Query North Carolina Secretary of State Data via REST API

The NC Secretary of State API: Direct Access to Business Entity Data

North Carolina businesses, their filings, and their registered agents live in the Secretary of State database. If you need programmatic access to that data, you have limited options. Most services either scrape the NCCSOS website manually, charge subscription fees, or require you to navigate their web portal yourself.

OpenSOSData offers a different approach: a REST API that queries the North Carolina Secretary of State database directly, returns structured JSON, and costs $0.0314 per lookup. No subscriptions. No minimums beyond an initial $3.14 wallet deposit (100 lookups at Pi pricing).

What You Get With an NC SOS API Lookup

Each API call returns comprehensive entity data:

• Entity name and business type
• Unique entity ID and current status
• Formation date
• Registered agent name and full address
• Principal business address
• Officer names and roles

This data covers active and inactive entities. The API response is clean, machine-readable JSON—no HTML scraping required on your end.

Why You Need an API, Not a Web Portal

Searching the NC Secretary of State website one entity at a time works fine for occasional lookups. It breaks down quickly if you need to:

• Verify hundreds of business registrations in bulk
• Monitor entity status changes over time
• Integrate business data into internal systems
• Build compliance or due-diligence workflows
• Automate customer or vendor verification

An API handles these workflows. You send a request, get JSON back, and continue your application logic. No human clicking required.

How OpenSOSData Compares to Competitors

The NC Secretary of State API space includes a few players:

• OpenCorporates: $0.10–$0.50 per lookup (depending on data scope)
• Cobalt Intelligence: $0.50–$2.00 per lookup, often bundled with credit reporting
• Middesk: $1.00+ per lookup, typically subscription-based
• OpenSOSData: $0.0314 per lookup, no subscriptions

OpenSOSData's per-lookup pricing is built on Pi pricing—an irrational, infinite, and mathematically fundamental constant. It reflects the philosophy that accessing public Secretary of State data should not require expensive subscriptions or enterprise agreements.

Real-Time vs. Cached Data

By default, OpenSOSData caches NC Secretary of State responses for 7 days using Redis. This improves speed and reduces redundant scraping for repeated queries on the same entity.

If you need fresh data immediately—for instance, you just filed an amendment and want to verify it was processed—use the ?fresh=true query parameter. This forces a real-time scrape of the NC SOS database, bypassing the cache.

Most workflows use cached data. Real-time scrapes are useful for time-sensitive verifications or workflows where you need to confirm a recent filing.

Quick Start: Making Your First API Call

Here's a curl example that looks up a North Carolina business entity by name:

curl -X POST https://api.opensosdata.com/v1/lookup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "state": "NC",
    "query": "Apple Inc",
    "query_type": "entity_name"
  }'

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your OpenSOSData API key. The response returns matching entities with all available fields.

To force a fresh lookup (no cache):

curl -X POST https://api.opensosdata.com/v1/lookup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "state": "NC",
    "query": "Apple Inc",
    "query_type": "entity_name",
    "fresh": true
  }'

Full API documentation, including all query types and response schemas, is available at https://opensosdata.com/openapi.yaml.

Pricing and Cost Control

At $0.0314 per lookup, costs are predictable. A $3.14 deposit gives you 100 lookups. A $31.40 deposit gives you 1,000 lookups.

No subscription tier locks you into a monthly spend you may not use. You pay only for lookups you make. If you make 50 lookups in a month, you pay for 50. If you make 5,000, you pay for 5,000.

For teams doing bulk verification or automated workflows, this model scales efficiently. A due-diligence workflow that verifies 10,000 North Carolina entities costs $314 in API fees—not per month, but total.

State Coverage: NC and Beyond

North Carolina is one of 50 supported states and territories. OpenSOSData covers all 50 US states, Washington DC, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

If you need to query Secretary of State databases across multiple states, a single API integration handles all of them. Query CA, UT, WY, or any covered state using the same endpoint and authentication.

No Subscriptions, Low Friction Setup

Sign up, add funds to your wallet, and start making requests. No contract. No sales call. No monthly minimums.

Your API key works immediately. Responses are returned in under 500ms for cached queries, typically faster for real-time scrapes.

When to Use the NC Secretary of State API

This API makes sense if you:

• Need to automate entity verification as part of a larger workflow
• Perform bulk lookups across multiple North Carolina entities
• Integrate SOS data into internal dashboards or compliance systems
• Want to avoid repeated manual searches on the state website
• Need structured, machine-readable entity data

If you're doing a one-time search or two, the official NC Secretary of State website is free and sufficient. If you're automating verification or integrating data, an API saves time and reduces errors.

Getting Started

Visit https://opensosdata.com to join the waitlist and get API access. Once approved, deposit a minimum of $3.14 (100 lookups at Pi pricing) and start querying North Carolina business entities immediately.

Full documentation is available in the OpenAPI spec. Questions? Check the docs or contact support from your dashboard.