# SOS Business Entity Search - CO, NY, OR Open Registries

Search US business entities via keyless state open-data feeds (Colorado, New York, Oregon). Hostile SOS portals are recorded in failedSources — never CAPTCHA-scraped.

Canonical product page: https://mayd-it.com/data-tools/actors/sos-business-entity-search/
Public Actor: https://apify.com/maydit/sos-business-entity-search

## Example input

```json
{
  "states": [
    "CO",
    "NY"
  ],
  "entityName": "Acme",
  "maxResults": 10,
  "maxRunSeconds": 180
}
```

## Full guide

![Find entities in open state registries — illustrative workflow](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/YGxD9JRpduom8Q5Zd/records/sos-business-entity-search-b062b89002ce.png?signature=cRG6yGWUhKKHd583b80x)

## Find entities in open state registries

For business-record research: search official open-data feeds for Colorado, New York and Oregon entities. Collect names, identifiers, published dates and source references without navigating interactive SOS portals.

[Open this Actor in Console](https://console.apify.com/actors/Up31koumReCmZCige/input) · [First run](#try-this-actor) · [Results](#result-preview) · [Cost](#usage-and-pricing) · [Full guide](#full-guide)

## Try this Actor

- **First run:** Use the existing **CO / NY** Console sample with **Acme** and a 20-entity cap. Inspect the state and source note before expanding the search.
- **Read the results:** Open the default Dataset for entity records and **SUMMARY** for source status. Keep each row's state, identifier and note together when interpreting its registry status.
- **Keep in mind:** This is three supported open feeds, not a nationwide entity search. New York and Oregon status is implied by their active-record sources; Colorado publishes status explicitly. A registry match alone is not identity or compliance verification.

## Result preview

The dataset view highlights these columns:

- **State** · `state`
- **Entity name** · `entityName`
- **Entity / DOS ID** · `entityNumber`
- **Registry status** · `status`
- **Entity type** · `entityType`
- **Formation date** · `formedDate`

Use the original source links and the field definitions below when interpreting the results. CSV works well for flat columns; JSON preserves nested values.

## Usage and pricing

Base result rate on the FREE tier: **$20 per 1,000 results**. The [Pricing tab](https://apify.com/maydit/sos-business-entity-search/pricing) shows your plan's result rate and any Actor Start charge. Set a small result limit for the first run; the requested limit is not a guarantee of that many results.

---

## Full guide

> Multi-state **Secretary of State** business-entity lookup via **keyless open-data feeds**. Hostile interactive SOS portals are **not** scraped — they appear in `failedSources`.

### What it does

Searches official state open datasets and returns one normalized row per entity: state, name, entity/DOS id, status, type, formed date, city, and source URL.

#### Live keyless adapters (this build)

| State | Source |
|---|---|
| **CO** | [data.colorado.gov Business Entities](https://data.colorado.gov/Business/Business-Entities-in-Colorado/4ykn-tg5h) (`4ykn-tg5h`) |
| **NY** | [data.ny.gov Active Corporations](https://data.ny.gov/Government-Finance/Active-Corporations-Beginning-1800/n9v6-gdp6) (`n9v6-gdp6`) |
| **OR** | [data.oregon.gov Active Businesses](https://data.oregon.gov/Business/Active-Businesses-ALL/tckn-sxa6) (`tckn-sxa6`) |

Any other state code (including **WA**) is recorded in `SUMMARY.failedSources` without a dataset row. Most SOS websites are CAPTCHA/ToS hostile and are intentionally **not** automated.

### Who it's for

- Compliance / KYC enrichment that needs a legal open feed
- Lead gen / market mapping limited to open-registry states
- Developers who refuse captcha farms and want `failedSources` visibility

### Input

- **State codes** — default `CO`, `NY` (both return live rows for `Acme`)
- **Entity name contains** — default `Acme`
- **Max results** / **Max run seconds** — keep defaults for a fast sample

### Output

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `state` | 2-letter code |
| `entityName` / `entityNumber` | Name + registry id |
| `status` / `entityType` | As published (NY/OR active datasets imply Active) |
| `formedDate` / `city` | When the feed provides them |
| `note` | Reserved; source failures are stored separately in `SUMMARY.failedSources` |

### Coverage limits

- Does **not** scrape interactive SOS HTML forms or solve CAPTCHAs.
- Coverage is limited to the three listed official open-data feeds. Other states and interactive registry searches are unsupported.
- NY/OR status is implied Active by the published dataset title; CO publishes an explicit `entitystatus`.
The result cap is divided across requested states. CO/NY each currently fetch up to 50 records; OR scans up to 200 associated-name records and deduplicates registry numbers. These are bounded samples, not exhaustive registry exports. A valid no-match query returns zero rows with a warning; a run where every source is unsupported or fails is marked failed.

### Result accounting

Only real source records are written to the dataset. `SUMMARY.total` counts saved rows. A dataset spending cap stops further writes and sets `SUMMARY.stoppedOnChargeLimit` and `SUMMARY.incomplete`. Source failures and time limits are reported in the summary; they do not generate substitute result rows.

## Help with your run

Open the **Issues** tab on this Actor with the run URL, the input field that caused trouble and what you expected to receive. Remove API keys and private information before posting.

[Explore more Mayd-It Actors](https://apify.com/maydit)

## Understand your run

Open **Run report** in the run’s Output tab for saved-record counts, reported source issues and limits, and suggested next steps. Use **CSV export** to take the saved results into a spreadsheet. The existing JSON results and detailed machine-readable summary remain available.

The report reflects this run’s recorded coverage. A successful run or a saved result does not establish that every possible source record was collected.