Search companies by name, ACN or ABN

Search the ASIC register for Australian companies, business names and name reservations by company name, ACN or ABN and get scored matches.

Company name search

The company name search finds Australian companies, registered bodies, managed investment schemes, business names and name reservations on the ASIC register from a name, an ACN, an ARBN, an ARSN or an ABN. Every match carries a similarity score from 0 to 100, the current or former name that matched, the organisation type and status, and enough identifiers to fetch the full record with Get a company or Get a business name. Use it to resolve a customer's trading name to an ACN, to power an autocomplete, or to check whether a proposed company name is already taken.

GEThttps://api.asicapi.dev/v1/companies/search

Query parameters

Prop

Type

Search scope values

API value	ASIC scope	What it includes
`all`	A	Every name on the register: companies, registered bodies, schemes, trusts, non-company names, business names and reservations, current and deregistered
`business-names`	B	Business names and other state-registered names only
`companies`	C	Registered and deregistered companies, trusts and non-registered entities
`registered-companies`	R	Currently registered companies only
`registered-companies-and-reservations`	J	Registered companies and current name reservations
`registered-companies-and-nrets`	E	Registered companies and non-registered entities
`registered-with-business-names`	G	Registered companies, name reservations, trusts, non-registered entities and business names (the names ASIC considers when deciding whether a new name is available)
`everything-current-and-deregistered`	H	As for `registered-with-business-names` plus deregistered companies
`non-company-names`	N	Non-company names only
`trusts-and-schemes`	T	Trusts and registered managed investment schemes
`name-reservations`	P	Current name reservations only
`companies-reservations-business-names`	X	Registered companies, name reservations and business names

The default scope matches what ASIC itself checks for a name availability determination. Use registered-companies when you only want entities that can be the subject of a company extract.

Example request

Request

curl -g "https://api.asicapi.dev/v1/companies/search?q=ACME%20WIDGETS&scope=registered-with-business-names&minScore=60" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASICAPI_KEY"

Example response

Response

{
  "object": "list",
  "data": [
    {
      "object": "companyMatch",
      "name": "ACME WIDGETS PTY LTD",
      "isFormerName": false,
      "score": 100,
      "company": {
        "acn": "004085616",
        "formatted": "004 085 616",
        "numberType": { "code": "ACN", "label": "Australian Company Number" },
        "name": "ACME WIDGETS PTY LTD",
        "type": { "code": "APTY", "label": "Australian Proprietary Company" },
        "status": { "code": "REGD", "label": "Registered" },
        "abn": "53004085616",
        "registeredCharity": false
      },
      "stateNumber": null,
      "asicIdentifier": null,
      "registrationDate": "1948-07-06",
      "reviewDate": "2026-07-06",
      "state": { "code": "VIC", "label": "Victoria" },
      "controllingJurisdiction": { "code": "ASIC", "label": "Australian Securities and Investments Commission" },
      "partialAddress": { "locality": "MELBOURNE", "state": "VIC", "postcode": "3000", "country": null }
    },
    {
      "object": "companyMatch",
      "name": "ACME WIDGET COMPANY PTY LTD",
      "isFormerName": true,
      "score": 86,
      "company": {
        "acn": "004085616",
        "formatted": "004 085 616",
        "numberType": { "code": "ACN", "label": "Australian Company Number" },
        "name": "ACME WIDGETS PTY LTD",
        "type": { "code": "APTY", "label": "Australian Proprietary Company" },
        "status": { "code": "REGD", "label": "Registered" },
        "abn": "53004085616",
        "registeredCharity": false
      },
      "stateNumber": null,
      "asicIdentifier": null,
      "registrationDate": "1948-07-06",
      "reviewDate": "2026-07-06",
      "state": { "code": "VIC", "label": "Victoria" },
      "controllingJurisdiction": { "code": "ASIC", "label": "Australian Securities and Investments Commission" },
      "partialAddress": { "locality": "MELBOURNE", "state": "VIC", "postcode": "3000", "country": null }
    },
    {
      "object": "companyMatch",
      "name": "ACME WIDGETS",
      "isFormerName": false,
      "score": 82,
      "company": {
        "acn": null,
        "formatted": null,
        "numberType": null,
        "name": "ACME WIDGETS",
        "type": { "code": "BUSN", "label": "Business Name" },
        "status": { "code": "REGD", "label": "Registered" },
        "abn": "53004085616",
        "registeredCharity": false
      },
      "stateNumber": "B2345678",
      "asicIdentifier": null,
      "registrationDate": "2013-02-14",
      "reviewDate": "2026-02-14",
      "state": { "code": "NSW", "label": "New South Wales" },
      "controllingJurisdiction": { "code": "ASIC", "label": "Australian Securities and Investments Commission" },
      "partialAddress": { "locality": "SYDNEY", "state": "NSW", "postcode": "2000", "country": null }
    },
    {
      "object": "companyMatch",
      "name": "ACME WIDGETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD",
      "isFormerName": false,
      "score": 74,
      "company": {
        "acn": null,
        "formatted": null,
        "numberType": null,
        "name": "ACME WIDGETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD",
        "type": { "code": "RSVN", "label": "Name Reservation" },
        "status": null,
        "abn": null,
        "registeredCharity": false
      },
      "stateNumber": null,
      "asicIdentifier": "*00123456",
      "registrationDate": "2025-08-01",
      "reviewDate": null,
      "state": null,
      "controllingJurisdiction": { "code": "ASIC", "label": "Australian Securities and Investments Commission" },
      "partialAddress": null
    }
  ],
  "hasMore": false,
  "nextCursor": null,
  "totalCount": 4,
  "waiverToken": null,
  "meta": { "billable": false, "product": null, "requestId": "req_01J8ZK3V7Q0M2X" }
}

