Tailor Brands Review: Features, Cost, Pros & Cons

Starting a business is exciting— but it’s a lot of work. A key early step is forming a business entity with your state to make it official. Most entrepreneurs create a limited liability company (LLC) because of the many benefits, including personal liability protection. 

LLCs come with complex laws that vary from state to state, so forming one takes some legwork. As a result, many entrepreneurs hire a professional business formation service to save time, ensure the process is handled correctly, and free themselves up to focus on making money.

However, with dozens of LLC formation services, finding the best fit requires serious research. To help you in your quest, this review examines one of the top options, looking at Tailor Brands from all angles to help you decide if it’s the right choice for you and your business.

Tailor Brands Overview

Our Verdict on Tailor Brands

Tailor Brands targets digital entrepreneurs with an impeccably designed website and a host of services for e-commerce and digital marketing. On the downside, Tailor’s customer service is problematic, its sales pitches are near-constant, and its prices are sometimes hidden in the fine print. 

If you’re planning a brick-and-mortar shop, Tailor’s offerings are a bit sparse and expensive. But if you’re diving into the digital marketplace, we strongly recommend Tailor’s Elite plan, which offers some invaluable tools at a reasonable price. 

Pros and Cons of Tailor Brands

Tailor Brands Services

Business Formation Process

To establish your LLC, you need to submit articles of organization, also known as a certificate of organization or certificate of formation, to your state government. This filing process can be completed either online or through mail. Tailor Brands offers assistance in managing the online filing procedure on your behalf. It’s worth noting that the time it takes for your LLC to be approved can vary depending on the state.

Tailor Brands ensures that your chosen business name is available before initiating the filing process. If the name is unavailable, they will get in touch with you to explore suitable alternatives.

Once your LLC is approved and officially recognized, you will have constant access to your formation documents through the Tailor Brands website.

Registered Agent Services

When establishing an LLC in any state, it is a requirement to have a registered agent. A registered agent can be an individual or a business entity authorized to receive legal, tax, and financial documents on behalf of your business. 

Tailor Brands offers a registered agent service for a first-year fee of $199 and a renewal fee of $249. By opting for this service, Tailor Brands will act as your registered agent and handle all official correspondence and documents for your business. They take the responsibility of ensuring timely communication and maintaining copies of important documents. Additionally, they monitor crucial deadlines and send reminders for essential filings such as tax forms or annual reports, providing valuable assistance in managing your administrative tasks.

Utilizing a registered agent service not only ensures compliance with legal requirements but also saves you time by overseeing important documents and filing deadlines. This allows you to focus on growing your business while Tailor Brands provides support.

Operating Agreement

Tailor Brands offers an operating agreement service that can greatly simplify the process for you. An operating agreement is a vital legal document for an LLC as it defines business ownership and outlines member responsibilities. 

This agreement establishes the financial connections among business owners, known as “members,” and sets out the core dynamics between these owners and the managers who oversee day-to-day operations.

By utilizing Tailor Brands’ operating agreement service, you can conveniently complete a pre-structured form, eliminating the need to hire an attorney to create the agreement from scratch.

If you opt for the Lite Plan, there is an additional cost of $29 for the operating agreement. However, the operating agreement is included in the Essential and Elite plans.

Although only a few states legally require an operating agreement, it is strongly recommended to have one in place.

EIN 

An employer identification number (EIN) is a tax identification number assigned to your business. It is necessary if your LLC has multiple members or employees. To obtain an EIN, you need to submit an application to the IRS.

Tailor Brands offers assistance in the application process and takes care of the necessary steps on your behalf. Once your EIN application is approved, they will promptly send you the assigned EIN. The one-time service fee for this assistance is $99.

Annual Reporting

In the majority of states, LLCs are obligated to submit periodic reports, typically on an annual basis. Tailor Brands offers an annual compliance service to manage these filings on your behalf. It’s included in the Essential and Elite plans. If you add it to the Lite plan, it’s $199 annually.

