Ohio statutory agent pricing: $49 per business, per year
An Ohio statutory agent costs $49 per business per year with us, renewing at the same price, with no setup fee and no per-scan charges. The Ohio Secretary of State charges its own fees separately: $25 to change agents (Form 521) and $99 to form an LLC. Create your account, add the business, sign the consent, and pay $49 by card; we file the agent appointment for you. Add as many entities as you like. Filings and documents are flat fees, listed below.
- ✓Statutory agent appointment at 3416 Erhart Road, Litchfield
- ✓We prepare and file the appointment or agent change with the Ohio Secretary of State after you e-sign
- ✓Same-business-day scanning and publishing
- ✓Email and text notifications to unlimited authorized contacts
- ✓Phone escalation for unacknowledged urgent documents
- ✓Original storage: seven years for service of process, three years for state and tax correspondence, 30 days for routine mail
- ✓Owner, employee, and attorney roles with per-entity permissions
- ✓Full audit trail on every document
- ✓No per-document, per-page, per-contact, or forwarding fees
- ✓Filing guides for every common Ohio state form
Paid by card at sign-up through our payment processor, Stripe. Renews yearly at the same price.
Filings and documents, flat fee
Our fee only. State and IRS fees are shown beside each item and paid separately. All services →
Passed through at cost
No handling fee and no markup. The carrier's charge is shown in your portal before you approve the shipment. Scans, notifications, storage, and roles are all included.
Several entities
Each business is its own yearly card subscription with its own receipt, so costs are easy to pass through to clients. Same price for every entity.
Good to know
- Renewal is a service renewal, not a state deadline. You'll see the date in your portal and get an email before we charge.
- Cancel any time. Billing and workspace access end with the period; your appointment stays active until a new agent is filed, and documents already received remain available to you.
- We file your agent appointment. When an existing business switches to us, the Ohio Secretary of State charges $25 to record the change; we confirm that fee with you before we file.
- Ready to sign up? Hire us as your Ohio statutory agent.
- Comparing agents? See the best Ohio registered agents compared.
- Questions before you start? Send us a message or call (877) 908-6122.
What does the $49 Ohio registered agent price include?
$49 a year is the whole price of our Ohio statutory agent service for one business. There is one plan. Every LLC, corporation, nonprofit, and out-of-state entity we serve gets the same thing, and nothing on the list above is held back for a higher tier because there is no higher tier.
That one payment covers our name and street address on your state record at 3416 Erhart Road in Litchfield, the work of preparing and filing your appointment with the Ohio Secretary of State after you e-sign, and every document that arrives for the business during the year. Each one is scanned and published to your portal the same business day, and every contact you authorize is notified. Service of process escalates to a phone call if nobody acknowledges it. The full list, the three signup steps, and the order button are on our Ohio registered agent service page.
Some costs other agents break out are simply part of the plan here:
- Scans of every page, every document, all year
- Notifications to as many authorized contacts as you want
- Owner, employee, and attorney portal roles
- Storage of originals: service of process for seven years, state and tax correspondence for three years, routine mail for 30 days
If you are pricing Ohio statutory agent service, count those items. A low headline rate with a fee per scan, per forwarded envelope, or per extra user can cost more by the end of the year than one flat number. Our guide to the best registered agent in Ohio lines up seven services on price and renewal.
What does the Ohio Secretary of State charge?
State fees are not our fees, so we never fold them into $49 and never mark them up. They are set by Ohio Revised Code 111.16 and paid to the Ohio Secretary of State. When a filing we prepare carries a state fee, we tell you the amount before we file, and it appears as its own line.
| Ohio filing | State fee | Statute |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of Organization, Ohio LLC | $99 | ORC 111.16(F) |
| Articles of Incorporation (up to 990 shares, or nonprofit) | $99 | ORC 111.16(A) |
| Registration of a foreign (out-of-state) LLC | $99 | ORC 111.16(F) |
| License of a foreign corporation | $99 | ORC 111.16(I)(1) |
| Statutory Agent Update, Form 521 (change of agent or agent address) | $25 | ORC 111.16(R)(1) |
| Name reservation | $39 | ORC 111.16(S)(1) |
| Trade name or fictitious name registration | $39 | ORC 111.16(S)(2) |
| Renewal of a trade name or name reservation | $25 | ORC 111.16(S)(3) |
| Amendment to articles | $50 | ORC 111.16(B), (P) |
| Certificate of dissolution or cancellation | $50 | ORC 111.16(N) |
| Certificate of good standing | $5 | ORC 111.16(K)(1) |
Corporations that authorize more than 990 shares pay more to incorporate, and corporations that add shares by amendment pay an added amount. Expedited processing is available for an added state fee. If you file a form yourself, you pay the state directly through its website and none of it passes through us.
