UK Company Watch — Companies House Changes on Your List, No Key

A Companies House monitor for your own list: paste your customers' company numbers once. Every month, get back only the ones that changed on the Companies House register — with what changed, from what, to what. No API key, no account, no officers. $0.002 per company on the first run, then $0.10 a month for any list plus $0.01 per changed company; the first 3 rows free.

• 📄 What you get — the first run is your baseline; every later run returns just the companies whose status, filing deadlines, overdue flags, charges, name, SIC codes or registered office moved since the previous run — the signals credit control actually acts on: proposal to strike off, liquidation, administration, a company that dropped off the live register, accounts or confirmation statement gone overdue, a new charge (new borrowing), a name or address change.
• 🏛️ Source — Companies House's own free monthly snapshot under the Open Government Licence, the attribution on every row.
• 💵 Price — $0.002 per company on the first run, then $0.01 per changed company, plus $0.10 per run for reading the monthly file; 3 rows free in Preview. A quiet month costs $0.10.
• 🔑 No API key, no account — the snapshot is published free of charge with no login; the Actor never touches the rate-limited, keyed API.
• 🔒 No personal data — company-level only: no officers, no persons with significant control.
• ⏱️ Time to first result — Preview: 3 of your companies, free of charge. The file is sorted by company name and the read stops as soon as every number on your list has been found, so a list of early-sorting names returns in about a minute; reading the whole register (needed when a number is not on it, or on a later run to see what vanished) takes about 5–7 minutes at the default memory. Rows are delivered in batches, so a 5,000-company baseline adds well under a minute to that.

Who it is for: credit control and finance teams at suppliers (food, construction, wholesale) who invoice on terms · accountants and bookkeepers watching their client base · landlords and letting agents with company tenants · anyone who keeps a list of UK companies and needs to know when one of them starts to slide.

Company no.	Name	Status	What changed	Seen in
16975462	ABRAXOS SOLUTIONS LTD	Active	— (first run: current facts)	2026-09-01
17195313	ACO TECH SERVICES LTD	Active	— (first run: current facts)	2026-09-01

Real rows from the September 2026 snapshot (company numbers from the Companies House file; taken from the 25 Sep 2026 test run of our UK company search Actor). On a later run a changed company comes back like this — illustrative values, the field names are exactly as delivered:

{
  "companyNumber": "00000001",
  "companyName": "EXAMPLE TRADING LTD",
  "companyStatus": "Active - Proposal to Strike off",
  "accountsOverdue": true,
  "chargesOutstanding": 1,
  "_changed": true,
  "changes": [
    { "field": "companyStatus", "from": "Active", "to": "Active - Proposal to Strike off" },
    { "field": "accountsOverdue", "from": false, "to": true },
    { "field": "chargesOutstanding", "from": 0, "to": 1 }
  ],
  "changedFrom": "2026-09-01",
  "changedAt": "2026-10-01",
  "companyUrl": "https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00000001",
  "_source": "Companies House",
  "_licence": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0"
}

Price: $0.002 per company on the first run, then $0.01 per changed company on every later run, plus $0.10 per run for reading the monthly file — 3 rows free in Preview. 250 customers: about $0.60 to start, then about $0.10–0.30 a month.

Try it in 60 seconds

1. Paste your company numbers into Company numbers to watch (one per line, commas, tabs or spaces; leading zeros optional). Tick Preview (3 companies, free) and press Start: three of your companies, no charge.
2. Untick Preview and press Start again: one row per company with its current register facts. The read stops as soon as every number has been found (the file is sorted by company name), so a list of early-sorting names returns in about a minute; reading the whole register takes about 5–7 minutes at the default memory.
3. Schedule it monthly (the snapshot comes out in the first week of each month, so the 8th is a good day). From the second run on, the dataset holds only the companies that changed, each with a changes list.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/rein8~uk-company-watch/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN&format=csv" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"companyNumbers":"13873404, 16975462, 17195313","incremental":true,"stateKey":"customers"}'

What does this UK company watch do?

