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Cobalt Intelligence vs Recordwire

Cobalt Intelligence reads the live Secretary of State record in all 50 states and D.C., and can re-check businesses you enroll on a schedule.[1][2] Recordwire compares whole state files and sends every formation and change as an event, but covers twelve states.[3] Pick Cobalt to verify a known business in any state. Pick Recordwire to see every change in a state, including companies you did not know to watch.

Vendor facts from each vendor's own public pages, read 2026-10-16. Sources are listed below.

Cobalt Intelligence vs Recordwire, side by side
Cobalt IntelligenceRecordwire
ModelLive Secretary of State lookup API with a cache as fallback, CSV bulk runs, and scheduled monitoring of businesses you enroll.[4][1][2]Change feed plus lookup. Each new state file is compared with the last, and every difference is stored as a dated event. REST API, MCP server, and webhooks.[5]
U.S. state coverageAll 50 states plus Washington, D.C.[1]12 states. Florida, New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and Oregon from official bulk files and open data. Massachusetts, Idaho, Wyoming, and Missouri from the state's public search, new formations only. Delaware from a licensed data partner, new formations only.[3]
FreshnessRead from the state site at request time by default; slow states can take up to 5 minutes.[4][6]As often as each state publishes: daily in Florida, New York, Colorado, and Oregon, monthly in Pennsylvania, weekly in Virginia, nightly in Connecticut, every 3 hours in Massachusetts and Missouri, every 6 hours in Idaho, continuously in Wyoming, and several times a day in Delaware.[3]
Change events and historyFiling history in each lookup. Monitoring re-checks 44 state-record fields every 1 to 30 days and reports changes by severity.[1][2]Six event types: formed, renamed, status, address, registered agent, officers. Full change events in the seven file states; new formations only in the other five. Virginia and Florida include state-published history.[7][3]
WebhooksYes, through callbackUrl for async lookups and for monitoring results.[8][2]Yes. Signed webhooks per subscription, filtered by state, event type, or up to 10,000 company IDs.[5]
MCP serverNone found on its site or in its API docs, and none in the official MCP Registry.[1][9][10]Yes. Remote server at api.recordwirehq.com/mcp: five read tools and three for webhook subscriptions, one bearer key.[11]
OfficersOfficers in 28 states; registered agent in 49.[1]Where the state publishes them: Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wyoming; partly in New York, Virginia, Oregon. None in Colorado, Idaho, Missouri.[3]
Published pricingCredits, no dollar prices published. Most lookups cost 1 credit; tiers commonly include 1,000, 3,000, or 5,000 lookups a month. Free credits on signup.[1][12][13]$100 a month for one state, $200 for any three, $500 for all. No free trial.[14]

When to pick Cobalt Intelligence

You lend to or onboard businesses across many states and need the current record at decision time. Cobalt reads the state site when you ask, includes a timestamped screenshot of the record, and adds TIN checks and UCC data in 11 states.[4][1][15] Its monitoring re-checks the businesses you enroll every 1 to 30 days and posts changes to your webhook.[2]

When to pick Recordwire

You need to know what changed, not just what a record says today. Recordwire compares each state file with the last, so formations, status changes, and new registered agents arrive as dated events through webhooks, REST, or MCP, with no lookup per company. Prices are flat and published. It covers twelve states, so check the coverage page first.[7][14][3]

Questions

Is Cobalt Intelligence real time?

By default, yes. Cobalt says it looks up the Secretary of State site at request time and keeps a cache as a fallback. Slow states such as Oregon and Delaware can take up to 5 minutes.[4][6]

Does Cobalt Intelligence have webhooks?

Yes. Async lookups post results to a callbackUrl, and Business Monitoring sends each scheduled re-check to your webhook. Monitoring covers the Secretary of State record only.[8][2][16]

How much does Cobalt Intelligence cost?

Cobalt publishes credits, not dollar prices. Most lookups cost 1 credit, and monthly tiers commonly include 1,000, 3,000, or 5,000 lookups. New signups get free credits.[1][12][13] Recordwire is $100 a month for one state, $200 for three, and $500 for all.[14]

Does Cobalt Intelligence have an MCP server?

Not that we found on October 16, 2026: nothing on its site or in its API docs, and no entry in the official MCP Registry.[1][9][10] Recordwire runs one at api.recordwirehq.com/mcp.[11]

Can I use Cobalt and Recordwire together?

Yes. Use Recordwire events to learn which companies changed in the states it covers, then use Cobalt for anything Recordwire does not cover.[3]

More comparisons

Sources

  1. Cobalt Intelligence home page. https://cobaltintelligence.com/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  2. Cobalt blog: Business Monitoring. https://blog.cobaltintelligence.com/post/business-monitoring-secretary-of-state-change-detection. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  3. Recordwire coverage by state. https://recordwirehq.com/states. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  4. Cobalt help: real-time vs cached data. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/real-time-vs-cached-data. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  5. Recordwire API docs. https://recordwirehq.com/docs. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  6. Cobalt help: live data in all states. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/live-data-all-states. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  7. Recordwire change events. https://recordwirehq.com/change-events. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  8. Cobalt help: retryId and callbackUrl. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/retryid-callbackurl-behavior. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  9. Cobalt Intelligence API documentation. https://documentation.cobaltintelligence.com/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  10. Official MCP Registry. https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  11. Recordwire MCP server. https://recordwirehq.com/mcp. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  12. Cobalt help: pricing structure. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/pricing-structure-overview. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  13. Cobalt help: trial and pilot options. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/trial-and-pilot-options. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  14. Recordwire pricing. https://recordwirehq.com/#pricing. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  15. Cobalt help: court and UCC data. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/court-ucc-data-availability. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  16. Cobalt blog: Middesk continuous monitoring vs Cobalt business monitoring. https://blog.cobaltintelligence.com/post/middesk-continuous-monitoring-vs-cobalt-business-monitoring. Accessed 2026-10-16.

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