US Business Entity Status

Check a US business by name or file number and get one row: legal name, entity type, file number, status, formation date, and a business registered agent. Fuzzy name matches are flagged possible match, verify. A state that cannot be queried lawfully comes back as not supported, with the reason and the official lookup URL. Nothing is scraped from a login, a captcha, or a search form whose terms or robots disallow automation.

What does US Business Entity Status do?

It calls each supported state's public open-data API (Socrata SODA). Texas uses the Comptroller's active franchise-taxpayer file, which publishes the Secretary of State file number and status codes. Personal registered agents and officer names are not returned.

State	Source	What a row contains
Colorado	data.colorado.gov 4ykn-tg5h	All statuses, including dissolved. Registered agent only when the file names an organization.
Connecticut	data.ct.gov n7gp-d28j and business agents qh2m-n44y	Active, dissolved, forfeited, revoked, withdrawn and the other master statuses. Individual agents are not requested.
New York	data.ny.gov n9v6-gdp6	Active entities only (corporations, LLCs, LPs and the other types in that extract). A dissolved entity is absent, not labeled dissolved.
Oregon	data.oregon.gov tckn-sxa6	Active businesses. Several address rows are folded into one entity. The agent is kept when it is a business.
Pennsylvania	data.pa.gov xvd7-5r2c	Current registrations. The file has one row per party; those party names are not selected.
Texas	data.texas.gov 9cir-efmm	Comptroller franchise taxpayers. SOS status and right to transact, from the Comptroller's Franchise Layout. No registered agent. SOSDirect is not called.

Why use it?

• One status vocabulary. active (including good standing), inactive, dissolved, revoked, forfeited, withdrawn, plus not_found, not_supported and source_unavailable. The source's own words stay in statusDetail.
• Fuzzy matches are marked. An exact normalised name, or an exact file number whose name also matches, has possibleMatch: false. A prefix or a partial name has possibleMatch: true and matchNote: "possible match, verify".
• Business agent only. An organization named as agent is returned with its business address. A person's name, and that person's address, are omitted. Officer, member and party names are not selected.
• A gap is a row, not a guess. Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada, Florida, California, Washington, Iowa and the other offices below are not automated. The row says why and links the official search.

How to use it

1. Add one or more lookups. Each lookup is a state plus a legal name, a file number, or both.
2. Leave Name matching on strict unless you want looser name hits. Raise Max matches per lookup when one name has several entities.
3. Run, then export CSV, Excel or JSON.

When a lookup has both a name and a file number, the file number is what is searched. The name only decides the possible-match flag.

Input example

{
  "queries": [
    {"state": "CO", "name": "PARK RESERVOIR COMPANY"},
    {"state": "NY", "fileNumber": "4424185"},
    {"state": "DE", "name": "Example Holdings LLC"}
  ],
  "matchMode": "strict",
  "maxResults": 5
}

Output example

{
  "state": "CO",
  "stateName": "Colorado",
  "supported": true,
  "status": "active",
  "statusDetail": "Good Standing",
  "legalName": "PARK RESERVOIR COMPANY",
  "entityType": "Corp",
  "entityTypeDetail": "DPC",
  "fileNumber": "18961000001",
  "formationDate": "1896-03-16",
  "registeredAgentName": "PARK RESERVOIR COMPANY",
  "registeredAgentAddress": "980 W Main St, Cedaredge, CO, 81413",
  "possibleMatch": false,
  "matchType": "exact",
  "relevance": 100,
  "source": "CO_SOS_OPEN_DATA",
  "sourceUrl": "https://data.colorado.gov/d/4ykn-tg5h",
  "officialLookupUrl": "https://www.coloradosos.gov/biz/BusinessEntityCriteriaExt.do",
  "query": "CO PARK RESERVOIR COMPANY"
}

A state that is not queried looks like this:

{
  "state": "DE",
  "supported": false,
  "status": "not_supported",
  "possibleMatch": false,
  "reason": "not supported: Delaware publishes no free open-data API. The ICIS entity search is a manual form and bulk access is sold. Official lookup: https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx",
  "officialLookupUrl": "https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx"
}

How much does it cost?

