If you're doing business intelligence, competitor research, or lead generation, you're probably paying for data you could get for free.
Most people know about Google Maps and LinkedIn. But there are government-run databases with richer data -- officer names, filing dates, financial disclosures, campaign donations -- that are completely free and open.
Here are 7 I use regularly.
1. Secretary of State Business Filings
Every US state maintains a public registry of business entities -- LLCs, corporations, nonprofits. You can look up any company's registration status, filing date, registered agent, and officers.
What you get: Entity name, status, formation date, registered agent, officer/director names, filing history.
Why it matters: KYC checks, competitor research, verifying if a company is actually incorporated. Officer names are gold for sales prospecting.
Where to search:
- Texas: SOSDirect
- New York: DOS Entity Search
- California: bizfileOnline
Or use an automated multi-state search to query multiple states at once.
2. SEC EDGAR Company Filings
Every public company files quarterly and annual reports with the SEC. EDGAR makes all of them searchable -- 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, insider transactions, proxy statements.
What you get: Financial statements, executive compensation, risk factors, insider stock transactions, institutional ownership.
Why it matters: Due diligence, investment research, competitive analysis of public companies. The full-text search lets you find mentions of specific technologies, competitors, or risks across all filings.
Where to search: EDGAR Full-Text Search
You can also search EDGAR programmatically without building your own parser.
3. IRS 990 Nonprofit Data
Every US nonprofit files a Form 990 with the IRS. These contain revenue, expenses, executive compensation, board members, and program descriptions. All public.
What you get: Total revenue, total expenses, CEO/executive compensation, board member names, program descriptions, grants received and given.
Why it matters: Nonprofit research, grant prospecting, donor intelligence, journalist investigations. Executive compensation data is particularly hard to find anywhere else.
Where to search: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer or the IRS 990 search tool.
4. FDA Drug Adverse Events and Recalls
The FDA publishes every drug adverse event report and product recall in a searchable database. If a drug caused side effects, it's in here.
What you get: Drug name, adverse event descriptions, patient outcomes, recall classifications, recall reasons, affected products.
Why it matters: Pharma competitive intelligence, product safety research, regulatory monitoring. Useful for anyone in healthcare, insurance, or legal.
Where to search: openFDA or use an automated FDA search.
5. FEC Campaign Finance Data
Every political donation over $200 is publicly reported to the Federal Election Commission. You can look up who donated to which candidates, how much PACs raised, and where campaign money went.
What you get: Donor names, employer, donation amounts, candidate/PAC recipients, expenditure details.
Why it matters: Political risk analysis, compliance screening, sales intelligence (knowing which executives donate to which causes), journalism.
Where to search: FEC.gov or search campaign finance programmatically.
6. ClinicalTrials.gov
Every clinical trial conducted in the US (and many international ones) must be registered on ClinicalTrials.gov. The database includes study design, enrollment, sponsors, results, and status.
What you get: Trial title, sponsor, status, enrollment count, conditions studied, interventions, results, study design.
Why it matters: Pharma competitive intelligence (see what drugs competitors are testing), biotech investment research, patient recruitment, academic research.
Where to search: ClinicalTrials.gov or search trials programmatically.
7. USASpending Federal Contracts
Every federal contract, grant, and loan is published on USASpending.gov. You can see which companies won government contracts, for how much, and for what.
What you get: Recipient name, award amount, awarding agency, contract description, period of performance, place of performance.
Why it matters: Government contractor intelligence, competitive analysis for federal bids, identifying companies with government revenue exposure, journalist investigations into government spending.
Where to search: USASpending.gov or search federal spending programmatically.
The Pattern
All of these databases exist because of transparency laws. The data is public, free, and legal to access. The problem is that each one has its own search interface, its own data format, and its own quirks.
If you need data from one source occasionally, the web interfaces work fine. If you need to pull data from multiple sources regularly -- for lead generation, compliance screening, or competitive intelligence -- automation tools save significant time.
I've built automated versions of all of these that handle pagination, rate limiting, and data normalization. But the raw sources are always free if you want to do it manually.
What other public data sources do you use for business intelligence? I'm always looking for ones I've missed.
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