You can incorporate a Delaware C-corp before lunch and still spend the next two years paying for a ten-minute decision. Not because any of the big formation platforms is bad — all three covered here are good — but because each one optimizes for a different founder, and the mismatch only shows up later: when an investor asks for your cap table, when your bank account application stalls for lack of an EIN, or when a $300 franchise tax bill arrives and you had budgeted zero.
This guide compares Stripe Atlas, Firstbase, and Clerky on the dimensions that actually matter — price, speed, and legal depth — and maps each one to the founder profile it serves best: the solo founder who wants to be operating this week, the venture-track team that will raise within a year, and the non-US founder who needs a US entity from abroad.
The Short Answer
If you only read one paragraph, read this one:
- Raising venture capital within 12 months? Pick Clerky. Its lifetime plan covers the SAFEs, option grants, and board consents that a lawyer would otherwise bill you thousands for, and your records arrive at due diligence already clean.
- Want to be incorporated, banked, and accepting payments as fast as possible? Pick Stripe Atlas. One flat fee, Delaware C-corp plus a bank account and Stripe payments onboarding in a single flow.
- Based outside the US and need a US company? Pick Firstbase. It handles the parts the other two leave to you — EIN without an SSN, a US business address, banking introductions — and lets you choose your state and entity type.
The rest of this post is the evidence behind those three sentences, plus the long-term costs none of the marketing pages lead with.
Price: What You Pay Up Front and Every Year After
Upfront formation fees across the category sit in a narrow band, so the headline price should not drive your decision. What differs is what is bundled and what recurs.
Stripe Atlas: $500 flat
Atlas charges a one-time $500 fee covering Delaware C-corp formation, EIN filing, founder stock issuance documents, and introductions to open a business bank account plus Stripe payments onboarding. The registered agent runs about $100 per year after the first year, and Atlas offers an optional ongoing compliance service around $500 per year. You also receive Stripe product credits in your first year, which is real value if you plan to process payments through Stripe anyway.
The pricing virtue of Atlas is simplicity: one number, no plan puzzle, and the banking legwork that would otherwise eat a week of founder time is included.
Firstbase: $399 plus the add-ons that matter
Firstbase Start is a $399 one-time formation fee plus state fees, covering LLC or C-corp formation in Delaware or Wyoming, EIN registration without an SSN or ITIN, a US business address, registered agent service for the first year, and banking partner introductions. The catch is what comes after year one: registered agent renews at about $299 per state per year, the Mailroom virtual-address service runs roughly $349 per year, and accounting and tax filing are paid add-ons (Firstbase One bundles the back office at about $199 per month billed yearly).
For a non-US founder, the all-in first-year cost lands meaningfully above $399 — but every one of those add-ons solves a problem you would otherwise have to solve yourself from another continent.
Clerky: $427 once, or $819 for life
Clerky sells incorporation two ways: a pay-per-use formation around $427, or a company lifetime package around $819 that includes unlimited legal documents for the life of the company. The registered agent is about $125 per year, and a few premium templates (dual-class stock structures, for example) cost extra.
The lifetime plan is the one to evaluate seriously if you are on the venture track. A single SAFE round or option-grant package routed through a law firm can cost more than $819 on its own. Clerky's pitch is that you pay once and never pay a lawyer for routine startup paperwork again — and for standard documents, that pitch holds up.
The cost nobody budgets: keeping the company alive
Whatever you pay at checkout, a Delaware C-corp costs a few hundred dollars a year to keep alive for as long as it exists:
- Delaware franchise tax: roughly a $300 minimum annually — but file it on the assumed-par-value method. A startup authorizing the standard 10,000,000 shares that lets Delaware calculate on the authorized-shares method can receive a five-figure bill; recalculated on assumed par value, the same company typically owes close to the minimum. Same company, same shares, an enormous difference from one filing choice.
- Registered agent: about $100 to $299 per year depending on provider.
- State compliance and annual reports: varies by state, typically under $100 for Delaware's annual report filing itself.
Budget $400 to $600 per year from year two onward, and year two will not surprise you.
Speed: How Fast You Go From Idea to Operating Company
All three platforms incorporate in roughly one to three business days once your paperwork is submitted, Delaware backlogs permitting. The speed differences show up in everything around the filing.
Stripe Atlas is the fastest path to transacting. Incorporation, EIN application, bank account introduction, and Stripe payments onboarding run as one guided flow. If your definition of done is "a company that can accept money," Atlas gets you there with the fewest separate projects to manage.