Pay per event. The live price is .actor/pricing.json.

The event is entity-check at $0.02.

That is one completed lookup in a supported state. A not-found result is charged, because the extract was searched. Each fuzzy match that is kept is its own result, up to Max matches per lookup. An unsupported state is not charged. A source that stays down after retries is not charged.

Apify's pay-per-event math is profit = (0.8 × revenue) − platform costs. Apify keeps 20%. For a paid-plan user, the developer pays the platform usage. Compute is $0.20 per compute unit on the FREE and BRONZE tiers (the rate that applies when tier discounts are not coded). One compute unit is 1 GB of memory for one hour. This Actor's memory is capped at 512 MB.

A single-entity run, 90 seconds at that 512 MB cap (cold start, one SODA call, the 1 second crawl delay, and one retry):

Piece	Amount
Compute	0.5 GB × 90/3600 h = 0.0125 CU × $0.20 = $0.0025
One dataset write	$0.005 / 1,000 = $0.000005
One summary write	$0.05 / 1,000 = $0.00005
About 200 KB out	0.0002 GB × $0.20 = $0.00004
Platform cost	about $0.0026
Kept from a $0.02 event	0.8 × $0.02 = $0.016
Profit	about $0.013

The same check still clears $0.02 if it runs for 4 minutes at the 512 MB cap: compute is 0.5 × 240/3600 × $0.20 = $0.0067, and $0.016 − $0.0067 is about $0.009. A run left open for 10 minutes at the cap would cost about $0.017 in compute and would not clear $0.02. .actor/deploy.json therefore suggests a 120 second timeout. At 120 seconds and 512 MB, compute is about $0.0033 and profit is about $0.013.

No proxies are used. The default memory is 256 MB, which is half the compute of the cap. The platform's apify-actor-start event stays at its default $0.00005 (that comps the first 5 seconds). apify-default-dataset-item is not priced, so an unsupported state and a source failure stay free.

A 1-entity exact match is $0.02 to the user. One hundred exact matches are $2.00, and the startup cost is paid once.

Limitations

• Snapshots, not the live register minute by minute. New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania publish current or active extracts. A dissolved entity there is not_found, not dissolved. Colorado and Connecticut include closed entities. Texas is the Comptroller's active franchise file, read with the Franchise Layout codes.
• Texas is not SOSDirect. The row carries the SOS or certificate-of-authority number and the SOS status code. It does not carry a registered agent. The paid SOSDirect login is not used.
• New York has no separate principal office in this extract. The address is the process address, and only when the process name is a business.
• Name search is whatever the API returns, then re-ranked, at most 40 rows (80 Oregon address rows) before the match filter. Use a file number when you have one.
• Strict mode keeps an exact normalised name and a name that starts with the query. LLC, Inc., Company and similar trailing words are ignored, so Park Reservoir Co matches PARK RESERVOIR COMPANY.
• At most 25 lookups per run, and at most 25 matches each. Socrata Crawl-delay: 1 is observed, so a long list is slower than a single check.
• No officers, members, emails or personal agents.

Adding a state

One module per state, registered in my_actor/states/__init__.py. Copy my_actor/states/co.py. The class needs code, state_name, source, source_url, official_lookup_url, licence, and async search(http, lookup). Use name_or_id and soda_search for another SODA file. Map status with normalize_status and the legal form with text_entity_type. Leave personal names out of $select.

If the new source is a login, a captcha, or a site whose robots or terms disallow automation, do not add an adapter. The catalog already returns not supported and the official URL. To change that sentence, edit REASONS in my_actor/states/catalog.py.

State coverage

Checked 2026-10-27. "Yes" means this Actor calls that open-data API. "No" means it does not call the office. The link is the public search page for a person. This Actor does not request those search pages.

