I was paying for ZoomInfo. Then I realized most of the data I actually used -- company verification, officer names, filing status, industry classification -- comes from public government databases. For free.
Here is the stack I built to replace it. Total cost: $0 for the data, about $5/month in compute.
The Problem with ZoomInfo (and Clearbit, and Apollo)
These tools are great if you need intent data, technographics, or email guessing. But most sales teams use them for basic company verification: Is this a real company? Who are the officers? Are they still active? What state are they incorporated in?
That data is public. Every state Secretary of State office publishes it. The IRS publishes nonprofit financials. The SEC publishes public company filings. You are paying $15K/year to access data the government gives away.
The Free Stack
Company Verification: Secretary of State Databases
Every US company is registered with a state SOS office. You can search by name and get:
- Entity name, type, and status (active/dissolved/suspended)
- Filing date and state of formation
- Registered agent name and address
- Officer and director names
I built scrapers for the three biggest states:
- California Business Search (4M+ entities)
- Texas Business Search (3M+ entities)
- New York Business Search (5M+ entities)
- Multi-state search for all three at once
Public Company Intelligence: SEC EDGAR
EDGAR has everything on public companies: 10-K annual reports, 10-Q quarterly financials, 8-K material events, insider trades, executive compensation.
The SEC EDGAR full-text search lets you find any filing by company name, ticker, or keyword.
Nonprofit Research: IRS 990 Filings
Every US tax-exempt organization files a Form 990 that shows revenue, expenses, assets, and executive compensation. If you sell to nonprofits, this is your budget intelligence.
IRS 990 Search indexes all e-filed returns.
Healthcare Provider Data: NPI Registry
7M+ healthcare providers with name, specialty, practice address, and phone. Better coverage than any paid provider directory.
NPI Registry Search -- filter by specialty, location, or name.
Financial Institution Data: FDIC BankFind
Every FDIC-insured bank with assets, deposits, branches, and financial health metrics.
FDIC BankFind -- search by name, state, or certificate number.
Donor and Executive Intelligence: FEC Data
Every political donation over $200 includes the donor's name, employer, occupation, and amount. High-net-worth executives show up here.
FEC Campaign Finance -- search by donor name, employer, or state.
What I Still Pay For
To be clear, this does not replace everything ZoomInfo does:
- Email finding/verification -- still need a dedicated tool
- Intent data -- no free alternative
- Technographics -- BuiltWith has a free tier but limited
- Direct dial phone numbers -- not in public records
But for company verification, officer lookup, financial intelligence, and building targeted prospect lists by industry and geography, the government data is better than what ZoomInfo provides. It is the primary source. ZoomInfo is just reselling it with enrichment on top.
The Workflow
- Get a company name from your pipeline
- Search SOS database for entity status and officers
- If public company, pull SEC filings for financials
- If nonprofit, pull IRS 990 for budget
- If healthcare, pull NPI for provider details
- Enrich with FEC data for executive/donor intelligence
All of these APIs return structured JSON. Pipe them into your CRM, enrichment tool, or lead scoring model.
Total cost: per-result pricing on Apify, typically $0.004 per record. Compare that to $15K/year for ZoomInfo.
I build data automation tools for sales and compliance teams. If you are tired of paying enterprise prices for public data, these tools might help.
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