Response fields

Field	Type	Description
`object`	string	Always `list`.
`data[]`	companyMatch[]	Matching names, one entry per matching current or former name. A company with a matching former name and a matching current name appears twice.
`data[].object`	string	Always `companyMatch`.
`data[].name`	string	The name that matched, in ASIC's uppercase form. For a former name match this is the former name, not the current one.
`data[].isFormerName`	boolean	`true` when the matched name is a former name of the organisation.
`data[].score`	integer	ASIC's similarity score from 0 to 100. 100 is an exact match after ASIC normalises legal elements, punctuation and spacing.
`data[].company`	object	Company summary of the organisation the name belongs to. `acn`, `formatted` and `numberType` are `null` for business names and name reservations, which are not allocated an ACN.
`data[].company.acn`	string or null	9-digit ACN, ARBN or ARSN without spaces.
`data[].company.formatted`	string or null	The number in ASIC display format, for example `004 085 616`.
`data[].company.numberType`	code or null	Whether the number is an ACN, ARBN, ARSN or plain number.
`data[].company.name`	string	The organisation's current name.
`data[].company.type`	code	Organisation type, for example `APTY`, `APUB`, `BUSN`, `RSVN`, `MISM`. See organisation types.
`data[].company.status`	code or null	Organisation status such as `REGD` or `DRGD`. `null` for name reservations. See organisation statuses.
`data[].company.abn`	string or null	11-digit ABN supplied to ASIC by the Australian Business Register, when the organisation has one.
`data[].company.registeredCharity`	boolean	`true` when the organisation is registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC).
`data[].stateNumber`	string or null	State or territory registration number for business names and other state-registered names. Starts with a letter or digit. Pass it to `/v1/business-names/{id}` with the matching `jurisdiction`.
`data[].asicIdentifier`	string or null	ASIC's identifier for names that have neither an ACN nor a state number, such as name reservations. Starts with a special character such as `*` or `+`. Pass it to `/v1/companies/{id}` or `/v1/business-names/{id}`.
`data[].registrationDate`	date or null	Date the organisation was registered, or the start date of a name reservation.
`data[].reviewDate`	date or null	Next annual review date for companies, or renewal date for business names.
`data[].state`	code or null	For companies migrated to ASIC, the state or territory of original registration. For business names, the responsible state or territory.
`data[].controllingJurisdiction`	code	The jurisdiction that owns the record. Business names always show ASIC, even those registered before 28 May 2012.
`data[].partialAddress`	object or null	Partial principal place of business: `locality`, `state`, `postcode` for Australian addresses, or `locality` and `country` otherwise. Keys that do not apply are `null`.
`hasMore`	boolean	`true` when another page exists within the 100 names ASIC returned.
`nextCursor`	string or null	Cursor for the next page, or `null` on the last page.
`totalCount`	integer	Total number of names that satisfied the search. When this exceeds 100 the remaining names were not returned and can only be obtained with an offline search.
`waiverToken`	string or null	Present when the search was billable (a state or territory jurisdiction rather than `ASIC`). Pass it as `waiverToken` in the body of `POST /v1/companies/{id}/extracts` when you purchase an extract for one of the results and the search fee is refunded against that purchase. Single use, valid for 30 days.
`meta.billable`	boolean	`false` for ASIC jurisdiction searches, `true` for state name searches that ASIC charges for, `false` in the sandbox.
`meta.product`	string or null	`name_search` when billable, otherwise `null`.
`meta.requestId`	string	The request identifier, also sent as `X-Request-Id`.

