About the bench
About The Startup Judge
The Startup Judge is a small publication that gives first-time founders a plain ruling on filing services, one state at a time: whom to hire to form the LLC, whom to appoint as registered agent and whom to use when the company registers in another state.
What The Startup Judge covers
Each state gets three rankings (registered agents, LLC formation and foreign registration), and each ranked provider gets its own ruling. Pages begin with the answer, then set out three-year charges and the state's own requirements.
Who writes the rulings
The Startup Judge is written and kept current by its editorial team. It is not a law firm, and no page here is legal or tax advice.
How the site is funded
The Startup Judge is reader-supported. We may earn money when you buy through links on this page, and the companies we rank are our partners. Prices come from each company's own pages and official state sources.
The method in short
A single method underlies every ruling, set out on How we rank.