You give it a list of UK company numbers — customers on credit terms, suppliers, tenants, clients. It reads Companies House's free monthly snapshot of every live company (about 5.7 million rows, one file, no API key) and keeps only your companies. The first run returns them all with their current register facts. Every later run compares each company with what it delivered last time and returns only the companies that changed, each row carrying:

• changes — one entry per changed field: { "field", "from", "to" };
• changedFrom and changedAt — the dates of the two snapshots compared, so every change is dated to the register's own file;
• the company's full current facts, and companyUrl to check the official page.

A company that was on your list and is no longer in the live-companies snapshot comes back once with companyStatus: "No longer on the live snapshot" (the snapshot holds live companies only; absence is the signal to check the register entry, not proof of dissolution).

The run summary (STATS.incrementalSummary) says how many companies were new, changed, gone and unchanged, and which snapshot date it read.

When to use it: you have a list and you want a monthly heads-up, not a database. When to use something else instead: to search the register by SIC code, town or postcode, use our UK company search Actor; for officers, persons with significant control, filing documents or same-day changes, use the official Companies House service or API under your own account — this Actor reads the monthly snapshot only and never returns people.

Why watch your customer list?

• Credit control — a proposal to strike off, a liquidation or a disappearance from the live register is the moment to stop supplying on credit and start chasing; overdue accounts are the classic early warning that comes months before.
• Accountants and bookkeepers — see at once which clients have let accounts or confirmation statements go overdue, and which changed name, type or registered office.
• Landlords and letting agents — company tenants that stop filing or get a strike-off notice, before the rent stops.
• Procurement and supplier management — a new charge (new borrowing) or a change of registered office on a key supplier, reported the month it appears in the file.
• No key to manage — the snapshot is published free of charge with no login; the Actor never touches the rate-limited, keyed API, and never makes one request per company.

Why this one

	This Actor
Source	The Companies House Free Company Data Product (the monthly snapshot of every live company)
Account or API key	None
What you get back	The first run: your whole list. Every later run: only the companies that changed, each with changes: [{ field, from, to }] and both snapshot dates
Watched fields	Status, accounts and confirmation-statement deadlines, overdue flags, charges outstanding and total, name, previous name, company type, SIC codes, registered office — or the subset you choose
Personal data	None: no officers, no PSCs, and the "care of" address line is never mapped
Licence	Open Government Licence v3.0 attribution on every row (_source, _licence, _sourceUrl)
Pay for what you use	$0.002 per company on the first run, $0.01 per changed company afterwards, one $0.10 scan fee per run; nothing when the monthly file has not changed

How this compares

Store facts from the scan of 2026-09-23 (public Store API; rivals' figures change daily). The Companies House search Actors on the Store return search results, not changes. The Companies House monitors on the Store (six on 25 Sep) all need a Companies House API key and an account and charge per company per check; none returns a change feed on a list you own without an API key. This one reads the free monthly file: $0.10 a month for any list, no key.

Actor	Users / 30 d	Success	Rating	Change feed on your list
This actor	new	see live status	new	yes — changes per row, $0.01 per changed company
scrapesage/companies-house-scraper	41	100%	no reviews	no (search results, $4 per 1,000)
logiover/uk-companies-house-bulk-scraper	12	85%	no reviews	no
lexis-solutions/companies-house-uk-scraper	2	100%	4.64★ (8)	no

Only this actor, on every run: no API key or account, the official source (download.companieshouse.gov.uk), the licence stamped on every row, no personal data, a declared bot identity, and a free 3-row preview.

Examples — ready-made inputs

Examples (one click)

Each example below is also a public Task with its own page — open it, press Start, and the input is already filled in (replace the three company numbers with your own list):

• Watch your UK customers monthly — Companies House changes
• UK strike-off and status alerts for your company list
• Overdue accounts watch for your UK client list
• Check a list of UK companies — status, deadlines, charges
• Watch key suppliers for strike-off and new borrowing
• Watch your company tenants — Companies House changes
• Which clients filed accounts this month
• KYB refresh: name and registered-office changes on your list
• Strike-off watch, quarterly — the cheapest possible watch

Or copy one into the JSON tab of the input, or save it as a Task. Replace the three company numbers with your own list.

