Companies House API

Use this Companies House API to filter UK companies by name, company number, status, SIC code, postcode area and incorporation date, for $2.00 per 1,000 companies.

Set one or more filters and the Actor returns one clean row per matching company: company number, name, status, company type, SIC codes, registered office address, incorporation date and the dates of the next accounts and confirmation statement. It reads the free monthly company data snapshot that Companies House publishes. You need no API key, no login and no proxy.

Sample output

One row per company. This is an invented company that shows the layout of a real row, shortened to 16 of the 33 fields:

{
  "resultStatus": "ok",
  "companyNumber": "12345678",
  "name": "ACME SOFTWARE LTD",
  "status": "Active",
  "companyType": "Private Limited Company",
  "incorporationDate": "2023-01-15",
  "sicCodes": ["62012", "62020"],
  "registeredOfficeAddress": "1 Example Street, London, EC1V 4AB",
  "postTown": "London",
  "postcode": "EC1V 4AB",
  "postcodeArea": "EC",
  "accountsNextDue": "2026-12-31",
  "confirmationStatementNextDue": "2027-03-15",
  "previousNames": [{ "name": "ACME APPS LTD", "changedOn": "2024-02-02" }],
  "licence": "Companies House public register data; Companies House states it imposes no rules or requirements on how this information is used",
  "snapshotDate": "2026-10-01"
}

How to use it

1. Open the Input tab and set at least one filter. Every filter you set must match, so a SIC code plus a postcode area returns only companies that have both.
2. Set Max results. The run stops as soon as it has that many companies, so a small limit finishes sooner.
3. Press Start. When the run ends, open the Output tab for the table, or download JSON, CSV or Excel. The default view shows the main columns.

You can also call the Actor from the API, from Make, Zapier or n8n, and put it on a schedule to see new companies each month.

What you get

• Company number, name, status and company type
• Incorporation date and, when given, dissolution date and country of origin
• Up to four SIC 2007 codes with their text
• Registered office address as one line and as separate fields, plus the postcode area
• Last accounts date, next accounts due date, accounts category
• Last and next confirmation statement dates
• Previous company names with the date of each change
• A link to the company page on the official Companies House service
• The snapshot date, the source file and a usage note on every row

What is left out

The snapshot holds company records only. It has no officers, directors, persons with significant control, shareholders or financial figures, and this Actor does not fetch them. The care-of line of the registered office address is dropped, because it can name a person. Companies that were dissolved before the snapshot date are not in the file.

Filters

• Company names or numbers: a name matches companies whose name contains all of its words. A company number such as SC123456 returns that company. A company matching any line is returned.
• Company status: active, active with a proposal to strike off, in liquidation, in administration, or any status in the snapshot.
• SIC codes: a full 5-digit code such as 62012, or a shorter start such as 62 for the whole group.
• Postcode areas: letters only, such as EC or SW, match the whole area. An outward code such as EC1 matches that district, and M1 does not return M11.
• Incorporated from and to: dates in the form 2024-01-31.

Pricing

Pay per event. Each company returned costs $0.002, which is $2.00 per 1,000 companies on the Free plan, and less on paid plans: $1.80 on Bronze, $1.60 on Silver and $1.40 on Gold per 1,000. A run that finds no company returns one row with the result status no_results and is charged one result. A run that could not read the source returns an error row, which is not charged. The Actor start fee is $0.00005. You can set a maximum charge per run and the Actor stops when it is reached.

Input example

{
  "sicCodes": ["62012"],
  "postcodeAreas": ["EC"],
  "incorporatedFrom": "2023-01-01",
  "maxResults": 25
}

FAQ

Where does the data come from? From the Free Company Data Product of Companies House, a monthly snapshot of live companies on the UK register. Companies House states that it imposes no rules or requirements on how the information on the public register is used, and that you are responsible for complying with any data protection, copyright and other rules that apply to your use. Each row names the snapshot date, so you know how fresh it is.

How current is it? Companies House publishes a new snapshot each month, so the data can be up to a month old. A company incorporated last week will not appear until the next snapshot.

Why does a run take a while? The Actor streams the whole snapshot, about 470 MB compressed, and checks every company against your filters. It does not keep the file in memory. A run that reaches your limit early ends early, while a narrow filter with few matches reads the whole file.

Does it return directors or owners? No. Officers and persons with significant control are personal data and are not in the snapshot. Registered office addresses are published company data, but for some small companies the registered office is a private address. Check the rules that apply to your own use of the data.

Why not use the Companies House REST API? The REST API needs your own API key and limits how many requests you can make. This Actor needs neither, and it works well for list building and bulk filtering. For one live company profile with officers, use the official service.

What if the download fails? The Actor retries each file. If a file still cannot be read, the run reports which one in the status message and the stats record, and marks the results as possibly incomplete.

Related Actors

The author publishes other Actors that return filtered company lists from official public registers. They are listed on the author's Apify profile.

About

This Actor is built by an independent developer and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Companies House or the UK government. The data comes from the Companies House public register. Disclosure: the author owns this Actor.