Business Entity Search by State

What a Business Entity Search Is For

A business entity search looks a company up on the register kept by the state office that accepts LLC and corporation filings. Three reasons to run one:

• Checking a business before you deal with it. The record shows whether the state lists the entity, under what exact name, and the status the register gives it.
• Checking your own LLC. The record shows what the state holds for your company, so you can see a status or an address that needs attention.
• Checking a name. Before you form an LLC, a search shows names already on the register. 13 states say that search is only a first check, and Alabama requires a name reservation before you file.

Use the state's own search, linked for each state below, rather than a private lookup site: the state's register is the official record.

What We Found Across the States

• 10 states say searching their registers is free, and 1 state charges a fee to search. For 39 states we have not confirmed whether searching is free, so those pages say to check the search page itself.
• 15 states say you can view filed documents online for free; in 2 more (Georgia and Rhode Island), a filed document we downloaded needed no account or payment; for 14 states we have not confirmed whether documents can be viewed online.
• 21 states define at least one status label that covers LLCs on a page we reviewed, and those state guides restate the definition. Elsewhere the labels are listed without a meaning rather than guessed from the word.
• For 8 states we have not confirmed which status labels the register uses.
• In 2 states (Delaware and New Jersey), the free search does not show an entity's status. For the other 8 states with a free search, we have not confirmed whether it shows status.
• 1 state requires a name reservation before the formation filing: Alabama. Searching the name is not enough there. For 27 states we have not confirmed whether a name reservation is required before you file.

Official Business Entity Search, State by State

Every answer is read from the state's own pages, fee schedules and search tools. A cell reading “Not confirmed” is a gap in what we have verified so far, never a reported “no.”

After the Search

If the record shows your own LLC was dissolved, see how to reinstate an LLC in each state. If a bank or another state asks for proof, the certificate of good standing guide covers how to order one. To screen a name for a website and social handles, try the LLC name checker.