# What Claude (Anthropic) with web search answered for registered agent services (startups) on 2026-09-16

## In short

On 2026-09-16, Claude (Anthropic) with web search was asked "best registered agent services for startups". It named 8 brands, in this order: Northwest Registered Agent, Harbor Compliance, CSC, Stripe, Stripe Atlas, ZenBusiness, Bizee and Rho.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Question | best registered agent services for startups |
| Asked on | 2026-09-16 |
| Engine | Claude (Anthropic) with web search |
| Model | claude-opus-5 |
| Brands named | 8 |
| Sources cited | 10 |
| Audience | startups |
| Coverage | Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included. |
| Last verified | 2026-09-16 |

Page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/s/registered-agent-services-startups-2026-09-16
Coverage: Claude (Anthropic) with web search. Other engines not included.

## The answer, as recorded

Asked on 2026-09-16 through Claude (Anthropic) with web search (model claude-opus-5).

> ## What I'd actually recommend
> 
> **1. Northwest Registered Agent - $125/yr, flat, forever.** This is my default answer for most startups. The price never jumps at renewal (which is the industry's main trick), they scan every document locally the day it arrives, and they use *their* address on the public record instead of yours - genuinely useful if you're a founder running the company out of an apartment. Real humans answer the phone. If you don't want to think about this decision, pick this one.
> 
> **2. Harvard Business Services - $50/yr, if you're a Delaware-only C-corp.** $50 per company per year, fixed for the life of the entity, and reportedly unchanged since 1981. For the standard VC-track Delaware C-corp that operates in one state, this is the cheapest serious option over any multi-year horizon, and they've done nothing but Delaware entities for 40+ years. The tradeoff: it's Delaware-focused, so the moment you need foreign qualification in California, New York, etc., you're managing a second vendor.
> 
> **3. Harbor Compliance - ~$99 first year, $149/yr after (all customers move to $149 as of July 2026).** Worth it once you're qualified in 4-5+ states and annual reports and franchi

## Brands named, in the order the engine gave

| Position | Brand | How it was named |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northwest Registered Agent | mentioned |
| 2 | Harbor Compliance | mentioned |
| 3 | CSC | compared |
| 4 | Stripe | mentioned |
| 5 | Stripe Atlas | mentioned |
| 6 | ZenBusiness | mentioned |
| 7 | Bizee | mentioned |
| 8 | Rho | mentioned |

## Sources the engine cited

- https://startupsavant.com/best-registered-agent-services (other)
- https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/best-registered-agent-services/ (other)
- https://registeredagentcost.com/northwest-registered-agent-review/ (other)
- https://registeredagentcost.com/northwest-vs-harbor-compliance/ (other)
- https://sacrps.com/northwest-vs-csc-registered-agents-compared/ (other)
- https://www.delawareinc.com/ourservices/appoint-registered-agent/ (other)
- https://www.incorporator.org/articles/harvard-business-services-review-the-delaware-specialist-the-lawyers-quietly-rec (other)
- https://www.rho.co/blog/stripe-atlas-vs-clerky (vendor)
- https://hub.causo.ai/compare/stripe-atlas-vs-clerky (other)
- https://corp.delaware.gov/remoteagts-2/ (reference)

The question page: https://bikoosh.com/answers/q/registered-agent-services/startups

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.