Best South Carolina LLC Services In 2025

Features

Much of a business’s success depends on the quality of its partnerships. Startups that are looking to establish a long-term relationship with their legal services provider will value LegalZoom’s support for companies at every stage of their operation: from startup to industry mainstay.

Once your LLC has gotten up and running, you can upgrade to the Pro plan from LegalZoom to add compliance assistance, business guidance and customizable legal forms. The company’s high-end Premium package comes with a 30-day subscription to its services offering legal advice, document reviews and one copyright registration per month.

Pricing

A prime example of LegalZoom’s range is its three plans for forming and maintaining an LLC in South Carolina. The Basic package charges only the state’s filing fees, which are $110 for articles of organization. As you grow your business, you can upgrade to LegalZoom’s Pro and Premium plans ($249 and $299 plus state fees, respectively) that offer compliance support and other business services.

With LegalZoom’s Basic offering, there’s little incentive for businesses to complete and file the necessary paperwork on their own. For only filing fees, LegalZoom will prepare your articles of organization, check that your preferred business name is available and provide a “welcome packet” with a step-by-step guide to post-formation actions.

While LegalZoom’s prices for LLC services are similar to those of other vendors we assessed, the company is known for upselling at every opportunity. For example, when we selected the Basic package, the sign-up wizard promoted an operating agreement for $99 and two bundles: an operating agreement plus employment identification number (EIN) for $178 and operating agreement plus EIN and e-signature capability for $307.

The sign-up wizard also pitched the company’s $199 compliance service, checking account and small business credit card, expedited processing for $99 and safe storage of business documents (Founder’s Kit) for $99.

Customer Service

LegalZoom’s customer support staff can be reached by telephone and live chat from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT Monday to Friday, and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT on weekends. The support page features an extensive list of FAQs on topics such as business structures, intellectual property and e-signatures. The company’s learning center provides legal forms and articles on legal topics.

Reputation

As one of the best-known names in legal services for individuals and businesses, LegalZoom has a track record like few of its competitors. Since 2001, the company has assisted in the creation of more than 4 million businesses. Comments posted on popular user review sites report favorable interactions with LegalZoom’s support staff.

Learn more: Read our full LegalZoom review.

Features

One feature that sets Active Filings apart from many other LLC services is the international packages it offers. With these packages, business owners from other countries can start a business in Delaware, Florida and Wyoming.

All Active Filings plans, including the two international ones, include a year of registered agent services. Since all South Carolina LLCs are required to assign a registered agent, the addition of these services for a year can offer valuable savings.

Active Filings offers three plans with many of the same features as other LLC services such as incorporation services. In addition to the free Starter plan, there are also two paid plan options, The Sprinter and The Finisher, which add on other features including a business address, an EIN and expedited processing. The Finisher plan adds other premium features such as a corporate seal and a corporate book.

Pricing

Active Filings offers three domestic plans and two international plans. The domestic plans include the free Starter plan (plus the $110 South Carolina filing fee), The Sprinter plan ($100 plus the $110 South Carolina filing fee) and The Finisher plan ($250 plus the $110 South Carolina filing fee). The features included with each of these plans vary, but all three come with a free year of registered agent services, which is something you won’t find with all LLC services.

There are two international plan options, the Silver package and the Gold package, which cost $999 plus state fees and $1,499 plus state fees, respectively. While these packages are much more expensive than the domestic plan options, they can help you make sure you adhere to the necessary filing requirements and legal considerations.

Customer Service

Active Filings customers can reach customer service by email or phone; the company does not offer live chat support. Support is available Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET.

Active Filings also offers an Incorporation Help Center with more information about incorporating requirements in each state, advantages of incorporating a business, processing times by state, frequently asked questions and free downloads and business checklists.

Reputation

Despite being founded more than 20 years ago, Active Filings isn’t as popular or well known as many other LLC services. There are no reviews for it on Trustpilot and only a few dozen Google reviews. Of those reviewers, most are satisfied with the services they received, as the overall rating for Active Filings is 4.5 stars. On the Better Business Bureau’s website, Active Filings has a less-than-average rating. However, this is only based on two reviews. The company has a B- rating from the BBB.

Learn more: Read our full Active Filings review.

Features

We found Northwest Registered Agent’s state-specific LLC formation guides of note, with helpful information on specific South Carolina requirements such as publication requirements when forming an LLC. For this reason, we think it’s best for business owners who plan to expand their LLC across state lines.

Otherwise, Northwest Registered Agent is a bit different from the other names on our list, as it’s first and foremost a registered agent service. That said, the company also offers LLC formation, plus add-ons that can help business owners, including a business website.

