Northwest Registered Agent Alternative for Texas: A Cleaner, Cheaper Option for Your Texas LLC
A consulting firm owner in Plano signed up his Texas LLC with Northwest Registered Agent at $125 per year because it had been the cheapest national option his bookkeeper had recommended. Three years in, he was paying $125 for the registered agent, $100 for franchise-tax filing assistance, and a separate fee for "compliance dashboard access" he had never opened. The bill on a single LLC had climbed past $250 a year. Nothing about his business had changed. He is the customer Northwest happened to keep billing.
This page is for Texas LLC owners who use Northwest Registered Agent, or who are about to sign up, and want to know what the alternatives look like.
What you actually need from a Texas registered agent
Under Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 5.201, every Texas LLC must continuously maintain a registered agent and registered office in Texas. The registered agent receives service of process and state correspondence and forwards them to you. That is the legal minimum. Anything beyond that is a value-add the agent has chosen to bundle.
Most Texas LLC owners need three things:
- A real Texas street address that satisfies § 5.201.
- Reliable forwarding of state notices, franchise-tax notices, and service of process.
- Predictable pricing that does not creep upward year over year.
The "compliance dashboards" and branded mail-scanning portals are conveniences. Useful sometimes. Always priced.
How Northwest Registered Agent currently prices Texas service
Northwest's Texas registered-agent service is published at $125 per year on their site at https://www.northwestregisteredagent.com. (Verified April 2026.) Several add-ons get marketed during checkout and at renewal:
- Franchise-tax / Public Information Report filing assistance (additional fee, typically $100 plus state fees)
- Compliance and document management upgrades
- Mail forwarding upgrades
- Operating Agreement add-ons
The published $125 is honest. In our view, the five-year total once renewals stack and add-ons get folded in is what surprises people.
What we charge for Texas registered agent service
Our Texas registered agent service is $99 per year. Renewal stays at $99 the next year, and the year after that. We file as the organizer on your Certificate of Formation, which means your personal name is not on the filing we submit to the Texas Secretary of State. We provide a substantive Texas Company Agreement at formation, written against Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 101 et seq., including the charging-order language under § 101.112, the Texas franchise-tax allocation provisions, and the successor-member clause that protects against dissolution on a member's death.
That is the comparison: $99 vs $125 on the registered-agent line, with a more substantive document set, no upsell ladder.
Five-year cost comparison
| Service | Our pricing | Northwest pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 registered agent | $99 | $125 |
| Year 2 registered agent | $99 | $125 |
| Year 3 registered agent | $99 | $125 |
| Year 4 registered agent | $99 | $125 |
| Year 5 registered agent | $99 | $125 |
| 5-year registered agent total | $495 | $625 |
| Filing-as-organizer (privacy) | included | not offered as default |
| Substantive Company Agreement | included | typically an add-on |
| PIR / franchise-tax filing assistance | $99 + state fee | typically $100 + state fee |
The hard-dollar saving on registered agent alone over five years is $130. The larger saving is in the document set: a substantive Texas Company Agreement that pulls through the freedom-of-contract provisions of Chapter 101 would cost extra elsewhere, and a generic template version of it leaves out the protective clauses that Texas law makes available.
(Pricing for Northwest verified April 2026 from their published Texas page. State fees, including the $300 Texas Certificate of Formation filing fee, apply equally to both providers and are not included in the comparison. Northwest Registered Agent is a separate company and is not affiliated with our service.)
Why the Company Agreement matters in this comparison
Texas, like Delaware, leans heavily into freedom of contract under Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 101.052. Courts enforce what the Company Agreement says. A registered agent service that bundles a one-page generic agreement is leaving most of the available protections on the table.
Garrett Sutton of Sutton Law Center has practiced Texas LLC formation for decades. His repeated point: the Texas statute is one of the most flexible in the country, but the flexibility only matters to LLCs whose Company Agreements actually use it. (Sutton Law, https://www.sutlaw.com.) Clint Coons of Anderson Business Advisors makes a similar point on the asset-protection side. (Anderson Business Advisors, https://andersonadvisors.com.)
Three reasons Texas LLC owners switch
1. Predictable pricing
Our renewal price equals our first-year price. There is no introductory rate that resets. There is no annual upsell ladder.
2. Filing as the organizer
When we file your Certificate of Formation with the Texas Secretary of State, we file as the organizer. Your name is not on the filing we submit. Northwest does not currently default to filing-as-organizer privacy on its standard service tier. Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 3.005 names what is required on the Certificate of Formation; the organizer does not have to be a member.
3. A substantive Texas Company Agreement
Our Company Agreement is written specifically for Texas law. It cites § 101.112 (charging order as exclusive remedy), § 101.052 (Company Agreement enforceability), § 101.114 (limited liability), and the franchise-tax allocation framework. It includes the clauses that pull through the protections the statute makes available. Discount Operating Agreements rarely do.
How to switch your registered agent from Northwest to us
Switching is simple. We file a Statement of Change of Registered Agent (Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 5.202) with the Texas Secretary of State on your behalf. The change typically completes within a few business days. Our fee is $99 per year for the new registered agent service plus a one-time $39 transfer fee. You do not need to contact Northwest first.
If you want to keep your existing Company Agreement and just change the registered agent, that works. If you want a stronger Texas Company Agreement at the same time, we can prepare one as part of the switch.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I switch my registered agent from Northwest to your service?
We file the change with the Texas Secretary of State on your behalf. Cost is $99 per year for the new registered agent service plus a one-time $39 transfer fee. The change typically completes within a few business days.
Will my Texas LLC be affected by switching?
No. Your LLC is on permanent record with the Texas Secretary of State regardless of who your registered agent is. The change of registered agent does not affect the entity itself, its formation date, its EIN, or its bank account. Your franchise-tax obligations also continue normally.
Does Northwest charge a cancellation fee?
Northwest does not typically charge a cancellation fee for registered agent service, but their policies can change. We recommend confirming current terms before switching. Either way, our team handles the entire transfer process on the Texas Secretary of State side.
How much will I save by switching?
On registered agent alone, $26 per year, $130 over five years. The larger saving usually comes from not needing the upsell ladder, and from getting a substantive Texas Company Agreement included rather than as an add-on.
Are you affiliated with Northwest Registered Agent?
No. Northwest Registered Agent is a separate company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Northwest. We mention them by name only for comparison purposes.
Is your service really based in Texas?
We maintain a Texas street address that satisfies Tex. Bus. Orgs. Code § 5.201. We focus on Texas (and a small number of other states) rather than spreading across all 50 with the same generic service.
Disclosure: We cite Garrett Sutton (Sutton Law) and Clint Coons (Anderson Business Advisors) as industry voices we follow. We have no business relationship with either firm. Their materials are referenced for educational purposes; we do not represent that they endorse, sponsor, or are affiliated with our service. Readers should consult licensed counsel for advice specific to their situation.
Northwest Registered Agent is a registered trademark of Northwest Registered Agent, LLC. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Northwest Registered Agent. All competitor pricing was verified from their published website in April 2026 and is subject to change.
We are a registered agent and LLC formation service. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice. The information on this page is for educational purposes only.