Turnaround Time and Cancellation

With the Lite package, Tailor will file your documents within 14 business days, or you can pay $49 for the expedited filing.

Though the Essential and Elite packages are marketed as “expedited,” don’t be fooled — Tailor will take only two business days to review and send your documents internally. There’s no way to expedite state processing through Tailor Brands.

Under every package, the state will process your documents according to its standard processing time. You can track your application’s process through your account portal.

Tailor Brands has a 48-hour, full refund cancellation policy for LLC applications. Once Tailor has filed your documents with the state they no longer accept cancellations, as customer service representative noted in his email. 

You have 30 days to cancel and get a full refund for subscriptions such as compliance tools and registered agent services. After that period, Tailor Brands provides no refund at all.

Other Business Services

Service	Stand-alone Cost	Included in Plans
Trademark	$299	Not included
Business Licensing Guidance	$99	Not included
Sales Tax Permit	$999	Not included
Digital tools packages	Various options	Included in Elite
Domain name	$11.99 annually	Included in Elite

Tailor Brands Plans and Pricing

	Lite	Essential	Elite
Price	State fees only	$199 annually plus state fees	$249 annually plus state fees
Business Formation	Included	Included	Included
Turnaround Time	14 business day processing (or two-day processing for $49)	2 business day processing	2 business day processing
Annual Compliance	Not included	Included	Included
Operating Agreement	Not included	Included	Included
Domain Name	Not included	Not included	Included
8 Logos	Not included	Not included	Included
Website Builder and Online Store	Not included	Not included	Included
Digital Business Card	Not included	Not included	Included
Social Media Post Maker	Not included	Not included	Included
Business Cards Tool	Not included	Not included	Included

*Note that state LLC formation fees are charged in addition to the package fees.

**Expedited or rush filing also usually comes with state fees.

Lite

For state fees only, the Lite plan will form your LLC with standard processing.

Under this plan, Tailor Brands will take up to 14 business days to file your document. 

Essential

At $199 annually plus state fees, the Essential plan includes expedited filing, compliance monitoring, and an operating agreement.

Keep in mind that expedited filing only means that Tailor Brands will file your documents with the state within two days. Beyond that, your state will process your filing according to its standard processing time. Tailor Brands appears to be the only provider that offers no way to expedite your filing with the state.

With compliance monitoring, Tailor will file annual reports for you and update you on your state’s compliance requirements and deadlines. State filing fees will apply.

This is a good deal for entrepreneurs who need an operating agreement and help to stay in good standing. But after the first year, you’ll be paying $199 for the compliance tool. The smart move may be to cancel the plan after a year once you get your bearings on staying compliant.     

Elite

The Elite plan includes everything from the Essential plan plus a year of a free domain, eight free logos, a website builder, a digital business card page that displays your links and products, a social media post maker, and a business card design tool. It costs $249 annually plus state fees.

The Elite plan shows off Tailor Brands’ online business-building tools. Once you make an account, you’ll have access to their online business management platform, where you can file and view official documents, create your website, and design promotions — all in one place.

This package offers good value for new e-commerce entrepreneurs looking to establish a respectable online business. Though some competitors also offer a free year of a domain name, Tailor is unique in providing tools that help you design your logo and promote your business online and off. 

If you’re not interested in these digital perks, you’d likely be better off with a cheaper package.

Tailor Brands Website Usability

Starting Your LLC Formation

From Tailor Brands’ LLC formation page, select your state from the dropdown menu and click “Get Started” to begin.

Initial Setup and Account Creation

You’ll be taken to the Tailor Brands Studio and prompted to fill in your LLC name, provide further information about your business, and choose whether you’d like a free business plan, in which case they’ll contact you via email. You’ll then create an account to continue and can connect via Google or Facebook, which is convenient.

Information and Assistance

After that, you’ll need to fill in some more info about you and your business. If you don’t quite understand what they’re asking, each page has a little blue link you can click for more information. You can also contact customer service using the phone number in the top right or the “Help” button in the bottom left, which will open a chatbot.

