# MBIE, free: Business verification API

> The New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) API provides a range of operations for getting information about a New Zealand business, updating details, managing watchlists, and managing business authorities. There is no fee for using this API.

MBIE's business verification API on its NZBN API plan. It costs $0.00 per 1,000 companies. It returns 5 of the 11 key fields we check: Registered name, Entity number, Entity type, Status, Formation date.
You get as many calls as you like.
Half of the 523 plans we rank by price cost $5.00 per 1,000 companies or less. This plan and 37 others tie for the lowest price per 1,000 companies of the 523 plans.

- This page: https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/mbie/free
- Get it: https://portal.api.business.govt.nz/api/nzbn
- Request: `GET https://api.business.govt.nz/gateway/nzbn/v5/entities`
- API key: with the plan, on https://portal.api.business.govt.nz/api/nzbn
- Its API docs: https://portal.api.business.govt.nz/api-details#api=nzbn&operation=EntitiesGet
- Sold by: MBIE (https://portal.api.business.govt.nz)
- Checked: 2026-10-31

## In the answer

- Completeness: 45%
- Registered name: ✓
- Entity number: ✓
- Entity type: ✓
- Status: ✓
- Formation date: ✓

## Price

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

## Aggregators

- Aggregators: none

## Charges

- Also pays for: nothing else

## Not found

- $ per 1,000: $0.00

## In their words

- Their pitch: The New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) API provides a range of operations for getting information about a New Zealand business, updating details, managing watchlists, and managing business authorities. There is no fee for using this API.

## Data

- Freshness: live
- Keep data: no limit
- Use data: "A signed MBIE API Access Agreement is required before an API subscription request will be approved. This ensures that services and information are used appropriately."

## Plan

- Pay: $0
- Enough for: no limit

## Rate limit

- Batch: 1

## Speed

- Answer: in the call

## The call

- You send: search-term. Optional: entity-status, entity-type, industry-code, page, page-size
- Method: GET
- Path: /entities

## About the plan

- Plan: NZBN API
- Who can get it: Customers with a signed MBIE API Access Agreement whose subscription request MBIE's API support team approves

## The 15 fields the plan's answer can hold

total results, entity name, entity ID, source register entity ID, entity type, entity type description, entity status code, status, registration date, trading names, trading name start date, trading name end date, industry code, industry, previous entity names

## MBIE's plans (1)

- [MBIE, free](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/mbie/free/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 45% complete, live

## MBIE's calls (1)

- `GET /entities`: [MBIE, free](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/mbie/free/llms.txt)

## MBIE's APIs (1)

- [MBIE: business verification API pricing, 1 plan](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/mbie/free/llms.txt)

## MBIE: 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
- [Strale, free trial credits, POST /v1/do, Belgian Company Data](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/strale/free-trial-credits-post-v1-do-belgian-company-data/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 64% complete, live
- [RIK, free](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/rik/free/llms.txt): $0.00 per 1,000, 45% complete, live
- [Scavio, free](https://datacircle.dev/business-verification-apis/scavio/free/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 2026-10-31.

- https://management.api.business.govt.nz/subscriptions/000/resourceGroups/000/providers/Microsoft.ApiManagement/service/apim-ess-map-ae-prd/apis/nzbn?export=true&format=openapi%2Bjson-link&api-version=2022-04-01-preview
- https://portal.api.business.govt.nz/api-details#api=nzbn&operation=EntitiesGet
- https://portal.api.business.govt.nz/api/nzbn
- https://support.api.business.govt.nz/s/article/cloud-subscriptions
- https://support.api.business.govt.nz/s/article/terms-and-conditions
- https://www.nzbn.govt.nz/about-us/terms-of-use/
- https://www.nzbn.govt.nz/using-the-nzbn/nzbn-services/api/
- https://www.nzbn.govt.nz/using-the-nzbn/nzbn-services/bulk-data/