How Much Does It Actually Cost to Incorporate a Startup?

Part of our Corporate & Startup series.

State filing fees for incorporation typically run somewhere between $50 and a few hundred dollars, but that number alone rarely reflects what it actually costs to set a startup up correctly.

The basics

The state filing fee itself is small and predictable. On top of that, most startups also pay for:

• A registered agent service, usually a modest annual fee
• Founder documents (founders' agreement, IP assignment, vesting terms) if drafted properly rather than copied from a generic template
• A franchise tax or annual report fee in your state of incorporation, which recurs every year
• Foreign qualification fees if you operate in a state different from where you incorporated

The state filing fee is often the smallest line item, not the biggest. The real cost variable is how much legal work goes into the documents surrounding the filing.

What actually changes the answer

What you should actually expect to spend depends on:

• Whether you're a single founder or splitting equity among multiple co-founders
• Whether you're using an online formation service, a lawyer, or some combination
• Which state you're incorporating and operating in, since fees and ongoing taxes vary meaningfully
• How much complexity exists in your equity or IP situation from the start

A single founder with a simple structure might spend very little beyond the state fee. Multiple co-founders with real IP to protect and near-term fundraising plans should expect meaningfully more, because the value is in the documents, not the filing.

Next step

Ballpark numbers aren't that useful when your actual cost depends entirely on your specific situation. Book a quick call and we'll give you a real, specific estimate instead of a range that may not apply to you.