Progress Updates and Add-Ons

Tailor Brands sometimes interrupts the process with pages updating you on your progress. Cute but mostly a waste of time. Halfway through, Tailor Brands begins pitching add-on services such as a registered agent ($199), EIN obtainment ($99), and compliance monitoring ($199).

Add-On Services and Pricing

While the registered agent and compliance monitoring are priced reasonably (though we must note that the increase in registered agent renewal fees is a bit hard to spot), the EIN is more expensive than the industry standard, so we advise you to think twice before selecting it. The registered agent and EIN services will only be charged after your order has been processed, so their prices won’t be included in your order total.

Online Tools and Package Options

Tailor Brands tries to entice you with its online tools: an AI-generated logo, domain, and website. Unfortunately, no price is listed for these services, which are only available as part of the Elite package. Round two of add-ons includes “expedited processing” for $49, an operating agreement for $29, and a free banking account from Tailor Brands’ partner Mercury. Note that this is a financial technology company, not a bank, and your banking services will be provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust.

Package Recommendations and Upselling

Instead of showing you all its package options, Tailor Brands recommends a package based on your selected services. The “Price without savings” refers to how much it would cost to buy all these services a la carte with a basic package. Moments after I arrived on this page, a Tailor Brands salesperson called my cell phone unprompted and attempted to sell me services I had just opted out of a few pages before. This was incredibly intrusive, even unsettling. It’s likely the most aggressive upselling effort in the industry and a big turn-off. To make matters worse, she kept me on the phone for 20 minutes, more than doubling my order time. If the recommended package isn’t what you’re looking for, click “See other options.”

Completing Your Order

Once you’ve selected a package, scroll down and add any services you’d like. Your running total will be displayed at the bottom. When you’re ready to check out, click “Proceed.” Pay by PayPal or credit card to complete your order.

Final Thoughts on Usability

Tailor Brands’ website is well-designed and includes a cute clipart, creating a pleasant visual experience. But there are several downsides. First, the order form is a slog, with every little detail and add-on getting its page and the cute but unnecessary progress updates. Setting aside the 20-minute sales call, getting to checkout took about 15 minutes, a bit higher than the industry standard. Also, pricing needs to be more transparent. You’re encouraged to add services without seeing your running total, are only shown the package Tailor Brands recommends (likely the most expensive), and are only presented with your total cost at checkout. To top it off, services like the registered agent and EIN are left out of your total price because they’re charged later.

Tailor Brands Customer Service

We tested all the customer service options by asking real questions through chat, email, and phone. 

Chat Customer Service

I clicked “Get in touch” to see if I could connect to an agent. Instead, I was asked to leave a message.

I assumed no reps were available then because it was outside the 8 am to 5 pm service hours, so I tried again the next day. Even during business hours, the response to my query was again irrelevant – though with different articles this time – and I was asked to leave a message. 

I assess that Tailor does not offer a real chat service but simply has a bot that responds with randomly chosen articles. This is probably helpful for one out of 10 users, if not less. 

Email Customer Service

The rep helped by providing a screenshot of Tailor’s cancellation policy but neglected to answer my question about registered agent cancellation and prorated refunds. Overall, relatively poor email service.    

Phone Customer Service

But I kept my cool and asked about Tailor’s turnaround times and cancellation policy. The agent gave a solid answer on turnaround but was unable to provide much detail on the refund policy and advised me to call customer service the next day.

Rather than sales or customer service, this rep was apparently from the “LLC Formation Department” and worked past the standard business hours. Her job may be to monitor visitors who have begun placing orders and call with a sales pitch. 

After our call, she sent me a text message asking if I had more questions. Enough already. 

The rep seemed well-trained and answered most questions professionally. But because she worked in LLC formation, she could not answer questions beyond that niche. 

I called customer service ((855) 922-5226) on Thursday afternoon to get some answers about their cancellation policy. After going through the dialogue tree and a 30-second wait, I was connected to an agent. 

