# What Claude (Anthropic) with web search answered for business formation services (small businesses) on 2026-09-25

## In short

On 2026-09-25, Claude (Anthropic) with web search was asked "best business formation services for small businesses". It named 6 brands, in this order: Northwest Registered Agent, ZenBusiness, Bizee, LegalZoom, Tailor Brands and S-corp.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Question | best business formation services for small businesses |
| Asked on | 2026-09-25 |
| Engine | Claude (Anthropic) with web search |
| Model | claude-opus-5 |
| Brands named | 6 |
| Sources cited | 6 |
| Audience | small businesses |
| Coverage | Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included. |
| Last verified | 2026-09-25 |

Page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/s/business-formation-services-small-businesses-2026-09-25
Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.

## The answer, as recorded

Asked on 2026-09-25 through Claude (Anthropic) with web search (model claude-opus-5).

> Here's who I'd actually point you to, roughly in the order I'd bring them up:
> 
> **1. Northwest Registered Agent** - My default recommendation for most small businesses. Flat, honest pricing (~$39 + state fee to form, registered agent $125/yr and free the first year with formation), and they're the strongest on privacy: they let you use their address instead of publishing your home address in state records. Notably, they don't run the aggressive upsell funnel most competitors do, and you get actual humans on the phone. If you want one answer and no research, this is it.
> 
> **2. Do it yourself directly with your Secretary of State** - Worth saying out loud, because for a single-member LLC in most states this is genuinely a 20-minute online form and you pay only the state fee ($50-$500 depending on state). Formation services mostly sell convenience and a registered agent, not legal magic. If your structure is simple and you're comfortable with a government web form, skip the middleman and buy just a registered agent separately.
> 
> **3. ZenBusiness** - The most polished onboarding experience, and the best pick if you want the "business in a box" bundle (formation + registered agent + compli

## Brands named, in the order the engine gave

| Position | Brand | How it was named |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northwest Registered Agent | recommended |
| 2 | ZenBusiness | mentioned |
| 3 | Bizee | mentioned |
| 4 | LegalZoom | mentioned |
| 5 | Tailor Brands | mentioned |
| 6 | S-corp | mentioned |

## Sources the engine cited

- https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/best-llc-service/ (other)
- https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/best-registered-agent-services/ (other)
- https://www.nav.com/blog/company-formation-services-forming-an-llc-648318/ (other)
- https://www.chamberofcommerce.org/best-registered-agent-services (other)
- https://startupsavant.com/best-registered-agent-services (other)
- https://registeredagentcost.com/best-registered-agent-service/ (other)

The question page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/q/business-formation-services/small-businesses

Answer Watch records what one AI answer engine said on one date, nothing more. Each page names the engine and the model, carries the date the question was asked, and lists the brands that appeared in the answer in the order the engine gave them, with the sources it cited. It is a measurement, not a ranking, not a recommendation and not a claim about the world. Brands that did not appear in an answer are not named on any public page. Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.