take a look at the ease of use you can expect when forming an LLC with these companies.
Turnaround Time: We get it; you are a business owner or likely soon will be, and time is valuable. You need to get your LLC filed and get back to work. This makes turnaround time an important part of the overall service. LLC formation services vary a lot in how quickly they get the work done, and packages often offer different return times. We will take a look at each of these and which can get your company filed the fastest.
Customer Reviews: Looking at what a company offers on paper is one thing but often, going through it is a very different experience. So let’s take a look at what customers who have already tried these services have to say about them.

Now we have our comparison points all set up. Let’s use them and see how these companies measure up.

Use our special promo and start an LLC today with Rocket Lawyer & get top-notch support! Quick Set up & no headache.

Visit RocketLawyer

Get an LLC today with LegalZoom – an old and well-known company.

Visit LegalZoom

Quick LegalZoom & Rocket Lawyer Comparison

Not everyone has the time to go into depth, considering which LLC formation service they are going to use. We get it; business owners are busy! That’s why we have a quick comparison to let you see how these companies do without all the details.

Price and Features

Rocket Lawyer charges $99 for their incorporation package; however, they also offer a one-week free trial for their membership service you can cancel at any time. If all you want is to incorporate your business, then this is an option.

LegalZoom has three packages to choose from, all with different pricing. Since any of these packages will allow you a basic incorporation option, let’s compare the cheapest. This option charges $79 and provides a very basic incorporation option without any frills.

This one is tough because the incorporation package for Rocket Lawyer costs a little more. However, due to the free trial, we are going to have to give this one to Rocket Lawyer, which offers several other benefits during the trial period.

The Winner: RocketLawyer

Customer Service

Both Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom offer large customer support departments and many different ways to contact them for support. Both companies have pages that offer solutions to common problems and explain common business issues.

Additionally, both LLC formation services offer support through several channels, including live chat, email, and phone calls.

However, LegalZoom does offer better customer service hours than Rocket Lawyer, so we have to give this one to LegalZoom.

The Winner: LegalZoom

Ease of Use

LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer both offer an extremely easy to perform formation process. Generally, both offer a formation process that should take less than twenty minutes to complete. Both also provide a convenient user interface for after formation to manage your business. So, we are going to have to call this a tie.

The Winner: It’s a tie!

Turnaround Times

Rocket Lawyer’s turnaround time varies considerably based on state processing times though their general estimate is between 2-4 weeks; however, they do offer a rush filing option. LegalZoom offers different filing times based on the level of package purchased.

LegalZoom’s economy package generally takes about 30 days, and their fastest takes 7-10. Turnaround times clearly can vary between these two options, but due to the faster turnaround times from Rocket Lawyer based on the initial package, we are going to call it for them.

The Winner: RocketLawyer

Customer Reviews

LegalZoom has a vast number of online reviews, both positive and negative. Unfortunately, the positive only slightly outweigh the negative.

Rocket Lawyer, likewise, has thousands of reviews available online, but they do not have many negative. With a clearly superior record of reviews, we have to give the win to Rocket Lawyer here.

The Winner: RocketLawyer

– Quick Overall Winner –

By scoring 3 out of 5 wins — the overall winner is RocketLawyer.

$99 (or 1-week FREE trial)

Go to RocketLawyer.com

Rating: 4.3/5
Review count: 2333+

Form an LLC today with RocketLawyer starting from $99 + state fees. They have a great customer satisfaction rating and over 2333+ verified reviews.

Extended Comparison:

Price and Features: LegalZoom vs. Rocket Lawyer

Price and features are likely the most important things you are looking for when you compare these two companies. Rocket Lawyer offers one membership plan with a seven-day free trial or an option to simply pay for LLC formation without a membership.

LegalZoom offers three-tiered levels of membership with different levels of benefits. So, let’s take a look at what these two options have to offer, starting with a side-by-side option of LegalZoom’s starting package vs. Rocket Lawyers membership plan.

Side By Side Snapshot

	Rocket Lawyer	LegalZoom
Time To Process	14-28 Business Days	30 Business Days
Includes Operating Agreement	Yes: Templates are available to fill out.	No: Costs an extra $99 or for expedited processing $199
Includes Registered Agent Service	No: costs an extra $111.99	No: Costs an extra $299
Includes EIN Filing	No: Costs an extra $59.99	No: Costs an extra $60 and has to be purchased alongside an operating agreement for a total of $159
Legal Advisory Service	Yes	No

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket lawyer offers their LLC formation services with or without a $39.99 membership. With a membership, including the seven-day free trial of membership, the first LLC formation is free, and registered agent service will be 25% off. After the first formation, every subsequent LLC formation will be 25% off.

However, without a membership, the cost of formation will be $99, and registered agent services will be $149.

LegalZoom

LegalZoom offers three tiers of packages, including Economy, Standard, and Express Gold. This starts with the Economy package, which costs $79 plus state filing fees. This package offers a 30 business day turnaround time. It also offers features including business filing, a business name check, an LLC guide advising on next steps to take, and filing of the articles of organization.

