Incfile / Bizee Review for Landlords (2026): The Cheapest Way to Form a Rental LLC?
- Is Bizee's $0 LLC formation really free? Yes — Bizee's service fee for Basic is $0; you pay only your state's filing fee, which no company can waive. The checkout offers paid extras (EIN, operating agreement, expedited filing), and the registered agent…
- Is Bizee (Incfile) legitimate? Yes. Operating since 2004 with 1M+ customers and 4.6–4.8-star ratings across major review platforms. Complaints center on support speed, refund difficulty, and confusion over state fees — not failed filings. It is a…
- How much does the registered agent cost after the free year? Published figures vary (roughly $119–$149/year as of 2026 reviews) — confirm the current renewal rate before you buy and set a calendar reminder. Even at renewal it undercuts LegalZoom's $249/year, but dedicated…
Incfile / Bizee Review for Landlords (2026): The Cheapest Way to Form a Rental LLC?
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If you Googled "Incfile review" recently, you may have landed on a company that no longer exists by that name. Incfile rebranded as Bizee in 2023 — same company, same $0 formation pitch. Every "Bizee" here is the company formerly known as Incfile: founded 2004, now claiming 1M+ business customers.
The question for landlords is narrower than "is Bizee good?" It is: is this the cheapest legitimate way to put your rental property into an LLC — and what do you sacrifice versus LegalZoom or Rocket Lawyer? This review answers that from a landlord's perspective — current 2026 pricing, the fine print, and honest comparisons.
Not legal advice: This article reviews a business-formation service; it is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Bizee is a legal services company, not a law firm. Whether you need an LLC at all — and how to structure it — is covered in our should-you-put-your-rental-property-in-an-LLC guide; when in doubt, talk to a licensed attorney in your state.
The short answer
Bizee is the cheapest name-brand way to form a rental property LLC. Its Basic tier is genuinely free of service fees — you pay only your state's filing fee — and it includes a full year of registered agent service, a business tax consultation, and lifetime compliance alerts. For a landlord who knows they want an LLC and just needs the paperwork filed correctly, nothing from the major brands undercuts it.
The trade: Bizee is a formation company, not a legal company. Unlike Rocket Lawyer, it offers no attorney Q&A subscription and no ongoing legal document library. Its checkout leans on add-ons (EIN, operating agreement, expedited filing) that add up fast if you're not disciplined, and the registered agent renews at a mid-tier price after year one. It also won't help you decide whether an LLC is right for your situation — start with our best LLC structure guide for landlords for that.
The landlord sweet spot: you have 1–10 rental units, you have already decided to form an LLC, and you want the filing done right for minimum spend. The tables below show exactly what to buy — and what to skip.
Bizee pricing tiers in 2026 (verified September 2026)
Bizee sells three packages. Prices below are Bizee's service fee — your state's filing fee is always separate and goes to the state, not Bizee.
| Package | Bizee's fee | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $0 | Articles of organization prepared and filed, unlimited business name searches, registered agent free for 1 year, 1-hour business tax consultation, lifetime compliance alerts, online dashboard |
| Standard | $199 | Everything in Basic, plus EIN filing, operating agreement, banking resolution, IRS Form 2553 (S-corp election), unlimited phone and email support |
| Premium | $299 | Everything in Standard, plus expedited filing, business domain name and email (1 year), business contract templates, business phone number (1 year) |
A few honest notes on the table:
- The $0 Basic plan is real. Bizee pioneered the free-formation model. You still pay the state fee, and you'll see offers for paid extras — but the core filing costs nothing beyond the state. Reviewers consistently confirm no hidden formation charges.
- Standard is mostly about the EIN and operating agreement. An EIN add-on runs ~$70 and an operating agreement ~$99 à la carte, so $199 roughly equals the separate prices with the other extras thrown in.
- Premium is for speed and setup. Expedited filing and the domain/email/phone bundle matter if the LLC must be live before a closing date. Forming calmly between purchases, Premium is usually overkill.
- Prices change. These are published tiers as of September 2026. Confirm before you pay — and read the checkout carefully, because that is where add-ons pile up.
What's actually free vs. what's upsold
Bizee's model: the formation is free, the extras are where the money is. Here is the full inventory so nothing surprises you at checkout:
Free with Basic ($0):
- Formation document preparation and filing (Articles of Organization for an LLC)
- Unlimited business name availability searches
- Registered agent service — first year free, renews at roughly $119–$149/year after that depending on current pricing (verify at checkout)
- 1-hour business tax consultation
- Lifetime company alerts for compliance deadlines (annual reports, etc.)
