Drawn to scale
Four decisions, and only one of them is the filing
Most of what people call "forming an LLC" is one afternoon of paperwork. The decisions around it — which state, who serves as agent, who files it — are what you actually live with.
The drawing
Each decision, with its constraint
Nothing is published yet. These are the parts the write-ups work through. Each carries the condition that actually binds it, rather than a verdict.
Which state
Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada get recommended to people with no reason to be there. Operating from your own state generally means registering there as well, which doubles the fees and the filings.
Constraint: where the business actually operates, not where the incorporation is cheapest.
Who serves as registered agent
You may serve as your own in every state where you meet the address requirement. That saves a recurring fee and puts a physical address into a public, permanently searchable record.
Constraint: whether your address going public is acceptable, decided before filing rather than after.
Who files it
The same form either way, submitted to the same office, with the same result. What a service sells is the work being done, not a different entity or a faster queue.
Constraint: what an afternoon of your time is worth against the service fee.
What happens in year two
The filing happens once. The periodic report happens for as long as the entity exists, and missing it is how an entity quietly reaches administrative dissolution.
Constraint: whether anyone is going to remember the date, honestly answered.
Nothing on this drawing is scored. Which way each part resolves depends on the business asking, and the write-ups argue particular cases.
How this is written
What holds across all four
Not legal advice
This describes what filings require. It is not advice about your circumstances, and nothing here creates a professional relationship.
No house answer
Filing yourself is not automatically the smart route and a service is not automatically the safe one.
Requirements are cited
Anything stated about a state is sourced to the office that publishes it, and dated.
Affiliate links are disclosed
Some links earn a commission. It never decides how a part resolves, and it is stated wherever it applies.