A few things on this list never cost you anything with us. A new entity that names us in its articles pays no $25 change fee, because the appointment is part of the articles. A certificate of good standing is only needed when a bank, lender, or another state asks for one. And trade name renewals come up only if you registered a trade name in the first place.
How much does it cost to form a new Ohio LLC with a statutory agent?
A new Ohio LLC has two required costs in its first year: the $99 state fee for the Articles of Organization and a statutory agent. The articles name the agent and include the agent's signed acceptance, so there is no separate $25 agent change when we are named from the start.
| Scenario | Paid to the state | Paid to us | First-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| You file the articles yourself and name us as agent | $99 | $49 | $148 |
| We prepare and file the articles and serve as agent | $99 | $149 ($100 formation + $49 agent) | $248 |
| You also reserve the name first | add $39 | add $50 if we file it | varies |
Filing it yourself is the lower number, and our filing guides show the entries to use so you can name us on your own articles. Our $100 formation fee pays for the name check, preparing and filing the articles, and a checklist for what comes next. It does not include an operating agreement; that is an internal document for you or your attorney.
A name reservation is optional. It only makes sense if you have chosen a name and are not ready to file the articles yet.
What does it cost to switch an existing Ohio LLC to a new statutory agent?
Switching costs $49 for our first year plus the $25 state fee to record the change, so $74 in the first year and $49 each year after. The state fee is for the Statutory Agent Update, Form 521, which we prepare and file once you sign the appointment consent in the portal.
We confirm the $25 fee with you before we file. Nothing goes to the state until you sign. Your portal shows the appointment as Pending, then Active once the state record shows us as your agent.
Two things to check on your side before you switch:
- When your current agent's paid term ends, and whether it refunds unused time. That is between you and that agent.
- Whether anything was delivered to the old agent recently. Ask for copies before the account closes.
Corporations and nonprofits switch the same way, for the same state fee. The form and the fee are the same whether you are leaving a national company, a law firm, or a relative who agreed to be the agent years ago.
If you own several Ohio entities, each one needs its own Statutory Agent Update, so the state fee applies once per entity. Four LLCs switching at once means four $25 filings and four $49 subscriptions, or $296 in the first year and $196 a year after that. Each business gets its own consent in the portal, and we file each update once its consent is signed.
How much does it cost to register an out-of-state LLC in Ohio?
An LLC formed in another state pays $99 to register with the Ohio Secretary of State, and the registration has to name an Ohio statutory agent. A foreign corporation pays $99 for its Ohio license. Your home state will usually charge something for the certificate of good standing that goes with the registration; that amount varies by state and is paid to your home state, not to Ohio or to us.
| Scenario | Ohio state fee | Paid to us | First-year total (before home-state fee) |
|---|---|---|---|
| You file the Ohio registration and name us as agent | $99 | $49 | $148 |
| We prepare and file the registration and serve as agent | $99 | $149 ($100 registration + $49 agent) | $248 |
Whether your activity in Ohio requires registration at all is a legal question. Ask your attorney. Once you have decided to register, the numbers above are the full cost of getting on the Ohio record with an Ohio address.
Does the Ohio statutory agent price go up at renewal?
No. Service renews once a year at the same $49, charged to the card on file. We email you before each renewal, and the renewal date sits in your portal. $49 is not a first-year rate that resets higher in year two.
The renewal date belongs to our service. It is not a state filing deadline. Ohio LLCs and for-profit corporations do not file annual reports, so there is no yearly state report fee to plan around for those entities.
Nonprofit corporations are different on one point. Under ORC 1702.59, most Ohio nonprofits must file a statement of continued existence once in each five-year period, and the Secretary of State cancels the articles of a nonprofit that does not. That filing is the nonprofit's responsibility; it is not part of our agent service. When the state writes to a nonprofit about it, we flag the letter for attention the day it arrives.
Each business is its own yearly subscription with its own receipt. Three businesses cost three times $49, with no volume tier to work through. If you cancel, billing ends at the end of the period you paid for. Your appointment stays on the state record until a new agent is filed, and we keep accepting documents for you until then.
What does it cost to forward original documents?
Scans are free and you get one of everything. Most clients never need the paper. When you do, for a court filing or an attorney who wants the original summons, you request forwarding in the portal.
We charge no handling fee. You pay what the carrier charges for that shipment, and the portal shows that amount before you approve it. Shipments go out with signature required, and tracking appears in the portal.
If you never ask for an original, it stays in our Litchfield office for its retention period and is then securely destroyed. You pay nothing for that storage.
Is it worth paying for an Ohio statutory agent, or should you be your own?