Firstbase is the fastest path for a founder without an SSN. The EIN is the bottleneck for non-US founders — the IRS processes fax-based EIN applications from foreign applicants slowly, and you cannot open most US bank accounts without one. Firstbase expedites this leg (advertised turnaround around 8 to 12 business days) and pairs it with a US address and banking partner introductions, so the entity and the bank account move in parallel instead of in sequence.
Clerky is fast at paperwork, silent on banking. Formation itself is quick, but Clerky does not set up your bank account or payments. You will run that as a separate project with a bank or a banking platform. For a US-based team with an existing banking relationship, that is a non-issue; for a first-time or international founder, it is a real extra week of work.
One reassuring fact: the incorporation decision is cheap to correct later. You do not migrate the company if you change your mind — you simply start generating your next round of documents on the other platform. Founders routinely incorporate on Atlas for speed and move their fundraising paperwork to Clerky when they start raising.
Legal Depth: What You Get After Formation Day
This is the dimension where the three genuinely diverge, and the one that should drive your choice.
Clerky is a legal-paperwork platform that happens to incorporate. Its document library covers the full venture lifecycle: SAFEs, priced-round documents, employee option grants, board consents, and 83(b) election paperwork. The documents are widely accepted by startup law firms and investors with minimal modification, which is why Clerky is close to a standard among accelerator-backed startups. If an investor's counsel asks for your minute book during due diligence, a Clerky-maintained company hands it over without a cleanup project.
Stripe Atlas covers formation-day documents well and little beyond. Founder stock issuance is included, but the first time you raise on SAFEs or set up an option pool, you will reach for Clerky or a lawyer. Atlas companies also report outgrowing the legal side quickly — which is fine if you treat Atlas as the on-ramp and budget for Clerky or counsel at fundraising time.
Firstbase sits between the two on legal, and ahead on operations. Its formation documents are solid, but fundraising workflows are not its strength. Where it pulls ahead is the operational bundle: compliance reminders, mail handling, payroll tax automation, and accounting and tax add-ons. It is built for the founder whose problem is "run a US business from abroad," not "close a seed round."
The decision rule
Answer one question: will you raise venture capital?
- Yes, within about a year — Clerky's lifetime plan. The fundraising paperwork alone pays for it, and starting there keeps every document in one clean system from day one.
- Maybe someday, but not now — Atlas for speed, with a mental note to adopt Clerky or counsel when the first SAFE appears.
- No, I am building an operating business — Firstbase if you are outside the US or want the back-office bundle; Atlas if you are US-based and want the fastest start.
Which Service Fits Which Founder
The solo founder who wants to operate this week
You are US-based, pre-revenue or newly launched, and your bottleneck is time, not legal complexity. Stripe Atlas is the default: $500, one flow, company plus bank account plus payments. The Delaware-only, C-corp-only constraint rarely binds at this stage, and if you later raise, adding Clerky for the round is routine.
One caveat: if you are certain you will never raise venture capital — freelancing, bootstrapped SaaS, a lifestyle business — consider whether a C-corp is even the right entity. An LLC's pass-through taxation is often better, and Firstbase (or a budget formation service) will form one where Atlas will not.
The venture-track startup
You are two or three founders, possibly accelerator-bound, planning to raise within a year and hire with equity. Clerky's lifetime plan is the economical choice: $819 once versus $5,000 to $10,000 in law-firm bills for the same routine documents, plus records that survive due diligence without a cleanup round. The missing bank account is a minor inconvenience your team can handle in parallel.
If your team values an all-in-one subscription over Clerky's paperwork-first approach, Gust Launch (around $450 per year with cap-table tooling and banking bundled) is the closest venture-track alternative.
The non-US founder
You live abroad and need a US entity — for US investors, US payment rails, or a US banking presence. Firstbase is purpose-built for you: state choice, LLC or C-corp, EIN without an SSN, a US business address, and banking introductions in one package. The standard 2026 stack for this profile is Firstbase plus a startup-friendly bank account, and the all-in cost, while higher than the $399 headline once Mailroom and agent renewals are counted, still beats flying to Delaware.
Doola (around $297) is the budget alternative in this lane with heavier hand-holding; Atlas and Clerky both technically serve non-US founders but leave the address, banking, and EIN-expediting work to you.
