Is a registered agent required?
Every LLC must name a registered agent with an in-state street address.
Statute: Iowa Code § 489.115. peek at legis.iowa.gov, confirmed October 2026
Who qualifies?
Any individual or business with a place of business in Iowa that has agreed to serve.
A qualifying owner can be the agent for free.
How much does an agent cost?
Services we rank charge $99 to $149 each year, which adds up to $297 to $447 over three.
State fees stay the same whichever agent you pick.
What does an agent handle for the LLC?
The agent is the party that signs for lawsuits and state mail addressed to the LLC, at a Iowa street address.
Ask how quickly the agent tells you when something arrives, so no deadline slips by. Service of process, unpacked
What does the LLC owe the state each year?
Underneath it all, one filing repeats: the biennial report, every second year, at $30 each time. The state phrases its deadline like this: April 1 of odd-numbered years.
peek at help.sos.iowa.gov, confirmed October 2026
What put number one on top?
Mainstay Filing is strongest on what is inside the price, a layer worth 29% of the score.
Five layers set the order: total across three years (34%), what is inside the price (29%), price laid out in the open (14%), how the renewal behaves (12%) and how far it reaches (11%).
Only the first pick holds up in all fifty states, and that counts the day the LLC registers elsewhere.
The five layers