Being your own agent costs nothing in fees. Ohio lets an LLC name any Ohio resident as its statutory agent, including an owner (ORC 1706.09(A)(1)). Corporations and nonprofits follow the same rule under ORC 1701.07 and 1702.06. So the honest comparison is $49 a year against what you give up by doing it yourself.
What the free option asks of you
- Your address goes on the public record. An individual agent must list the street address of their primary residence in Ohio (ORC 1706.09(C)(1)).
- You need to be reachable there. A process server or certified-mail carrier who cannot find you does not stop the case.
- A P.O. box does not qualify as the address, even one with a street address attached.
- If you move out of state, the business has to appoint a new agent right away and pay the state fee to record it.
What the paid option buys
An office address on the record instead of your home, staff present during business hours to accept delivery, a same-business-day scan, and a record of who saw it and when. For many owners, $49 is less than the cost of one missed document. That judgment is yours to make, and if a lawsuit is involved, talk to your attorney about what a missed delivery could mean.
What is not included in the statutory agent fee?
$49 covers being your Ohio statutory agent and handling what arrives. It does not cover:
- State filing fees, listed in the table above and paid to the Ohio Secretary of State
- Add-on filings such as formation, trade names, amendments, dissolutions, EINs, and S-corp elections, each a flat fee on the Services page
- Legal advice of any kind, including what a lawsuit means or how to respond
- Tracking deadlines printed in documents you receive
- Tax filings, accounting, or state compliance filings
- Carrier charges, if you ask us to ship an original
Add-on services are ordered separately. We review the order, confirm any state fee, and email a secure card payment link before we file anything.
Questions about a specific cost? Call (877) 908-6122, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM ET.
Ohio registered agent cost questions
What is included in a $49 Ohio statutory agent plan?
Our $49 plan includes the agent appointment at our Ohio office and filing it with the Secretary of State. It also covers same-business-day scans, notifications to unlimited contacts, and phone escalation for lawsuits. Original storage and owner, employee, and attorney roles are part of it too. Business Tools (phone line, website, CRM, invoicing) is an optional add-on at $39 a month. There is one plan, so every business gets all of it for the same yearly price.
Are there hidden fees with your registered agent service?
No, there are no hidden fees: the $49 yearly price has no per-document, per-page, per-contact, or forwarding handling fees. The costs outside it are state filing fees, which we confirm with you before filing, carrier charges if you ask us to ship an original, and add-on services you choose to order. Each of those is shown to you before you pay it.
Does the price go up after the first year?
No, it renews at the same $49 each year. There is no introductory rate. We charge the card on file once a year and email you before every renewal, so the charge never arrives unannounced. You can see your renewal date in the portal at any time, and you can cancel before it if you are moving to another agent.
What does the Ohio Secretary of State charge to change a statutory agent?
The Ohio Secretary of State charges $25 to record a change of statutory agent. The fee is set by ORC 111.16(R)(1) and applies to the Statutory Agent Update, Form 521, which also covers a change of agent address. When you switch to us, we prepare and file that form after you sign the consent, and we confirm the fee with you first.
What does an Ohio LLC cost in its first year?
A new Ohio LLC with us as its agent costs $148 in its first year if you file the articles yourself: $99 to the state plus $49 to us. If we prepare and file the articles, add our $100 formation fee for $248. A name reservation, if you want one, adds $39. Ohio LLCs do not file annual reports.
What is the cheapest way to form an LLC in Ohio?
The cheapest way is to file the Articles of Organization yourself online for the $99 state fee and act as your own statutory agent. That works if you have an Ohio address where you can be found to accept service. The trade-off is that the agent address you list goes on the public record. Naming us instead adds $49 a year.
Is the registered agent price per business or per account?
The $49 price is per business, per year. One portal account can hold as many businesses as you want, and each one is its own yearly subscription with its own receipt. That makes it simple to pass the cost through to a client or a separate entity. Every business pays the same $49, with no volume tiers.
Do you charge extra for scans or notifications?
No, scans and notifications are included in the $49 yearly price. Every page of every document is scanned and published to your portal at no added cost. Email and text notifications go to as many authorized contacts as you set up, and urgent documents still escalate to a phone call. There is no per-page, per-document, or per-contact charge.
Does an Ohio LLC pay any state fees every year?
Ohio LLCs do not file annual reports, so the Secretary of State charges no yearly report fee. State fees come up when something changes: a new agent, an amendment, a trade name, or a dissolution. The ongoing yearly cost is keeping a statutory agent on record. Taxes are separate; ask your accountant what your LLC owes.
Does Ohio charge a fee when a new LLC names a statutory agent?
No, there is no separate state fee for naming the agent on a new LLC; it is part of the $99 Articles of Organization filing. The articles include the agent appointment and the agent's signed acceptance. The $25 Statutory Agent Update fee applies only later, when an existing business changes its agent or the agent's address.