Certified Articles Fees by State — Explainer
Matrix explainer. Coverage: the state fee for a certified copy of an entity's articles, corporation and LLC lines. Source matrix: Certified Copy of Articles Fees by State. 51 jurisdictions. Fees as of the matrix's last verification (May–June 2026). Not legal advice.
Short answer
A certified copy of articles is an official, state-stamped reproduction of the document that formed your entity. You order it when someone with leverage asks for it — a bank, a lender, or another state during foreign qualification. It is one of the cheapest documents a Secretary of State sells: for an LLC the fee runs from $0 in Colorado to $55 in Connecticut, every one of the 51 jurisdictions publishes a number, and in 49 of them the corporation and the LLC pay the same amount. The two catches worth knowing are the per-page pricing many states use, and the two states where the LLC line is genuinely more expensive than the corporate one.
For what the document is — and what it is not — see What is a certified copy of articles?. This page is about what it costs and how the pricing structures differ.
What you actually pay
The floor is Colorado, which charges nothing at all. South Carolina is next at a $3 base, then a cluster of $5 bases — Arizona, California, Iowa, New Hampshire among them. At the top: Connecticut at $55, with Delaware, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey at $50 and Pennsylvania at $40. Most jurisdictions land in the $10–$25 band. The number to watch is not the base but the structure — a low base with a per-page charge can pass a higher flat fee on a long document.
The per-page structures
A large share of states price certified copies as certification-plus-copying. Alabama charges $10 for the certification plus $2 per page. Texas is $15 plus $1 per page; South Dakota $15 plus $2 per page; Mississippi and Nebraska $10 plus $1 per page; New Hampshire $5 plus $1 per page; Hawaii and Idaho add 25 cents per page; Rhode Island 15 cents. Kentucky bundles the first five pages into its $10 fee ($5 copy plus $5 certification) and charges 50 cents per page after. Wyoming covers documents of ten pages or fewer at $10, moving to $15 plus 15 cents per page beyond that. Articles filings are usually short, so the totals stay small — but the listed base is a starting point, not a quote.
Where the channel changes the price
A few states price by how you order. North Carolina processes by mail at $15 plus $1 per page but online at $12 plus $1 per page. Massachusetts charges $12 for the copy, $15 if ordered online. Indiana runs $16 online against $15 by mail. Minnesota is $8 by mail ($3 copy plus $5 certification) with a $10 transaction fee added for online orders — the mail path is the cheap one there. Missouri sells an online certified copy at a flat $10, while a paper copy is $10 certification plus 50 cents per page. As with amendments, the cheaper channel is usually but not always electronic; read the row note before ordering.
The two states that price the LLC differently
Forty-nine jurisdictions charge both entity types the same. Florida and New Jersey do not, and both put the higher number on the LLC: Florida charges $8.75 for a corporate certified copy but $30 for an LLC's; New Jersey charges $25 for a corporation and $50 for an LLC. If you are comparing quotes or budgeting a foreign qualification out of either state, match the line to your entity type — the corporate figure is the one most third-party charts reprint.
How these numbers are sourced
Every row binds to the state's own fee schedule or ordering page — recorded per row as a consolidated fee PDF or a fee web page — with the corporation and LLC lines read separately. All 51 jurisdictions carry a primary-sourced value; there are no blank cells. Where the state prices per page or per channel, the structure is captured in the row note rather than flattened into a misleading single number. Fees reflect the matrix's last verification (2026-05-31); confirm against the linked source before ordering. Full method at /about/methodology/; source taxonomy at /about/source-registry/.
What the matrix does not prove
- That a certified copy is the document your counterparty wants — a certificate of good standing is a different document with its own fee, and requesters sometimes want both.
- Your total for a long document — per-page charges mean the listed base understates the cost of anything beyond a short filing.
- Expedite or same-day surcharges, which are separate and change often.
- Whether another state will accept your copy for foreign qualification — acceptance rules and freshness requirements belong to the receiving state.
Not legal advice
Fees and ordering procedures are state-specific and change. This page is structured reference derived from the primary-sourced matrix, not counsel. Confirm against the linked state source before ordering.
See also: Certified Copy of Articles Fees by State (matrix) · What is a certified copy of articles? · Certificate of Good Standing Fees by State — Explainer
Frequently asked questions
What does a certified copy of articles cost?
For an LLC it runs from $0 (Colorado) to $55 (Connecticut) across the 51 jurisdictions, with most states charging a small flat fee or a base fee plus a per-page charge. Delaware, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey sit at the top alongside Connecticut at $50. The full per-state table with per-row sources is on the matrix page.
When do I actually need a certified copy?
The common triggers are a bank or lender that wants a state-stamped copy of your formation document, and foreign qualification — registering your entity in another state, which typically requires a certified copy from your home state. If nobody is asking for one, you rarely need to order one.
Why do so many states charge per page?
Because the product is a stamped copy of a document whose length varies. A typical structure is a certification fee plus a copy charge per page — Alabama is $10 plus $2 per page, Texas $15 plus $1 per page, Rhode Island $10 plus 15 cents per page. A one-page articles filing keeps the total near the base; a long document does not.
Do corporations and LLCs pay the same fee?
In 49 of 51 jurisdictions, yes. The two exceptions both charge the LLC more: Florida prices a corporate certified copy at $8.75 but an LLC's at $30, and New Jersey charges $25 for a corporation against $50 for an LLC.
Is a certified copy the same as a certificate of good standing?
No. A certified copy reproduces your formation document with the state's stamp; a certificate of good standing attests to your entity's current status. Banks and other states sometimes ask for one, the other, or both — they are separate documents with separate fees.
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