About this guide

A free, independent guide for people who earn money from an app or software product and want to know: do I need an LLC yet, what does it cost in my state, and what do I do next?

Who runs it

I'm Daniel, a solo founder and business owner running my own small software and online businesses from New York. I built this guide because I kept running into the same question myself: when does an LLC actually make sense, and what does it really cost? I write and maintain every page.

I'm not a lawyer or a CPA and I don't claim to be, and this isn't a law firm, accounting firm or formation service. That is why every figure links to the state agency or IRS page it came from, with the date it was checked, so you don't have to take my word for it.

How the answers are made

• Rules, not guesses. The verdict ("Not yet", "Soon" or "Now"), the costs and the dates come from fixed rules and sourced data, not from an AI. The thresholds are placeholders until a CPA and an attorney review them, and the site says so.
• Sourced and dated. Every fee, rule and date shows its source and the day it was last verified. Figures we could not confirm on an official page are labeled "not verified" and kept out of the totals.
• "Not yet" is a real answer. Many people do not need an LLC yet. The calculator will tell you that.
• Your answers stay in your browser. The calculator runs on your device. We do not collect what you enter.

Details and known gaps: About this data.

Money and links

The site is free. It has no ads and no affiliate links today. If that changes, links will be labeled, a free do-it-yourself option will always be shown, and nothing will be ranked by what it pays.

What this guide will not do

• Give legal or tax advice, or tell you what to do in your own situation. Ask a CPA or an attorney in your state.
• Imitate or speak for any government agency. We are not the state, and the word "official" does not describe us.

Email reminders and your data

If you sign up for deadline reminders, we store your email address and your state with Brevo, our email provider, and use them only to send those reminders. You confirm by email first, and every message has an unsubscribe link. Unsubscribing stops the emails. To have your address removed, write to contact@doineedanllc.com. The calculator itself does not collect your answers: they stay in your browser.

We count visits and clicks (which pages, which buttons, the verdict and state shown) with Umami, a cookie-free analytics service. It does not set cookies or record your income, your answers or anything that identifies you, and it honors your browser's Do Not Track setting.

Contact and corrections

Found something wrong or out of date? Use Report an error. A person reads every report and checks it against the official source. Confirmed fixes are listed in the corrections log.

For anything else: contact@doineedanllc.com. We cannot answer questions about your own business.

Informational only. Not legal or tax advice.