# Iowa SOS Business Entity Search Scraper (`crawlerbros/iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper`) Actor Search the Iowa Secretary of State's free public business entity database by name or business number. Get business number, legal/DBA name, status, filing type, formation/effective/expiration dates, registered agent, and principal office address. - **URL**: https://apify.com/crawlerbros/iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper.md - **Developed by:** [Crawler Bros](https://apify.com/crawlerbros) (community) - **Categories:** Automation, Developer tools, Integrations - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $3.00 / 1,000 results This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Actors are written with capital "A". ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. The best way to integrate Actors is as follows. In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): ```bash npm install apify-client ``` In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): ```bash pip install apify-client ``` In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): ````bash # MacOS / Linux curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash # Windows irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex ```bash In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md). If your project is in a different language, use the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md). For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below. For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt). # README ## Iowa SOS Business Entity Search Scraper Search the **Iowa Secretary of State's** free public business entity database. Look up a business by name (contains match) or exact business number and get status, filing type, formation/effective/expiration dates, registered agent name and address, and principal office address. HTTP-only via the public `sos.iowa.gov/search/business` search — no login required. ### Data Source & Usage Notes - **Free, public, no login.** `sos.iowa.gov/search/business` is Iowa's own free entity search; no account, API key, or paywall stands between a user and this data. - **Originally scoped as a Maryland SDAT (egov.maryland.gov/BusinessExpress) scraper.** Maryland's own search form embeds a Cloudflare Turnstile CAPTCHA widget directly in the submit flow — confirmed live via browser automation (the Search button never returns a result after entering a query and clicking Search; the token is required before the form will submit). Per this project's zero-cost-cloud-reliability policy, CAPTCHA-gated sources are replaced rather than fought with a paid solving service. This actor is the replacement: same category (state business-entity registry), no login/CAPTCHA/paid proxy required, and a richer free field set than Maryland's own search (formation/effective/expiration dates, registered agent, principal office address — all confirmed live and populated). - **Result cap.** A name search returns at most 25 rows per query on the source's own results page (confirmed live: a 35-hit query for "Amazon" returned exactly 25 rows). This is a genuine source-side limit, not an actor bug — narrow the query for more precise results. - **`byName` detail fetch is capped at 10 items regardless of `maxItems`.** Each results-page row links to its detail page via a `q` token that is bound to a short server-side TTL on the source (confirmed live: fetching detail pages for a 15-row batch reliably returns HTTP 404 from roughly the 11th row onward, regardless of how the actor paces or parallelizes those requests — 10-row batches never failed across repeated live runs). `mode=byNumber` is not affected (each lookup is fully independent with its own token) and supports the full 1-25 range. - **Not affiliated with the State of Iowa.** This is an independent third-party tool using the source's own public, no-login search form. ### What this actor does - **Two modes:** `byName` (contains match, up to 25 results), `byNumber` (exact business-number lookup, one or more numbers per run) - **Full entity detail** — automatically follows through from search results to each entity's summary detail page - **Registered agent info** — name and full address when on file - **Principal office address** — when on file - **Status and filing-type filters** — narrow `byName` results to Active/Inactive and/or Legal entity / Fictitious name (DBA) / Foreign fictitious name (DBA) / Reserved name - **Empty fields are omitted** ### What's NOT included (and why) - **Officers, members, or filing documents.** Iowa's free entity search exposes entity-level facts (status, dates, agent, principal address) but not officer/member rosters or scanned filing documents — those require the paid "Fast Track Filing" system, which is out of scope for a free, no-login actor. - **More than 25 results per name search.** This is the source's own hard cap on its free results page (confirmed live), not a pagination bug in the actor. ### Output per entity - `businessNumber` — Iowa business number - `legalName` — the underlying registered legal entity's name - `filedName` — the specific filed/DBA name actually matched, when it differs from `legalName` (present for `Fictitious name` rows; omitted for `Legal` rows, where it would just repeat `legalName`) - `status` — e.g. `Active`, `Inactive` (of the specific filed name matched, not necessarily the parent legal entity) - `entityType` — filing type of the specific filed name matched: `Legal` (a registered legal entity), `Fictitious name` (a DBA/trade name filed against an Iowa legal entity), `Foreign fictitious` (a DBA/trade name filed against an out-of-state entity), or `Reserved` (a name reservation with no entity formed yet) - `stateOfIncorporation` — 2-letter state/jurisdiction code - `chapter` — Iowa Code chapter/entity-kind description, e.g. `CODE 490 FOREIGN