# In · Incorporation — element 38 of 58 > Become a company in a day. Turns an idea into a legal entity. - **Group:** 9 · Back-office - **Necessity:** Essential - **Price band:** $ · under $30/mo - **Maturity:** Commodity - **Edition:** v2026.Q3 · verified 2026-09-13 ## Leading tools (v2026.Q3) - **Stripe Atlas** — the default, two days - **Clerky** — attorney-grade, yc's referral - **Firstbase** — wyoming option, full back-office - **doola** — international llc specialist - **LegalZoom** — mass-market, any state ## Our take One in five Atlas startups now charges a customer within thirty days of forming. The paperwork stopped being the bottleneck. ## Combines with Bk, Eq, Pa ## The top 5 — deep dossier (verified 2026-09-13) Stripe Atlas, and it isn't close for the default case — $500 all-in (Delaware fees and first-year registered agent included), a C-corp or LLC live within two business days, EIN, founder stock, and automated 83(b) filing even for non-US founders, with 100,000+ companies formed from 140+ countries. Clerky is the pick when you expect institutional diligence — it's what YC sends unincorporated founders to, and its attorney-maintained docs are the ones law firms don't rewrite later. Firstbase wins when you want Wyoming as an option or one vendor for formation plus mailroom/registered-agent/compliance. doola wins for non-US solo founders running an LLC that bills US customers. LegalZoom is the mass-market comparison: any state, any entity, $0 + state fees — right for a home-state small business, wrong for a venture-path startup. 1. **Stripe Atlas** (Stripe) — $500 one-time (incl. Delaware filing fees + first-year registered agent) · $100/yr renewal · C-corp or LLC. Best for: The default venture path: a Delaware C-corp (or LLC) formed in two business days with equity, EIN, and 83(b) handled, from anywhere in the world. Why: The category's compounding default: 100,000+ founders from 140+ countries (vendor, Aug 2026), legal docs built with Cooley, next-day expedited Delaware processing, automated 83(b) filing including the non-US-founder path nobody else automates as cleanly, plus $2,500 in Stripe credits and $50k+ in partner perks. The one-time $500 covers state fees — most rivals' teaser prices don't. Watch: Delaware only — no Wyoming, no home-state option. It ends at formation: accounting, tax filings, and mail are someone else's job (Firstbase and doola bundle them). And it is unapologetically a funnel into Stripe's payments ecosystem; the $2,500 credit is an acquisition cost, not a gift. [https://stripe.com/atlas](https://stripe.com/atlas) 2. **Clerky** (Clerky (founded by startup attorneys)) — Incorporation $427 pay-per-use · Lifetime package $819 (incl. first-year registered agent + unlimited post-incorporation, hiring, and fundraising docs — SAFEs $9 à la carte). Best for: Founders who expect real diligence — the paperwork-perfectionist option run by ex-Silicon Valley startup attorneys, and YC's standing referral. Why: The quality benchmark: 20,000+ startups incorporated, alumni include Coinbase, Gusto, Segment, and Zapier, and YC partner Kirsty Nathoo's endorsement is categorical — when YC funds an unincorporated startup, she sends founders to Clerky. Law-firm partners at Gunderson Dettmer and Orrick vouch that Clerky companies arrive diligence-clean; the lifetime package then covers SAFEs, notes, hiring, and board consents forever. Watch: Delaware C-corps (and PBCs) only — no LLC, so it can't serve the solopreneur or tax-pass-through case at all. No banking, perks, or back-office bundle; pay-per-use pricing nickel-and-dimes if you skip the $819 lifetime tier. US-founder-oriented compared with Atlas's international rails. [https://www.clerky.com](https://www.clerky.com) 3. **Firstbase** (Firstbase.io) — Start $399 one-time (LLC or C-corp, Delaware or Wyoming) · Agent $299/yr/state · Mailroom $35–50/mo · One bundle $199/mo (agent + mailroom + accounting + tax). Best for: Founders — especially non-US — who want formation plus the boring aftermath (registered agent, US address and mail, annual reports, bookkeeping, tax filings) from one vendor. Why: The strongest formation-plus-operations stack: 30,000+ companies incorporated from 191 countries that went on to raise $3B (vendor, Aug 2026). It's the only top pick offering Wyoming alongside Delaware — materially cheaper ongoing compliance for LLCs — and its Agent/Mailroom/One products keep earning after the