Guide 23 · Comparisons, with sources
Sethhost vs Northwest Registered Agent: the facts, side by side
A $39 one-time formation with a $125-a-year agent, against a $79-a-month hosted bundle with a 12-month initial term. Northwest is cheaper to start — this page says so in its second section and means it. What the comparison actually turns on is how much of the operating layer you want run for you, and every figure here is from each company's own pages, checked November 7, 2026.
On this page
How this comparison was built
Northwest Registered Agent built its name on one job — registered agent service — and sells formation as a low, flat-priced way into it. Sethhost sells a subscription bundle for founders abroad. The two offers overlap on the filing, the agent, and even on identity items like a domain and a website, and they differ sharply on price shape: Northwest charges once for the formation and annually for the agent; Sethhost charges monthly, with a term. This page prints both models plainly and lets your situation pick.
Every Northwest fact below comes from Northwest's own published pages, fetched and checked on November 7, 2026 — its business formation page and its guide to doing business in the USA. Every Sethhost fact comes from Sethhost's own pricing page and service agreement. Where Northwest's pages checked for this guide do not state a price — its annual report filing price is the case here — this page describes the service and omits the number rather than borrowing one from a review site.
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 | Northwest Registered Agent |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | Formation at a flat $39 plus state fees, one time; registered agent free for the first year, then $125/year |
| 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 | Northwest prepares and files the formation paperwork in all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico, using its own address on public documents wherever possible, per its formation page |
| Registered agent | Included in Hosted; the agent of record is CorpNet, Incorporated, Sethhost's wholesale partner | The core product: free for the first year with formation, $125/year after; mail scanning is listed as included on its formation page |
| 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) | A separate EIN service, priced on Northwest's own USA guide at $50 if you have a Social Security number and $200 if you don't |
| 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 | Its formation page lists a free domain name, a free open-source website, free business email, and a free phone line among its included identity items; its phone FAQ on the same page describes the phone subscription at $9/month per line, so read the phone terms before you count that item as free for a year |
| 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) | As your agent, Northwest states it helps with document scanning and annual renewal reminders. A filing price for annual reports is not stated on the Northwest pages checked for this guide, so no figure is printed here |
| Banking | Document file assembled for your application; Sethhost does not open the account and never promises approval | Northwest's own USA guide answers this directly: it cannot open a bank account for your business — on that point the two columns agree completely |
| Who it is built for | Founders based outside the US, screened at intake, who want filing, agent, EIN, website, and calendar under one subscription | Any founder who wants a low one-time formation price and a long-term agent, including the foreign founders its USA guide addresses |
First-year money, like for like
Northwest is cheaper to start, and this page says so without qualification. A Wyoming LLC formed through Northwest costs $39 plus Wyoming's $100 state fee — $139 — with the first year of registered agent service included. A foreign founder without an SSN who adds Northwest's EIN service pays $200 more, for $339 in the first year, and $125 for the agent in year two. The same Wyoming company through Sethhost prices on this site's calculator at $1,079.44 for the first term — the $948 membership year plus the $100 state fee plus the 3% filing processing fee.
What the difference buys, factually, is the operating layer as a subscription: a website built rather than a self-serve open-source site, hosting and care handled, the annual report filing service included rather than arranged separately, and the EIN handling inside the price rather than priced by whether you hold an SSN. What it costs, factually, is a 12-month initial term and a first-year total roughly three times Northwest's foreign-founder figure. If the filing and the agent are all you need, the arithmetic on this page points one way, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Where Sethhost is the weaker choice
Sethhost's weaknesses, stated in full:
- 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.
- Northwest's agent price is lower and simpler. $125 a year after a free first year, against a $79 monthly membership you must keep paying to keep Sethhost's agent service. A founder who only needs an agent should not buy a bundle to get one.
- Northwest is the established agent specialist. Registered agent work is its founding business, with offices in every state; Sethhost provides agent service through a wholesale partner rather than its own offices.
Which column fits your situation
- You want the lowest honest first-year cost for a formed company with an agent. Northwest, at $39 plus the state fee — and do the EIN yourself through the IRS if you hold an SSN or ITIN, since the IRS charges nothing for it.
- You have no SSN and want the EIN handled as a priced, standalone service. Northwest publishes that price ($200) on its own guide; compare it against having the handling inside Sethhost's term.
- You are abroad and want the whole operating layer run for you — built website, hosting and care, phone, calendar, and the annual report filed — under one subscription and one bill. That is the Sethhost column, with its term stated openly.
- You may not need the company in a year. Take the one-time column. A 12-month initial term is the wrong tool for a test.
Sources and check date
Sources — checked November 7, 2026. Northwest business formation page: northwestregisteredagent.com/incorporation-service ($39 plus state fees; the included identity items; registered agent free for the first year, then $125/year; the $9/month phone FAQ). Northwest guide to doing business in the USA: northwestregisteredagent.com/start-a-business/do-business-in-usa (EIN service at $50 with a Social Security number and $200 without; agent renewal at $125; the bank-account answer). Sethhost figures: the pricing page and service agreement on this site. Prices change; the figure confirmed when you order is the one that governs, on either side.
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.