The Florida business search lets you look up any company registered in Florida, for free.
It runs on Sunbiz — the official website of the Florida Division of Corporations. More than 3.5 million businesses are on file.
You can search by name, by the people who run the company, or even by address. No account, no fee.
Here is how to use it, step by step.
What Is the Florida Business Search (Sunbiz)?
Sunbiz is the State of Florida’s official business entity index.
Every Florida corporation, LLC, limited partnership, and trademark is recorded by the Division of Corporations, part of the Florida Department of State.
Sunbiz is the public search of those records. It is the same database the state itself uses.
Good to know: people call this tool by several names — Florida Secretary of State search, Department of State search, Division of Corporations search, or Sunbiz. They all point to the same free system.
Florida Business Search: Step-by-Step
Step 1: Open Sunbiz Search Records. Go to search.sunbiz.org (the Division of Corporations search page). No login is needed.
Step 2: Pick “Search by Entity Name.” This is the option most people need.
Step 3: Type the business name. Enter the full name or part of it. The search is not case-sensitive, but spelling matters — a typo can return no results.
Step 4: Choose the right result. The results list shows each matching business with its document number and status. Click the correct name.
Step 5: Read the detail page. This page (called “Detail by Entity Name”) shows the full record, including the registered agent, addresses, the people in charge, and the filing history.
The whole process takes about two minutes.
What Information Does the Florida Search Show?
A Florida detail page is one of the richest state records in the US. It typically shows:
- Entity name and document number (Florida’s ID for the business)
- FEI/EIN number — Florida publishes the federal employer ID on the record
- Date filed and effective date
- Status — active or inactive
- Principal and mailing addresses
- Registered agent name and address
- Officers, directors, or managers — the people who run the company
- Annual report history — every year’s report, year by year
- Filed documents — you can open and download the actual filings as PDFs
One limit: shareholders and LLC members (the true owners) do not have to appear in Florida filings. The record shows who manages the company, not always who owns it.
Other Ways to Search in Florida
Sunbiz offers around ten search methods. The most useful:
- By officer or registered agent name — find every company connected to a person.
- By document number — the fastest route if you have it from a contract.
- By FEI/EIN — works only if you already know the number; Sunbiz will not reveal an unknown EIN from a name.
- By street address or ZIP code — see which businesses are registered at an address.
- Fictitious name (DBA) search — trade names like “Sunshine Cleaning” are in a separate Sunbiz search, not the main one. If a business is missing from the main results, check there.
Is the Florida Business Search Free?
Yes — searching Sunbiz is completely free.
You can search as often as you like, view full records, and download copies of filed documents at no charge.
You pay only for official paperwork:
- Certified copies of documents start at $8.75 (a certified copy carries the state’s seal; banks and agencies sometimes require it).
- A Certificate of Status also carries a state fee.
Never pay a third-party website to “search Sunbiz” for you. The state gives the same records free, around the clock.
What the Business Status Means
- Active — the business is registered and current, including its annual report. This is what you want to see.
- Inactive (INACT) — the business is not current. The most common reason in Florida: a missed annual report. Florida reports are due between January 1 and May 1 each year.
- Admin dissolved / revoked — the state closed the entity, usually after it failed to file its annual report even after reminders.
If you are checking a company before hiring it, Active is the green light. An inactive status does not always mean the company stopped trading, but its state registration has lapsed — worth a direct question.
If it is your own business showing inactive, you can usually reinstate it through Sunbiz by filing the missing reports and paying the fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sunbiz the official Florida business search?
Yes. Sunbiz is run by the Florida Division of Corporations, under the Department of State. It is the state’s official business entity index.
Can I find who owns a Florida business on Sunbiz?
Partly. You can see officers, directors, and managers, plus the registered agent. But shareholders and LLC members are not required to be listed, so the true owner may not appear.
Why can I not find a business on Sunbiz?
It may be a fictitious name (DBA) — those are in a separate search. Or the spelling differs from the legal name, or the business is registered in another state.
How current is the Sunbiz data?
Very. Records update daily, and electronically filed documents usually appear within a few business days of being processed.
What is a Florida document number?
It is the unique number the Division assigns to every entity when it files. Searching by document number takes you straight to the exact record.
Searching another state? See our full guide to business entity search and the free searches for Utah, Delaware, and Texas.