About EntityFinder
Last updated .
What this is
EntityFinder is a free business entity search covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Enter a name, pick a state, and see whether it is already on that state’s register.
Who runs it
EntityFinder is built and run by TrueScope LLC, a small independent publisher. We are not owned by a formation company nor are we a state agency. This site exists because checking one name across several states meant visiting a different register, with a different search box and a different set of rules, fifty-one times.
Where the data comes from
State business registers, and the federal trademark register at the USPTO. Every page links the official source for that state, and anything that has to be official should come from there.
Where a state publishes its register as bulk data we hold a copy and refresh it every night, and a search there returns the full record rather than a yes or no. That state’s own page says so.
Each state’s page links the office that holds the record, and new business filings by state lists all fifty-one.
We also hold 3,374,058 federal trademark registrations from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and every search checks the name against them. State registration and trademark protection are separate systems, and a name can be clear on one while colliding on the other.
How the numbers are checked
Filing fees, naming rules and annual report requirements are taken from each state’s own published schedule and statute, not from other websites, and each state’s page cites what it was taken from. Where a figure could not be confirmed against the state, it is left off rather than guessed at.
That work has already corrected figures that are widely published elsewhere. Delaware’s annual LLC tax is $300 on most sites and is actually $400. Illinois is often listed at $500, which is the expedited series LLC price rather than the $150 an ordinary LLC pays. South Carolina and Texas are both described as requiring an annual report, and neither does at the Secretary of State level.
The headline fee is also rarely the real cost of year one. Nevada advertises $75 and comes to $425 once the initial list and state business license are added, and New York’s $200 filing hides six weeks of newspaper publication.
What we are not
We are not a government agency and we are not affiliated with any Secretary of State or equivalent office. We cannot file anything on your behalf, cannot reserve a name, and cannot tell you whether a state will accept a filing. A clear result here is a good sign, not an approval.
We are also not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. Questions about whether a specific name is safe to use are questions for an attorney.
How it is paid for
The search is free and there is no account. Some links to business formation services are affiliate links, which means we may be paid if you use one. That never changes what a search returns: the result comes from the register, not from who pays us. The privacy policy names who those partners are.
Corrections
If something here is wrong, we would rather know: write to admin@entityfinder.us. The contact page says what to include so a correction can be made the same day. Registers change, portals move, and fees are revised without notice. Anything we cannot verify against two sources is left off the page rather than guessed at.