Code	State	Automated	Official lookup
AK	Alaska	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/cbp/main/search/entities
AL	Alabama	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://arc-sos.state.al.us/CGI/CORPNAME.MBR/INPUT
AR	Arkansas	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/corps/search_all.php
AZ	Arizona	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://ecorp.azcc.gov/EntitySearch/Index
CA	California	No. bizfile search blocks automated clients. The CALICO developer API requires a subscribed key, which this Actor does not collect.	https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business
CO	Colorado	Yes. SODA 4ykn-tg5h. All statuses. Business registered agent only.	https://www.coloradosos.gov/biz/BusinessEntityCriteriaExt.do
CT	Connecticut	Yes. SODA master n7gp-d28j plus business agents qh2m-n44y. Individual agents are not read.	https://service.ct.gov/business/s/onlinebusinesssearch
DC	District of Columbia	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://corponline.dlcp.dc.gov/CommercialSearch
DE	Delaware	No. Delaware publishes no free open-data API. The ICIS entity search is a manual form and bulk access is sold.	https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx
FL	Florida	No. Sunbiz search is an interactive form. Florida publishes free daily and quarterly bulk files (the quarterly corporate file is about 1.8 GB). This Actor does not download those files on each run.	https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/ByName
GA	Georgia	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://ecorp.sos.ga.gov/BusinessSearch
HI	Hawaii	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://hbe.ehawaii.gov/documents/search.html
IA	Iowa	No. Iowa publishes Active Business Entities as a CC BY 4.0 monthly file on the Iowa Data Hub (dataset 554), not as a filtered query API. The Secretary of State JSON API is a paid subscription. This Actor does not download the full file on each run.	https://sos.iowa.gov/search/business/search.aspx
ID	Idaho	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://sosbiz.idaho.gov/search/business
IL	Illinois	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://apps.ilsos.gov/businessentitysearch/
IN	Indiana	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://bsd.sos.in.gov/publicbusinesssearch
KS	Kansas	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.sos.ks.gov/eforms/BusinessEntity/Search.aspx
KY	Kentucky	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://web.sos.ky.gov/ftsearch/
LA	Louisiana	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://coraweb.sos.la.gov/commercialsearch/commercialsearch.aspx
MA	Massachusetts	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://corp.sec.state.ma.us/corpweb/corpsearch/CorpSearch.aspx
MD	Maryland	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://egov.maryland.gov/businessexpress/entitysearch
ME	Maine	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://apps1.web.maine.gov/nei-sos-icrs/ICRS?MainPage=x
MI	Michigan	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://mibusinessregistry.lara.state.mi.us/search/business
MN	Minnesota	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://mblsportal.sos.mn.gov/Business/Search
MO	Missouri	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://bsd.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/BESearch.aspx
MS	Mississippi	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://corp.sos.ms.gov/corp/portal/c/page/corpBusinessIdSearch/portal.aspx
MT	Montana	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://biz.sosmt.gov/search/business
NC	North Carolina	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.sosnc.gov/online_services/search/by_title/_Business_Registration
ND	North Dakota	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://firststop.sos.nd.gov/search/business
NE	Nebraska	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.nebraska.gov/sos/corp/corpsearch.cgi
NH	New Hampshire	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://quickstart.sos.nh.gov/online/BusinessInquire
NJ	New Jersey	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.njportal.com/DOR/BusinessNameSearch/Search/BusinessName
NM	New Mexico	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://enterprise.sos.nm.gov/search/business
NV	Nevada	No. Nevada entity search is a manual form. No public query API was verified.	https://esos.nv.gov/EntitySearch/OnlineEntitySearch
NY	New York	Yes. SODA n9v6-gdp6. Active entities only. Business process agent only. A missing name is not in the active extract.	https://apps.dos.ny.gov/publicInquiry/
OH	Ohio	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://businesssearch.ohiosos.gov/
OK	Oklahoma	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.sos.ok.gov/corp/corpInquiryFind.aspx
OR	Oregon	Yes. SODA tckn-sxa6. Active businesses, grouped by registry number. Business agent (entity_of_record_name) only.	https://sos.oregon.gov/business/Pages/find.aspx
PA	Pennsylvania	Yes. SODA xvd7-5r2c. Current registrations. Party and officer names are not selected. No agent column.	https://file.dos.pa.gov/search/business
RI	Rhode Island	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://business.sos.ri.gov/CorpWeb/CorpSearch/CorpSearch.aspx
SC	South Carolina	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://businessfilings.sc.gov/BusinessFiling/Entity/Search
SD	South Dakota	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://sosenterprise.sd.gov/BusinessServices/Business/FilingSearch.aspx
TN	Tennessee	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://tnbear.tn.gov/Ecommerce/FilingSearch.aspx
TX	Texas	Yes. Comptroller SODA 9cir-efmm (not SOSDirect). SOS file number, charter date, SOS status and right to transact. No agent.	https://mycpa.cpa.state.tx.us/coa/
UT	Utah	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://businessregistration.utah.gov/EntitySearch/OnlineEntitySearch
VA	Virginia	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://cis.scc.virginia.gov/EntitySearch/Index
VT	Vermont	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://bizfilings.vermont.gov/online/BusinessInquire
WA	Washington	No. Washington withdrew the Corporations Data Extract (data.wa.gov/d/f9jk-mm39 only links to the search tool, and the resource endpoint answers 403). The 2017 consumer search API host did not answer. CCFS is an interactive search.	https://ccfs.sos.wa.gov/
WI	Wisconsin	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://www.wdfi.org/apps/CorpSearch/Search.aspx
WV	West Virginia	No. No verified public API or open-data query. The office search is a one-lookup form and this Actor does not automate it.	https://apps.sos.wv.gov/business/corporations/
WY	Wyoming	No. Wyoming Business Division search (wyobiz) is a manual form. No public query API was verified.	https://wyobiz.wyo.gov/Business/FilingSearch.aspx

