Most guides still print $90 for a Delaware LLC certificate of formation. It is out of date. The Delaware Division of Corporations revised its fee schedule on August 1, 2026, and the certificate now costs $110. This playbook prices the formation from the secretaries of state and the statutes themselves, as read on November 15, 2026. Our Delaware vs Wyoming vs Nevada LLC annual compliance cost playbook prices the recurring charges year by year; this one prices the formation.
The day-one bill: three filing fees that are not three charges
| State | Formation filing | Other mandatory day-one charges | Day-one state total | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware | Certificate of formation $110 | None | $110 | Delaware Division of Corporations fee schedule, revised Aug 1, 2026 |
| Wyoming | Articles of Organization $100 | None | $100 | Wyoming Secretary of State fee schedule, effective Jul 1, 2026 |
| Nevada | Articles of Organization $75 | Initial list $150; state business license $200 | $425 | NRS 86.561; NRS 86.263; NRS 76.100 |
The table looks like a $10 race between Delaware and Wyoming with Nevada far behind. But the Nevada column teaches the lesson: the $75 articles fee is a third of the day-one bill. Nevada law requires the initial list at the same time as the articles, at $150, and a state business license at the same time, at $200.
Delaware's $110 buys the certificate of formation; Wyoming's $100 buys the Articles of Organization; nothing else is due that day in either state.
A registered agent is a separate cost in all three states and is not in any of these totals. Every state requires a registered agent with an address in the state, and no agent figure appears here.
Delaware: the $110 correction and the $400 tax
Delaware's formation fee is the easiest number in this comparison to get wrong, because the wrong number is everywhere. The $90 figure comes from the pre-August-2026 fee schedule. The current schedule, revised August 1, 2026, lists "Formation – domestic $110.00" for LLCs.
The formation fee is not the Delaware cost. The Delaware cost is the annual tax, and it arrives sooner than most founders expect. Delaware LLCs file no annual report, but every LLC pays a flat annual tax of $400, due on or before June 1 of each year. The penalty for late payment is $200, and interest accrues on the tax and the penalty at 1.5% a month. For an LLC formed in November 2026, the first $400 falls due June 1, 2027, inside the first twelve months. The first-year state cost is therefore $510, not $110.
That $400 is a flat tax, not a fee for a service, and it does not scale with the size of the company. A single-member LLC holding one bank account pays $400.
Wyoming: $100 in, $60 a year, and the asset tax
Wyoming is the cheapest state in this comparison at every point on the timeline, and the reason is written into the fee schedule itself. The Wyoming Secretary of State's Business Division Filing Fee Schedule, effective July 1, 2026, lists the Articles of Organization at $100 and the annual report license tax at "$60 or two-tenths of one mill on the dollar ($.0002) whichever is greater based on the company's assets located and employed in the state of Wyoming." The annual report is due on the first day of the anniversary month.
The screenshot above is page 1 of the Wyoming fee schedule: Articles of Organization at $100.00.
The $60 is a floor, not a rate. Two-tenths of one mill is $0.0002 per dollar of Wyoming assets, and the state charges whichever is greater. At $300,000 of Wyoming assets the two numbers meet — $0.0002 multiplied by $300,000 is $60. Below that the LLC pays $60; above it, the formula.
A Wyoming LLC that holds $1 million of assets in the state pays $200 a year, not $60 — $1,100 over five years, still cheaper than Delaware's $2,110. Only assets located and employed in Wyoming count.
The first-year state cost of a Wyoming LLC is $160: $100 to form and $60 for the first annual report, due November 1, 2027, inside the first twelve months.
Nevada: $425 because the filing is three charges
Nevada is the state where the formation fee is the smallest number on the invoice. The articles of organization cost $75 under NRS 86.561.
The initial list is the second charge, and it is the one that carries the privacy consequence. NRS 86.263 requires the LLC, at the time of filing its articles, to file a list containing the names and titles of all of its managers — or, if there is no manager, all of its managing members — and the residence or business address of each one. The fee for the initial list is $150, and the fee for each annual list is also $150, due on or before the last day of the anniversary month. For an LLC formed November 15, 2026, the first annual list falls due November 30, 2027 — just outside the first twelve months, so Nevada's first-year state cost is its day-one cost: $425.
The third charge is the state business license. NRS 76.100 provides that an entity required to file an initial or annual list must obtain the state business license at the time of filing the list. The fee is $200 for an LLC, and the renewal fee is $200 a year under NRS 76.130. Nevada's recurring state charge is therefore $350 a year: $150 for the annual list and $200 for the license renewal.
There is one more Nevada figure worth knowing before the formation is filed. NRS 76.180 provides that a person who willfully fails to obtain or renew a state business license is subject to a fine of not less than $1,000 and not more than $10,000.
The first year and the fifth year
Put the three states on the same two clocks and the ranking is stable at both ends. In the first twelve months from a November 15, 2026 formation, Delaware costs $510, Wyoming $160, and Nevada $425. Delaware's $400 tax falls due June 1, 2027, inside the year; Wyoming's $60 report falls due November 1, 2027, inside the year; Nevada's first $350 renewal falls due November 30, 2027, fifteen days outside it.
Over five years the ranking holds, and the gaps widen. Count the formation payment plus the five recurring charges due in years one through five.
