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Cobalt Intelligence vs OpenCorporates

Cobalt Intelligence reads U.S. Secretary of State sites live and sells to lenders by credits.[1][2] OpenCorporates covers 140+ registries worldwide from its own database, with published plans in pounds and an open data license.[3][4][5] For a live U.S. state record with a screenshot, pick Cobalt. For companies outside the U.S., pick OpenCorporates. Neither publishes a state-wide change feed; Recordwire does, in twelve states.[6]

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

Cobalt Intelligence vs OpenCorporates, side by side
Cobalt IntelligenceOpenCorporatesRecordwire
ModelLive Secretary of State lookup API with a cache as fallback, CSV bulk runs, and scheduled monitoring of businesses you enroll.[1][2][7]Company lookup API and bulk files by SFTP, over 140+ registries worldwide.[3][4]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.[8]
U.S. state coverageAll 50 states plus Washington, D.C.[2]All 50 states and D.C., listed on its registers page; Texas comes from the Comptroller.[9]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.[6]
FreshnessRead from the state site at request time by default; slow states can take up to 5 minutes.[1][10]Sources are collected hourly to quarterly depending on type; all sources are checked every four days.[11]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.[6]
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.[2][7]No change feed published. Lookups return statutory filings, previous names, and officer start and end dates.[12]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.[13][6]
WebhooksYes, through callbackUrl for async lookups and for monitoring results.[14][7]None published.[12][4]Yes. Signed webhooks per subscription, filtered by state, event type, or up to 10,000 company IDs.[8]
MCP serverNone found on its site or in its API docs, and none in the official MCP Registry.[2][15][16]None published by OpenCorporates.[12][3]Yes. Remote server at api.recordwirehq.com/mcp: five read tools and three for webhook subscriptions, one bearer key.[17]
OfficersOfficers in 28 states; registered agent in 49.[2]Yes, with registered agents as an officer position.[12]Where the state publishes them: Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wyoming; partly in New York, Virginia, Oregon. None in Colorado, Idaho, Missouri.[6]
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.[2][18][19]£225 a month for 500 calls, £660 for 2,500, £1,200 for 5,000; bulk by quote. Free for qualifying open data projects.[4][12]$100 a month for one state, $200 for any three, $500 for all. No free trial.[20]

When to pick Cobalt Intelligence

You underwrite U.S. businesses and want the state record as it stands right now, with a screenshot, TIN checks, and scheduled monitoring with webhooks.[1][2][7]

When to pick OpenCorporates

You work across countries, want published prices, or build on open data. Its plans start at £225 a month for 500 calls, and its data is under the Open Database License.[4][5]

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.[13][20][6]

Questions

Which is more up to date, Cobalt or OpenCorporates?

Cobalt reads the state site at request time by default.[1] OpenCorporates collects sources hourly to quarterly and checks all sources every four days.[11]

Which has published pricing?

OpenCorporates: £225, £660, or £1,200 a month by call volume.[4] Cobalt publishes credits and tiers but no dollar amounts.[18]

Do either of them send change alerts?

Cobalt does, for businesses you enroll in monitoring.[7] OpenCorporates publishes none.[12] Recordwire sends every change in a covered state.[13]

Do either of them have an MCP server?

Neither publishes an official one.[15][16][12] Recordwire does.[17]

More comparisons

Sources

  1. Cobalt help: real-time vs cached data. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/real-time-vs-cached-data. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  2. Cobalt Intelligence home page. https://cobaltintelligence.com/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  3. OpenCorporates home page. https://opencorporates.com/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  4. OpenCorporates pricing. https://opencorporates.com/pricing/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  5. OpenCorporates terms of use. https://opencorporates.com/terms-of-use/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  6. Recordwire coverage by state. https://recordwirehq.com/states. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  7. Cobalt blog: Business Monitoring. https://blog.cobaltintelligence.com/post/business-monitoring-secretary-of-state-change-detection. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  8. Recordwire API docs. https://recordwirehq.com/docs. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  9. OpenCorporates registers. https://opencorporates.com/registers. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  10. Cobalt help: live data in all states. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/live-data-all-states. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  11. OpenCorporates: delivery latency explained. https://knowledge.opencorporates.com/knowledge-base/delivery-latency-explained/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  12. OpenCorporates API reference. https://api.opencorporates.com/documentation/API-Reference. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  13. Recordwire change events. https://recordwirehq.com/change-events. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  14. Cobalt help: retryId and callbackUrl. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/retryid-callbackurl-behavior. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  15. Cobalt Intelligence API documentation. https://documentation.cobaltintelligence.com/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  16. Official MCP Registry. https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  17. Recordwire MCP server. https://recordwirehq.com/mcp. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  18. Cobalt help: pricing structure. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/pricing-structure-overview. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  19. Cobalt help: trial and pilot options. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/trial-and-pilot-options. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  20. Recordwire pricing. https://recordwirehq.com/#pricing. Accessed 2026-10-16.

Something here out of date? Email brian@recordwirehq.com and it gets fixed.

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