What is a registered agent in Texas?

A registered agent is the person or business that accepts lawsuits and official notices for your LLC. Texas law requires every LLC to designate and continuously maintain a registered agent and a registered office in Texas. The agent can be an individual who lives in Texas, or an organization (other than your LLC itself) registered or authorized to do business in Texas, and either way the agent must have consented in writing or electronically. The registered office must be a street address where legal papers can be personally served on the agent, and it cannot be solely a mailbox service or a telephone answering service. You name the agent on your Certificate of Formation (Form 205).

What happens if my Texas LLC doesn't have a registered agent?

The Texas Secretary of State may terminate an LLC that fails to maintain a registered agent or registered office in Texas and does not fix the problem before the 91st day after the Secretary of State mails it a notice. Termination takes effect when the Secretary of State issues a certificate of termination. A terminated LLC can apply for reinstatement (an LLC subject to Texas franchise tax also needs a tax clearance letter from the Texas Comptroller), and if it is reinstated before the third anniversary of the termination, it is treated as having continued without interruption. Without an agent you can also miss a lawsuit and face a default judgment without knowing you were sued.

How much does a registered agent cost in Texas?

Serving as your own registered agent costs nothing if you live in Texas and can be served at a Texas street address. Your LLC itself cannot be its own agent. A professional registered agent service charges its own annual fee, which varies by provider. Among the national services we compare, Northwest charges $125 a year for registered agent service (a year is included when you form a new LLC with its paid package, $39 plus your state's filing fee), and LegalZoom charges $249 a year and does not include the service in any formation plan. Changing your agent later costs $15 with the Secretary of State.

Does using a registered agent protect my privacy in Texas?

Yes. Your registered agent's name and registered office address go on your Certificate of Formation and appear with your LLC's record in the Texas Secretary of State's public business records. If you are your own agent, that is your Texas address. A professional agent puts its own name and address there instead. It does not hide everything: other filings for your LLC can still show names and addresses, so check what each form asks for before you file.

Can I change my registered agent in Texas?

Yes. To change your Texas registered agent, file Form 401 (Statement of Change of Registered Office/Agent) with the Texas Secretary of State. The fee is $15, and the Secretary of State encourages filing online through SOSPortal. The agent does not sign Form 401: whoever signs for your LLC affirms that the new agent has consented, and the consent itself does not need to be filed. The change takes effect when the Secretary of State accepts it.

Texas Registered Agent: Requirements, Costs and How to Choose One

Understand Texas registered agent rules, compare your options, and choose the best solution to keep your LLC compliant with state law.

By Edmond Hui · Last updated: October 2026

Texas requires every LLC to name a registered agent in the Certificate of Formation it files to form. Hiring a paid service is optional: in most states the LLC's owner, or another individual who qualifies, may serve as its registered agent, and the rules below set out who qualifies in Texas. See the rules below.

Affiliate disclosure: We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Get registered agent service from Northwest$125/yr, or included for year one when you form your LLC with them ($39 plus your state's filing fee). Registered agent customers are enrolled by default in annual report filing at $100 plus state fees, charged automatically to your saved payment method and cancellable any time.

Not sure which service is right? Compare formation services →

Texas Registered Agent Rules at a Glance

Can an individual serve?	Yes, an individual who lives in Texas and has consented
Can a company serve?	Yes, an organization registered or authorized to do business in Texas (not your LLC itself)
Can you be your own agent?	Yes, if you live in Texas and can be served at a Texas street address

How Texas's rules compare: registered agent requirements in all 50 states.

Best Registered Agent Services for Texas LLCs (2026)

Affiliate disclosure: Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom pay us a commission if you sign up through our link, at no extra cost to you. We list only the registered agent services we have an affiliate relationship with, so this is not a survey of the whole market.

This table is not scored. The four are listed cheapest annual renewal first, and the rows below it say which one fits which situation. The scored ranking, and the formula behind it, is on the formation services review, which orders them on three-year cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score.

