# Australian Business Finder (`pradip2412/au-business-finder`) Actor

Search the Australian Business Register — find businesses by name, postcode, ABN, or discover new registrations. Bulk lookup with full details, GST status, and monitor mode.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pradip2412/au-business-finder.md
- **Developed by:** [Pradip Dhakal](https://apify.com/pradip2412) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 18.2% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $15.00 / 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.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Australian Business Search — No API Key Needed

Search 15 million+ Australian businesses instantly. No API key, no registration, no setup — just click Start and get results.

**Other ABN lookup tools require you to register for a government API key.** This one doesn't. We handle the infrastructure so you can focus on the data.

### Who is this for?

- **Accountants & bookkeepers** — find newly registered businesses that need your services before competitors do
- **Insurance brokers** — discover new businesses that need coverage on day one
- **B2B sales teams** — build targeted lead lists by industry, location, and business type
- **Recruiters** — find active companies hiring in specific postcodes
- **Market researchers** — analyse business registrations by region, entity type, and industry
- **Compliance teams** — verify ABN status and GST registration in bulk
- **Startup founders** — check if a business name is already taken

### What makes this different

| Feature | This Actor | Other ABN tools |
|---|---|---|
| API key required? | **No — works instantly** | Yes — register and wait for email |
| Industry auto-classification | **24 categories** | None |
| Find new registrations by date | **Yes** | No |
| Find recently updated businesses | **Yes** | No |
| Postcode bulk search | **Yes — all businesses in a postcode** | Limited |
| Monitor mode (daily alerts) | **Yes** | No |
| Business names included | **Yes — all registered names** | Partial |

### Example output

```json
{
  "abn": "71609246077",
  "abnStatus": "Active",
  "abnStatusFrom": "2015-11-16",
  "acn": "609246077",
  "entityName": "SILVERWATER PLUMBING PTY LTD",
  "entityType": "Australian Private Company",
  "entityTypeCode": "PRV",
  "gstRegistered": true,
  "gstRegisteredFrom": "2018-04-09",
  "addressState": "NSW",
  "addressPostcode": "2261",
  "businessNames": [
    "Silver Service Plumbers",
    "Plumber Castle Hill",
    "Plumber Sydney CBD",
    "SILVER DRAINS AND PLUMBING",
    "ACE PIPE RELINING",
    "SILVER SPARK ELECTRICAL"
  ],
  "industryTags": ["plumbing", "electrical", "retail"],
  "abnLookupUrl": "https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?id=71609246077",
  "attribution": "© Commonwealth of Australia",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-28T05:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### How to use

1. **Choose a search mode** — Name Search, Postcode Search, ABN Lookup, New Registrations, or Recent Updates.
2. **Click Start** — no API key or registration needed. It just works.
3. **Get structured business data** in JSON, CSV, or Excel.

### 5 powerful search modes

| Mode | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| **Name Search** | Find businesses matching a name, filtered by state and postcode. | "Find all plumbers in NSW" |
| **Postcode Search** | Get ALL businesses registered in a postcode. | Area-based lead generation |
| **ABN Lookup** | Look up specific ABNs in bulk and get full details. | Bulk verification & enrichment |
| **New Registrations** | Find businesses registered on a specific date, by state. | Reaching brand-new businesses first |
| **Recent Updates** | Find businesses that updated their details on a date. | Tracking business changes |

### Auto industry classification

Every business is automatically tagged with one or more of **24 industry categories** based on their entity name and registered business names:

Plumbing, Electrical, Building & Construction, Painting, Landscaping, Cleaning, Accounting & Finance, Legal, Medical & Health, Dental, Real Estate, Food & Hospitality, IT & Technology, Transport & Logistics, Education & Training, Beauty & Personal Care, Automotive, Agriculture, Retail, Manufacturing, Media & Marketing, Security, Consulting, Mining & Resources.

Use industry tags to filter leads for your specific market — no manual sorting needed.

### Input explained

| Field | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| **Search mode** | How to search: by name, postcode, ABN, new registrations, or recent updates. | Name Search |
| **ABNs** | Specific ABNs to look up (ABN Lookup mode). | — |
| **Business name** | Name to search for (Name Search mode). | — |
| **Postcodes** | Filter by postcode. Required for Postcode Search, optional otherwise. | All |
| **States** | Filter by state/territory (NSW, VIC, QLD, etc.). | All states |
| **Active ABNs only** | Only return businesses with active ABNs. | Yes |
| **GST registered only** | Only return GST-registered businesses. | No |
| **Entity type code** | Filter by entity type (IND, PRV, PUB, etc.). | All types |
| **Event date** | Date for New Registrations / Recent Updates (YYYY-MM-DD). | Today |
| **Max results** | Maximum business records to output. | 500 |
| **Only new (monitor)** | Only output businesses not seen in previous runs. | Off |
| **Monitor key** | KV store name for tracking across runs. | au-business-finder-monitor |
| **ABR GUID** | Optional — pre-configured. Provide your own for higher throughput. | Built-in |

#### Common entity type codes

| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| IND | Individual/Sole Trader |
| PRV | Australian Private Company |
| PUB | Australian Public Company |
| TRT | Trust |
| PTR | Partnership |

### Pricing

**Pay per result:** $0.015 USD per business record.

- 100 businesses = $1.50
- 500 businesses = $7.50
- 1,000 businesses = $15.00

No start fee. You only pay for records actually returned. No API key registration required — that's included.

### Scheduling & monitor mode

Discover new Australian businesses automatically — perfect for lead gen:

1. Set **Search mode** to "New Registrations".
2. Enable **Only new records** to skip businesses from previous runs.
3. Set a **Monitor key** (e.g. `new-business-leads`). Use the same key every run.
4. Schedule the Actor to run daily.

Each run outputs only businesses not seen before. Pair with a webhook to send new leads straight to your CRM.

### Integrations

#### API