LegalZoom’s Standard package has a price tag of $329 plus state filing fees. The turnaround time is faster than the economy and is estimated at 15 days and places your order in priority above those who purchase the economy package. This package offers everything contained in the economy package plus their deluxe organizer and 20 membership certificates, and company seals.

The Express Gold package costs $349 plus state filing fees. This package has a turnaround time of 7-10 days. This includes everything from previous packages, rush processing prioritizing your order above all the previous categories, and express shipping for your order.

Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom have very different ways of pricing their products. Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom both have a monthly subscription package and some services available for individual purchase.

LegalZoom offers their first package at a lower price than Rocket Lawyer’s purchase option but significantly more than Rocket Lawyer’s monthly membership option.

But, though both are fairly affordable options, we are going to have to call this for Rocket Lawyer. This is both because their monthly package is more affordable than LegalZoom for very similar features and because of their free trial option that can be canceled immediately.

The Verdict: Rocket Lawyer Wins

Customer Service: LegalZoom vs. Rocket Lawyer

Customer service between these two companies is generally likely to be positive. After all, both support large customer service departments, and both have received vast numbers of positive reviews. But, quality does still vary, so let’s take a look at what both have to offer.

LegalZoom

You can contact LegalZoom’s customer support by live online chat, phone call, and email on weekdays from 7 am to 9 pm CST and on weekends from 9 am to 6 pm CST. For general questions, LegalZoom has an FAQ, and when it is needed, LegalZoom has a generally quite responsive support center.

Rocket Lawyer

With Rocket Lawyer, you can expect all of the same options for support but with fewer hours. Rocket Lawyer does have a dedicated page on its website offering customer support topics ranging from technical questions and membership to how to begin your business and form contracts.

You can instantly request help through their chat feature or contact a representative for support through email or phone at 1(877) 881-0947. However, Rocket Lawyers’ customer support hours are from 8 am to 8 pm CST and only weekdays. Unfortunately, this means there are fewer opportunities to get in contact with Rocket Lawyer for support.

Rocket Lawyer divides their support department into specialized departments with particular knowledge. This allows them to give very knowledgeable answers relating to particular topics, but it can take a bit longer to figure out the answer if it isn’t plain what department it belongs to. It can be particularly difficult to figure it out if your question does not pertain to only one department.

Rocket Lawyer offers a very qualified customer service team, and if you are looking for a service that can answer complex customer service questions, they should be your choice.

However, LegalZoom wins this one firstly because of their longer customer service hours. Their support team can also generally answer basic questions faster than Rocket Lawyer. So, we have to give this one to LegalZoom.

The Verdict: LegalZoom Wins

Ease of Use: LegalZoom vs. Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer and LegalZoom are both exceptionally easy to use and among the easiest to use out there. It makes it very difficult to choose which of these services offers the easier to use platform.

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer offers an extremely simple step-by-step process to form you’re LLC. They also offer help with all the questions every step of the way. They have an easy-to-access dashboard to help you manage your business even after it’s formed.

They also have an easy selection of common forms you may need to run your business. Whereas most other services would charge extra for making it simple for you to print out important contracts and file documents.

LegalZoom

LegalZoom offers incredibly straightforward questions and walks the user through them in order to help them understand the process. Like Rocket Lawyer, they also have a dashboard for running your business once you’re done.

Like their competitor, LegalZoom also offers a helpful collection of articles to help you learn more about LLC formation and learn the answers to many state-specific business questions. You can also learn more about how to form and even run your LLC once it is formed.

Both of these LLC formation services offer an extremely easy-to-use service that makes it simple to get your LLC filed. Both offer a lot of information about forming and running your business.

What Rocket Lawyer loses in not having an extra collection of business articles they definitely make up for in their collection of handy documents. The user interfaces are very easy to use on both of these companies, and we are going to have to call this one a tie.

The Verdict: It’s a Tie!

Turnaround Times: LegalZoom vs. Rocket Lawyer

When you’re forming your LLC, you’re probably anxious to get the job done quickly. This is quite possibly why you would use an LLC formation service in the first place.

By letting an LLC formation service form your LLC, you can save yourself a lot of work and time as well. These services have a great deal of experience forming LLCs and dealing with the states.

LLC formation services know the reasons filings are rejected and how to avoid them. This is why many experienced business owners choose to have LLC formation services do the filing for them.

But, the time it takes can vary depending on the service you choose. The processing time varies for different reasons. There is the time it takes the company to process the order before sending it to your chosen state. Then, there is the time it takes for the state to process the order. Also, some companies have faster turnaround times for more expensive orders.

Other factors that affect turnaround time are whether the company offers expedited processing or whether your state of formation offers rush processing. It’s always best to check the policy for turnaround times before choosing an LLC formation service. We looked at the processing times for both LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer to see who tends to get the job done faster.