Service	With formation, year 1	Annual renewal	BBB	Trustpilot	Privacy
Northwest Registered Agent	Included with $39 formation	$125/yr	A	4.1/5 (297)	Says it does not sell your information; runs its own servers
Bizee	Free year one (some visitors are being shown shorter free periods, so confirm at checkout)	$149/yr	C (unaccredited)	4.8/5 (26,100+)	No data-sharing commitment
ZenBusiness	$99, not included in any plan	$199/yr	A	4.8/5 (32,500+)	Partial
LegalZoom	Not included, $249 extra	$249/yr	A+	4.6/5 (32,900+)	Partial

Note: Bizee holds a C rating from the BBB and is not accredited. BBB's profile carries a live alert describing a pattern of complaints about unexpected charges, difficulty canceling and filing delays, and Bizee has posted a response to it. We flag this so you can make an informed choice.

Prices are each provider's standard published rates; year-one pricing applies when you form your LLC through the same service. BBB and Trustpilot figures as recorded September 15, 2026, not re-checked since, and both sources update continuously. These are the dates the figures were last written to our dataset, which is the most we can show: they are not verification dates. See how we evaluate these companies in our full formation services review →

Which Registered Agent Is Best for Your Texas LLC?

You're forming a new LLC and want phone, email and chat support

Our pick: ZenBusiness

A $0 Starter formation plan, backed by an A from the BBB and a 4.8/5 Trustpilot score. Registered agent is not included in any plan: it is $99 for the first year when you form with them, then $199/yr.

Your LLC already exists and you just need an agent

Our pick: Northwest Registered Agent

A flat $125/yr for registered agent service, the lowest renewal of the services listed here, and a privacy policy that says it does not sell your information. Registered agent customers are enrolled by default in Northwest's report filing service, which charges your saved payment method $100 plus state fees each time it files for you and which you can cancel.

You want year one free and the cheaper renewal after it

Our pick: Bizee

Registered agent is free for year one on every Bizee plan and renews at $149/yr, $50/yr less than ZenBusiness. Northwest renews lower still at $125/yr, but its first year comes inside a paid $39 formation package rather than free. Tradeoff: a C rating from the BBB, which cites a pattern of complaints about charges and cancellation, so read every auto-renewal term.

Complex legal needs alongside your filing

Our pick: LegalZoom

The only one of the services listed here with attorney consultations, which come with LegalZoom's $299 formation plan (and in one version of its plans its $249 plan) for 30 days and then cost $49 or $99 a month until you cancel, depending on the version. Also the most expensive registered agent listed here at $249/yr, which is never included in their plans.

Need the Texas Secretary of State?

Go directly to the Texas Secretary of State website.

Go to the Texas Secretary of State →

Your Registered Agent Options

Self / owner

Pros

No additional cost
Direct control over documents
Immediate access to important mail

Cons

Personal address becomes public record
Must be available during business hours
Risk missing important legal documents

Best for: Home-based businesses where privacy isn't a concern and you're consistently available

Friend or family member

Pros

Usually free or low cost
Someone you trust
Your home address is not the one listed for the registered agent

Cons

Relies on their availability and reliability
May strain personal relationships
They become responsible for your legal documents

Best for: Small businesses with trusted contacts who understand the responsibility

Professional service

Pros

Keeps your home address off the public agent record
Staff available during business hours
Professional handling of legal documents
Mail forwarding services

Cons

An annual fee set by the provider
Less direct control
Need to maintain relationship with service provider

Best for: Any business prioritizing privacy, reliability, and professional document handling

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. It reports what each state publishes about filing deadlines, fees, and the consequences of missing them, with the sources this page cites. It cannot tell you what your own company owes: the date turns on when and where you formed, states change these rules between our reviews, and in several states an entity-level tax falls due in a year when no report does. Confirm your own dates with the filing office named on this page before you rely on one here, because missing a deadline can cost the company its good standing or, in many states, its existence.