Watch my customers, monthly (the whole watch; schedule it on the 8th of each month):

{ "companyNumbers": "13873404\n16975462\n17195313", "incremental": true, "stateKey": "customers", "maxItems": 5000 }

Strike-off and status alerts only (rows come back only when the register status changes — proposal to strike off, liquidation, administration, gone from the live snapshot):

{ "companyNumbers": "13873404\n16975462\n17195313", "watchFields": ["companyStatus"], "incremental": true, "stateKey": "status-alerts", "maxItems": 5000 }

Overdue-filings watch (accountants: which clients let accounts or the confirmation statement go overdue this month, or filed and got a new deadline):

{ "companyNumbers": "13873404\n16975462\n17195313", "watchFields": ["accountsOverdue", "confirmationOverdue", "accountsNextDue", "confirmationStatementNextDue"], "incremental": true, "stateKey": "filings", "maxItems": 5000 }

Check a list once (no memory: every run returns every company with its current facts — a one-off customer or supplier check):

{ "companyNumbers": "13873404\n16975462\n17195313", "incremental": false, "maxItems": 5000 }

Task name	SEO title (≤ 60)	SEO description (≤ 160)
watch-my-customers-monthly	Watch Your UK Customers Monthly — Companies House Changes	Paste customer company numbers; every month get only the ones whose status, filings, charges, name or address changed on the register. No API key.
strike-off-and-status-alerts	UK Strike-Off and Status Alerts for Your Company List	Only the companies on your list whose Companies House status changed: proposal to strike off, liquidation, administration, gone from the live file.
overdue-filings-watch	Overdue Accounts Watch for Your UK Client List	Each month, the clients on your list whose accounts or confirmation statement went overdue, or filed and got a new deadline. Companies House data, no key.
check-my-list-once	Check a List of UK Companies — Status, Deadlines, Charges	Paste company numbers, get status, accounts and confirmation deadlines, charges and previous names from the Companies House monthly data. No API key.

How to scrape Companies House changes for your company list

Quick start (3 steps): paste the numbers → press Start (the baseline) → schedule monthly.

1. Company numbers to watch: any list — one per line, commas, tabs or spaces. Leading zeros are optional (445790 = 00445790, SC12345 = SC012345). Up to 5,000 per run. Numbers not in the live-companies snapshot (a company no longer live, or a typo) are simply absent from the first run — compare the row count with your list.
2. Only what changed since the last run is off by default (a one-off check). Turn it on for a watch and save the input as a Task: the first run under a Task is the baseline and returns everything; each later run returns the changes. Watch name is the memory: left as "customers", every saved Task gets its own memory automatically (a run started by hand remembers per list); type a name to share one memory between runs on purpose. Changing the name starts a fresh baseline.
3. Schedule it monthly. If the monthly file has not changed since your last complete run, the run ends at once and costs nothing. Add or remove numbers at any time: a new number is delivered as a new row (a company event) on its first run; a removed number is parked silently — put it back within a year and it is compared with its last-known facts (a change is a change row, nothing if it did not move); after 12 runs parked it is forgotten and comes back as a new row.

Preview returns 3 companies from your list free of charge and never touches the memory.

Input

Input	What it does
companyNumbers	Your list — one per line or separated by commas, tabs or spaces; leading zeros optional; up to 5,000 per run (required)
watchFields	Which fields count as a change; empty = all watched fields
incremental	Off (default): every run returns the whole list. On (the watch; every example and Task above sets it): baseline first, then only changes
stateKey	The watch name — the memory of the previous run; left at the default, one per saved Task automatically
allowStateFallback	Off (default): a run whose memory cannot be opened stops before any charge. On: it runs without memory (the whole list again)
maxItems	Rows per run (5,000 covers the largest list)
preview	3 companies free, no memory touched

What data can this Actor extract?