LegalZoom

LegalZoom divides their filing speed and estimated turnaround time based on the package you choose. This means that their lower-priced packages will be prioritized internally below those who choose more expensive options.

Unfortunately, LegalZoom’s general estimated turnaround times are fairly long. LegalZoom’s Economy package estimates a 30 business day turnaround time. The Standard package estimates a 15 business day turnaround time. Finally, the Express Gold package offers a 7-10 business day turnaround time.

LegalZoom does not offer rush filing options outside of their higher-priced packages.

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer provides only one package with speed estimated at 2-4 weeks which is better than LegalZoom’s cheapest option, however not as fast as their most expensive. Rocket Lawyer does, however, offer a rush filing option in some states.

This rush filing option will increase the state filing fee but will generally result in reducing the time it takes the state to process your documents. This can be an advantage to some customers who are in a hurry but do not need other frills.

LegalZoom estimates a fairly fast filing time for their highest-priced package, but this is a large increase in price, whereas their cheapest option is a very long time to wait to get your business started.

Rush filing wins this one both for their better starting time to file and for their offering of a rush filing option. This can allow customers who aren’t in a big hurry to get their business going without too long a wait and customers in a hurry to get fast filing without wasting money on a more expensive package with things they don’t need.

The Verdict: Rocket Lawyer Wins

Customer Reviews: LegalZoom vs. Rocket Lawyer

Customer reviews are a good way to see what kind of service these companies provided actual customers with. Through this, we can see whether or not customers are generally satisfied with the companies services. However, perhaps more importantly, we can also look at what customers believe the strengths and weaknesses of these companies are. So, let’s take a look at what former customers think of these companies.

LegalZoom

LegalZoom gets 4.1 stars out of 5 on Trustpilot. 67% of people that reviewed| LegalZoom rated it as excellent, and 26% of people rated it as bad. LegalZoom replied to approximately 65% of their negative reviews. This is an adequate score, and many customers seem happy with their experience. Customers seem to be happy with how professional and knowledgeable the customer service agents are. However, the customers also complained about the turnaround time for services.

LegalZoom gets an A rating from the Better Business Bureau and 4.22 stars out of 5 from their customer reviews. They are not a Better Business Bureau accredited business. But, they do get a good rating and mainly good customer reviews.

Positive Review

“*LegalZoom made the process very easy and quick. Whenever I needed help there was someone on the chat waiting to get back to me with an answer. I would recommend LegalZoom every time!*“

Negative Review

“I cannot encourage you enough to avoid this service. If I have learned two things in the operation of my business, it is not to use LegalZoom and BOA. In the case of LegalZoom, their customer service is remarkably shoddy and clearly designed to prevent you from ever making use of it. They routinely charged me for products I never asked for and made it nearly impossible to get a refund. Their phone service asks you to let them call you back. After waiting two hours for a return call, I was put on hold for another 30 minutes. WHAT?! JUST CALL ME BACK LATER. Truly astonishing. Avoid. like. the. plague.“

Rocket Lawyer

Rocket Lawyer gets 4.7 stars on Trustpilot. 81% of the people who reviewed Rocket Lawyer on Trustpilot rated it as excellent. Only 4% of people rated it as bad. Additionally, Rocket Lawyer replied to 96% of their negative reviews. This is a very good score, which seems to indicate that most people are happy with Rocket Lawyer’s services. Customer reviews indicate that people are impressed with the customer service along with how easy the site is to use.

Rocket Lawyer gets an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and 4.4 stars out of 5 from their customer reviews. They are also a Better Business Bureau accredited business.

Positive Review

“Love you guys!! Easy to use! Found everything I needed and you made it worth my while to stay connected for a small fee, to have access to everything I may need in the future! Quick, accurate for my State, and binding! I wish all Law services were this inexpensive and easy!! Thank you! I highly recommend you! I will be back!!“

Negative Review

“*Be very careful of this service. If you try and use it as a one off service. It ties you into a monthly fee making it anything other than a one off service.*“

Rocket Lawyer gets a better customer review rating from Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau, and with 81% percent of the people reviewing them on Trustpilot giving them a rating of excellent compared to the 65% who give LegalZoom a rating of excellent, Rocket Lawyer wins this category.

The Verdict: Rocket Lawyer Wins

Final Thoughts

LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer both offer respected service that will get your LLC formed without all the hassle. But, we came here to figure out which offers the better overall service, and it is plain to see based on our criteria.

Rocket Lawyer won three out of five of the criteria we set forth. Overall, Rocket Lawyer provides more features for the price, better turnaround time, and significantly better reviews from their former customers. So, though you can be sure LegalZoom will get your LLC formed, we have to give Rocket Lawyer the victory here as the better overall LLC formation service.

Use our special promo and start an LLC today with Rocket Lawyer & get top-notch support! Quick Set up & no headache.

Visit RocketLawyer

Get an LLC today with LegalZoom – an old and well-known company.

Visit LegalZoom