Read this guide for another state:

Frequently Asked Questions

: A registered agent is the person or business that accepts lawsuits and official notices for your LLC. Texas law requires every LLC to designate and continuously maintain a registered agent and a registered office in Texas. The agent can be an individual who lives in Texas, or an organization (other than your LLC itself) registered or authorized to do business in Texas, and either way the agent must have consented in writing or electronically. The registered office must be a street address where legal papers can be personally served on the agent, and it cannot be solely a mailbox service or a telephone answering service. You name the agent on your Certificate of Formation (Form 205).
: The Texas Secretary of State may terminate an LLC that fails to maintain a registered agent or registered office in Texas and does not fix the problem before the 91st day after the Secretary of State mails it a notice. Termination takes effect when the Secretary of State issues a certificate of termination. A terminated LLC can apply for reinstatement (an LLC subject to Texas franchise tax also needs a tax clearance letter from the Texas Comptroller), and if it is reinstated before the third anniversary of the termination, it is treated as having continued without interruption. Without an agent you can also miss a lawsuit and face a default judgment without knowing you were sued.
: Serving as your own registered agent costs nothing if you live in Texas and can be served at a Texas street address. Your LLC itself cannot be its own agent. A professional registered agent service charges its own annual fee, which varies by provider. Among the national services we compare, Northwest charges $125 a year for registered agent service (a year is included when you form a new LLC with its paid package, $39 plus your state's filing fee), and LegalZoom charges $249 a year and does not include the service in any formation plan. Changing your agent later costs $15 with the Secretary of State.
: Yes. Your registered agent's name and registered office address go on your Certificate of Formation and appear with your LLC's record in the Texas Secretary of State's public business records. If you are your own agent, that is your Texas address. A professional agent puts its own name and address there instead. It does not hide everything: other filings for your LLC can still show names and addresses, so check what each form asks for before you file.
: Yes. To change your Texas registered agent, file Form 401 (Statement of Change of Registered Office/Agent) with the Texas Secretary of State. The fee is $15, and the Secretary of State encourages filing online through SOSPortal. The agent does not sign Form 401: whoever signs for your LLC affirms that the new agent has consented, and the consent itself does not need to be filed. The change takes effect when the Secretary of State accepts it.

Sources

9 documents

Each entry below is a document recorded in our verified Texas sources, and each entry says what the document is. Some statutory text is read from an accurate mirror rather than from the state's own host, and those say so.

tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/BO/htm/BO.5.htmTex. Bus. Orgs. Code 5.201, 5.2011, 5.202 and 5.204, registered agent and office; consent; change; resignation
tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/BO/htm/BO.4.htmTex. Bus. Orgs. Code 4.152 and 4.154, filing fees ($15 statement of change)
tcss.legis.texas.gov/resources/BO/htm/BO.11.htmTex. Bus. Orgs. Code 11.251 to 11.253, involuntary termination and reinstatement
sos.state.tx.us/corp/instructions/401.shtmlTexas Secretary of State, Form 401 instructions (Statement of Change of Registered Office/Agent)
sos.state.tx.us/corp/instructions/401-a.shtmlTexas Secretary of State, Form 401-A instructions (registered agent consent)
sos.state.tx.us/corp/index.shtmlTexas Secretary of State: business entity filings
statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/TX/htm/TX.171.htmTexas statute: Public Information Report
comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/franchise/pir-oir-filing-req.phpTexas agency guidance: Public Information Report
comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/franchise/Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts: file the Public Information Report

More for Texas LLCs

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Forming an LLC in Texas?

See how Northwest Registered Agent, Bizee, ZenBusiness and LegalZoom, the formation services we partner with, compare on 3-year cost, BBB rating and Trustpilot score before you choose.

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Edmond Hui · Founder, MyStateLLC

Edmond Hui is a software engineer and serial entrepreneur based in New York who has founded multiple online businesses across e-commerce, media, and information publishing. Before transitioning into tech, he spent years as a commercial real estate professional closing deals totaling over 100,000 square feet, giving him firsthand experience with business formation and entity structuring. He built MyStateLLC to provide the free, state-specific LLC guidance he wished existed when forming his own companies.

How we check facts

Texas Registered Agent Rules at a Glance

Best Registered Agent Services for Texas LLCs (2026)

Which Registered Agent Is Best for Your Texas LLC?

You're forming a new LLC and want phone, email and chat support

Your LLC already exists and you just need an agent

You want year one free and the cheaper renewal after it

Complex legal needs alongside your filing

Your Registered Agent Options

Self / owner

Friend or family member

Professional service

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

More for Texas LLCs

Start and set up

Taxes, money and growth

Stay compliant

Operate in other states

Compare structures

By owner type

By profession

Need a Registered Agent in Texas?

More Texas LLC Guides

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