If you are a non-US resident choosing between StartFleet and Firstbase, the decision usually comes down to two recurring line items rather than the formation fee.
Firstbase is a full-stack platform — formation, bookkeeping, payroll, compliance and a US address in one dashboard — and if you will use most of that, the bundle is convenient. But it bills Form 5472 at $899/yr and the registered agent at $299/yr, both on top of the $399 formation fee. StartFleet files Form 5472 from $299 and includes the registered agent for the first year in all plans.
So: Firstbase if you need payroll and bookkeeping inside your formation platform. StartFleet if your recurring cost is compliance rather than payroll.
Firstbase is a US company formation and business operations platform. It forms LLCs and C-Corporations in Delaware and Wyoming, and its Firstbase One suite adds registered agent service, a US mailing address, bookkeeping, and payroll registration and compliance reminders.
The platform is well-regarded for founders who plan to raise venture capital and need a Delaware C-Corporation with equity tooling and full operational infrastructure. Payroll registration, bookkeeping, and multi-state compliance in one dashboard are genuinely useful if you intend to hire and scale.
Firstbase registers companies in Delaware and Wyoming, and nowhere else. If either suits you, this costs you nothing. If it does not, it is a hard stop rather than a trade-off.
That matters for non-US founders, because the cheapest and most private option for a solo online business is frequently New Mexico — no annual report, no member disclosure, the lowest running cost of any state — and Florida for founders with genuine US operations. Neither is available through Firstbase. Delaware is also the wrong default for most non-residents: its flat LLC tax rose to $400 a year in August 2026, roughly $340 more than Wyoming for a company that gains nothing from Delaware's case law unless it is raising venture capital. See our state comparison for the full picture.
On speed, Firstbase quotes 3–7 business days for a Wyoming filing with no expedited option, and about 25 business days for Delaware, with expedited filing available for $79 if submitted before 2pm EST. Those figures are not published on firstbase.io — they come from a Firstbase support reply to a prospective customer, so confirm them before you buy.
StartFleet forms in all 50 states.
Firstbase advertises formation from $399. For a non-US resident, that figure does not buy a company you can legally operate — because the things a non-resident cannot skip are all priced as add-ons.
Registered agent — $299/yr. Every US LLC is legally required to maintain a registered agent in its state of formation. This is not a convenience feature; without one, the state can administratively dissolve your company. Firstbase bills it at $299 a year on top of the $399.
Form 5472 — $899/yr. This is the sharpest difference on the page, and it deserves to be understood properly. Every foreign-owned US single-member LLC must file Form 5472 with a pro forma Form 1120 every year, and the IRS applies an automatic $25,000 penalty for each late or missing filing under IRC §6038A. So this is not a premium tier or an upsell for complicated businesses — it is the baseline annual filing that every single non-resident LLC owner has to make, every year, or face a five-figure penalty. Firstbase prices that mandatory filing at $899 a year. StartFleet files the same return from $299 ($299–$499 depending on complexity; around 80% of clients pay $299). Over five years, that one line item alone is roughly $2,400 more.
US mailing address — $315–$350/yr. If you want business mail received and scanned that is a third separate subscription.
None of these three are optional for the founder this page is about. Stack them and year two of a compliant non-resident Wyoming LLC looks like this:
That is roughly $1,000 a year more, for the same legal entity in the same state, filing the same forms. The difference is not the quality of the filing — Form 5472/1120 are the same two-form return either way. It is that Firstbase's price is built for a funded startup that will also use payroll, bookkeeping and multi-state registration, and you are paying into that stack whether or not you touch it.
If you do intend to hire, run payroll and keep books inside one dashboard, that bundle may well be worth $1,700 a year. If you are one person invoicing clients from outside the US, you are paying platform prices for a filing cabinet.
Firstbase is a good fit for:
Firstbase is a weaker fit for:
StartFleet forms US LLCs for non-US residents — founders who want a US company, EIN, and bank account without visiting the United States. Every plan includes EIN, registered agent service, banking guidance, and compliance support.
StartFleet does not offer payroll, or bookkeeping software. What it offers instead is a focused, lower-cost path for founders who need formation, a fast EIN, US banking guidance, and annual Form 5472 compliance — without paying for infrastructure they will not use.
The Startup plan ($599 all-in, including the Wyoming $100 state fee) includes Express EIN in 10–12 business days. From year two, the $329 per year renewal covers registered agent, ten mail scans, annual state report filing, and one amendment. Form 5472 is available as a standalone service from $299 per year — $299–$499 depending on complexity, and around 80% of clients pay $299.
The tables below compare a Wyoming LLC through each provider, with and without Form 5472 compliance. Wyoming is used for both sides since it is the state most non-US founders choose; Firstbase can also form Delaware LLCs, which would add Delaware's flat $400 annual LLC tax from year two.
Two things change how you read those numbers. First, the Firstbase column is still a floor, not a worst case — the US mailing address is quoted at $315–$350 a year and these totals use the lower figure, so the real gap is likely wider. Second, both columns pay Wyoming's $60 state fee separately, so it cancels out; what does not cancel out is that StartFleet's $329 covers the agent, ten mail scans, the annual state filing and one amendment in a single fee, where Firstbase prices each of those separately — four subscriptions instead of one.
And if Firstbase puts your LLC in Delaware rather than Wyoming, add Delaware's $400 annual LLC tax from year two — which widens the gap further.
Form 5472 is the most important recurring cost difference between these two services.
Every foreign-owned US single-member LLC must file Form 5472 and a pro forma Form 1120 with the IRS each year. The IRS imposes a $25,000 automatic penalty for each late or missing filing under IRC §6038A.
Firstbase charges $899 per year for this filing.
