California registered agent scorecard

What California actually requires

The California Secretary of State’s Business Entities FAQs define an agent for service of process as an individual who lives in California, or a registered corporate agent, designated to accept court papers if the company is sued. Service of process means handing over those papers.

If you name a corporation, that corporation must be active. It must have a current Corporate Registered Agent (1505) Application on file. That filing is how California lets a company act as someone else’s agent. You must get that company’s approval before you name it. That is California’s consent-to-serve rule in plain language.

The same FAQ says the name and physical street address of an individual agent is a public record, open to all, as are the other addresses you put on Secretary of State filings. A street address is a place a person can walk up to. A P.O. Box is a mailbox at the post office. A P.O. Box is not a street. A business entity cannot act as its own agent. Substituted service through the Secretary of State, if the designated agent cannot be served, is described on the Service of Process page: hand delivery in Sacramento during posted hours, not a P.O. Box trick.

Related guide: Can I be my own registered agent? California lets a person who lives here take the job, and it puts that person’s street on the public record.

Related guide: What is a registered agent for an LLC? That page is the day-to-day job: taking a lawsuit and official notices at a California street.

Related guide: How much does a registered agent cost? The commercial prices on this page are national. Year 2 is the price that stays.

Related guide: How to change a registered agent on an LLC.

Related guide: What is a commercial registered agent? A hired company is the corporate agent with the state’s consent filing, not your home street.

Related guide: Service of process: what it means for an LLC California calls this person an agent for service of process. That guide is what to do the day the papers arrive.

Related guide: What is a registered agent address? An individual agent’s physical street in California is a public record. A P.O. Box is not that street.

Cal. Corp. Code § 17701.13 requires every limited liability company to designate and continuously maintain in this state both an office and an agent for service of process. The agent is a California resident or a corporation that has complied with the consent filing. When you designate a corporate agent, the statute says no address for that agent shall be set forth in that instrument, the street lives on the consent record and on bizfile Online.

California also asks for a Statement of Information. That is a later form that updates the state’s file. For many LLCs it is every two years. For many corporations it is every year. Addresses you put on that form are public too.

Someone has to be at a California street during ordinary business hours to accept hand-delivered papers. That is the in-state office-and-hours test. We will not pretend a software login satisfies it.

Cited prices, retrieved August 30, 2026

We print what the company’s official registered-agent page said on the retrieval date. The page does not publish a separate renewal price. Third-party blogs that disagree are labeled as such.

• Northwest Registered Agent: official page: “$125 Per Year” and “We haven’t raised our price in 20 years. It’s $125/year—no hidden fees or per document charges. For five or more states, it’s just $100/year per state.” Retrieved August 30, 2026 from northwestregisteredagent.com/registered-agent. First year free only if you form through them; we do not treat that bundle as the standalone price.
• Bizee: official page: standalone service $149/year; first year free with formation. Retrieved August 30, 2026 from bizee.com/business-management/registered-agent. A Bizee article repeats “Always Free For the First Year and $149 Thereafter.” Some 2026 third-party write-ups cite ~$119 on certain plans. We print the official $149 figure and tell you to read checkout. The page does not publish $119 as if Bizee published it on the product card.
• LegalZoom: official overview: “Get registered agent services for $249/year.” Product card: $249/year. Footnote: auto-renews at the purchase rate; “The renewal rate is subject to change”; purchase price only for first-time registered-agent customers. Retrieved August 30, 2026 from legalzoom.com/…/registered-agent-overview.html. We do not print a made-up year-2 number such as $299.
• ZenBusiness: official product page: “$99 + state fees for the first year. Renews at $199/yr.” Help Center pricing matches: $99 first year standalone, $199/year renewal; included with Premium formation in year 1. Retrieved August 30, 2026 from zenbusiness.com/registered-agent and their pricing help article.

Whose street hits the SOS

If you are your own agent, the street on the public record is often your home. If you hire a company with the consent filing, the agent line is that company’s name. The street is the one on that filing. Northwest’s official page says they list their business address on public filings (Privacy by Default®). LegalZoom’s official page says “it’s our address listed as the registered agent on the public record and not yours.” Bizee and ZenBusiness make the same privacy claim in their own words. We have not independently visited each California suite this week. Confirm the live agent on bizfile Online before you treat a blog address as current.

In-state office and business hours

California wants a physical street and a person who can accept hand delivery during ordinary business hours. Bizee’s official page claims owned offices in all 50 states and “someone is always available during standard business hours.” Northwest says they scan documents in their office with local employees. LegalZoom and ZenBusiness both advertise availability during normal business hours at a physical address. Those are company claims. Process Score has not been to those offices. The grade for SOS presence stays in the B band until we can cite a California street we have seen.

Service of process, not marketing mail

We grade scan-and-forward of service of process and official notices:

• Bizee: notifications by text and email; court papers mailed via FedEx with tracking; portal upload by employees.
• Northwest: “We scan every document you receive right where you receive it—in our office.” Their free “business address” and mail-scanning extras are a different product. We do not grade those extras as a mailbox.
• LegalZoom: upload, email, and a postcard for urgent legal mail; they say they shred junk mail. Junk-mail shredding is not the job we score.
• ZenBusiness: scan and upload to a dashboard; email; overnight the original for urgent legal notices. Their own FAQ says you cannot use the agent address as your business address.

Home-address privacy

A commercial agent with the consent filing is how most California owners keep a home off the agent line. The SOS FAQ still publishes whatever other addresses you put on Articles or a Statement of Information. Privacy of the agent line is not privacy of every field on the filing.

Scorecards

What this page does not do

• It does not rank mailbox networks or virtual offices.
• It does not publish combined star ratings or a fake 4.8.

Choosing among being the agent yourself, asking a lawyer, or hiring a commercial agent: DIY vs lawyer vs commercial. Texas leaves Form 401-A with the entity: Texas scorecard. Florida files the acceptance and posts a 10–noon / 2–4 clock: Florida scorecard. Delaware bans a virtual-only agent: Delaware scorecard. New York already names the Secretary of State as the agent: New York scorecard. Nevada makes a commercial agent register at ten companies: Nevada scorecard. Wyoming bans UPS stores and virtual addresses as the registered office: Wyoming scorecard. Arizona makes the statutory-agent appointment wait on a signed acceptance: Arizona scorecard. Illinois gives you 60 days after your agent resigns, then you are not in good standing: Illinois scorecard.