The agent is not optional, so choose it properly
Most jurisdictions on this site let you change your mind about a provider cheaply. The BVI does not really work that way. A Business Company can only be incorporated through a licensed registered agent, must keep one continuously, and the agent is the company's statutory point of contact for everything.
That is why the annual fee matters more than the formation fee, and why this page ranks the agents that publish an annual figure above the ones that publish a setup figure or nothing at all.
A market that mostly refuses to quote
The BVI is dominated by trust companies, and the trust company convention is to quote privately. Trident, Vistra and Ocorian are all substantial, competent operators, and none of them will tell you a price without an enquiry.
That is a legitimate business model for complex work. It is a poor fit for a founder forming a single holding company, who has no way to know whether they are being quoted a fair number. Where a published schedule exists, use it as the benchmark and ask the private quoters to explain the difference.
Watch the share threshold
The government fee tiers on authorised shares. Up to 50,000 shares you are in the standard band; above it the fees rise materially, and they rise every year thereafter, not just at incorporation.
There is rarely a good reason for a small company to authorise more than 50,000 shares, and agents do not always ask before filing. Specify it.
Substance is the part that changed
The BVI's reputation was formed in an era that has ended. Economic substance rules now apply to companies carrying on relevant activities, accounting records must be kept, and beneficial ownership information is collected.
None of that makes a BVI company a bad idea. It does mean that the cheapest agent, whose service ends when the certificate is issued, is selling you something that no longer matches what owning a BVI company involves. Ask what happens in year two, and ask specifically about substance reporting.
