LegalZoom vs. Tailor Brands

Are you looking to form a new limited liability company (LLC), but you’re not sure which of the many formation services can best assist you? Companies like Tailor Brands and LegalZoom can do the heavy lifting for you, but how do you know which one you should use? In this Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom LLC service comparison, we’ll walk through their main commonalities and differences.

LegalZoom vs. Tailor Brands key differences

LegalZoom and Tailor Brands are both good LLC formation services, and either one of them can form a compliant entity. However, LegalZoom has a few advantages, starting with its strong customer feedback reputation. LegalZoom has thousands of mostly positive customer reviews available online, whereas Tailor Brands has more of a mixed bag.

Another important difference is that LegalZoom has a 100% satisfaction guarantee (it’s nearly identical to ours at ZenBusiness), while Tailor Brands has a much less forgiving refund policy. If you would like to learn more about these two service providers, read on to discover all the relevant details.

5 Things They Have in Common

1) Affordable: Tailor Brands and LegalZoom can save you hundreds of dollars over hiring a traditional business attorney to draft and file your Articles of Organization. Furthermore, given the relatively basic nature of the LLC as a business structure, you may not need a lawyer’s expertise in the first place.

2) Customer Support: Even though you’ll be saving a considerable amount of money, you still won’t be going it alone. With LegalZoom and Tailor Brands, you have access to their helpful customer service reps who can answer your questions. No need to waste time trying to find the answers for yourself.

3) Experience: If you prefer to conduct business with experienced companies, look no further. Tailor Brands and LegalZoom have each formed thousands of businesses over the years. They’re legitimate operations that know how to get the job done right.

4) Additional Services: If you want other business services like ongoing compliance assistance or an operating agreement template, Tailor Brands and LegalZoom can help you with much more than just your formation itself. There’s no need to shop around at multiple companies when you can get everything you need under one roof.

5) Educational: Looking for more info about business services before you buy? Still thinking about the do-it-yourself route? Whether or not you end up using Tailor Brands or LegalZoom for LLC service, their online blogs and learning centers are packed with free information about tons of business topics.

LegalZoom vs. Tailor Brands Comparisons

Pricing

LegalZoom: While LegalZoom does offer a $0 (+ state fee) LLC package, the number of upsells can get overwhelming — and expensive. Its $249 Pro package adds an operating agreement template, EIN acquisition, and a business licensing guide, while its Premium package for $299 adds attorney guidance with your LLC formation. It costs $249 per year to add registered agent service.

Tailor Brands: Tailor Brands offers a $0 (+ state fee) LLC service package that only includes the basics of company formation. Its $199 Essential plan adds ongoing compliance assistance and an operating agreement template, while its $249 Elite package adds a website-building tool and some branding features.

Experience

LegalZoom: LegalZoom has formed more than 2 million businesses and served 4+ million customers since it was launched in 2001.

Tailor Brands: Tailor Brands was launched by three entrepreneurs in 2015 and is headquartered in New York City. On its website, Tailor Brands says it has served more than 50 million customers, although it doesn’t note how many businesses it has formed.

Customer Support

LegalZoom: LegalZoom offers phone and email support. We reached out twice via the email form on their site, but it took them a full week to respond. The response we received was generic, thanking us for reaching out but not answering our question.

When we contacted them via phone, our question was answered thoroughly. The representative went into detail about our different options and then sent us an email with their direct extension so that we could reach out directly with questions. Overall, while their customer service via phone is good, their online support could be improved.

Tailor Brands: You can reach Tailor Brands by phone or email. You can also submit help requests using the contact form on its website. In our experience, their reps are helpful and courteous, and we haven’t waited too long to hear back from them. However, we couldn’t find any information about Tailor Brands’ hours of operation.

Turnaround Times

LegalZoom: Their turnarounds are based on which package you order rather than which state you’re forming in. With their most expensive package, you could receive your finalized business formation documents in 7-10 business days, but their cheaper packages take as long as 30 business days (six weeks).

Tailor Brands: With Tailor Brands, turnaround times depend on two things. First, each state has its own timelines for processing LLC formation paperwork. Secondly, Tailor Brands takes around 14 business days to file documents for Basic customers, while purchasers of its premium packages get a two-business-day processing speed.

Customer Reviews

LegalZoom: We found 6,000+ reviews for LegalZoom, and while they do have some negative reviews mixed in, a majority of this feedback is positive. Their satisfied customers often talk about how convenient and easy it is to use LegalZoom’s services.

Tailor Brands: While Tailor Brands receives decent customer feedback, with a 3.8 out of 5 average score out of nearly 4,000 reviews on Trustpilot, there are some undesirable trends in its reviews as well. For instance, while 66% of its reviews are perfect scores, 24% of Tailor Brands’ reviews are one-star clunkers.

Ease of Use

LegalZoom: First, you’ll pick your business entity type (LLC, corporation, nonprofit) and which of LegalZoom’s three packages you’d like to purchase. From there, you fill out your business information and payment details over a series of screens that also include upsells for registered agent service, an operating agreement, an EIN, a license research package, ongoing compliance assistance, a tax consultation, ongoing legal guidance, standard or complex tax returns, a legal protection plan, two options for business bank accounts, expedited processing, and an LLC kit and seal.

Tailor Brands: Tailor Brands makes the LLC formation process fairly simple. First, you’ll choose your entity type and your state. Then, you’ll walk through several screens where Tailor Brands invites you to purchase add-on services. You’ll then choose your package, provide some basic information about yourself and your business, and submit your order.

Additional Services

With either Tailor Brands or LegalZoom, you have access to a selection of additional services that can help you grow and maintain your business. As you might expect, these companies offer many of the same services, as either can help you with ongoing compliance assistance, operating agreement templates, registered agent service, and more.

However, there are also some services that are only available from one company or the other. For instance, LegalZoom provides its customers with a broad selection of personal services (like estate plans, wills, and more), which are features that Tailor Brands lacks. However, Tailor Brands has more options for business branding tools than LegalZoom.

Which is the better LLC service?

Tailor Brands and LegalZoom have many similarities in the way they provide LLC service, but they also differ in a few key ways. Furthermore, depending on your specific needs and priorities, your preference may vary.

If you’re not yet decided between Tailor Brands and LegalZoom, let’s review a couple of scenarios that may sway you in one direction or the other.

Choose Tailor Brands if:

If you want a free LLC formation service package from a company with lots of advanced branding and logo tools, Tailor Brands could be worth a look. In general, they’re a good LegalZoom alternative.

Choose LegalZoom if:

If you’re looking for low prices from a company with a strong customer feedback reputation and a massive client volume, LegalZoom might be a good choice for LLC service.

🎉 Choose ZenBusiness if:

If you’d like to form your LLC for free (+ state fees), we’re an excellent choice. We also have a higher volume of positive customer reviews than either LegalZoom or Tailor Brands. Form your LLC quickly and get more tools to start your dream business.