Mainstay Filing

Mainstay Filing is the rare formation service whose pricing model you can explain in one sentence: $199 a year, everything included. That single fee covers preparation and filing of your formation documents, an EIN, a full year of registered agent service, and — unlike virtually everyone else in this industry — preparation and filing of your annual report when it comes due. State fees are passed through at cost and shown before you pay. There are no packages to compare, no add-on menu at checkout, and no year-two price hike waiting behind a teaser rate.

What You Get for $199

Every Mainstay Filing order includes the complete stack a new business actually needs: formation document preparation and filing with your state, EIN registration, a year of registered agent service with a street address in your state, and annual report preparation and filing in the years that follow. The same flat rate applies to an LLC, corporation, LP, LLP, or nonprofit, in all 50 states.

The annual report piece deserves emphasis, because it is where Mainstay is genuinely different. Nearly every competitor treats compliance as a second product: you buy formation, then discover that registered agent service renews at $119–$249/year and annual report filing costs another $99–$199/year on top. Assembled that way, the “cheap” formation ends up at $218–$448 every year. Mainstay’s renewal is the same $199 you paid on day one, price-locked, with the report prepared and filed for you rather than sold back to you as an upsell.

Filing Accuracy

Mainstay backs its work with an error-free filing guarantee: if they make a mistake on your paperwork, they fix it free. Combined with state fees shown transparently at cost before checkout, the experience is designed around no surprises — the number you see is the number you pay, this year and every year after.

Where Mainstay Fits

Mainstay Filing is built for owners who want the whole compliance lifecycle handled — formation, registered agent, and the annual reports that most people forget until a penalty notice arrives. Missing an annual report costs real money, and reminders-only services leave the actual filing to you. If you want one predictable line item and zero deadlines to track, this is the strongest offer on the market, and it is why Mainstay Filing is our top-ranked formation service.