- Online dashboard for your documents
Paid add-ons (buy à la carte or get them in Standard/Premium):
- EIN / federal tax ID filing: ~$70 standalone — included in Standard and Premium
- Operating agreement: ~$99 standalone — included in Standard and Premium
- Expedited filing: ~$50 standalone — included in Premium
- Business contract templates: ~$150 standalone — included in Premium
- Annual report filing, virtual address, trademark filing, foreign qualification: available as add-ons
The honest framing: nothing on this list is a scam; they are all real services with real list prices. Decide before checkout which ones you need and decline the rest — the free tax consult and compliance alerts are genuinely rare at this price.
What landlords specifically need (and what they don't)
A rental LLC is not a startup. Most landlords need exactly four things from a formation service, ranked by importance:
1. The filing itself. Articles of Organization submitted to the correct state, correctly. This is what Bizee does best and cheapest.
2. An EIN. You need a federal tax ID to open a business bank account — and keeping rent money separate is non-negotiable for clean landlord bookkeeping. The IRS issues EINs free online in about 15 minutes, so Bizee's ~$70 is a convenience fee, not a necessity.
3. An operating agreement — even for a single-member LLC. It defines ownership, profit distribution, and management authority; courts and banks treat a signed agreement as evidence the LLC is a real separate business, not your alter ego. For rental owners, it is arguably more important than the filing itself.
4. A registered agent. If you invest out of state — or don't want your home address on public filings — you need one. Bizee's first year free is solid; just calendar the renewal so the year-two price doesn't surprise you.
What most landlords don't need: expedited filing (your LLC has no product launch date), the domain/email/phone bundle (your rental LLC is not a brand), or the business contract templates (your lease templates come from elsewhere).
The foreign-qualification trap: if you live in one state and own rentals in another, you generally must register (foreign-qualify) the LLC in the property's state too — plus a registered agent there. An LLC formed in a cheap-filing state doesn't cover rentals in another state. Budget both sides before comparing "free" offers.
Bizee vs. Rocket Lawyer: formation specialist vs. legal subscription
These two companies sell fundamentally different things, which makes the comparison straightforward.
Rocket Lawyer is a legal subscription: attorney-drafted document library, e-signing, and an Ask-an-Attorney service for a monthly or annual membership. It offers LLC formation filing and operating agreement templates, but formation is one spoke of a legal-services wheel — the ongoing value is documents, counsel, and registered-agent discounts while you're a member. New users typically get a free trial to test the document builder first, and annual plans work out cheaper than month-to-month.
Bizee is a formation specialist: the cheapest LLC filing among the major brands, a free registered-agent year, and compliance alerts — but no attorney access and no document library beyond Premium's templates. As NerdWallet notes, unlike its competitors Bizee offers no subscription service for ongoing direct legal advice.
When Rocket Lawyer wins: you want more than a filing. If you also need a state-specific lease, eviction notices, and the ability to ask an attorney "can I charge this fee in my state?" a few times a year, the subscription covers jobs Bizee never touches. One avoided lawsuit pays for years of membership. Our full Rocket Lawyer review breaks down the plans.
When Bizee wins: the LLC is the whole job. If your leases come from your state apartment association and attorney questions are rare, paying for a legal subscription to get a filing done is backwards — form with Bizee for $0, then buy legal help à la carte if you ever need it.
Check Rocket Lawyer's current plans — free trial available to test the document builder before paying.
Bizee vs. LegalZoom: the two $0 formation offers, compared honestly
This is the comparison most landlords actually run, because both advertise free LLC formation. The differences are in year two and at checkout:
| Factor | Bizee | LegalZoom |
|---|---|---|
| Basic formation fee | $0 | $0 |
| Registered agent, year 1 | Free | Not included |
| Registered agent renewal | ~$119–$149/yr (verify current pricing) | $249/yr — highest in the industry |
| EIN + operating agreement | $199 tier (Standard) | Included in the $249 Pro tier |
| Attorney access | None — no legal subscription offered | Business Attorney Plan with unlimited 30-minute consults |
| Document library | Contract templates in $299 Premium only | Large template library; individual forms ~$59 |
| Checkout experience | Add-on offers, but a 10-minute straightforward flow | Famous for aggressive upsells |
| Customer ratings | 4.6–4.8 stars across review platforms; 4.7 on Trustpilot (18,000+ reviews) | Large brand, mixed reviews driven by the upsell experience |
The honest math: Bizee Standard ($199) plus year-one free registered agent is $199 plus your state fee. LegalZoom Pro ($249) plus a year of its registered agent ($249) is roughly $500 plus your state fee — more than double, for the identical legal result. The premium buys the LegalZoom brand and the one-stop interface. If you want attorney consultations on retainer, LegalZoom's Business Attorney Plan is the strongest reason to pay up; Bizee simply has no answer to it. Our full LegalZoom review covers the attorney plan.