There is also trademark service available, with support from attorneys—something that we didn’t see a lot of competitors advertising. A trademark can be useful if you want to protect your business name, services or goods at the national level.

Pricing

Northwest Registered Agent’s LLC formation services cost $39, plus the $110 South Carolina state fee. This is one of the few providers we surveyed that doesn’t have a free basic plan. That said, when you use the LLC formation service, the registered agent service is included for free for the first year. Some other providers charge extra for the registered agent service, so the costs may even out.

You can get a refund for up to 90 days after your purchase. However, refunds may be prorated, meaning you’ll only get a partial refund based on how long you’ve used the service.

Customer Service

We didn’t find a lot of information about Northwest Registered Agent’s customer service offering. There is a contact page, with a phone number, address and online contact form but no mention of customer service hours. We do have to give a nod to its comprehensive resource guides, which cover a variety of topics, including how to choose a business location.

Reputation

Northwest Registered Agent’s Trustpilot profile is unimpressive, compared to the competition. The company has barely 100 reviews, and we saw complaints about everything from erroneous filings to a slow customer portal. Although the company does have positive reviews and an overall strong rating on the BBB platform, it is not BBB accredited.

Learn more: Read our full Northwest Registered Agent review.

Features

In the rush to get your LLC off the ground, thoughts about complying with South Carolina regulations related to LLC management and operation may be tossed aside. However, the time to think about compliance is well before you receive overdue or noncompliance notices from the South Carolina Secretary of State. BetterLegal’s compliance service gives LLCs one less thing to worry about by handling all the paperwork required to maintain your company’s good standing with the state.

BetterLegal sells a single LLC formation package priced at $299 plus the state fee. The product bundles the features a business needs to create and maintain an LLC: an EIN, operating agreement and a banking resolution for establishing bank accounts, as well as a website that supports e-commerce, a business checking account and a business tax analysis.

The company’s South Carolina compliance services are sold separately, however. Also provided at an extra cost are BetterLegal’s registered agent service and permit and license search. You can also purchase a range of LLC filing services individually, including changing your LLC’s name or registered agent and adding or removing members and managers.

Pricing

As comprehensive as the standard $299 LLC formation package is, many companies will need to complement its features with BetterLegal’s South Carolina compliance and registered agent add-ons, each of which costs $10 or month or $90 a year. The website, business checking account and tax analysis bundled with the package are provided by third-party partners of BetterLegal. Another add-on that many LLCs will find worthwhile is the company’s $125 permit and license search service.

Customer Service

You can reach BetterLegal’s support staff by telephone from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday. The company also provides support by live chat and email. Its contact page has an FAQ as well as a link to self-help resources that include dozens of articles on LLC-related topics. Among the articles is a guide to maintaining an LLC in South Carolina and a step-by-step tutorial for creating an LLC in South Carolina.

Reputation

BetterLegal is one of the newer LLC services in our evaluation, having been founded in 2016. Nearly 90% of the service’s reviews posted by users on Trustpilot are five stars. Reviewers mention how easy it is to get started with the service and how responsive the company’s support staff is.

Learn more: Read our full BetterLegal review.

Features

Filenow offers two core LLC formation plans that are clearly priced with no hidden fees and offer everything you need to create a new business. The Starter package includes articles of organization filing, an unlimited business name search and electronic delivery of government documents. Company alerts regarding impending deadlines can let you know when due dates are approaching.

Additional features in the Premium plan include a year of registered agent service, an EIN, a banking resolution, an operating agreement for your business and expedited 24-hour processing (plus the amount of time needed for the state to process the documents).

Pricing

Filenow only offers two pricing options, a Starter package ($49, plus the $110 South Carolina state fee) and a Premium package ($199, plus the $110 South Carolina state fee). The higher-tier package is notably more robust because of the features noted above. Exchanges are possible within 30 days after purchase.

As far as refunds, if Filenow deems your LLC registration successful, you’re out of luck—no refund will be issued. If the application is unsuccessful, and you request a refund, the company will give you your money back. However, it can’t refund government payments already made.

Customer Service

The Filenow customer support team is available from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday. Phone, email and an online contact form are all available. Beyond a blog and an FAQ page, we weren’t able to find any noteworthy online support resources.

Reputation

Filenow’s online footprint is minimal. Although there is a Trustpilot page, it isn’t claimed and has fewer than 10 reviews. While the company is BBB accredited, there is minimal information available on the BBB platform. The lack of feedback from real-world users makes the company’s reputation a question mark.

Learn more:Read our full Filenow review.