All fields

Field	Meaning
companyNumber, companyName	Company number (unique id) and registered name
companyStatus	Active / Active - Proposal to Strike off / Liquidation / In Administration…; or No longer on the live snapshot for a watched company that vanished from the monthly file
changes	On a later run: [{ "field", "from", "to" }] — one entry per watched field that differs from the previous run
changedFrom, changedAt	The dates of the two snapshots compared (YYYY-MM-DD)
_changed	true on a later run's rows
accountsOverdue, confirmationOverdue	Overdue on the snapshot date (true/false) — watched, so a deadline that passes during the month comes back as a change
accountsNextDue, accountsLastMadeUp, accountsCategory	Accounts deadline, last made-up date and type — all three watched: a new made-up date means "they filed", a type change means dormant → trading (or back)
confirmationStatementNextDue, confirmationStatementLastMadeUp	Confirmation statement deadlines
accountsOverdueDays, confirmationOverdueDays	Days past the deadline on the snapshot date (0 = not overdue) — informational, not watched (they move every month)
daysUntilAccountsDue, daysUntilConfirmationDue	Days from the snapshot date to each deadline: positive = days left ("due in the next 30 days" = 0 to 30), negative = days overdue — informational, not watched
chargesOutstanding, chargesTotal	Registered charges (mortgages); a rise in chargesOutstanding is new borrowing
companyCategory, countryOfOrigin, incorporationDate, dissolutionDate	Company type and dates
sicCodes	Up to four SIC 2007 codes with their descriptions
addressLine1, addressLine2, postTown, county, country, postalCode	Registered office
previousName, previousNameUntil	Most recent previous name and when it changed
companyUrl	The company's page on the official Companies House service
changesText	The changes list as one line, field: from → to; … — on a later run's rows only, empty on the first run
summary	One plain-English sentence per row: ALPHA LTD (00000001) is Active, accounts due 2027-12-31, confirmation statement due 2027-06-30. on the first run; on a change row ALPHA LTD (00000001): companyStatus: Active → Active - Proposal to Strike off — from 2026-09-01 to 2026-10-01; now is Active - Proposal to Strike off, accounts due 2027-12-31.
scrapedAt	When the row was written (ISO 8601) — not watched
_source, _licence, _sourceUrl	Attribution on every row: Companies House, Open Government Licence v3.0

Watched fields

Watched fields (a change in any of them brings the company back): companyStatus, accountsOverdue, confirmationOverdue, accountsNextDue, confirmationStatementNextDue, accountsLastMadeUp, accountsCategory, chargesOutstanding, chargesTotal, companyName, previousName, companyCategory, sicCodes, addressLine1, addressLine2, postTown, county, postalCode. What counts as a change narrows the set; a field watched for the first time is not a change, so widening the watch later never re-delivers your whole list.

Output

One dataset item per company on the first run; on later runs one item per changed company (fields above, with changes, changesText, changedFrom, changedAt). Every row carries a summary sentence an agent or a spreadsheet can quote as it is. The run ends with a status line under the run — N rows delivered. A review helps others find this actor. after a run that delivered rows, file unchanged since YYYY-MM-DD — nothing new when the monthly file has not changed since your last run (nothing downloaded, nothing charged). The STATS record carries incrementalSummary (newRecords, changedRecords, missingRecords, alreadyDelivered, asOf = the snapshot date), the file used, rows read and any errors.

How much will it cost to watch UK companies?

Event	When	Price
scan	once per run, when the monthly file is read (never in preview, never when the file is unchanged)	$0.10
company	each company delivered on the first run, or a company newly added to the list	$0.002
change	each changed company on a later run (including a company gone from the live snapshot)	$0.01

Scenario	Rows	Cost
Preview	3	$0
250 customers, first run (baseline)	250	$0.60
250 customers, a later month with 6 changes	6	$0.16
250 customers, a quiet month (file read, nothing changed)	0	$0.10
Any list, the file has not changed since your last run	0	$0
5,000 companies, first run	5,000	$10.10
5,000 companies, a later month with 120 changes	120	$1.30

You pay for the companies delivered plus one flat scan fee; unchanged companies are never charged.

Apify adds its own Actor start event on top of these prices: $0.00005 per GB of run memory, once per run (about $0.0001 at 2 GB, $0.0002 at 4 GB). It is the platform's charge, not this Actor's, and it shows as "Actor start" on your bill.

