When the Free Year Runs Out, Texas Will Not Let the Company Cover Itself

Where we stand, since it shapes everything below. Texas Registered Agent.ai takes Texas agent appointments at $99 a year, which makes the company examined below a direct rival. Also, a number that ought to be quoted on this page cannot be, because Inc Authority does not publish it.

The Free Year Is Not a Trick

Twelve months of registered agent service come with their formation packages at no charge, and that is exactly what it appears to be. A genuine zero, landing in the stretch when a new Texas company is paying for everything at once. There is no hidden condition we could find and we are not going to manufacture one for effect.

What Is Published and What Is Not

Published, clearly: the formation packages, what sits inside each one, the length of the included agent term, and the add-ons offered alongside them.

Not published, anywhere: what registered agent service costs in year two.

That is the entire finding. A July 2026 pass through their public pages produced the first list without difficulty and the second not at all. Prices that appear only once you are inside a checkout flow or on a call with somebody are a recognizable pattern, and recognizing it is different from accusing anyone of anything. We cannot quote a renewal we have never seen, will not estimate one, and are not going to characterize a figure that might be perfectly fair.

What we can do is explain why the blank matters more in Texas than it would in most states.

In Most States, You Have a Free Fallback. Not Here.

Elsewhere, an owner facing an unknown renewal has an obvious lever: stop paying anybody and let the company serve as its own agent. Many states permit that outright, so the worst case is a bit of inconvenience.

Texas removes that lever, and it does so in the plainest possible language. The Secretary of State's instructions for the change form dispose of the question in seven words: a filing entity "cannot act as its own registered agent." Your LLC cannot hold its own appointment. The option simply does not exist here.

One narrower fallback survives, and it is worth knowing about. An individual who resides in Texas may serve, which includes a member of the company acting personally, in their own name rather than the company's. That is a real choice. It also comes with real costs: that person's street address goes on the public record and stays searchable, they need to be physically present at it during normal business hours, and every process server and state notice arrives at their door rather than someone else's.

So when the free twelve months close, your genuine options are a named human being carrying that exposure, or a paid provider. Which is precisely why the unpublished number is a problem rather than a curiosity. You are being asked to plan a permanent obligation with one figure visible and the other blank.

What We Charge, Stated Where You Can See It

Ninety-nine dollars to start, ninety-nine at the first renewal, and ninety-nine at every renewal after.

It covers a Texas registered office of ours filling the slot on your filings that a member's home address would otherwise fill. Anything served at that address is imaged the day it lands and appears in your portal, with an email alert attached. Consent to serve is issued at enrollment, which is the agreement Texas requires from any incoming agent. Reminders land in advance of May 15, the date the Comptroller sets for both of your yearly reports. Every document we have taken in for you stays in the portal.

There is a published Texas rate below ours: BetterLegal at $90. So the claim is among the least expensive rather than the least expensive, and it comes attached to a figure you can read today instead of after signing.

Inc Authority's Free Year Ends. Here Is the Texas Exit.

The move is a single filing with the Texas Secretary of State. Form 401 updates the registered agent and registered office on your entity record, costs $15 for an LLC, and can go through SOSDirect online or by mail on paper. Inc Authority does not sign it and has no standing to delay it.

The sequencing point in Texas is about consent rather than paperwork. The incoming agent's agreement to serve has to exist before the designation means anything, which rules out the improvisation people reach for elsewhere: you cannot drop a name in temporarily, and you cannot put the company itself in the field while you shop. There has to be a consenting party ready on day one of the new appointment. Ours is ready at signup, so the sequence is enroll, file, watch the record, then close the old account. Full detail sits on our change of agent page.

Before Month Twelve, Not After

If the free term is winding down, get the renewal number out of Inc Authority in a form you can save. Then hold it against the rate named in the first section here, in a state that has already told you the fallback you were counting on is not available.

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