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SEC EDGAR API🇺🇸 SEC filers · plus 64M more
SEC EDGAR API: US company data, listed and private, in one API
EDGAR is a filing system, not a business register. It covers roughly 4,700 listed filers, while the US has no federal business register at all and around 36 million businesses spread across 50 state Secretaries of State. CompanyData gives you 64.6M US business records in one live REST API, with the same schema you would use for EDGAR.
150 free calls in week one · No credit card · One API covers 200+ countries
64,480,083
US business records
50+
data fields per record
SIC
industry codes on every record
<200 ms
median response time
GET /api/company/search?nationalId=0000320193
Apple Inc.
Cupertino, California, US
CIK0000320193
SIC code3571 · Computers
Websiteapple.com
Employee band100,000+
Structured financialsXBRL, from 2009
Source: EDGAR + enrichment · sample200 OK · 152 ms
The basics
What is the SEC EDGAR API?
EDGAR is the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system, and its APIs at data.sec.gov are free with no key. They serve filing metadata and, through companyfacts and companyconcept, structured XBRL financials from 2009 onward. For a listed filer, that structured financial data is genuinely strong.
The limitation is coverage, not quality. EDGAR only holds entities that file with the SEC, roughly 4,700 listed operating filers, against roughly 36 million US businesses. There is no US federal business register: businesses incorporate with 50 separate state Secretaries of State, none of which EDGAR touches. CompanyData covers 64.6M US business records with contact data, industry codes and employee bands, in one API that also spans 200+ other countries, so you can query the listed filer and the private business the same way.
The official system, in short
- Free, no API key, structured XBRL financials for filers from 2009 onward
- 10 requests a second, with a descriptive User-Agent that names your organisation
- Covers only about 4,700 SEC filers, not the roughly 36M US businesses
- The website field is empty, phone is a switchboard, there is no email
- dei/EntityNumberOfEmployees returns 404; headcount is prose in the 10-K
- data.sec.gov does not support CORS, so no browser-side calls
Try it live
Look up any US business
The listed filers EDGAR carries, and the private businesses it never touches, in one response. Pick a business, you need no key for the example.
- SIC industry codes on every record
- Contact data on private businesses, not just filers
- The same request across 200+ countries
Side by side
EDGAR and CompanyData, field by field
EDGAR is strong on structured financials for the few thousand entities that file. CompanyData covers the whole US business population, with contact data and industry codes, in one call.
| Data point | Official register | CompanyData API |
|---|---|---|
| US business records covered | ~7,120 SEC filers | 64,480,083 |
| Business name and former names | ✓ | ✓ |
| CIK or registration number | ✓ | 42,359,885 |
| Registered address | ✓ | 64,034,918 |
| SIC industry code | ✓ | ✓ |
| Structured financials (XBRL) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Website | ✗ | 15,023,957 |
| Phone | ✗ switchboard only | 27,386,205 |
| Business email | ✗ | 9,565,790 |
| Employee data | 404 on the API field | ✓ |
| Director or contact person | ✗ exhibits only | 39,553,160 |
| Private and small businesses | ✗ | ✓ the other ~36M |
| Ready-made segmentation | ✗ | ✓ filter and export |
| International records | ✗ | 365M worldwide |
Our column counts every registered entity we hold for this country, active or inactive. Some registers only serve active entities through their API, which we think is a gap: a holding or a trust can be dormant and still matter as an entity, so we keep it. Measured live in our own file, August 2026, and refreshed monthly.
Coverage
EDGAR holds roughly 4,700 listed operating filers. It is a filing system, not a register, and the US has no federal business register, so the roughly 36 million businesses that incorporate with 50 state Secretaries of State are simply not there. CompanyData covers 64.6M US business records, filer and private alike.
Access and price
EDGAR is free but demands a descriptive User-Agent, blocks browser-side calls with no CORS, and stops at its filers. CompanyData is credit-based from USD 0.02 per credit, with 150 free calls in your first week and one schema for 200+ countries.
See the difference
The 64M records EDGAR does not file
Private businesses, contacts, industry codes and employee bands: one lookup away. Defaults to the US, switch country whenever you want.
Try one:
Best practice
Working with the official EDGAR API yourself
The EDGAR APIs are free and well documented, but they have sharp edges and cover only filers. Here is how to get started in three steps, and the six things that cost teams the most time, whether you enrich with us or not.
1
Set a descriptive User-Agent
Read the terms on sec.gov, then send a User-Agent that names your organisation and a contact email on every request. Without it you are blocked outright.
2
Zero-pad the CIK to ten digits
In the URL the CIK must be zero-padded to ten digits. It comes back padded from submissions but as a plain integer from companyconcept, so normalise before you join.
3
Call server-side, within 10 requests a second
The limit is 10 requests a second per user, and data.sec.gov sends no CORS headers, so browser-side calls fail. Proxy through your own backend.
Honestly: the EDGAR API is excellent for structured financials on listed filers, and it is free. If you need the roughly 36M private US businesses, contact data, employee bands or international coverage, you end up with us.
Get your API key01
The User-Agent header is mandatory
A descriptive User-Agent naming your organisation and a contact email is required. Omit it and the SEC blocks your requests, which is the most common reason a first integration fails.
02
CIK padding is inconsistent across endpoints
You must zero-pad the CIK to ten digits in the URL, but submissions returns it padded and companyconcept returns it as an integer. Normalise on the way in or your joins silently miss.
03
No CORS, so no browser-side calls
data.sec.gov does not send CORS headers. Any fetch from the browser fails, so EDGAR calls have to run from your own server.