Integrations and automation

• API (curl): curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/rein8~uk-company-watch/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN&format=csv" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"companyNumbers":"13873404, 16975462","incremental":true,"stateKey":"customers"}'
• Python: ApifyClient(token).actor("rein8/uk-company-watch").call(run_input={"companyNumbers": "13873404\n16975462", "incremental": True, "stateKey": "customers"}) then client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items().
• Schedule + e-mail or Google Sheets: a monthly schedule, then the Apify → Google Sheets integration in append mode (one sheet of dated changes), or an e-mail integration that sends the dataset when it is not empty.
• n8n / Make / Zapier: Apify node → Run actor → Get dataset items → CRM note, Slack message or e-mail to credit control.
• AI assistants (MCP): see the next section.

Use with AI agents (MCP, Claude, Cursor)

This Actor is a tool on Apify's hosted MCP server. Add it to Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, Cursor, VS Code or ChatGPT with one URL — the server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token goes into the config:

https://mcp.apify.com?tools=rein8/uk-company-watch

{ "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=rein8/uk-company-watch" } } }

Then ask in plain words. The assistant reads this listing and the input schema, and maps your question to the inputs:

You ask	The Actor runs with
"Which of my customers changed status on Companies House this month? 13873404, 16975462"	companyNumbers: "13873404, 16975462", watchFields: ["companyStatus"], incremental: true
"Watch these suppliers for overdue accounts"	companyNumbers: …, watchFields: ["accountsOverdue", "confirmationOverdue"], incremental: true, stateKey: "suppliers"
"Check these three company numbers once"	companyNumbers: …, incremental: false

Where the data comes from — and why it is clean

• Source: the Companies House Free Company Data Product — a monthly snapshot of every live company on the register, published free of charge on download.companieshouse.gov.uk with no login. The Actor reads the download page to find the newest file and downloads that file once per run; nothing else is requested (never one request per company), and robots.txt is respected.
• Licence: Companies House data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which allows you to "copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information; adapt the Information; exploit the Information commercially and non-commercially" with attribution. A month-to-month comparison of the snapshot is an adaptation of that information. Every row carries the attribution:

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Companies House, Free Company Data Product (basic company data snapshot of the run's file date, e.g. 2026-09-01), https://download.companieshouse.gov.uk/en_output.html. Unofficial: not affiliated with or endorsed by Companies House. Company-level data only; corrections or removal requests: rein8.actors@gmail.com.

• Privacy: the snapshot contains company-level facts only. The Actor never maps the "care of" address line (it can name a person) and never returns officers or persons with significant control. It has no name or date-of-birth inputs and adds nothing to the register's own published addresses.

Limits and honest notes

• Monthly, not real time: the snapshot is taken on the 1st and published in the first week of each month; a change during the month appears in the next file. changedAt is the date of the file in which it was first seen, changedFrom the date of the file it was compared with.
• Live companies only: the file holds live companies. A watched company that disappears from it is reported as No longer on the live snapshot — it may have been dissolved, struck off or removed for another reason; companyUrl links to the register entry to check. A number absent from your first run was not in the file on that date (no longer live, or a typo).
• "Provided free of charge and will not be supported": those are Companies House's words about this data product. They mean no help desk and no service guarantee, not a withdrawal notice; if the file is unavailable, the run stops with "source unavailable" and charges nothing.
• The file is large (about 490 MB zipped): each run downloads it once and scans it; the flat scan fee covers that. A run in the same month after a complete run gets an unchanged answer (304) and costs nothing.
• Registered office is the company's official address; it is not where the company trades.
• Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by Companies House. Not legal or credit advice: a change row is a fact from the public register on two dates, not a rating or an opinion on any company's solvency or conduct.

FAQ, Disclaimers, and Support

What is the basis for using this data? Companies House publishes the snapshot free of charge under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which permits copying, adapting and commercial reuse with attribution. This is a description of the source's own terms, not legal advice.

Intended use: credit control, client and supplier monitoring, KYB refresh, portfolio and tenant checks — B2B use on companies. It is not a tool for profiling individuals, and it does not output personal data.

