Every provider publishes a monthly price. None of them publishes the number you actually need, which is what the first year costs and what every year after it costs. The state fee, the annual report and VAT each get left off a different provider's pricing page — and Estonia's own e-Residency marketplace lists more than two hundred vetted providers without publishing a single price.
€265 to the state, then roughly €540–€1,500 a year to keep the company alive
Registering an OÜ electronically costs €265 in state fee, once. Share capital can be as little as €0.01 per shareholder and does not have to be paid up front.
The recurring cost is what people underestimate: a legal address and contact person, accounting, and the annual report. Across the four providers whose prices we read, that runs from about €670 to €1,470 a year including VAT — a 2.2× spread for what is broadly the same obligation.
Table of Contents
The Calculator
Tick what your company needs. The totals add the state fee, the subscription, the annual report and VAT, and a provider that does not publish one of those is marked not comparable rather than being given a cheaper-looking total.
What it actually costs, per provider
Tell it what your company needs and it adds the state fee, the subscription, the annual report and VAT — the four things each provider leaves off a different part of its own pricing page.
The state fee is €265 and everyone pays it once. The question is whether your provider has already included it.
Because they do not publish: whether the state fee is included; the one-off formation charge.
Because they do not publish: the annual report fee.
Why an unknown is not a zero
If a provider does not publish its annual-report fee, the honest total is unknown, not lower. Treating a missing figure as €0 would put the least transparent provider at the top of a cheapest-first list — which is how most comparison sites end up recommending whoever discloses least. Providers with gaps sort to the bottom here, and the gap is named.
What the State Charges
€265 is the whole state cost of forming the company. The Centre of Registers and Information Systems puts it plainly: the state fee for founding a private limited company electronically is €265. Estonia's e-Residency programme says the same, twice, and one provider's own page confirms the pass-through as "€265 + VAT".
Share capital stopped being a barrier in 2023. The minimum is €0.01 per shareholder and it does not have to be paid before registration. Only above €50,000 does capital have to go through a deposit account.
What You Are Legally Required to Buy
This is where the recurring money goes, and both items are obligations rather than upsells.
An Estonian legal address — or a contact person
These are alternatives, not a mandatory pair. Either the company has an address in Estonia, or it uses your own address abroad and appoints a licensed contact person here. Non-resident founders almost always buy both from one provider, which is why they are sold as a bundle.The contact person must be licensed
Not a friend in Tallinn. It has to be a licensed company or a notary. Their legal role is narrow — they receive official notices on the company's behalf and have no authority to act for it.The appointment expires
The contact person is entered in the register with an end date, and the entry is deleted automatically when it passes. This is the renewal that catches people: nobody chases you, the entry simply lapses.The annual report, within six months
Compulsory whoever files it. Miss it and the registrar may fine both the company and every person obliged to file, without warning, under § 71 of the Commercial Code.
The annual report has teeth, and no published fine
If the report is still unfiled six months after the deadline, the registrar starts supervisory proceedings, and RIK states those "may end with the deletion of the legal person from the register or compulsory dissolution". RIK publishes no euro amount for the fine itself. Losing the company is the published consequence.
Why the Spread Is So Wide
For a solo founder needing the annual report filed, the recurring cost ranges from about €670 to €1,470 a year. Three things explain almost all of it.
| What moves the number | Effect | Who it catches |
|---|---|---|
| Bundled accounting | The largest single factor | Providers charging €89–99/month bundle accounting; the €290/year address-only bundles do not |
| VAT | 24% on everything | Every provider quotes excluding VAT. On a €99/month plan that is over €280 a year |
| Introductory tiers | Not a real price | A tier limited to the first 12 months or to €4,000 of revenue is a discount, not a running cost |
The calculator excludes introductory tiers deliberately. A plan priced for "the first 12 months only, until €4,000 revenue" tells you nothing about year two, and comparing it against a competitor's steady-state price is the single most common way these comparisons mislead.
Cheapest is not the same as least work
The cheapest recurring option here is an address-and-contact-person bundle with accounting bought separately or done yourself. That is genuinely cheaper and it is genuinely more work — you are filing your own declarations monthly if you register for VAT. Bundled providers cost roughly double and absorb that. Neither is the right answer for everyone, which is why this page gives you the arithmetic rather than a winner.
