# Charity Commission, free: Business verification API

> The Charity Commission API lets you search for and retrieve the latest information on charities in England and Wales.

Charity Commission's business verification API on its Register of Charities plan. It costs $0.00 per 1,000 companies. It returns 4 of the 11 key fields we check: Registered name, Entity number, Status, Formation date.
Half of the 626 plans we rank by price cost $7.895 per 1,000 companies or less. This plan and 52 others tie for the lowest price per 1,000 companies of the 626 plans.
[INSEE](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/insee/free/llms.txt), [Companies House](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/companies-house/free-get-search-companies/llms.txt) and [Annuaire des Entreprises](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/annuaire-des-entreprises/free/llms.txt) are the best business verification API providers in our benchmark.

- This page: https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/charity-commission/free
- [Best business verification API in 2026: pricing compared](https://datacircle.dev/best-business-verification-api.txt)
- Get it: https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/products
- Request: `GET https://api.charitycommission.gov.uk/register/api/searchCharityName/{charityname}`
- API key: with the plan, on https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/products
- Its API docs: https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/developer/apis/register-of-charities-api/operations/get-getsearchcharitybyname?api-version=2022-04-01-preview
- Sold by: Charity Commission (https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk)
- Checked: 2026-11-01

## In the answer

- Completeness: 36%
- Registered name: ✓
- Entity number: ✓
- Status: ✓
- Formation date: ✓

## Price

- $ per 1,000 companies: $0.00
- Billing: free

## Aggregators

- Aggregators: none

## Charges

- Also pays for: nothing else

## Not found

- $ per 1,000: $0.00

## In their words

- Their pitch: The Charity Commission API lets you search for and retrieve the latest information on charities in England and Wales.

## Data

- Freshness: live
- Countries: England, Wales
- Keep data: no limit, but you must delete an individual's personal data when the Charity Commission notifies you that the law requires it
- Use data: You will not use the Developer Hub or the APIs, or any API response to encourage or promote illegal activity or breach third-party rights. You may not misrepresent the source or ownership of data returned set out in an API response. You must acknowledge the source of the data set out in an API response in accordance with the terms of the Open Government Licence [...] you must not use or share any personal data for marketing purposes without obtaining the data subject's prior consent [...] When accessing the Developer Hub or using the APIs, you may not: Perform an action with the intent of introducing to CCEW services any viruses, worms, defects, Trojan horses, malware, or any items of a destructive nature. Interfere with or disrupt the APIs or the servers or networks providing the APIs. Remove, obscure, or alter any of these Terms or any links to or notices of these Terms. [...] You will not make any statement regarding your use of the Developer Hub or an API which suggests partnership with, sponsorship by, or any endorsement by CCEW without CCEW's prior written approval

## Plan

- Pay: $0

## Rate limit

- Batch: 1

## Speed

- Answer: in the call

## The call

- You send: charityname
- Method: GET
- Path: /searchCharityName/{charityname}

## About the plan

- Plan: Register of Charities
- Who can get it: anyone with a Developer Hub account (name, email address and password), one subscription each, the Developer Hub is not for use by children under the age of 16

## The 7 fields the plan's answer can hold

organisation number, entity number, subsidiary suffix, registered name, status, registration date, removal date

## Charity Commission's plans (1)

- [Charity Commission, free](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/charity-commission/free/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 36% complete, live

## Charity Commission's calls (1)

- `GET /searchCharityName/{charityname}`: [Charity Commission, free](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/charity-commission/free/llms.txt)

## Charity Commission's APIs (1)

- [Charity Commission: business verification API pricing, 1 plan](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/charity-commission/free/llms.txt)

## Charity Commission: business verification API alternatives

- [OpenSOSData, free, POST /v1/lookup](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/opensosdata/free-post-v1-lookup/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 100% complete, live
- [Cobalt Intelligence, free lookups, GET /v1/search](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/cobalt-intelligence/free-lookups-get-v1-search/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 91% complete, live
- [MBIE, free](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/mbie/free/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 45% complete, live
- [OpenRegistry, free, GET /api/v1/companies](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/openregistry/free-get-api-v1-companies/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 45% complete, live

## Sources

From each provider's own pricing page and docs, and from what providers tell us. We read this row from these pages on 2026-11-01.

- https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/developer/apis/register-of-charities-api/operations/get-getsearchcharitybyname?api-version=2022-04-01-preview
- https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/developer/apis/register-of-charities-api/schemas/1614959693466?api-version=2022-04-01-preview
- https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/developer/apis?api-version=2022-04-01-preview
- https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/developer/products?api-version=2022-04-01-preview
- https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/hub
- https://api-portal.charitycommission.gov.uk/terms
- https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/
- https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/en/documentation-on-the-api