StartFleet charges $299–$499 for the same filing depending on complexity, and around 80% of clients pay $299. It is also included in the Business plan ($1,099 all-in for year one).
Over five years, that $600 per year difference adds up to $2,400 on this one line item alone.
A registered agent is a legal requirement for every US LLC. Registered agent service means a US-based person or company receives legal documents and official state mail on behalf of your company.
Firstbase charges $299 per year for registered agent service, billed separately from any plan.
StartFleet includes registered agent service within the $329 per year renewal plan — alongside ten mail scans, annual state filing, and one amendment. The Wyoming $60 state fee is billed separately.
The difference is not just price. StartFleet's $329 renewal bundles four services that Firstbase prices separately. For a non-US founder maintaining a Wyoming LLC with no employees, the renewal structure matters because every unbundled service is a separate charge to track and pay.
Firstbase includes an EIN application in its formation package. For founders without an SSN or ITIN, Firstbase support quotes 20–30 business days — roughly four to six weeks — against 1–3 business days for applicants who already hold one. That timeline is not published on firstbase.io; it comes from a support reply to a prospective customer, so ask them to confirm it still holds before you buy.
StartFleet's Express EIN, included in the Startup plan, is delivered in 10–12 business days. It is also available as a $149 standalone service if you formed your LLC elsewhere.
Neither company controls the IRS queue, so neither can promise a date. But if your bank account and Stripe access are waiting on the EIN, the difference between 10–12 and 20–30 business days is roughly a month of trading.
StartFleet includes banking guidance in every plan: which banks are most accessible to founders from your country, what documents to prepare, and how to maximise your chances of acceptance.
Firstbase takes a different approach: it routes applications to a single banking partner, Payoneer, from inside its dashboard, and you can apply before your EIN arrives. If Payoneer works for your country and your business, that is genuinely convenient. If it does not, there is no second route.
Firstbase One bundles bookkeeping software, payroll registration, a US address, and compliance reminders alongside formation and registered agent. For a company that will use all of those tools, the bundled price can be competitive.
For a non-US founder who uses Wave or QuickBooks for bookkeeping, has no employees to run payroll for, and needs only formation, EIN, banking help, and annual Form 5472 compliance, the bundle represents significant overhead — both in cost and in platform complexity.
StartFleet does not offer payroll or bookkeeping software. Everything else a foreign-owned LLC needs is included — formation in any state, the EIN, banking guidance, compliance alerts, the annual state filing, and Form 5472. If you need payroll or comprehensive accounting tools, pair StartFleet with Wave, Zoho Books, or QuickBooks at a fraction of the cost of Firstbase's combined platform.
Choose Firstbase if you are forming a Delaware C-Corporation for VC fundraising, you want equity tooling and investor-standard documents, and you plan to use the bookkeeping and payroll features of the Firstbase One suite. For that specific use case, the platform approach is coherent.
Choose StartFleet if you are a non-US resident forming a LLC or C-Corp, in Wyoming, Delaware, New-Mexico, Florida or any other state, for e-commerce, consulting, freelancing, or a solo online business. The formation cost is similar, but Form 5472 from $299 versus $899, and registered agent bundled into the $329 renewal rather than charged separately at $299, represent a significant cost difference that compounds every year. You are also not paying for payroll registration and bookkeeping software you do not need.
Firstbase and StartFleet are not the only options. Depending on what you need:
Already formed your company elsewhere and only need the EIN? StartFleet files it as a standalone service — $149 for Express (10–12 business days) or $79 Standard, no formation plan required.
If you are a non-US resident and your recurring cost is Form 5472 rather than payroll, that is the specific problem StartFleet was built for — compare our pricing against any of them.
For non-US residents running a lean business, StartFleet is the best Firstbase alternative. Firstbase bills Form 5472 at $899/yr and the registered agent at $299/yr per state, both separate from the $399 formation fee, with the US mailing address a further $315–$350/yr. StartFleet files Form 5472 from $299 — around 80% of clients pay that — and bundles agent, mail scans and the annual state filing into one $329/yr renewal. Over five years the Form 5472 line alone is about $2,400 cheaper. Firstbase remains the better pick if you will genuinely use its payroll and bookkeeping stack, or if you need a Delaware C-Corp for fundraising.
Firstbase charges $899 per year for Form 5472 + pro forma Form 1120 — the annual IRS filing required for every foreign-owned single-member LLC. StartFleet files the same return from $299 — $299–$499 depending on complexity, with around 80% of clients paying $299. Over five years, that is roughly a $2,400 difference on this line item alone.
No. Firstbase's registered agent service is approximately $299 per year, charged separately from the formation fee. StartFleet's $329 per year renewal includes registered agent service, ten mail scans, annual state report filing, and one amendment — bundled into a single fee.
Firstbase support quotes 20–30 business days for founders without an SSN or ITIN, and 1–3 business days for applicants who already have one. StartFleet's Express EIN is 10–12 business days, included in the Startup plan and above, or $149 as a standalone service.
The IRS imposes a $25,000 penalty per year under IRC §6038A for each late or missing Form 5472 filing. Form 5472 is due 15 April of the year following your first tax year.
See also: StartFleet vs Bizee · StartFleet vs doola · StartFleet vs Stripe Atlas · StartFleet vs Clerky
New to this? Start with US LLC for Non-US Residents, our complete guide.
Elena Rossi leads corporate operations and client support strategies at StartFleet. Drawing on years of direct industry experience in business incorporation, entity structuring, and ongoing regulatory compliance, she ensures that founders have the reliable, up-to-date information they need to scale safely. Elena is passionate about removing the friction from small business growth. In her free time, she is an avid home chef and amateur landscape photographer.
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