```bash
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/{DATASET_ID}/items?token={YOUR_TOKEN}"
```

#### Webhooks & automation

- **n8n** — use the Apify node to trigger workflows on new business leads
- **Make (Integromat)** — connect via the Apify module
- **Zapier** — use the Apify integration
- **Google Sheets** — export directly from the dataset

#### AI agents & MCP

This Actor works with the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp) for AI agent integration. Ask Claude, ChatGPT, or other agents to find Australian businesses for you.

### FAQ

**Do I need an API key or any registration?**
No. This Actor works out of the box — no government API key, no registration, no waiting. Just click Start.

**How many results can I get?**
Name searches return up to 200 matches per query. Postcode and event searches can return thousands — each ABN is enriched with full details, industry tags, and all business names.

**How current is the data?**
The Australian Business Register updates continuously. You get the current state of the register at the time of your search.

**What data do I get per business?**
ABN, ACN, entity name, entity type, ABN status, GST registration, state, postcode, all registered business names, auto-classified industry tags, and a direct link to the ABR page.

**Does this include sole traders?**
Yes, if their ABN is not suppressed. Some individuals suppress their ABR details — in that case only ABN, status, and GST registration are returned.

**What about trading names?**
The ABR stopped collecting trading names in May 2012. Business names (registered with ASIC since 2012) are included and fully listed.

**Can I use my own API key for faster throughput?**
Yes — optionally provide your own free ABR GUID in the input for higher rate limits on very large batch jobs.

### Data source & attribution

Data sourced from the **Australian Business Register** via the ABN Lookup web services.

© Commonwealth of Australia.

### Disclaimer

This Actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office, the Australian Business Register, or the Commonwealth of Australia. Data accuracy depends on the ABR. Use at your own risk.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchMode` (type: `string`):

How to search the Australian Business Register.

## `guid` (type: `string`):

Leave empty to use the built-in API key. Or provide your own free GUID from https://abr.business.gov.au/Tools/WebServicesRegistration for higher rate limits.

## `abns` (type: `array`):

One or more ABNs (11 digits, spaces OK). Used in ABN Lookup mode.

## `searchName` (type: `string`):

Business, trading, or legal name to search for. Used in Name Search mode.

## `postcodes` (type: `array`):

Filter by Australian postcodes. Required for Postcode Search mode, optional for other modes.

## `states` (type: `array`):

Filter by Australian state/territory. Leave empty for all states.

## `activeOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only return businesses with an active ABN.

## `gstRegisteredOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Only return businesses registered for GST.

## `entityTypeCode` (type: `string`):

Filter by entity type (e.g. IND = Individual, PRV = Australian Private Company, PUB = Australian Public Company). Leave empty for all types.

## `eventDate` (type: `string`):

Date for New Registrations or Recent Updates mode (YYYY-MM-DD). Defaults to today.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of business records to output.

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

Only output businesses not seen in previous runs. Use with a monitor key for scheduled runs.

## `monitorKey` (type: `string`):

Key-value store name for tracking seen businesses across runs. Use the same key every run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchMode": "name_search",
  "searchName": "plumber",
  "activeOnly": true,
  "gstRegisteredOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 10,
  "onlyNew": false,
  "monitorKey": "au-business-finder-monitor"
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Australian business records with ABN, entity name, GST status, and location.

# 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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pradip2412/au-business-finder").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 '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pradip2412/au-business-finder").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call pradip2412/au-business-finder --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pradip2412/au-business-finder"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/HiYfJu52BJm6cmUff/builds/GmQEO9DMiyne0te0N/openapi.json