Key takeaways
- GovFiles is the strongest fit for US company search, enrichment, analytics and bulk data. It includes active and historical registrations from all 50 states in one schema.
- OpenCorporates is built for global company research. Its API covers more than 200 million companies and emphasizes source provenance and open-data licensing.
- Cobalt Intelligence is built for point-in-time verification. It can query state portals live, but live responses can take 10 to 180 seconds and depend on the source portal being available.
- GovFiles charges $0.01 per returned result. At published typical Cobalt rates, 1,000 one-credit lookups cost roughly $500 to $2,000, compared with $10 on GovFiles after free credits.
GovFiles, OpenCorporates and Cobalt Intelligence all make company-registration data accessible, but they are built for different jobs. GovFiles is a ready-to-query US dataset for search, enrichment and analysis. OpenCorporates is a global company database. Cobalt Intelligence is a live business-verification service.
For teams building with US Secretary of State data at scale, GovFiles provides the broadest set of delivery options and the lowest published unit price of the three.
Secretary of State API comparison
| Capability | GovFiles | OpenCorporates | Cobalt Intelligence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | US search, enrichment and analytics | Global company research | Live business verification |
| Access model | Ready-to-query US dataset | Aggregated global database | Live or cached state lookup |
| US coverage | 100M+ filings, all 50 states | US records within a global database | All 50 states and DC |
| Historical entities | Included | Varies by jurisdiction | Varies by state |
| Query-time state-site wait | None | None | Live: 10–180 seconds |
| State-portal outage exposure | None at query time | None at query time | Live mode can be affected |
| Delivery | API, Parquet and warehouse | API and bulk extracts | API and dashboard |
| Published API price | $0.01 per result | License and plan based | Typically $0.50–$2 per credit |
| 1,000 paid one-credit lookups | $10 | Request pricing | About $500–$2,000 |
| No-match company search | Free | Plan dependent | Live lookup is billable |
| Free start | 1,000 credits | License dependent | 50 test credits |
| Live state lookup | Not required for standard searches | No | Yes |
Pricing and product details were reviewed on September 19, 2026. Actual costs depend on the plan, query and number of returned results.
Why choose GovFiles?
Choose GovFiles when business-registration data needs to become part of a product, data pipeline or warehouse—not just the answer to one verification request.
The GovFiles Secretary of State API searches more than 100 million registration filings from all 50 states through one schema. Search by a current, alternative or previous business name, filter by jurisdiction and status, or retrieve a specific entity by its jurisdiction and registration number.
The same data is available as bulk Parquet through S3 or SFTP, with warehouse sharing available for Snowflake, BigQuery and Databricks. That makes GovFiles useful for national company search, CRM enrichment, historical research and full-dataset analysis as well as direct API lookups.
GovFiles also includes active and historical registrations. Dissolved, revoked, withdrawn and merged entities remain searchable rather than disappearing when their status changes. That history matters when researching an old contract, enriching a long-lived customer database or analyzing business formations and closures over time.
How much less does GovFiles cost?
GovFiles company search costs $0.01 for each returned result. A direct entity lookup also costs one credit, or $0.01. Searches that return no results are free, and each new account starts with 1,000 credits.
Cobalt describes typical credit pricing as $0.50 to $2.00 per credit. It also states that a live lookup is billable even when no company matches, because the request still triggers work against the state portal.
| Example | GovFiles | Cobalt Intelligence |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 paid one-credit lookups | $10 | About $500–$2,000 |
| No-match company-name search | $0 | Billable for a live lookup |
| Starting allowance | 1,000 credits | 50 test credits |
The services do not bill identically, so this is a unit-price comparison rather than a claim that every workflow is interchangeable. A Cobalt live verification can include evidence and freshness that a maintained-dataset lookup is not intended to provide. For ordinary company search and direct record retrieval, however, the difference in published unit cost is substantial.
When is OpenCorporates the better choice?
OpenCorporates is the better fit when the research question crosses national borders. It advertises API access to more than 200 million companies and builds detailed provenance into its data model. Its API documentation exposes source URLs, publishers and retrieval dates alongside company records.
OpenCorporates also offers open-data access under share-alike attribution terms and separate commercial access. That model can be valuable for open research projects or applications that need company records from many countries. Teams focused specifically on US registry data should compare those licensing requirements and delivery options with GovFiles’ straightforward per-result API and US bulk datasets.
When is Cobalt Intelligence the better choice?
Cobalt is the better fit when a decision requires a fresh, point-in-time check against the state website. Its live mode can retrieve the current result and a timestamped screenshot for an audit trail. That is useful immediately before funding a loan or completing another high-stakes verification.
The tradeoff is operational. Cobalt says live requests can take 10 to 180 seconds, depending on the state. A live request also inherits the availability and behavior of the underlying government portal. Cobalt offers a monthly refreshed cache for faster responses when live retrieval is unnecessary.
GovFiles does not make a new state-portal request for each API query. It searches a maintained dataset, so application searches do not wait for a government website and remain available when an individual state portal is down. That is usually the better architecture for search boxes, enrichment pipelines and high-volume analysis.
Which business data provider should you choose?
Choose GovFiles for scalable US company search, active and historical registrations, bulk data, warehouse delivery and transparent low-cost API access.
Choose OpenCorporates when international coverage and open-data provenance are more important than a US-focused data workflow.
Choose Cobalt Intelligence when you need a live state-portal verification and are willing to trade higher cost and variable latency for point-in-time evidence.
For most teams building a product or dataset around US Secretary of State records, GovFiles offers the best balance of coverage, usability, delivery and price. Start with 1,000 free API credits, or explore the business entity data product.
Frequently asked
What is the best OpenCorporates alternative for US business data? GovFiles is built specifically for US business registration data. It combines all-state company search, active and historical entities, bulk Parquet delivery and warehouse sharing in one product. OpenCorporates is the stronger fit when global company coverage is the primary requirement.
What is the best Cobalt Intelligence alternative for high-volume company search? GovFiles is designed for fast searches against a maintained national dataset rather than a new live state-portal request for every search. API pricing starts at $0.01 per returned result, searches returning no results are free, and new accounts include 1,000 credits.
Which Secretary of State API includes historical entities? GovFiles includes active and historical business registrations, including dissolved, revoked, withdrawn and merged entities. Historical fields and filing depth still reflect what each source registry publishes.
Which provider offers live Secretary of State lookups? Cobalt Intelligence offers live state-portal lookups and a monthly refreshed cache. GovFiles instead searches a maintained dataset, avoiding the latency and availability of a state website at query time.