What the $399 Firstbase base actually includes
Firstbase calls its formation product Firstbase Start, and the published price is $399 as a one-time fee. According to Firstbase's own help center, the Start fee covers company registration in Wyoming or Delaware, an EIN application, a basic operating agreement or bylaws, a Mercury bank account introduction, and access to their dashboard. That is a genuinely competitive base price - lower than Stripe Atlas ($500, Delaware only) and StartGlobal ($599) - and it is the number Firstbase leads with in ads and SEO landing pages.
The catch is not the base price. The catch is that a foreign-owned US LLC is not "done" at formation. To operate legally and stay in good standing, a non-resident founder needs a registered agent every year, a real US address for mail and bank verification, and a federal tax filing (at minimum Form 5472 plus a pro-forma Form 1120). Firstbase sells each of those as a discrete line item. That is the "unbundling" - and it is where the cost lives.
The add-on ladder: every line item, 2026 prices
Here is the full stack a typical non-resident Firstbase customer encounters, with current pricing pulled from Firstbase's pricing pages and help center, set against the equivalent at WyomingLLC.xyz.
| Item | Firstbase price | WyomingLLC.xyz equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| LLC formation (Start) | $399 one-time | $397 (state fee included) |
| Wyoming state filing fee | Not included (~$100) | Included in $397 |
| Registered agent, year 1 | Included year 1 | Included year 1 |
| Registered agent, year 2+ | ~$299/year per state | ~$99/year |
| US mailing address | ~$315/year | Coached free (use a virtual address you control) |
| Annual tax filing (5472 + 1120) | ~$899–$1,799/year | ~$99 add-on (5472 + pro-forma 1120) |
| Legal / compliance bundle | ~$499/year | Not bundled; referral partners |
| Wyoming annual report / license tax | Not included (~$60) | ~$60/year (state, pass-through) |
| ITIN (if needed) | ~$450 | $297 add-on |
| BOI report (if reinstated) | ~$199 | ~$50 if filed for you |
Two things matter in this table. First, the Wyoming state filing fee of $100 is bundled into our $397 but is on top of Firstbase's $399 - so the true formation-day comparison is $499 (Firstbase + state) vs $397 (us). Second, the recurring lines - registered agent, address, tax, legal - are what separate a $399 sticker from a $2,000+ reality.
The address line is the quiet one
The US address add-on is easy to overlook because it sounds trivial, but at ~$315/year it is one of the larger recurring charges, and most non-residents genuinely need a US address for bank verification, IRS correspondence, and Stripe. You can supply your own (a commercial mail-receiving agency like a Stable, iPostal1, or similar virtual mailbox runs $10–$30/month, and a registered-agent address is not the same as a mailing address). The point is not that Firstbase's address is overpriced - it is that it is a separate decision you should make on purpose, not absorb by default.
The tax line is the big one
Firstbase's annual tax package is the single largest swing in the whole comparison. Depending on the tier, it ranges from roughly $899 to $1,799/year. For a single-member, foreign-owned LLC with no US-source income, the actual federal filing obligation is narrow: a Form 5472 information return attached to a pro-forma Form 1120. That is the same filing whether you pay $99 or $1,799 to have it prepared. The premium tiers add bookkeeping, sales-tax handling, and CPA review - valuable if you have real US operations and inventory, wasteful if you are a solo SaaS or freelance founder with a handful of transactions a year.
Realistic first-year cost, side by side
Let's price two honest scenarios for a non-resident founder with a simple service or SaaS business and no US payroll.
Firstbase, typical loaded year 1:
- Formation (Start): $399
- Wyoming state filing fee: $100
- US address: $315
- Annual tax filing (mid tier): $899
- Legal/compliance bundle: $499
- Year 1 total: ~$2,212
WyomingLLC.xyz, typical year 1:
- Full formation package: $397 (Wyoming state fee included)
- Form 5472 + 1120 add-on: $99 (most non-residents need this)
- Year 1 total: ~$496
First-year difference: roughly $1,700. If you decline Firstbase's legal bundle and use the base tax tier, you can pull their number down toward $1,400–$1,600 - but you are still comparing it against our $496, and you are doing the unbundling work yourself either way.
Year 2 and the five-year picture
Year 2 is where the recurring stack compounds. A Firstbase customer who keeps the address, tax, and registered agent renewals is looking at roughly $299 (RA) + $315 (address) + $899 (tax) = ~$1,513/year, before any compliance extras. Our recurring cost is roughly $99 (registered agent renewal) + $60 (Wyoming annual report) + $99 (tax add-on) = ~$258/year.
| Firstbase (loaded) | WyomingLLC.xyz | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | ~$2,212 | ~$496 |
| Years 2–5 (each) | ~$1,513 | ~$258 |
| 5-year total | ~$8,264 | ~$1,528 |
Over five years the difference is roughly $6,700. Even on a leaner Firstbase configuration - base tax tier, no legal bundle, supply your own address - Firstbase still lands north of $3,500 over five years against our ~$1,528, because the registered-agent and tax-prep premiums never go away. Wyoming's $60 annual license tax (for LLCs with $300,000 or less in Wyoming-located assets) keeps the recurring state cost near the legal minimum, per the Wyoming Secretary of State.
