This varies wildly from country to country and Germany is known for their anal retentive bureaucracy and obsession with paper.
In many other countries who didn't have the mental anesthetics of "we are Germans, we are the best" and had to make a living and get competitive the process is much simpler ( not all, far from it ).
Also, "in the US is very easy and cheap" is a fallacy. First companies don't exist "in the US", they exist in states and the amount of shenanigans also varies. Don't forget the US has a very adversarial culture and if you don't be careful and pay a significant amount of money ( when you have some traction ) to a decent lawyer/accountant it's all fine and good until you get yourself in hot water with the IRS mixed with some kind of Better call Saul episode.
I have the general feeling the downside of things is much more lower in the US than in Europe, but I might be wrong.
I’ve opened dozens of companies (ok about a dozen) in the US. I can’t speak for every state, but in Florida and Wyoming it’s really simple. Can be done online and you absolutely do not need a lawyer, not at the beginning and not years later.
The experience does vary widely with the State, but the process in the US is generally pretty easy and forgiving when you are a small company in my experience. In some States they were friendly, helpful, and accommodating when I made mistakes or didn't file some form I didn't know I needed, they understand that happens. California is the only State where I found the process to be consistently hostile.
You can get a business registered in Delaware in under 30 minutes by filling out a handful of forms online. If you don't want to do even that pay some service like Stripe Atlas $200-500 and the entire process will be down to minutes. There are still plenty of hurdles in running a tech startup in the US but bureaucracy is not one of them.
In many other countries who didn't have the mental anesthetics of "we are Germans, we are the best" and had to make a living and get competitive the process is much simpler ( not all, far from it ).
Also, "in the US is very easy and cheap" is a fallacy. First companies don't exist "in the US", they exist in states and the amount of shenanigans also varies. Don't forget the US has a very adversarial culture and if you don't be careful and pay a significant amount of money ( when you have some traction ) to a decent lawyer/accountant it's all fine and good until you get yourself in hot water with the IRS mixed with some kind of Better call Saul episode.
I have the general feeling the downside of things is much more lower in the US than in Europe, but I might be wrong.