If you work in compliance, sales, or risk, you've probably needed to verify whether a business is actually registered, who its officers are, or when it was formed.
The commercial APIs that do this -- Cobalt Intelligence, OpenCorporates, Dun & Bradstreet -- charge $300-500/month minimum. Some charge per lookup. For startups, small compliance teams, or anyone doing occasional due diligence, that's hard to justify.
Here's the thing: all of this data is public. Every US state maintains a Secretary of State (or equivalent) database where business registrations are filed. The information is free to access. The problem is that each state has its own portal, its own search interface, its own data format, and its own quirks.
I built free-to-use actors on Apify that let you search the four largest state business registries through a single, consistent interface. No API keys. No subscriptions. Pay only for the results you use.
What you get
Each actor returns structured data including:
- Entity name and entity number
- Entity type (LLC, Corporation, LP, etc.)
- Formation/registration date
- Status (Active, Dissolved, Suspended, etc.)
- Registered agent name and address
- Officers/directors (where available)
- Principal address
- Jurisdiction of formation
- Filing history (where available)
All returned as clean JSON. Export to CSV, Excel, Google Sheets, or consume via API.
The four states
These cover roughly 40% of all US business entities:
California Secretary of State
Search by entity name or entity number. Returns formation date, status, agent for service of process, and entity type. California has 4+ million active business entities.
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Search by entity name, taxpayer number, or SOS file number. Returns officers, registered agent, EIN, addresses, franchise tax status. Texas has 3+ million active entities.
New York Division of Corporations
Search by entity name or DOS ID. Returns service of process info, CEO, registered agent, stock details, filing dates, jurisdiction. New York has 2+ million active entities.
Florida Division of Corporations
Access bulk filing data from the public Sunbiz SFTP server. Parse daily or quarterly data dumps with officers, registered agent, addresses, annual reports. Florida has 5+ million entities on record.
Use cases
KYC/AML compliance: Verify that a business counterparty is actually registered and in good standing before onboarding. Cross-check officer names against what the business self-reported.
Sales prospecting: Build targeted lists of newly formed LLCs or corporations in specific states. Filter by formation date to find businesses less than 90 days old -- they're actively buying services.
Due diligence: Before an investment, acquisition, or partnership, verify the target company's registration status, officers, and agent for service of process across every state where they claim to operate.
Legal research: Find registered agent information for service of process. Identify all entities associated with a particular officer or address.
Competitive intelligence: Track when competitors form new entities, change officers, or register in new states.
How it compares to paid APIs
| Feature | Commercial APIs ($300-500/mo) | These Apify actors |
|---|---|---|
| States covered | 50 states | CA, TX, NY, FL (40% of entities) |
| Pricing | Monthly subscription | Pay per result ($0.005/result) |
| Minimum commitment | Monthly or annual | None |
| Bulk export | Usually extra | Included |
| API access | Yes | Yes (Apify API) |
| Freshness | Varies | Real-time from state portals |
| Integrations | Custom | Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, Slack, Airtable |
For teams that only need the four largest states, the cost difference is significant. A 1,000-entity verification batch costs about $5 instead of $300+/month.
Getting started
- Go to any of the actor pages linked above
- Enter a business name or entity number
- Click "Start" -- results appear in seconds
- Export as JSON, CSV, or Excel
For programmatic access, use the Apify API to trigger runs and retrieve results. Works with any language that can make HTTP requests.
What's next
I'm expanding to more states. Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Georgia are in the pipeline. The goal is all 50 states through a single, consistent interface.
If there's a specific state you need, let me know in the comments -- I'll prioritize based on demand.
All actors: apify.com/pink_comic
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