shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use OpenCorporates?

The largest open database of companies - opencorporates.com

Depends. Buy if you run KYB/AML compliance, entity verification, or OSINT work and need global registry data at API scale. Skip it if you want sales contact data or only need occasional lookups — the free web search already covers those.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 30+ public sources; user-review volume is thin (25 Trustpilot reviews), and several snippets were truncated.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Self-serve APINot published in sources

Best for

  • KYB/AML compliance teams
  • OSINT investigators and journalists
  • Data teams resolving legal entities
  • Fintech onboarding and fraud checks

Not for

  • Sales teams wanting emails and phone numbers
  • Anyone doing occasional lookups — free search suffices
  • Small businesses needing basic company checks
  • Teams needing real-time credit or financial data

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Free tier covers web search only; API access is paid and tiered, costs grow with usage

medium

No list prices in sources; heavier commercial use likely requires custom quotes

medium

Longtime open-data users push back on data moving behind paywalls

low

Third parties sell OpenCorporates scrapers, signaling API cost or rate-limit friction

Pros and cons

Pros

  • 200M+ company records via API; largest open company database
  • Free web-search tier for basic lookups
  • Powers US Treasury's Do Not Pay fraud-prevention program
  • Case studies with Encompass, Jet, Tradeverifyd using it in production
  • Standard OSINT tool, listed in Bellingcat's investigator toolkit

Cons

  • Only 25 Trustpilot reviews — thin independent feedback
  • Community questions whether it is still 'open' as data goes paid
  • Rivals pitch real-time data, implying registry updates lag
  • Some data teams build first-party alternatives instead

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/21/2026 - 11 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x3review x6security x1news x1

Key stats

  • Value for money: 3/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 11

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 3/5. Free search exists; API costs climb with scale
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Onboarding videos and knowledge base provided
  • Feature depth: 4/5. 200M+ entities, entity resolution, Snowflake delivery
  • Support quality: 3/5. Docs and guides exist; no SLA evidence
  • Security posture: 4/5. UpGuard-monitored, no public vulns, Treasury-trusted
  • 200M+ Company records aggregated from global registries
  • 2010 Founded UK-based certified B Corp
  • Yes Free tier paid self-serve API plans above it
  • 25 Trustpilot reviews very small independent review base

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Web company search
  • Basic record views

Self-serve API

Not published in sources

  • Direct API access
  • Usage-based quotas

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Feedback volume is sparse; OSINT users praise the data depth while open-data advocates worry about paywalling.

“I find it pretty impressive how the…”
Reddit, r/OSINT
“OpenCorporates.com: is it no longer open?”
GitHub, datasets discussion

Companies that use it

  • Encompass⁹
  • Jet
  • Tradeverifyd
  • US Treasury (Do Not Pay)11
Full analysis

Based on 30+ public sources; user-review volume is thin (25 Trustpilot reviews), and several snippets were truncated.

Massive global company-registry database. Great for KYB and OSINT via API; useless for sales contacts; casual lookups are free.

Methodology

Based on 30+ public sources; user-review volume is thin (25 Trustpilot reviews), and several snippets were truncated.

Sources

  1. OpenCorporates Pricingopencorporates.com
    official
  2. OpenCorporates Trustpilot reviewstrustpilot.com
    review
  3. How does OpenCorporates source its data? — r/OSINTreddit.com
    review
  4. OpenCorporates.com: is it no longer open? — GitHub discussiongithub.com
    review
  5. Built an alternative to OpenCorporates — r/datasetsreddit.com
    review
  6. 5 Best Alternatives to OpenCorporates — Veridionveridion.com
    review
  7. Global Database vs OpenCorporatesglobaldatabase.com
    review
  8. OpenCorporates UpGuard security reportupguard.com
    security
  9. Encompass KYC case studyblog.opencorporates.com
    official
  10. OpenCorporates B Corp profilebcorporation.net
    official
  11. US Treasury Do Not Pay uses OpenCorporateslinkedin.com
    news

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.