Booking It Right: Formation Costs Are Startup Expenditures
Whichever service you pick, the accounting treatment is the same, and it is worth getting right from the first entry. Under Section 195, organizational and startup costs are not immediately expensed without limit: you may deduct up to $5,000 of startup expenditures in the year business begins (phased out dollar-for-dollar above $50,000 of such costs), and the remainder is amortized over 15 years.
In practice, that means your $500 Atlas fee, state filing fees, and first-year registered agent charge should be tracked as organizational costs from day one — not buried in a generic expense account where your tax preparer cannot find them at year-end. A clean structure in your ledger looks like this:
2026-10-23 * "Stripe Atlas" "Delaware C-corp formation fee"
Assets:Checking:Mercury -500.00 USD
Expenses:Startup:Organization 500.00 USD
2026-10-23 * "Delaware Division of Corporations" "Certificate of incorporation filing fee"
Assets:Checking:Mercury -90.00 USD
Expenses:Startup:Organization 90.00 USD
2027-03-01 * "Delaware Division of Corporations" "Annual franchise tax, assumed-par-value method"
Assets:Checking:Mercury -400.00 USD
Expenses:Taxes:Franchise 400.00 USDSeparating the one-time organizational costs from the recurring franchise tax matters because they are treated differently: the formation costs fall under the Section 195 election, while the annual franchise tax is an ordinary deductible business tax each year it is paid. Keep them in distinct accounts and your first-year return practically prepares itself. If you want the full mechanics of multi-currency books for a cross-border setup, the documentation on booking foreign-currency transactions walks through it step by step.
Mistakes to Avoid
Optimizing for the $100 difference in upfront price. The spread between $399 and $500 is noise against the recurring cost of the entity and the five-figure legal bills a messy cap table produces. Pick on trajectory, not checkout total.
Filing Delaware franchise tax on the wrong method. This is the single most common incorporation surprise. Always compute under the assumed-par-value capital method; the authorized-shares method can inflate the bill by orders of magnitude for a standard 10-million-share startup charter.
Incorporating as a C-corp when you need an LLC — or vice versa. Venture investors expect a Delaware C-corp; SAFEs and incentive stock options assume one. Bootstrappers usually prefer an LLC's pass-through taxation. Converting later is possible but costs more than choosing correctly now.
Letting the EIN block everything. Non-US founders should treat the EIN application as the critical path and start it the day the certificate of incorporation arrives. Every banking and tax step queues behind it.
Skipping the 83(b) election. If you receive founder stock subject to vesting, you generally have 30 days from the grant to file an 83(b) election with the IRS — a deadline with no extensions and no corrections. Clerky and Gust include the paperwork; on other platforms, calendar it yourself the day the stock is issued.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Clerky or Stripe Atlas cheaper?
Clerky's pay-per-use formation is slightly cheaper upfront than Atlas, but Atlas bundles banking and payments setup. Clerky's $819 lifetime plan costs more at checkout yet is usually the cheaper option overall for a venture-track startup, because it replaces thousands of dollars in law-firm bills for fundraising and equity documents.
Which is best for non-US founders?
Firstbase, because the EIN-without-SSN handling, US business address, and banking introductions are built in rather than left to you. Doola is the main budget alternative. Atlas and Clerky both accept international founders but assume you can solve banking and address yourself.
Can I switch from one platform to another later?
Yes. The common pattern is incorporating on Atlas for speed, then generating fundraising documents on Clerky when the first round takes shape. Nothing migrates — each new document simply lives on the platform that produced it.
Do I still need a lawyer if I use Clerky?
For standard startup paperwork — formation, SAFEs, standard option grants — most early-stage founders do not. You still want counsel for anything non-standard: complex financings, unusual equity structures, disputes, or acquisitions. Treat these platforms as replacements for routine legal work, not for legal advice.
Should I form a C-corp or an LLC?
If you plan to raise venture capital, form a Delaware C-corp — it is what investors, SAFEs, and option pools expect. If you are bootstrapping or freelancing and value simpler pass-through taxes, an LLC is usually the better fit, and Firstbase or Doola will form one where Atlas and Clerky default to C-corps.
The Bottom Line
The incorporation platform is a small, reversible decision; the state of your paperwork when opportunity arrives is not. Venture-track teams should buy Clerky's lifetime plan and never think about routine legal documents again. Speed-focused solo founders should take Atlas's bundled flow and get back to building. Non-US founders should let Firstbase absorb the EIN, address, and banking friction that would otherwise consume their first month. Pick the one that matches where the company is going — then close the tab and get back to work.