Explore LegalZoom's current plans if you want formation plus ongoing attorney access from one vendor.
Where Bizee fits in the landlord legal stack
Step back from the feature tables. A rental business has three recurring legal costs:
1. Formation (one-time, per entity): Bizee wins on price. Full stop.
2. Paperwork (leases, notices, renewals — recurring): your state apartment association's lease package or a service like Rocket Lawyer usually beats both.
3. Counsel (questions and disputes — unpredictable): Bizee has no product here; a legal plan or local landlord-tenant attorney covers it.
The landlord-optimized stack: form with Bizee ($0–$199), get lease templates from the best source for your state, and keep a legal plan or attorney relationship for questions. Buying all three from one company is a convenience play, not a value play — our best LLC formation services roundup makes the same point with full comparisons.
Pros and cons, landlord-weighted
Pros
- Cheapest legitimate formation among the major brands — $0 Basic is real, not bait
- Registered agent free for the full first year (competitors mostly exclude it)
- Free 1-hour tax consultation and lifetime compliance alerts — useful for tracking annual-report deadlines
- Fast, straightforward checkout — reviewers call it a 10-minute process
- No subscription lock-in: nothing auto-renews except the registered agent
- 4.6–4.8 star ratings across 164,000+ reviewers; responsive to complaints
- Founded 2004, 1M+ customers — not a fly-by-night operation
Cons
- No attorney access of any kind — no legal plan, no Q&A subscription
- Add-ons are pricey vs. DIY (EIN is free from the IRS; ~$70 here is pure convenience)
- Customer support is a weak spot: slow, hard-to-reach, difficult refunds
- Registered agent renewal (~$119–$149/yr) is mid-tier, not cheap — calendar it
- Some reviews mention cancellation friction and a cancellation fee on certain services
- Upsell-heavy checkout (milder than LegalZoom's, but still there)
Who should use Bizee — and who shouldn't
Use Bizee if: you have decided to form a rental LLC and want it done right for minimum cost; your EIN comes free from the IRS or bundled in Standard; your leases and legal questions are handled elsewhere; you invest in one state and need one filing, not a multi-state structure.
Don't use Bizee if: you want a lawyer you can call (get Rocket Lawyer or LegalZoom's attorney plan instead); you haven't decided whether an LLC is right for you yet (read should you put your rental in an LLC and the LLC vs. S-corp comparison first — forming an entity you don't need is the most expensive mistake here); or you need formation plus foreign qualification across several states and want one advisor coordinating it (a local business attorney earns their fee there).
FAQ
Is Bizee's $0 LLC formation really free?
Yes — Bizee's service fee for Basic is $0; you pay only your state's filing fee, which no company can waive. The checkout offers paid extras (EIN, operating agreement, expedited filing), and the registered agent renews at a paid rate after year one. Skip the extras and the formation itself costs nothing beyond the state fee.
Is Bizee (Incfile) legitimate?
Yes. Operating since 2004 with 1M+ customers and 4.6–4.8-star ratings across major review platforms. Complaints center on support speed, refund difficulty, and confusion over state fees — not failed filings. It is a services company, not a law firm, so it can't give legal advice; for entity-structure questions, consult an attorney.
How much does the registered agent cost after the free year?
Published figures vary (roughly $119–$149/year as of 2026 reviews) — confirm the current renewal rate before you buy and set a calendar reminder. Even at renewal it undercuts LegalZoom's $249/year, but dedicated registered-agent specialists sometimes beat Bizee's renewal price, so shop it at year one.
Can I use Bizee if my rentals are in a different state than I live in?
Yes, but budget for foreign qualification in the property's state — your home-state LLC doesn't cover out-of-state rentals, and you'll need a registered agent in each state. Bizee sells foreign qualification as an add-on.
Form your LLC with Rocket Lawyer if you want the legal subscription alongside the filing — or form your rental property LLC with LegalZoom for the brand-name one-stop option.
The bottom line
Bizee — the company formerly known as Incfile — is exactly what it advertises: the cheapest legitimate way to form an LLC, from a 20-year-old company with a million customers and strong reviews. For landlords who need a rental property LLC filed correctly and nothing more, the $0 Basic plan (or $199 Standard if you want the EIN and operating agreement bundled) is the value play in 2026.
It is not a legal advisor or a lease provider, and it can't decide whether you need an LLC in the first place. Know what you need before checkout, decline the add-ons you don't, calendar the registered-agent renewal — and you get the identical legal result as the premium brands for a fraction of the price. For the full landscape, see our best LLC formation services for landlords and best LLC formation guide.