PROFIT` - `expirationDate` — `YYYY-MM-DD`, or the literal `PERPETUAL` when the entity has no expiration - `effectiveDate`, `filingDate` — `YYYY-MM-DD` - `nameHistory` — array of every name (current and prior) ever filed under this business number, each as `{type, status, modified, name}`, taken from the source's own "Names" table (confirmed live: some business numbers carry both an Active current name and one or more Inactive prior names) - `registeredAgentName` - `registeredAgentAddress`, `registeredAgentAddress2`, `registeredAgentCity`, `registeredAgentState`, `registeredAgentZip` - `principalOfficeName` — name on file for the principal office contact, when present (usually omitted -- most entities have no separate principal-office name on file) - `principalOfficeAddress`, `principalOfficeAddress2`, `principalOfficeCity`, `principalOfficeState`, `principalOfficeZip` - `sourceUrl` — the entity's own bookmarkable `summary.aspx?q=...` detail page when resolved, otherwise the search page - `recordType: "entity"`, `scrapedAt` ### Input | Field | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | `mode` | string | `byName` | `byName` / `byNumber` | | `businessName` | string | `Amazon` | Contains-match on business name (mode=byName) | | `businessNumbers` | array | – | Exact business numbers to look up (mode=byNumber) | | `statusFilter` | string | `any` | `any` / `Active` / `Inactive` (mode=byName) | | `entityTypeFilter` | string | `any` | `any` / `Legal` / `Fictitious name` / `Foreign fictitious` / `Reserved` (mode=byName) | | `proxyConfiguration` | object | AUTO proxy | Apify proxy config; always datacenter (AUTO), never residential | | `maxItems` | int | `10` | Hard cap (1–25) | #### Example: search by business name ```json { "mode": "byName", "businessName": "Pizza", "statusFilter": "Active", "maxItems": 10 } ```` #### Example: lookup by exact business number(s) ```json { "mode": "byNumber", "businessNumbers": ["637709", "699474"] } ``` ### Use cases - **Vendor/customer due diligence** — confirm a business is Active before signing a contract - **Compliance monitoring** — track registered agent and status changes for entities you track - **Lead generation** — build lists of Iowa-registered businesses by name pattern or filing type - **Legal & title research** — verify formation/effective/expiration dates and registered agent of record - **Company registry enrichment** — bulk-append Iowa entity status to an existing business dataset ### FAQ **Is this an official State of Iowa product?** No. This is an independent tool that uses the Iowa Secretary of State's own free, public, no-login business entity search. **Why does `businessName` use a "contains" match instead of "starts with"?** That's how the source's own search behaves — confirmed live. **Why is `expirationDate` sometimes the text `PERPETUAL` instead of a date?** Iowa's own detail page literally renders `PERPETUAL` for entities with no expiration date. This is preserved as-is rather than treated as missing data. **Can I look up officers or members?** No — Iowa's free entity search does not expose that data; see "What's NOT included" above. # Actor input Schema ## `mode` (type: `string`): What to fetch. ## `businessName` (type: `string`): Name or partial name to search for, e.g. `Amazon`. The source's own search matches names that contain this text, case-insensitive. ## `businessNumbers` (type: `array`): Exact Iowa business number(s) to look up, e.g. `637709`. ## `statusFilter` (type: `string`): Only include entities with this status. Leave as "Any" to include both. ## `entityTypeFilter` (type: `string`): Only include this filing type. "Legal" is a registered legal entity (LLC/Corp/etc); "Fictitious name" is a DBA/trade name filed against an Iowa legal entity; "Foreign fictitious" is a DBA/trade name filed against an out-of-state (foreign) entity; "Reserved" is a name reservation (no entity formed yet). Leave as "Any" to include all. ## `proxyConfiguration` (type: `object`): Uses Apify's free datacenter (AUTO) proxy group to get a fresh IP if a request is rate-limited by the source. Residential proxy is never used by this actor. ## `maxItems` (type: `integer`): Hard cap on emitted records. mode=byNumber supports the full 1-25 range (each lookup is independent). mode=byName is internally capped at 10 regardless of this value -- the source's results-page detail links share a short-lived token that expires before more than ~10 sequential detail-page fetches complete; see README. ## Actor input object example ```json { "mode": "byName", "businessName": "Amazon", "businessNumbers": [], "statusFilter": "any", "entityTypeFilter": "any", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }, "maxItems": 10 } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `entities` (type: `string`): Dataset containing all scraped Iowa business entity records. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "mode": "byName", "businessName": "Amazon", "businessNumbers": [], "statusFilter": "any", "entityTypeFilter": "any", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }, "maxItems": 10 }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("crawlerbros/iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "mode": "byName", "businessName": "Amazon", "businessNumbers": [], "statusFilter": "any", "entityTypeFilter": "any", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": True }, "maxItems": 10, } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("crawlerbros/iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"]) for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "mode": "byName", "businessName": "Amazon", "businessNumbers": [], "statusFilter": "any", "entityTypeFilter": "any", "proxyConfiguration": { "useApifyProxy": true }, "maxItems": 10 }' | apify call crawlerbros/iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "command": "npx", "args": [ "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=crawlerbros/iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper", "--header", "Authorization: Bearer " ] } } } ``` ## OpenAPI specification ```json { "openapi": "3.0.1", "info": { "title": "Iowa SOS Business Entity Search Scraper", "description": "Search the Iowa Secretary of State's free public business entity database by name or business number. Get business number, legal/DBA name, status, filing type, formation/effective/expiration dates, registered agent, and principal office address.", "version": "1.0", "x-build-id": "3YbWJ2ZpIA7SaksGN" }, "servers": [ { "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2" } ], "paths": { "/acts/crawlerbros~iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-crawlerbros-iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper/runs": { "post": { "operationId": "runs-sync-crawlerbros-iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK", "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema" } } } } } } }, "/acts/crawlerbros~iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper/run-sync": { "post": { "operationId": "run-sync-crawlerbros-iowa-sos-business-entity-search-scraper", "x-openai-isConsequential": false, "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.", "tags": [ "Run Actor" ], "requestBody": { "required": true, "content": { "application/json": { "schema": { "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema" } } } }, "parameters": [ { "name": "token", "in": "query", "required": true, "schema": { "type": "string" }, "description": "Enter your Apify token here" } ], "responses": { "200": { "description": "OK" } } } } }, "components": { "schemas": { "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "required": [ "mode", "proxyConfiguration" ], "properties": { "mode": { "title": "Mode", "enum": [ "byName", "byNumber" ], "type": "string", "description": "What to fetch.", "default": "byName" }, "businessName": { "title": "Business name (mode=byName)", "type": "string", "description": "Name or partial name to search for, e.g. `Amazon`. The source's own search matches names that contain this text, case-insensitive.", "default": "Amazon" }, "businessNumbers": { "title": "Business numbers (mode=byNumber)", "type": "array", "description": "Exact Iowa business number(s) to look up, e.g. `637709`.", "default": [], "items": { "type": "string" } }, "statusFilter": { "title": "Status filter (mode=byName)", "enum": [ "any", "Active", "Inactive" ], "type": "string", "description": "Only include entities with this status. Leave as \"Any\" to include both.", "default": "any" }, "entityTypeFilter": { "title": "Filing type filter (mode=byName)", "enum": [ "any", "Legal", "Fictitious name", "Foreign fictitious", "Reserved" ], "type": "string", "description": "Only include this filing type. \"Legal\" is a registered legal entity (LLC/Corp/etc); \"Fictitious name\" is a DBA/trade name filed against an Iowa legal entity; \"Foreign fictitious\" is a DBA/trade name filed against an out-of-state (foreign) entity; \"Reserved\" is a name reservation (no entity formed yet). Leave as \"Any\" to include all.", "default": "any" }, "proxyConfiguration": { "title": "Proxy configuration", "type": "object", "description": "Uses Apify's free datacenter (AUTO) proxy group to get a fresh IP if a request is rate-limited by the source. Residential proxy is never used by this actor.", "default": { "useApifyProxy": true } }, "maxItems": { "title": "Max items", "minimum": 1, "maximum": 25, "type": "integer", "description": "Hard cap on emitted records. mode=byNumber supports the full 1-25 range (each lookup is independent). mode=byName is internally capped at 10 regardless of this value -- the source's results-page detail links share a short-lived token that expires before more than ~10 sequential detail-page fetches complete; see README.", "default": 10 } } }, "runsResponseSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "data": { "type": "object", "properties": { "id": { "type": "string" }, "actId": { "type": "string" }, "userId": { "type": "string" }, "startedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "finishedAt": { "type": "string", "format": "date-time", "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z" }, "status": { "type": "string", "example": "READY" }, "meta": { "type": "object", "properties": { "origin": { "type": "string", "example": "API" }, "userAgent": { "type": "string" } } }, "stats": { "type": "object", "properties": { "inputBodyLen": { "type": "integer", "example": 2000 }, "rebootCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "restartCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "resurrectCount": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "computeUnits": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "options": { "type": "object", "properties": { "build": { "type": "string", "example": "latest" }, "timeoutSecs": { "type": "integer", "example": 300 }, "memoryMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 1024 }, "diskMbytes": { "type": "integer", "example": 2048 } } }, "buildId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultKeyValueStoreId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultDatasetId": { "type": "string" }, "defaultRequestQueueId": { "type": "string" }, "buildNumber": { "type": "string", "example": "1.0.0" }, "containerUrl": { "type": "string" }, "usage": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 1 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } }, "usageTotalUsd": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "usageUsd": { "type": "object", "properties": { "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATASET_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": { "type": "number", "example": 0.00005 }, "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 }, "PROXY_SERPS": { "type": "integer", "example": 0 } } } } } } } } } } ```