Data sources

• Colorado: Business Entities in Colorado, data.colorado.gov/d/4ykn-tg5h. Public open data. The Secretary of State site itself is not requested.
• Connecticut: Business Registry business master and agent details, data.ct.gov. Public domain. Agent query is type='Business' only.
• New York: Active Corporations beginning 1800, data.ny.gov/d/n9v6-gdp6, which also contains LLCs and other active entity types. New York open-data terms.
• Oregon: Active Businesses - ALL, data.oregon.gov/d/tckn-sxa6. Public record.
• Pennsylvania: Registered businesses, current, data.pa.gov/d/xvd7-5r2c. Open-data portal. The DOS search at file.dos.pa.gov is not requested.
• Texas: Active Franchise Taxpayers, data.texas.gov/d/9cir-efmm, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, including the attached Franchise Layout. Comptroller open data.
• Each of those portals' robots.txt allows /resource/ and sets Crawl-delay: 1.

Florida's free bulk files are published at dos.fl.gov data downloads. The quarterly corporate file is about 1.8 GB, so it is not downloaded per lookup. Iowa's Active Business Entities file is CC BY 4.0 on the Iowa Data Hub (dataset 554) and is also a full monthly file, not a filtered query. Washington withdrew the corporations extract. California's CALICO API needs a subscribed key. Delaware sells bulk access.

FAQ

What does US Business Entity Status return? One row per lookup: legal name, entity type, file number, status, formation date and, where the source names one, a business registered agent. Fuzzy name matches are flagged 'possible match, verify'.

Which states are supported? New York, Colorado, Connecticut, Oregon and Pennsylvania through open-data APIs, plus the Texas Comptroller franchise file. Other states return 'not supported' with the reason and the official lookup URL.

Is a not-found row billed? Yes, in a supported state, because the extract was searched. An unsupported state is not billed.

Why is Delaware not included? Delaware's entity search is a manual form and the bulk file is sold. The Actor does not scrape forms, logins or captchas whose terms disallow automation.

Can I get officers or owners? No. The output is the entity and, where the source names one, a business registered agent.

How is it priced? $0.02 per entity-check on the Free plan. Each kept match is a charge, so maxResults (default 5) caps the bill per lookup.

Related Actors

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• EU Company Register: UK, FR, NO, FI, PL, CZ, SK, IE, RO, CH: The European counterpart for official company registers.