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Middesk vs Cobalt Intelligence

Middesk is a full KYB platform with TIN, watchlist, and lien checks, monitoring, and an MCP server; its pricing is not published.[1][2][3][4] Cobalt Intelligence is a narrower Secretary of State API with live lookups, screenshots, and scheduled monitoring of the state record, priced in credits.[5][6][7] Pick Middesk to have verification decided and monitored for you. Pick Cobalt for live state records inside your own underwriting flow.

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

Middesk vs Cobalt Intelligence, side by side
MiddeskCobalt IntelligenceRecordwire
ModelKYB verification platform with ongoing monitoring: dashboard, REST API, and MCP server.[8]Live Secretary of State lookup API with a cache as fallback, CSV bulk runs, and scheduled monitoring of businesses you enroll.[5][6][9]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.[10]
U.S. state coverageSearches all 50 states and D.C. for every business it verifies.[11]All 50 states plus Washington, D.C.[6]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.[12]
FreshnessSearched when you order a verification. Without monitoring, the timeline is current as of the last order.[11][13]Read from the state site at request time by default; slow states can take up to 5 minutes.[5][14]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.[12]
Change events and historyYes, per verified business: a timeline of status, address, name, and officer changes, plus watchlist, lien, bankruptcy, and TIN events.[13][2]Filing history in each lookup. Monitoring re-checks 44 state-record fields every 1 to 30 days and reports changes by severity.[6][9]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.[15][12]
WebhooksYes, plus email notifications for monitoring events.[16][2]Yes, through callbackUrl for async lookups and for monitoring results.[17][9]Yes. Signed webhooks per subscription, filtered by state, event type, or up to 10,000 company IDs.[10]
MCP serverYes, official, over HTTP and SSE with OAuth or an API key; access through sales.[3]None found on its site or in its API docs, and none in the official MCP Registry.[6][18][19]Yes. Remote server at api.recordwirehq.com/mcp: five read tools and three for webhook subscriptions, one bearer key.[20]
OfficersYes, and registered agents.[21]Officers in 28 states; registered agent in 49.[6]Where the state publishes them: Florida, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wyoming; partly in New York, Virginia, Oregon. None in Colorado, Idaho, Missouri.[12]
Published pricingNot published; sold through a contact form.[4]Credits, 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.[6][22][23]$100 a month for one state, $200 for any three, $500 for all. No free trial.[24]

When to pick Middesk

You want one vendor for business verification: state searches, IRS TIN matching, sanctions and adverse media, liens, and monitoring with alerts.[11][1][2]

When to pick Cobalt Intelligence

You already run your own underwriting and need the live state record, a screenshot, and a self-serve start with free credits. Its monitoring covers the state record only.[6][23][7]

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.[15][24][12]

Questions

Which is cheaper, Middesk or Cobalt?

Neither publishes dollar prices. Cobalt sells credits, with tiers of 1,000, 3,000, or 5,000 lookups a month.[22] Middesk sells through a contact form.[4]

Which monitors more?

Middesk monitors registrations plus watchlists, liens, bankruptcies, and TIN.[2] Cobalt monitors the Secretary of State record only.[7]

Do they have MCP servers?

Middesk does, with access through sales.[3] Cobalt does not publish one.[18][19] Recordwire does.[20]

Where does Recordwire fit?

Recordwire is not a KYB product. It is the change data: every formation and change in the states it covers, as events.[15][12]

More comparisons

Sources

  1. Middesk: business verification. https://www.middesk.com/solutions/verification. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  2. Middesk docs: how monitoring works. https://docs.middesk.com/monitor-activity/how-monitoring-works. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  3. Middesk docs: MCP server. https://docs.middesk.com/build/mcp-server. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  4. Middesk: talk to an expert. https://www.middesk.com/contact. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  5. Cobalt help: real-time vs cached data. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/real-time-vs-cached-data. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  6. Cobalt Intelligence home page. https://cobaltintelligence.com/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  7. 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.
  8. Middesk llms.txt. https://www.middesk.com/llms.txt. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  9. Cobalt blog: Business Monitoring. https://blog.cobaltintelligence.com/post/business-monitoring-secretary-of-state-change-detection. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  10. Recordwire API docs. https://recordwirehq.com/docs. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  11. Middesk docs: registration. https://docs.middesk.com/verify-business/registration. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  12. Recordwire coverage by state. https://recordwirehq.com/states. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  13. Middesk docs: business timeline. https://docs.middesk.com/monitor-activity/timeline. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  14. Cobalt help: live data in all states. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/live-data-all-states. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  15. Recordwire change events. https://recordwirehq.com/change-events. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  16. Middesk docs: webhooks. https://docs.middesk.com/build/webhooks. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  17. Cobalt help: retryId and callbackUrl. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/retryid-callbackurl-behavior. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  18. Cobalt Intelligence API documentation. https://documentation.cobaltintelligence.com/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  19. Official MCP Registry. https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  20. Recordwire MCP server. https://recordwirehq.com/mcp. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  21. Middesk docs: owners and officers. https://docs.middesk.com/verify-business/owners-officers. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  22. Cobalt help: pricing structure. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/pricing-structure-overview. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  23. Cobalt help: trial and pilot options. https://help.cobaltintelligence.com/article/trial-and-pilot-options. Accessed 2026-10-16.
  24. Recordwire pricing. https://recordwirehq.com/#pricing. Accessed 2026-10-16.

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