Why "unbundling" is a pricing strategy, not an accident
It is worth being precise about what unbundling is, because it is easy to read this post as an accusation of trickery - it is not. Unbundling is a deliberate and entirely legitimate pricing model: you advertise a low, attention-grabbing entry price, and you monetize the recurring services the customer needs anyway. Airlines do it with seat selection and bags. SaaS companies do it with seats and usage tiers. Formation platforms do it with registered agent, address, and tax.
The reason it works on non-residents specifically is information asymmetry. A US-resident founder usually already knows they need a registered agent and roughly what one costs. A founder in Lagos, Karachi, or São Paulo forming their first US entity often does not know that the $399 sticker excludes the $100 state fee, that the registered agent renews at a premium, or that an annual federal information return exists at all. The add-ons are not hidden in fine print so much as they are simply not salient to someone who has never done this before. That is exactly why we write the full stack out: the antidote to information asymmetry is information.
The practical defense is the same one a seasoned traveler uses against airline fees - decide what you actually need before you see the upsell flow, and treat each add-on as an independent purchase you could make from any vendor, not a bundled inevitability.
The renewal cliff: where the sticker and the reality diverge
The single most common surprise for Firstbase customers is not formation day - it is the first renewal, roughly twelve months later. On formation day the registered agent is included, so the invoice looks close to the advertised price. Twelve months on, the registered agent renewal, the address renewal, and the annual tax-prep package all land at once, often within the same billing window. A founder who budgeted "$399 to start my company" can be looking at a four-figure renewal they did not anticipate.
This is why the five-year view in the table above matters more than the formation-day comparison. The formation fee is a one-time event; the recurring stack is what you actually live with. When evaluating any provider, ask the renewal question explicitly: "What will my total invoice be twelve and twenty-four months from now, with everything I need to stay compliant?" A provider that answers that clearly is being straight with you; a provider that only quotes the entry price is selling you the sticker, not the reality.
A worked example: two founders, same business
Suppose two founders, A and B, each run a one-person SaaS that earns from Stripe, has no US employees, no inventory, and a few dozen transactions a year. Both need: a Wyoming LLC, an EIN, a registered agent, a US address for Stripe and bank verification, and the annual Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120.
Founder A goes with Firstbase and accepts the default flow: Start ($399) + state fee ($100) + address ($315) + mid-tier tax ($899) + the legal bundle ($499) = roughly $2,212 in year one, then roughly $1,513 each following year. Over five years, about $8,264.
Founder B forms with us: $397 all-inclusive (state fee included) + the $99 Form 5472 add-on, and supplies their own virtual mailbox at, say, $15/month ($180/year) instead of the bundled address. Year one is roughly $676 including the mailbox; subsequent years are roughly $99 (registered agent) + $60 (Wyoming annual report) + $99 (tax) + $180 (mailbox) = about $438. Over five years, around $2,428 - and most of the delta versus Founder B's leaner number above is simply the mailbox they chose to pay for separately.
Same legal entity, same EIN, same banking eligibility, same federal filing. The difference is entirely in how much of the recurring stack each founder bought, and from whom. Neither founder broke any rule; Founder B just unbundled the bundle themselves.
The federal filing you cannot skip - at any provider
This is the part that justifies a tax line at all, so it is worth being precise. A foreign-owned, single-member US LLC is treated by the IRS as a disregarded entity, and since 2017 it must file Form 5472 ("Information Return of a 25% Foreign-Owned U.S. Corporation") attached to a pro-forma Form 1120 every year there is a reportable transaction - which includes the initial capital contribution, owner draws, and money moving between you and the LLC. You file this even with zero revenue.
The penalty for failing to file, or filing late or incomplete, is $25,000 per form, per year, per the IRS instructions for Form 5472 - and it escalates by an additional $25,000 for each 30-day period after the IRS issues notice and you still don't file. The return is due April 15 (October 15 with a Form 7004 extension), and because a disregarded entity cannot e-file the 5472, it must be mailed or faxed to the IRS.
The takeaway: the $25,000 risk is the same regardless of who you pay. A $1,799 tax package does not buy you more protection from the penalty than a $99 filing does - the IRS only cares that a complete, correct 5472 arrives on time. Pay for tax depth when your business has the complexity to need it (inventory, US contractors, multi-state sales tax), not because it was the default checkbox in your formation flow.
