UK Company Number Lookup – Companies House Name Matcher
Pricing
from $3.00 / 1,000 company number matches
UK Company Number Lookup – Companies House Name Matcher
Turn a list of UK supplier or company names into Companies House company numbers, with match method, confidence and company status. Exact and tidied-name matching on the free Companies House bulk register; ambiguous names stay unmatched. No API key, no personal data.
Pricing
from $3.00 / 1,000 company number matches
Rating
0.0
(0)
Developer
Dave Harding
Maintained by CommunityActor stats
0
Bookmarked
2
Total users
1
Monthly active users
20 hours ago
Last modified
Categories
Share
UK Company Number Lookup – match supplier names to Companies House numbers
Paste a list of UK company or supplier names; get back each one's Companies House company number, how it was matched, a confidence level and the company's status. No API key needed. Ambiguous names are left blank rather than guessed.
What does it do?
For every name you give it, the Actor returns one row with the best Companies House match from the free Companies House Free Company Data Product (the monthly bulk register of about 5.6 million live companies). It's the same matcher used by our UK Tenders & Awards Actor, which keys public-contract winners to their company numbers.
Who uses it
- CRM and data teams: add company numbers to supplier, customer or prospect lists so they can be joined to other data without fuzzy name joins.
- Procurement and B2G analysts: turn supplier names from tender or spend data into company numbers.
- KYB and due-diligence prep: a first pass at which names are registered companies, and which are dissolved, in liquidation or unknown.
Quick start
- Paste names into Company or supplier names, one per line (up to 10,000 per run). A company number such as
02174990orSC123456is also accepted and checked against the live register. - Click Start. 1,000 names usually take well under a minute.
- Export the dataset (CSV, Excel, JSON) and join it back to your list on
inputIndex, the 0-based position of the name in your input.
How matching works
Tiers, in order. The first unique hit wins:
matchMethod | confidence | Rule |
|---|---|---|
identifier | high | The input is a well-formed company number found in the live register |
name_exact | high | Case- and space-insensitive exact name, unique among live companies |
name_normalised | medium | Unique after tidying punctuation, Limited/Ltd, PLC, &/and and a leading The |
name_variant | medium | The legal-entity part of "X Ltd T/A Y", "X Ltd (trading as Y)" or "X Ltd (XYZ)", ending in Ltd/Limited/PLC/LLP/CIC, matched uniquely |
ambiguous | none | Several live companies share the name. Left unmatched on purpose |
none | none | No unique live company with this exact or tidied name |
skipped | none | The name looks like an individual or sole trader. It is not looked up and not stored |
There's no fuzzy or "closest" matching, so a match is either unique or left blank. In a test on 1,141 UK public-contract supplier rows, about 70% matched, and name matches agreed with the company number published on the notice 96–97% of the time. Unmatched names are mostly public bodies (councils, NHS trusts, universities), brands without a legal suffix, and dissolved companies (the snapshot covers live companies only).
Output
One row per input name, in input order:
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
inputIndex | 0 |
inputName | Softcat PLC (or [individual] when skipped) |
companyNumber | 02174990 |
matchMethod | name_exact |
confidence | high |
companyStatus | Active |
reason | Why a name was left unmatched (null when matched) |
companiesHouseSnapshot | 2026-10-01 |
source | Source: Companies House (Free Company Data Product) |
The run's OUTPUT record has totals: matched, ambiguous, unmatched, skipped, and the match rate.
How much does it cost?
Pay per event: company-match, charged once per name matched to a company number (planned price about $0.003, or $3 per 1,000 matches). Unmatched, ambiguous and skipped names are free. The run stops at your maximum cost per run.
Personal data
The Actor doesn't collect personal data. Input names that look like an individual or sole trader ("Jane Smith", "Mr J Smith", "Jane Smith T/A Smith Plumbing") are skipped. They are written out only as [individual] with their inputIndex, so you can still join the row back to your list. Only company numbers and statuses from the public register are returned. No addresses, officers or people with significant control are included.
Data source and licence
Company numbers and statuses come from the Companies House Free Company Data Product (monthly snapshot, live companies only). Companies House places no restriction on reuse of public-register information. Source: Companies House. This Actor is not endorsed by Companies House. Data is provided as is.
FAQ
Does it need a Companies House API key? No. It uses the free bulk snapshot built into the Actor.
How fresh is it? The snapshot is rebuilt monthly. Companies registered since then, and companies that have dissolved, aren't found.
Why is a well-known company unmatched? Usually because several live companies share the tidied name (ambiguous), or the name is a brand without "Ltd", "PLC" and so on. Try the full legal name.
Can I pass company numbers? Yes. Each is validated against the live register and returned with its status.
Changelog
- 0.1 (Oct 2026): first version (private).