04
The employee field 404s
dei/EntityNumberOfEmployees returns 404. Headcount is prose in Item 1 of the 10-K, not a structured field, so you cannot pull it programmatically from EDGAR.
05
Contact fields are empty or a switchboard
The website field exists but is empty in practice, phone is a corporate switchboard, and there is no email at all. EDGAR is not a contact source.
06
History is paged and truncated
The submissions endpoint truncates at one year or 1,000 filings, with older history in a separate files[] array you must fetch, and full-text search only covers 2001 onward.
Use cases
What teams use US business data for
KYB and onboarding
Verify US counterparties, filer or private, on name and registration number. Status, address and industry code checked automatically.
Lead generation
Build prospect lists across the whole US business population, filtered by SIC code, state, revenue or employee band.
CRM enrichment
Backfill SIC codes, contact data and employee bands across your US accounts, including the private businesses EDGAR never files.
Financial analysis
Combine EDGAR XBRL financials for listed filers with our coverage of the private businesses around them.
Form autofill
Type-ahead on business names in your signup form, so name and address arrive clean rather than free-typed.
ERP and finance systems
Key US suppliers and customers to a stable record once, then keep name, status and address current automatically.
Beyond the United States
The US is one of 200+ countries on the same API
The same request, the same response schema, from EDGAR to Companies House, the German Handelsregister and Sirene. Build the US integration once and take it across the border.
Explore the Company Data API
More local registers
The same API, register by register
Customer stories
What teams build with business data
Onboarding, KYB and supplier checks in production, on the same endpoints you tried above.
BankID · Digital identity
Live business KYC inside BankID
Norway's national trust mark verifies businesses against the register in real time, cutting verification time by 99%.
Read the story
Cellbunq · KYB
Global KYB compliance on one integration
Up-to-date business details from around the world, screened straight inside the onboarding flow.
Read the story
Zen.com · Fintech
Customer onboarding without the friction
Large-scale KYB verification through business lookup, built straight into the signup path.
Read the story
Sumsub · KYB platform
Verifying the address and the director, at scale
350M statutory addresses and registry director records inside Sumsub's global KYB flows, so shell offices and nominee directors get caught at onboarding.
Read the story
Veriff · Identity verification
UBO checks where the paperwork is hardest
Registry-sourced business and UBO data across Africa, Asia and Latin America, with 80% fewer manual reviews.
Read the storySEC EDGAR API pricing
Transparent, credit-based pricing. Start with a free trial.
Free trial
Make your first 150 lookups free
- 150 lookups and 10 exports in week one, key right after signup
- 1 credit per business returned, usage-based after that
- No credit card, no contract, no sales call
Questions? Ask a human.
No ticket queue. Your question lands with our data team and you get an answer within 24 hours.
Amsterdam HQVijzelgracht 53D · +31 20 705 2360
BerlinFriedrichstraße 123 · +49 30 21480480
DubaiBuilding A1, Dubai Digital Park, Dubai Silicon Oasis
Mon to Fri 9:00 to 17:30 CET · info@companydata.com
What our customers say
Real feedback from the people using CompanyData every day.
★★★★★
The best data company we have worked with.
Helmut Huberti, M.D.
World Arthrosis Org., Heidelberg
★★★★★
Great feedback from our team on the data quality.
Stefania Guerra
Dyson, Milan
Frequently asked questions
What is the SEC EDGAR API?
EDGAR is the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system. Its free APIs at data.sec.gov serve filing metadata and, through companyfacts and companyconcept, structured XBRL financials from 2009 onward. It is a filing system for entities that report to the SEC, not a business register.
Is the SEC EDGAR API free?
Yes, and there is no API key. You must send a descriptive User-Agent naming your organisation and a contact email, or the SEC blocks you, and you are limited to 10 requests a second with no CORS support.
CompanyData is a separate, enriched source: your first 150 lookups are free in week one, then pricing is usage-based.
How many US businesses does EDGAR cover?
Only its filers, roughly 3,900 to 4,700 listed operating businesses. For scale, the Census counted 30,427,808 nonemployer establishments in 2023 plus about 5.6 million employer firms under 500 staff, roughly 36 million US businesses. There is no US federal business register; businesses incorporate with 50 separate state Secretaries of State. The often-quoted 500,000-plus CIK count is cumulative since 1994 and includes individuals, funds, share classes and filer agents.
Does EDGAR have contact data or employee counts?
No. The website field is empty in practice, phone is a corporate switchboard, and there is no email. The employee field dei/EntityNumberOfEmployees returns 404; headcount is prose in Item 1 of the 10-K. We add contact data and employee bands across the full US business population.
How is a CIK formatted?
The CIK is the Central Index Key. In a data.sec.gov URL it must be zero-padded to ten digits, but the submissions endpoint returns it padded while companyconcept returns it as a plain integer, so normalise before you join across endpoints.
Can I get structured financials from EDGAR?
Yes, this is EDGAR's genuine strength. companyfacts and companyconcept return XBRL financials from 2009 onward, though custom taxonomy extensions are excluded by design and frames align to calendar quarters, not fiscal quarters. We keep the register fields and segmentation around those financials, and cover the private businesses EDGAR does not file.
How many US businesses do you cover?
64.6M US business records, filer and private alike, continuously updated from official and other sources.
Make 150 free API calls before you spend anything
Tell us which US businesses you need. You get a trial key with 150 lookups and 10 exports, plus a real sample response for your segment, within 24 hours.
or call +31 (0)20 705 2360