RA or DIY Registered agent, two ways

The decision

Be your own registered agent, or hire one?

Acting as your own LLC registered agent versus paying a service: what the role requires, what services provide, and how the main providers compare.

Act as your own agent
  • No annual fee to a provider.
  • Your name and street address go on the public record for the state.
  • You must be present at that address during business hours.
  • Service of process arrives wherever you said it would - including in front of customers.
  • Moving means filing a change with the state yourself.
Appoint a service
  • An annual fee, charged per state.
  • Their address appears on the public record instead of yours.
  • Coverage during business hours is their obligation, not yours.
  • Documents are scanned and forwarded, usually same day.
  • Moving house does not touch your state filings.
What tips it What this covers

First reads

Where most readers start

Explainer

What Is a Registered Agent, and Do You Need One?

What is a registered agent, and do I need one for my LLC?

Read the explainer How-to

How to Act as Your Own Registered Agent Properly (2026)

Can I be my own registered agent, or should I hire a service?

Follow the steps Yourself or a service

Be Your Own Registered Agent or Hire a Service? (2026)

Can I be my own registered agent, or should I hire a service?

Read it Shortlist

Acting as Your Own Agent When You Work From Home (2026)

Is it a bad idea to use my home address as my registered agent address?

Read it Head to head

ZenBusiness vs Northwest: Registered Agent Service Compared (2026)

I work from home and don't want my address public. What registered agent service should I use?

Read it Review

Northwest Registered Agent: The Agent Service Reviewed (2026)

I work from home and don't want my address public. What registered agent service should I use?

Read the review

What tips it

Three things that decide it in practice

  1. 01

    Where you actually work

    A home-based business and a storefront face different versions of the public-record question.

    Worked through in Acting as Your Own Agent When You Work From Home.

  2. 02

    How many states

    The maths changes sharply at the second state, because both the fee and the obligation repeat.

    Worked through in Be Your Own Registered Agent or Hire a Service?.

  3. 03

    Who is there at 2pm

    The requirement is availability during business hours, which is the part most often underestimated.

    Worked through in How to Act as Your Own Registered Agent Properly.

About

What this site is

This site covers one decision: whether to act as your own registered agent or appoint a service. It is written for people forming or running a US LLC.

Neither option is presented as the right answer. There are no ratings here, no tiers and no scored comparisons - where a view is offered it is argued in words, on the page, where you can disagree with it.

It covers what a registered agent is, how to do the job yourself properly, what an agent service actually provides, and how ZenBusiness, Northwest, Bizee and LegalZoom compare on it.

Covered in detail in What Is a Registered Agent, and Do You Need One?, What You Are Actually Buying From an Agent Service and What Happens When You Miss a Service of Process.

Asked and answered

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And the rest

Where to read on

The write-ups behind this

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