Just giving my first name was enough for the rep to pull up my file and offer to reconnect me to the agent from the previous day. I made clear that I had called because of the previous agent’s inability to answer my query. 

I asked the rep for details on Tailor’s cancellation policy and whether I could expedite my filing with the state or get a prorated refund on canceled registered agent services. She put me on hold for 30 seconds to talk to her supervisor, then said I could cancel my order at any time, which contradicted the policy I was shown from email customer service. She probably meant to say I could cancel until it was filed with the state. 

When I shifted the topic to registered agent services, she said, “yes, that’s included with your LLC formation,” without understanding that I’d still been asking about cancellations. Once I’d made that clear, her answer was simply “no.”

Similarly, when I asked about expedited filing, her answer was, “we don’t have that anymore,” and then paradoxically, “it depends on the state.” She probably meant that turnaround time, in general, was state-dependent, but the way she talked contradicted herself by making it seem like expediting was only offered in certain states.  

In the end, neither call was satisfying: the cold-calling rep was overly polite and couldn’t answer my questions, while the on-call rep provided jumbled and confused responses.

Overall, Tailor’s phone customer service is a hassle.

Tailor Brands Customer Reviews

The best way to learn about Tailor Brands is to see what real customers thought of their experience. We visited the Better Business Bureau and TrustPilot.

We found that Tailor Brands averages about 4.4 stars out of 5 and has around 8,500 total reviews. 

In the past, customer reviews reflected more disappointment, but recent feedback, especially on TrustPilot, has been overwhelmingly positive. This suggests that Tailor Brands has significantly addressed the negative reviews and complaints, resulting in improved service and support for its clients.

Tailor Brands Company Background

Tailor Brands was co-founded by Yali Saar, Tom Lahat, and Nadav Shaz in 2015. The three had been trying to start two other businesses but noticed that no one would take them seriously until they had a logo, business cards, and other professional assets. 

They started Tailor Brands to help fellow entrepreneurs quickly acquire these assets and have since expanded into website building, LLC formation, and customized merchandise.

During a Series C funding round in 2021, Tailor Brands caught the attention of web hosting giant GoDaddy, which invested $50 million in the startup. Tailor Brands is based in New York and Tel Aviv, but as a hybrid workplace, it has employees worldwide.

Alternatives to Tailor Brands

	Tailor Brands	ZenBusiness	Swyft Filings	LegalZoom
Plans and Pricing	3 plans, $0 – $249 plus state fees	3 plans, $0 – $349 plus state fees	3 plans, $0 – $299 plus state fees	3 plans, $0 – $299 plus state fees
Registered Agent Service	Not included, $199 annually, $249 for renewals	Not included, $199 annually	Not included, $199 annually	Not included, $199 annually
Processing Time	Standard state times, 2 business day processing with Essential and Elite	Standard or rush	Standard state times, next day processing with Premium	Standard state times
Money-Back Guarantee	30 days	60 days	No	60 days
Our Rating	4.3/5	4.2/5	4.1/5	4.2/5

Tailor Brands vs. ZenBusiness

ZenBusiness’ Starter and Pro plans are of better value than Tailor Brands’ Lite and Essential plans, costing equally while offering more perks. However, Tailor Brands’ Elite plan is not only $50 cheaper but includes excellent online marketing tools.

Tailor Brands vs. Swyft Filings

Swyft Filings’ and Tailor Brands’ prices are about the same, and both allow package customization. Swyft is a little more generous with its plans, offering a free website through its partner Squarespace for all plans. Tailor’s Elite plan offers more value for online sellers, but if you’re just looking for a website, Swyft’s plans include it for less. Swyft also helps file other documents and can be a filing partner beyond formation.

Tailor Brands vs. LegalZoom

LegalZoom’s Basic plan starts at $0 as well and includes a free Squarespace website. Beyond that, LegalZoom’s packages are $50 more than Tailor’s because they offer consultations from attorneys and specialists.