certificate arrives. Watch: The model is the upsell: $399 gets you in, but the maintained state costs $199/mo on the One bundle and tax filing runs $1,799/yr for C-corps. Documents are solid but not the attorney-maintained gold standard Clerky sells. Don't confuse it with firstbasehq.com, an unrelated remote-equipment company. [https://www.firstbase.io](https://www.firstbase.io) 4. **doola** (doola) — Starter $297/yr + state fees (LLC, EIN, registered agent, virtual address) · Tax & Compliance $1,599/yr · Business-in-a-Box $2,399/yr. Best for: Non-US solo founders and e-commerce operators forming a US LLC to bank and bill in dollars — no SSN, no US visit. Why: The international LLC specialist: 15,000+ founders from 175+ countries (vendor, Aug 2026), with EIN/ITIN handling for founders who lack an SSN and bundles that carry a non-resident through bookkeeping and the 1120/5472 filings that trip up foreign-owned single-member LLCs. Its AI Co-Founder assistant signals where the category is heading — formation as the front door to an automated back office. Watch: LLC-first — the wrong tool for a venture-path Delaware C-corp, and its formation pricing is an annual subscription ($297/yr) rather than a one-time fee, so compare lifetime cost honestly. Smaller company than the picks above; homepage stats are vendor-reported and unaudited. [https://www.doola.com](https://www.doola.com) 5. **LegalZoom** (LegalZoom (NASDAQ: LZ)) — Formation $0 + state fees · Pro $249 (operating agreement, EIN, attorney consults) · Premium $299 · watch the auto-renewing subscriptions attached to paid tiers. Best for: The mass-market comparison: any state, any entity type, 25 years of brand trust — right for a home-state small business, not for a venture-path startup. Why: The scale reference every startup-formation service is measured against: 9M+ legal milestones over 25 years, and since 2021 the first US public company to own and operate a law firm. Its $0-plus-state-fees entry defines the industry's loss-leader pricing floor, and it files in all 50 states — something none of the startup-grade picks do. Watch: Not startup-grade: no standard VC-ready equity structure, vesting, or automated 83(b) workflow — founders who form here routinely pay a lawyer to redo the stack before a priced round. Paid tiers bolt on auto-renewing subscriptions ($49/mo attorney plan, $9.99/mo bookkeeping) that outlast the formation. [https://www.legalzoom.com](https://www.legalzoom.com) ### How to choose - If You're on the venture path and want to be a company this week → Stripe Atlas Delaware C-corp — $500 covers state fees, equity, EIN, and 83(b), live in two business days. Don't overthink it; this is what 100k+ founders did. - If You expect YC, institutional investors, or acquirer diligence to read your paperwork → Clerky's $819 lifetime package — attorney-maintained docs that law firms don't rewrite, plus unlimited SAFEs and hiring paperwork forever. - If You're a non-US founder without an SSN monetizing US customers as a solo operator → doola (or StartGlobal) for the LLC + EIN/ITIN + bookkeeping + 5472-safe tax path; Atlas if you actually need a C-corp for investors. - If You want Wyoming's cheaper compliance, or formation bundled with a US address, mail, registered agent, and annual reports → Firstbase Start at $399 — then budget honestly for the $199/mo One bundle you'll be sold. - If You're building a home-state small business — agency, restaurant, consultancy — not raising venture money → Skip Delaware entirely; a $0-tier home-state LLC via LegalZoom or Bizee plus your state's fee is correct, and dual-state registration costs are the trap Delaware defaults create. - If Headlines about companies fleeing Delaware make you hesitate → Stay Delaware anyway for a venture C-corp in 2026 — the DExit wave (Tesla, Dropbox, a16z to Nevada, Jul 2025) is a public-company and GP fight; investors still expect Delaware paper, and Atlas/Clerky/Gust file nowhere else. ### The field (14 more) Gust Launch, Capbase (acquired), AngelList Stack (dead), Bizee (renamed), ZenBusiness, Northwest Registered Agent, Harvard Business Services, Swyft Filings, Tailor Brands, Rocket Lawyer, StartGlobal, Osome, Ownr, Delaware Division of Corporations (DIY) Full dossier data: https://elems.ai/e/in.json --- Source: [elems.ai](https://elems.ai/e/in.html) — the periodic table of the AI-led startup. Data: https://elems.ai/elements.json (CC BY 4.0, cite elems.ai).