Guide 25 · Comparisons, with sources
Sethhost vs doing it yourself: the direct route, priced honestly
The cheapest way to form a US company is to file it yourself: the state charges its filing fee, the IRS charges nothing for the EIN, and that is the whole government bill. This page exists to say that clearly, walk the direct route step by step, and then state — without fog — what a Sethhost subscription adds on top of filings you could make yourself, and what it never adds.
On this page
The honest headline: DIY is cheapest
Doing it yourself is the cheapest way to form a US company. Say so plainly, because it is true: every state lets you file your own formation documents directly, and the IRS issues EINs for free. No formation service — Sethhost included — can beat the government's own price for the government's own filings, and any page that implies otherwise is selling you fog. What a service can sell is the labour, the sequencing, the registered agent address, and someone watching the calendar afterwards. This page prices the direct route honestly, names exactly where it gets hard for a founder abroad, and then states what Sethhost's subscription does and does not add.
The government facts below come from the IRS's own pages, fetched and checked on November 7, 2026. State filing fees come from Sethhost's verified state dataset — the same figures printed on the state pages of this site — and the Sethhost column comes from Sethhost's pricing page and service agreement.
Sethhost's own terms, stated in its own column first. Hosted is $79 per month with a 12-month initial term — a first-term total of $948, before the state fee and the filing processing fee. That term is a real commitment and it is disclosed here and on the pricing page, not saved for checkout. Formation is included in the first term; after the first term the membership continues month-to-month at $79, auto-renews, and can be cancelled from the portal. Enrollment screens applicants at intake, and Sethhost serves founders based outside the United States. The registered agent of record is CorpNet, Incorporated, Sethhost's wholesale partner, named in the service agreement before you pay.
The criteria table
| Criterion | Sethhost | Do it yourself (state direct + IRS direct) |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | One subscription: $79/mo, 12-month initial term, $948 first-term total before the state fee and the filing processing fee; then month-to-month | The state filing fee only, paid to the state; the EIN is free from the IRS. Your time is the other currency, and this table counts it as a cost |
| Formation filing | Included in the first term — prepared at your direction, confirmed by you before submission, in any of the 50 states, DC, or Puerto Rico | You prepare and file the Articles or Certificate with the state's filing office yourself, online or by mail, and you carry any error in the filing yourself |
| Registered agent | Included in Hosted; the agent of record is CorpNet, Incorporated, with a physical address in your formation state | The hard step for a founder abroad: your company must name an agent with a physical street address in the formation state, and an address overseas cannot serve. Your realistic options are a person in that state who agrees to act, or hiring a commercial agent separately — the standalone agent prices on the competitor pages checked for this guide set run $125–$149 per year |
| EIN — including with no SSN | Handling included in the first term, including the no-SSN IRS fax workflow (typically 15–25 business days on Sethhost's published figures) | Free from the IRS, always. With an SSN or ITIN and a US legal residence or principal place of business, the online application issues the EIN immediately. Without them, the online route is closed: the IRS's Form SS-4 instructions give the fax route (generally within 4 business days), mail (approximately 4 weeks), and, for applicants with no US legal residence or place of business, a telephone line |
| Website, domain, and US phone | A five-page website built for you (live in 14 days from content handoff), domain for the first year, hosting and care, and a configured US business number, inside the membership | You buy and configure each piece yourself, from separate providers, at their prices — or do without |
| Compliance calendar and annual reports | A compliance calendar with best-efforts deadline reminders, and annual report filing service included in Hosted (the state's own fee is separate) | You track every deadline yourself and file each report yourself, paying only the state's own fee — $7 a year in Pennsylvania, a $60 minimum in Wyoming, $400 in Delaware, at the verified figures on this site's state pages |
| Banking | Document file assembled for your application; Sethhost does not open the account and never promises approval | You assemble the same documents yourself — filed formation document, EIN letter, operating agreement, identification — and apply yourself. No route on this page, paid or free, can promise a bank's approval |
| Who it fits | Founders abroad who want the labour and the calendar carried for them under one subscription, and who accept a 12-month initial term to get it | Founders with the time and confidence to run the filings themselves — and, for the agent problem, either a person in the formation state or a separately hired agent |
The DIY route, step by step
The direct route, in the order the filings actually happen:
- Choose your state and check the name. The choice is yours — this site's state comparison prints the verified fees and annual duties for the three states founders ask about most, and the coverage board carries all fifty states, DC, and Puerto Rico. Check the name against the state's own business search before you file anything.
