California SoS Business Scraper - bizfileOnline Company Data & Agent

Extract official company data from the California Secretary of State business registry (bizfileOnline) - the registry of every corporation, LLC and LP in the largest US state. Search by company name or entity/file number and get clean, structured JSON: status, standing, entity type, formation date and the registered agent for service of process. No API key needed.

There is no open public API for bizfileOnline (the official CALICO API is key-gated and capped). This actor is the API - and unlike other tools, you don't bring your own key.

Why this actor

bizfileOnline is protected by Imperva with a CAPTCHA challenge, so most "California business" tools on the market make you register for and supply your own state API key. This actor handles the anti-bot and access for you - send a name or entity number and get structured records back, including the registered agent that lighter scrapers omit.

No key, no setup

The Imperva bypass runs on our infrastructure and is included in the price. No API key, no CAPTCHA, no proxy to configure. Just send a search term.

Quick Start

Click Try it and search by company name:

{
  "searchQueries": ["Tesla"]
}

Or look up an exact entity by its California entity/file number:

{
  "searchQueries": ["3814816", "Tesla Motors"]
}

Input

Field	Type	Description
searchQueries	array	Company names or entity/file numbers. Each query returns all matches (up to ~500 per search).
maxResultsPerQuery	integer	Cap per query. 0 = no limit. Default 0.

Output

One dataset item per entity:

{
  "name": "TESLA MOTORS CLUB LLC",
  "entityNumber": "201313510058",
  "status": "Terminated",
  "standing": "Good Standing",
  "entityType": "Limited Liability Company - CA",
  "formedIn": "CALIFORNIA",
  "initialFilingDate": "05/13/2013",
  "registeredAgent": "CALIFORNIA CORPORATE AGENTS, INC.",
  "recordNumber": "...",
  "jurisdiction": "California, USA",
  "source": "California SoS bizfileOnline (bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov)",
  "sourceUrl": "https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business",
  "searchQuery": "Tesla Motors",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-06-28T00:00:00.000Z"
}

Common use cases

• KYC / KYB onboarding - verify a California entity's existence, status and standing from a name or entity number.
• Registered agent intelligence - pull the agent for service of process (legal, compliance, sales).
• Due diligence - check status (Active / Suspended / Dissolved) and good-standing.
• Lead generation & market research - map California entities by type and formation date.

Data source & compliance

• Source: the official California Secretary of State bizfileOnline registry (bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov). Every record is stamped with its source URL and retrieval timestamp.
• Public records. California business-entity records are public. This actor reads the open public search; it does not log in or bypass any paywall.
• Query-driven - it looks up the entities you ask for, not a bulk copy of the register.
• Scraping public US business records is well-established (public records; post-Van Buren / hiQ v. LinkedIn). Use the data lawfully (KYC/AML, due diligence, B2B) and gently.

Notes

• A search returns up to ~500 matches per query in one call. Use an entity/file number for an exact single-entity lookup.
• The free Apify plan returns a small preview; upgrade to a paid plan for full, uncapped results.