Where Providers Contradict Themselves
Every price on this page was read on the provider's own page in August 2026. Three of the four contradict themselves or the state somewhere in their own published material, and that is worth seeing before you choose.
| Provider | What does not add up |
|---|---|
| Enty | Calls €290 the "Estonian government fee". The state fee is €265. It is either a marked-up pass-through or bundles something unstated — either way it is not what the state charges. Its Estonia page also says a subscription "starting from €33/month" is required while its own pricing page's cheapest paid tier is €22 |
| 1Office | Quotes €510 for the e-resident formation package in its shop and €315 for a self-service route on its Estonia landing page. Both read the same day, both stated to include the state fee |
| Xolo | Publishes no state fee anywhere — not on the pricing page, the Leap page or the Go page. So whether the €265 is absorbed or billed on is unknown, and its first-year total cannot be computed |
| Companio | Nothing found. Its pages agree with each other and with the statutory fee |
Enty's free tier cannot lawfully run your company
Enty publishes a €0 subscription, and its own documentation states that the contact person is included in all plans except the free one. A company whose board sits abroad is required to have a contact person. So the free tier is not a cheaper way to do this — it is a plan that does not meet the legal requirement, and the calculator excludes it rather than showing you a €0 row.
Common Mistakes
Budgeting the formation fee
Registration is a one-off. The address, contact person and accounting are annual and exceed it inside the first year at every provider here.
Comparing headline monthly prices
They cover different things. One provider's €99 includes accounting and the annual report; another's €24 is an address and a mailbox.
Forgetting VAT
Every provider quotes excluding it. At 24% that is the difference between two tiers on most price lists.
Taking an introductory tier as the price
"First 12 months, until €4,000 revenue" is a discount. Year two is the number that matters.
Assuming a free tier is a cheaper route
If it excludes the contact person it does not meet the legal requirement for a board sitting abroad.
Trusting a provider's 'government fee'
One of the four quotes €290 for a fee the state sets at €265. Check the pass-through against the statutory figure.
Letting the contact person entry lapse
It is registered with an end date and deleted automatically. Nobody chases you for the renewal.
Confusing this with residency or tax residency
Forming a company here gives you neither. See e-Residency is not residency.
Starting a business in Estonia?
Registering an OÜ, working out whether you need one at all, or finding the contact person the law requires when nobody on the board lives here. Get matched with specialists who set companies up for foreigners.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a company in Estonia?
€265 in state fee to register an OÜ electronically, plus whatever your service provider charges. Share capital is €0.01 per shareholder and does not have to be paid up front. Across the four providers whose published prices we read, the first year totals roughly €1,300–€1,700 including VAT where the provider publishes enough to compute it.
What does an Estonian company cost per year to run?
About €670 to €1,470 a year including VAT for a solo founder who needs the annual report filed, across the providers on this page. The range is driven mainly by whether accounting is bundled. An address-and-contact-person bundle alone is at the bottom of that range; a provider bundling accounting and the annual report is at the top.
Is the €265 state fee the only government cost?
For the company, yes — that is the electronic registration fee and RIK publishes no other charge for founding. e-Residency itself is a separate €150 application fee, paid once, and it is not required to own an Estonian company.
Do I really need a contact person?
Only if the company's registered address is outside Estonia. They are alternatives: either an Estonian legal address, or your own address abroad plus a licensed contact person here. The contact person must be a licensed company or a notary, receives official notices on the company's behalf, and has no authority to act for it.
What happens if I do not file the annual report?
It is due within six months of the financial year end. RIK states the registrar may fine both the company and everyone obliged to file, without warning, under § 71 of the Commercial Code. If it is still unfiled six months after the deadline, supervisory proceedings begin, which RIK says may end in deletion from the register or compulsory dissolution. No euro figure for the fine is published.
How much is the minimum share capital?
€0.01 per shareholder since 2023, and it does not have to be paid before registration. Only where capital exceeds €50,000 must it be paid into a deposit account. The old €2,500 figure people still quote is not a capital requirement — see the company page.
Which provider is cheapest?
It depends on whether you want accounting bundled, and on whether the cheapest provider publishes enough to be compared at all. Use the calculator at the top rather than a single answer — and note that two of the four cannot produce a first-year total, because they do not publish whether the state fee is included or what the annual report costs.
Does the official e-Residency marketplace show prices?
No. marketplace.e-resident.gov.ee is a government-run directory of more than 200 vetted providers, organised by service category. It publishes no prices, so there is no official price comparison for legal address, contact person or accounting anywhere on the state's own sites.
Related Guides
Know the number before you commit
The state takes its fee once. The address, the contact person and the accounting are annual, and together they are what running the company actually costs.
Disclaimer. General guidance, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Provider prices were read on each provider's own page in August 2026 and change without notice — check the linked source before relying on any figure here. Forming an Estonian company gives you neither residence in Estonia nor a change in your personal tax residence; where you are taxed personally depends on your own circumstances and needs local advice.