- Solve the registered agent before you file. The formation document names the agent, so this decision comes second, not later. If nobody in the formation state can act for you, hiring a commercial agent is the one service a foreign founder usually cannot DIY around — price it as part of the DIY total, not as an afterthought.
- File the formation document with the state and pay the state fee. Verified LLC fees include Pennsylvania $125, Wyoming $100, Delaware $110, California $70, Florida $125, New York $200, and Texas $300. That fee is the entire government cost of the formation itself.
- Write your operating agreement. Most states do not file it anywhere, but banks ask for it and co-owners need it. A template you understand beats a document you have never read.
- Get the EIN from the IRS, free. Online if you qualify (immediate); otherwise Form SS-4 by fax (generally within 4 business days per the IRS instructions), by mail (approximately 4 weeks), or by the IRS telephone line for international applicants. Any website charging you for the EIN itself is charging for the form-filling, not the number.
- Open the bank account and payment accounts with your document set, and put every recurring state duty — annual report, franchise tax, statement — on a calendar you will actually see, with the Form 5472 obligation for a foreign-owned single-member LLC at the top of it. Missing that filing starts at a $25,000 penalty; the calendar is where DIY founders get hurt, not the formation.
Run the arithmetic on Wyoming: $100 to the state, $0 to the IRS, and — if you hire a standalone agent at the going prices above — roughly $225–$249 of cash in year one, against $1,079.44 for Sethhost's first term on the same state from this site's calculator. DIY wins the money column outright. The Sethhost column is a bet that your time, your distance from US filing systems, and the cost of one missed deadline are worth more than the difference. Sometimes that bet is wrong, and this page would rather you take the free route knowingly than the paid route resentfully.
What the Sethhost column actually buys — and its weaknesses
What the subscription buys is labour and continuity, stated without inflation: the filing prepared and confirmed with you, the agent in place, the EIN fax workflow run and tracked, a website built and hosted, a phone number configured, a calendar that reminds you, and the annual report filed. What it does not buy is equally plain:
- Sethhost is new and small. It publishes no count of businesses formed, because it does not have a large one to publish. The established providers on this page have served founders at a scale Sethhost has not reached.
- No preparer service. Sethhost does not prepare your tax filings. Form 5472 and federal filing help is waitlist-only, delivered by a qualified preparer engaged for that service when that engagement is in place; until then the obligation sits on your compliance calendar with a plain-language explanation, and the filing itself is yours or your CPA's.
- Banking is document preparation, never account opening. Sethhost assembles the document file a bank or a payment provider asks for. It does not open accounts, and it never promises a bank's or Stripe's approval — that decision belongs to the provider alone.
- The 12-month initial term. If your plans are uncertain, a one-time filing you can walk away from may fit better than a year of membership. We would rather lose the comparison on that point honestly than hide the term.
- Nothing here is magic. Every filing Sethhost makes is a filing you could make yourself — that is the premise of this page. You are paying for the doing, not for access to a door that is closed to you.
Which column fits your situation
- You have the time, a way to solve the agent address, and confidence with forms. Do it yourself. Keep the money; spend the hours; calendar the deadlines twice.
- You are abroad, have nobody in your formation state, and deadlines would be tracked across a time zone on your own. That is the situation the Sethhost bundle was built for — or hire the agent and the filing help separately from the providers in the companion comparisons, which may total less than the subscription.
- You are testing whether the business works at all. DIY, or a one-time package — not a 12-month term.
- Your company is already formed and running. Neither column's formation pitch applies; what you need is the agent, calendar, and filing discipline, which is a different conversation — start with the agent-change guide.
Sources and check date
Sources — checked November 7, 2026. IRS, How to get an employer identification number for your business: irs.gov/newsroom/how-to-get-an-employer-identification-number-for-your-business (an EIN is free directly from the IRS). IRS, Instructions for Form SS-4: irs.gov/instructions/iss4 (online route's residence and taxpayer-ID conditions; fax generally within 4 business days; mail in approximately 4 weeks; the international telephone line). State filing fees and annual duties: this site's verified state dataset, printed on the state pages. Standalone registered agent price range: the competitor pages cited in the CorpNet, Northwest, and Bizee comparisons in this series, checked the same day. Sethhost figures: the pricing page and service agreement.
Sethhost is not a law firm and does not provide legal or tax advice. This guide is general information, not advice about your situation. Tax filings are performed by a qualified tax preparer engaged for that service or by your own CPA; legal questions go to your own attorney.
Reading is step one. The paperwork is the rest.
Sethhost handles formation paperwork, the EIN workflow, registered agent service, your website, a US number, and a compliance calendar — one company, one bill. Hosted is $79 per month and formation is included in your first term; the state filing fee is always shown separately.