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Florida · the state record Search Guide

Search Florida business records like a pro.

Every Florida company lives on one public record with the Secretary of State’s Division of Corporations. It is deep, public, and easy to misread. This guide gets you to the right record in one try and tells you what the record actually means.

Reads the Florida Secretary of State’s official record · free to start
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Florida entity searchWe run it on the official state record, and tell you what it means
FREE

Checking a name for your new company? We search the state record properly, with the near-misses that cause rejections.

Four doors into the same record

Search the way that matches what you already know

1 · By entity name

Drop the designator: "Acme Holdings" returns more than "Acme Holdings LLC". The state search matches from the start of the name, so lead with the first word. Sound-alike spellings are separate records; check "Name HX" entries for prior names. Have us run the name check →

2 · By document number

The identifier the Division of Corporations assigns at filing, printed on the Articles and every annual report. It never changes for the life of the entity, which makes it the unambiguous lookup when two companies share a similar name. Verify an exact entity with us →

3 · By officer or registered agent

Type a person's name to see every Florida entity they officer, or an agent's name to see the whole book they represent. Format is last name first. This is how landlords, lenders, and journalists map who runs what. See how agents appear on the record →

4 · What the record shows you

Status, principal address, registered agent, FEI/EIN, officer or manager names from the last annual report, and the full filing history with free PDF images of every document, including the original Articles. No fee, no login.

The part everyone misreads

"Inactive" is not one thing. It is four different stories

ACTIVEOn the record and in good standing with the Division. The only status a bank, landlord, or buyer wants to see. Verify it the same day you rely on it; standing can change overnight.
INACTIVE · ADMIN DISSThe state dissolved it, almost always for a missed annual report. Florida's report window runs January 1 to May 1; miss it and a $400 late fee applies, and entities still unfiled by the fourth Friday of September are administratively dissolved. Fixable through reinstatement, and the company name becomes vulnerable to takers in the meantime.
INACTIVE · VOL DISSThe owners closed it on purpose with Articles of Dissolution. The history stays public forever, which is exactly what you want when vetting whether a "12-year-old company" actually operated for twelve years.
MERGED / CONVERTEDThe entity lives on in another form: absorbed into a survivor, or converted to a different structure or state. Follow the filing history to the successor's document number to keep reading the story.
NAME HX / CROSS RFNot companies, breadcrumbs: prior names and cross-references that point at the real record. If your search "finds two companies," one is usually a name-history trail of the other.
The search is step one

What you found decides what you do next

Your name is taken

Florida only requires distinguishable-on-the-record, but close names cause bank and trademark headaches anyway. Run a proper availability check, pick a clean variant, and file the Florida LLC before someone else has your idea.

Your own company shows INACTIVE

Do not panic, move: reinstatement brings an administratively dissolved Florida entity back, fees and missed reports settled in one filing. Then put May 1 on a calendar that watches itself so this is the last time.

You are vetting a counterparty

Match the legal name on your contract to the record exactly, confirm ACTIVE the day you sign, and pull the free filing PDFs for the officer names. For anything with money on it, order a Certificate of Status, the state-sealed version of "they are real."

Five minutes on the record, one dodged lawsuit

She searched before she signed. The record did the rest

Checking the company’s record together before the contract gets signed
A contractor wanted half the job up front. His company came up INACTIVE, dissolved in September for a missed report, and the "eight years in business" on his card was a name-history trail of three different LLCs. I hired someone whose record matched their story. The search took five minutes.
Owner, Tampa property management companyNow checks the state record before every contract over $1,000
Status checked before signingFiling history readDeposit kept

Representative composite drawn from customer outcomes.

BosAI reads the record with you

Ask what the record means for you

BosAIYour workspace · Florida records connected

Is "Blue Heron Cafe" taken in Florida?

Two active hits: a "Blue Heron Cafe LLC" in Sarasota and a "Blue Heron Coffee Co" in St. Pete. Florida only requires your name to be distinguishable on the record, so "Blue Heron Cafe of Tampa LLC" would likely file, but you would share a market with two near-twins. I can run a proper availability check with trademark screening before you commit.

The company I want to hire shows INACTIVE. Deal breaker?

Depends which inactive. Their last event reads ADMIN DISS in September, which means they missed the May 1 annual report, not that they closed. Sloppy paperwork, possibly fine work. But an administratively dissolved company signing contracts is a real liability question, so ask them to reinstate first. It is one filing.

Watch my own company so this never happens to me?

Done. Your Florida entity is on my calendar: annual report window opens January 1, I will have it drafted well before May 1, and I check your standing on the record after every filing. You will never learn about a status change from a customer's search.
Create your free workspace →
The search is free. So is the next step

Whatever you found, the platform runs it

Business Search hub

Every state's official search, one guide per state

 Name Availability

Distinguishable is not the same as safe, check properly

 Registered Agent

A Florida address that never misses a service of process

 Compliance Calendar

May 1 tracked, so INACTIVE never happens to you

 CRM

The counterparties you vet become the clients you keep

 Business Banking

Open the account the day your certificate comes back
Explore the Business OS
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State fees, annual report, and the first-year total.

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Entity types, taxes, and the Florida playbook.

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Start a Nonprofit in Florida

The 501(c)(3) path through the same state records.

Read the guide →
Frequently asked

Florida Business Search questions.

What is the Florida Secretary of State business search?

It is the public Florida database where anyone can look up a registered entity's name, status, registered agent, and filing history. You use it to check name availability, confirm good standing, or research a company. We run Florida searches for you and interpret what the results mean for your plans.

How do I search for a business in Florida?

You use the Florida Secretary of State's online business search by name or entity number to pull up the public record. Results show status and basic details but not everything, ownership is often private. We run the Florida search and explain what it does and does not reveal about a given entity.

Can I check if a business name is available in Florida?

Yes, the search is the first step: you look for existing Florida entities with the same or a similar name, though availability also depends on the state's naming rules and similarity standards, so a quick search is not a guarantee. We do a proper Florida availability check before you commit to a name and branding.

How do I confirm a company is in good standing in Florida?

The search shows a status, active, in good standing, delinquent, or dissolved, but for official confirmation third parties want a Certificate of Good Standing. We can pull the Florida status and order that certificate when you need authoritative proof for a deal or lender.

Can I see a company's filing history in Florida?

Often yes: many Florida searches show past filings, formation, amendments, annual reports, which is useful for due diligence on a partner or competitor, though depth varies by state. We pull and interpret the Florida filing history for you when you are vetting an entity before doing business with it.

Why can't I find my own business in the Florida search?

Common reasons: it was just filed and not yet indexed, the name is slightly different, or the entity was dissolved and dropped from active results. We check the Florida record, confirm your status, and fix anything, like a lapse needing reinstatement, that is keeping you from appearing correctly.

How do I find out who owns an LLC in Florida?

Sometimes you can, sometimes you cannot. Florida annual reports list officers, managers, or "authorized persons," and those names are public on the record with the registered agent. But members who are not managers do not have to appear, so the true owners of a manager-managed LLC can stay off the public record entirely. If privacy matters for your own filing, that structure plus identity & privacy is how Florida founders stay unlisted.

One more distinction: the state search covers the corporate record only, it is not a trademark search, and a name can be free to file yet still infringe a mark.

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