Errors

Code	HTTP	When it occurs
`search_scope_invalid`	400	`scope` is not one of the values in the scope table.
`validation_error`	422	`q` is missing or empty, `minScore` is outside 0 to 100, `sortBy` is unknown, or a `types[]` code is not an organisation type.
`no_matches`	404	No names satisfied the search. `error.details.counts` holds `{ "returned": 0, "total": n }`. `total` is non-zero when ASIC found names but every one was excluded by your criteria, for example by `minScore`.
`too_many_matches`	422	More than 100 exact matches, or no exact matches and more than 100 candidate names. `error.details.counts.returned` is the number of exact matches and `counts.total` the number of candidates. Narrow the search or use an offline search.
`product_unavailable_in_jurisdiction`	403	The requested `jurisdiction` does not offer online name search through ASIC.
`unauthorized`	401	Missing or invalid API key.
`rate_limited`	429	Rate limit exceeded. Retry after the `Retry-After` header.
`asic_unavailable`	503	The ASIC register is offline, typically during its overnight maintenance window.

See Errors for the error envelope.

Notes from the ASIC register

100 name cap. ASIC returns at most 100 names for an online search. totalCount reports how many names matched in total. When it is greater than 100, or when you receive too_many_matches, submit an offline company name search to receive the complete list.
Exact versus standard search. exact=true reads a single entry from ASIC's exact match index and returns it only when it scores 100. A standard search with minScore=100 produces the same result set but scores every candidate and is slower.
Scoring. With sortBy=score (the default) names are returned in descending score order. Spaces have no legal meaning in company names, so ACMEWIDGETS and ACME WIDGETS score identically, and singular and plural forms are treated as the same name.
Former names. Former names are returned as separate matches with isFormerName set. They always point at the organisation's current record. Use demoteFormerNames=true to stop a former name being reported as a 100 percent match.
Identifiers. Registered and deregistered companies return an ACN, ARBN or ARSN. Business names return the state registration number in stateNumber. Name reservations and other names return an ASIC identifier starting with * or +. URL-encode + as %2B when you use it in a path.
Partial addresses. Only locality, state and postcode are returned for Australian addresses. For an address outside Australia only locality and country are returned. Full addresses are part of a purchased company extract and are read back through addresses.
ABN. ASIC receives a feed from the Australian Business Register and adds the ABN to search results for organisations that have one.
Registered charities. When registeredCharity is true, ASIC requires the following notice to be shown to the searcher: Registered Charity. This company is registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC). For further information on the charity, including the address for service, details of responsible persons (for example company directors) and financial reports, search the Charities register at www.acnc.gov.au.
State name search fees. Searches of the ASIC jurisdiction are free. Some states and territories charge for a search of their names index; those searches return meta.billable: true and a waiverToken. The fee is refunded when you purchase a company extract for one of the results and pass the token in the purchase body. The purchasing guide explains which calls are free and which are billed.
Sandbox. With a test key, names in results are replaced with placeholders and nothing is billed.

Search companies by name, ACN or ABN

Company name search

Query parameters

Search scope values

Example request

Example response

Response fields

Errors

Notes from the ASIC register

How company name search works

Offline company name search

Get a company

Purchase a company extract

Get a business name

ACN, ABN, ARBN and ARSN

Organisation types

Pagination

Search people

On this page