Personal data / UK GDPR: the output is company-level: no officers, no persons with significant control. A small company's registered office can be its director's home address, and a company name can contain a person's name, so UK GDPR can still apply to some records. Use the data for B2B purposes, refresh it monthly rather than keeping old copies, and honour removal requests (open an issue in the Issues tab or write to rein8.actors@gmail.com). If you combine it with personal data from other sources, you need your own lawful basis.

Do I need a Companies House API key?

No. This Actor never uses the API; it reads the free monthly snapshot, which needs no account.

Why did a customer not appear in my first run?

The snapshot lists live companies only. A number that is not in it was not live on the file date — or was mistyped. Check it on the official service; the numbers you pasted are normalised (445790 = 00445790).

A customer disappeared — is it dissolved?

The row says No longer on the live snapshot, which is what the data shows: the company was in last month's file and not in this month's. Dissolution and strike-off are the usual reasons, but the snapshot does not say why; open companyUrl to see the register entry.

Can I watch only status changes?

Yes: set What counts as a change to Status. Rows then come back only when the register status changes. Widening the watch later never re-delivers the whole list.

Which clients filed this month, and who is due in the next 30 days?

Watch Accounts last made up to (and the confirmation-statement equivalent): the made-up date moves on when accounts are delivered, so the change row says "they filed — close the job". For the reminder list, every row carries daysUntilAccountsDue and daysUntilConfirmationDue (positive = days left, negative = days overdue on the snapshot date): filter the Deadlines view, or the CSV, on 0 to 30.

How do I get a CSV of the changes only?

Storage → the run's dataset → the Changes view → download CSV. An e-mail only when something changed: Apify's e-mail integration sends on every run, so use a webhook on "run succeeded" into Make, n8n or Zapier with a "dataset item count > 0" step before the e-mail — or the Google Sheets integration, which appends nothing when the run is empty.

Does it return directors, PSCs or documents?

No. Companies only. If you need officers or persons with significant control, use the official Companies House service under your own account.

How do I export to Google Sheets, CSV or Excel?

Every run's dataset downloads as CSV, Excel, JSON or XML; the Apify → Google Sheets integration appends the month's changes on a schedule.

Support: open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab — answered within one business day. A review on the Store page helps others find licence-clean data.

More official-data Actors by rein8

Same rules on every one: the source's own open route, no API key, the licence on every row, company-level data only.

• Companies House Data — UK Company Search, No API Key — search the whole register by SIC code, postcode, town, status, incorporation date; the same monthly snapshot.
• UK Company Accounts Data — Companies House Accounts, Net Assets — net assets, cash, creditors and employees for the same list, from the accounts they file (its watch-customer-accounts-daily Task takes the same numbers).
• LEI Lookup & Changes — Legal Entity Identifier Data, No API Key — turn a company number into its LEI and its parent group.
• Public Tenders UK & EU — Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, TED — public tenders and contract awards; the winners' company numbers can be pasted here.
• Sirene Company Search — France SIREN/SIRET Lookup, No API Key — French companies from the official Sirene register by name, SIREN/SIRET, area, NAF code, size or label.
• Form D Scraper — Startup Funding Leads from SEC Form D, No Key — every private raise filed with the U.S. SEC, as a daily feed of clean rows.
• New Business Filings by State — Secretary of State Data, No Key — new LLCs and corporations from five US Secretary of State portals.

Changelog

• 0.3.1 (2026-09-26, live) — a summary sentence and a changesText line on every row, a status line at the end of every run; an unchanged monthly file now answers "nothing new" at $0 for a short list too (before, a list that was complete early in the file paid the scan fee again on the same file).
• 0.1.1 (2026-09-26, folded into 0.3.1) — watched: accountsLastMadeUp ("they filed") and accountsCategory (dormant → trading); new columns daysUntilAccountsDue / daysUntilConfirmationDue and a "Deadlines" view; the rival note corrected (the Store's monitors all need an API key); FAQ: filed this month, due in 30 days, CSV of changes, e-mail only when not empty.
• 0.1 (2026-09-25) — first release: a company-number list in, the baseline out, then only changed companies with changes: [{ field, from, to }], changedFrom and changedAt; watched fields configurable; a company gone from the live snapshot reported once; attribution on every row.