The $10 gap at formation becomes a $1,710 gap over five years, and Nevada overtakes Delaware for the most expensive state to keep — $2,175 against $2,110 — because its $350 annual charge is only $50 less than Delaware's $400 while its day-one bill is $315 higher. A founder who picks Nevada and budgets the $75 articles fee has made two errors: the formation costs $425, and the five-year cost is the highest of the three. Run the same five-year arithmetic in the break-even calculator at your own asset figures, because Wyoming's formula moves with Wyoming assets and the $400 headline only holds while the assets stay under $300,000.
Privacy at filing: what the public record shows
Formation is also a publication, and the three states publish different things. Delaware publishes the least. Under 6 Del. C. § 18-201, the certificate of formation must set out three things: the name of the LLC, the address of the registered office and the name and address of the registered agent, and any other matters the members determine to include. Member names and addresses are not required, so a Delaware LLC can be formed with no owner's name on the certificate.
Nevada publishes the most. NRS 86.263 requires the initial list to contain the names and titles of every manager or managing member and the residence or business address of each, and NRS 86.269 requires each annual list to set out the address of each manager or managing member. A Nevada LLC's managers are on the public record from day one, by statute, with their addresses.
Wyoming sits between the two, and the honest statement is that its fee schedule is silent on the point. The schedule prices the filing; it does not describe the contents of the public record. What it does show is that Wyoming's recurring charge is asset-based rather than identity-based: the state prices what the company holds in Wyoming, not who owns it. Delaware is the only state here whose statute guarantees names off the record; Wyoming is the only state whose schedule delivers the lowest bill.
The late bill: what a missed deadline costs
Delaware's penalty is the simplest to compute. A $400 tax paid one month late costs the $200 penalty plus interest at 1.5% a month on the tax and the penalty: $600 multiplied by 1.5% is $9, for a total of $609.
Nevada's late bill is a sum of two penalties. A missed annual list draws a $75 penalty under NRS 86.272; a late license renewal draws a $100 penalty under NRS 76.130, on top of the $150 list fee and the $200 license fee. The total for a missed Nevada year is $525.
Wyoming's schedule prices the consequence of a missed tax differently: reinstatement for tax costs $100, listed on the same fee schedule as the $100 formation. The schedule does not state a late penalty figure for the annual report itself, so no Wyoming late total is computed here. Put the deadline in the calendar on the day of formation: Delaware June 1, Wyoming the first day of the anniversary month, Nevada the last day of the anniversary month.
Speed: what an expedite buys
All three states will form the LLC faster for a fee, and the fees are published in the same schedules as the formation charges. Delaware's schedule prices same-day service at $100 and 24-hour service at $50 on the LLC formation row, and priority service at $1,000 for one hour and $500 for two hours. A Delaware certificate filed on the standard $110 becomes $160 in 24 hours, $210 the same day, $610 in two hours, and $1,110 in one hour. Wyoming's schedule prices expedited filing at $700 for the next business day and $1,400 for the same business day, so a Wyoming formation becomes $800 next-day or $1,500 same-day. No Nevada expedite figure was read from a primary source for this playbook.
Who should form where — and who should not
| State | Form here if | Avoid it if |
|---|---|---|
| Delaware | Most minimal public record — a certificate that names no owners under § 18-201 | Your budget is the state bill itself: $2,110 over five years is the second-highest total here |
| Wyoming | Lowest state bill at every point — $100 to form, $160 in the first year, $400 over five years — and your Wyoming assets stay under $300,000 | You hold substantial assets in Wyoming, where the $0.0002 formula overtakes the $60 floor |
| Nevada | You do business in Nevada and need the state business license anyway | You want privacy — Nevada publishes every manager's name and address by statute — or you want the lowest bill, because Nevada is the most expensive over five years |
Founder & CEO Insight — Enow A. Jovial
The formation sequence
- [x] Step 1: Pick the state on the five-year total, not the filing fee. Wyoming $400, Delaware $2,110, Nevada $2,175.
- [x] Step 2: Reserve the name and appoint the registered agent. Budget the agent separately — every state requires one.
- [x] Step 3: File the formation document. Delaware certificate $110; Wyoming Articles $100; Nevada articles $75 plus the $150 initial list and the $200 business license, filed together.
- [x] Step 4: Apply for the EIN and open the bank account.
- [x] Step 5: Write the operating agreement. The operating agreement is where the members, the capital, and the decisions live.
- [x] Step 6: Put the recurring deadline in the calendar on the day of formation. Delaware June 1, Wyoming the first day of the anniversary month, Nevada the last day of the anniversary month.
- [x] Step 7: File the first recurring charge before the deadline, not on it. Delaware's $400, Wyoming's $60 or the asset formula, Nevada's $150 list plus $200 license.
The verdict in one paragraph: Wyoming wins on price at every point — $100 to form, $160 in the first year, $400 over five years — and Delaware wins on privacy, with a certificate that names no owners under § 18-201; Nevada charges the most to form and the most to keep, $425 and $2,175, and publishes every manager's name and address. Form in Wyoming for the bill, in Delaware for the record, and in Nevada only when the business is there. Our Wyoming LLC annual report filing playbook walks the $60 report step by step, and our Delaware vs Wyoming LLC for non-US residents covers the cross-border version of the same choice.