Banking: not a Firstbase advantage
A common reason founders pay up for Firstbase is the belief that it gets them better banking outcomes. It does not. Mercury, Relay, and Wise all make their own approval decisions based on your business, country, and documentation - not on which formation provider filed your paperwork. Firstbase introduces you to Mercury; so do we, and so do most non-resident specialists. We have not seen Firstbase customers approved at higher rates than ours, because the provider is not the variable.
What actually moves banking approval is having a clean EIN confirmation letter, a real business description, a consistent address, and (for some banks) an ITIN. For high-risk-flagged countries, Relay and Wise Business are frequently the more reliable routes than Mercury, and a Payoneer or Wise account can serve as a fallback for receiving funds while you work on a US bank. None of that is gated behind a $2,000 package.
Privacy: Wyoming's structural advantage
Firstbase defaults many founders to Delaware. For a non-resident who is not raising priced venture equity, Wyoming is usually the better domicile, and privacy is a big reason. Wyoming does not list member or manager names in its public Articles of Organization or annual report, so your name does not appear in the state's public business database by default. Delaware's public filings are similarly lean, but Wyoming pairs that with no state income tax, a $60 minimum annual license tax, and lower year-2 costs. If anonymity and low maintenance matter more to you than a Delaware "brand" that only VCs care about, the domicile choice itself saves money before any add-on math.
When Firstbase is genuinely the right call
This is not a case that Firstbase is a bad product. It is a well-built platform, and there are real situations where its bundle earns its price:
- You're in Y Combinator or a partner accelerator with Firstbase perks or credits that offset the cost.
- You have real US operations - inventory, US contractors, multi-state sales tax - where the higher tax tier is doing actual work, not just filing a 5472.
- You want one dashboard for everything and will genuinely use the bundled bookkeeping and compliance tooling rather than letting it sit idle.
- You're forming many entities and value Firstbase's enterprise tooling and account management.
If none of those describe you - if you're a solo founder who needs a clean Wyoming LLC, an EIN, a bank intro, and a yearly 5472 - you are paying for a bundle you won't use.
How to switch from Firstbase to a Wyoming LLC
If you already formed with Firstbase and want to cut the recurring stack, switching is straightforward and low-cost:
- Order your Wyoming LLC (or, if you already have one with Firstbase as agent, just change the registered agent).
- File a Change of Registered Agent with the Wyoming Secretary of State (small state fee, ~$5). We handle the form.
- We become your registered agent within roughly 5–10 business days.
- Cancel your Firstbase subscription at renewal so you don't double-pay.
- Move your annual 5472 + 1120 to a lean filing path.
Total switching cost is typically under $200, and the migration finishes in about two weeks. You keep the same EIN, the same bank account, and the same LLC - only the recurring overhead changes.
One nuance worth flagging: changing your registered agent does not change your LLC's home state. If Firstbase formed you in Delaware and you want Wyoming's lower year-2 costs and privacy, that is a domestication or a dissolve-and-reform decision, which is more involved than an agent swap and may have tax-timing implications. If you are already a Wyoming LLC with Firstbase as agent, the swap above is all you need. If you are in Delaware and want to be in Wyoming, talk through the domestication path first rather than assuming an agent change moves your state - it does not.
The EIN timeline is identical regardless of provider
A final myth worth retiring: paying more does not get your EIN faster. For a foreign founder with no SSN, the IRS issues the EIN after processing a faxed or mailed Form SS-4, and that processing window - commonly around 8 to 10 business days by fax, longer by mail - is set by the IRS, not by the formation company. Firstbase cannot expedite it, and neither can we, because the IRS is the bottleneck. Any provider implying that a premium tier produces a faster EIN is selling something the IRS does not offer. What a provider can do is prepare the SS-4 correctly the first time so it is not rejected and re-queued - and that is a function of competence, not price tier.
Bottom line
Firstbase's $399 is real, and so is the $2,000+ year you end up with once the address, tax, and legal lines are added by default. The formation itself is a commodity - the same Wyoming or Delaware filing, the same EIN, the same Mercury intro. What you're really choosing is how much of the recurring stack you want bundled and at what markup. For most non-US solo and small-team founders, the honest answer is "very little of it," and an all-in $397 with the state fee included plus a $99 yearly 5472 covers the genuine obligations at a fraction of the five-year cost.
Skip the add-on ladder. Form your Wyoming LLC for $397, state fee included. Start now →
Sources: Firstbase pricing and help center, IRS Instructions for Form 5472, Wyoming Secretary of State business filings, Tax Foundation state-tax data. Pricing current as of 2026; verify provider numbers before purchase.
