How to build your company search engine

Introduction

Want to build a powerful company search engine like the one we offer? Our API makes it simple. In this guide, you'll learn:

How to use the
Search companies
endpoint for powerful search capabilities.
How our segmentation system works to filter our database.
What company attributes you can search and filter by.
Code examples in multiple languages to get you started.
Pricing and usage details.


Microsoftmicrosoft.com	software development advertising business software cloud computing collaboration computer games computer software computers consumer electronics consumer internet	Over 10,000 employees	Over $1 billion	Public Company	Over 1 billion	United States North America	Redmond King County, Washington	1975			---	---	4 days ago	High (102)
PayPalpaypal.com	internet accountants banks computer software consumer internet consumers credit unions databases e commerce e commerce platforms	Over 10,000 employees	Over $1 billion	Privately Held	Over 1 billion	United States North America	San Jose Santa Clara County, California	1998		---	---	---	23 days ago	High (101)
Cognizantcognizant.com	information technology and services analytics information management analytics services application services bi business process outsourcing business process services cloud cloud solutions computer software	Over 10,000 employees	Over $1 billion	Privately Held	100M - 500M	United States North America	Teaneck Township Bergen County, New Jersey	1994		---	---	---	19 days ago	High (98)
Walmartwalmart.com	retail computer software consumer internet consumers department stores drugstores e commerce ecommerce enterprise software enterprises	Over 10,000 employees	Over $1 billion	Privately Held	Over 1 billion	United States North America	Bentonville Benton County, Arkansas	1962		---		---	14 days ago	High (97)
Nikenike.com	sporting goods manufacturing apparel athletic shoes consumer goods consumers digital fabricated rubber products fashion innovation merchandising	Over 10,000 employees	Over $1 billion	Public Company	Over 1 billion	United States North America	Beaverton Washington County, Oregon	1964	+5	---	---	---	4 days ago	High (96)

API token

Before using The Companies API, you'll need an API token. Make sure to read our documentation to properly authenticate your requests.

It seems you don't have any API tokens yet. You can create one in the following block.

Select or create a token

How it works

Our company search endpoint

Search companies

provides powerful search capabilities through a simple GET request. It returns a customizable number of matching companies based on your search criteria.

You can also easily navigate between result pages, sort companies by any attribute and combine multiple filters together.

Each company returned in the full response costs 1 credit. You can browse our complete pricing plans to find the best option for your needs

Use the simplified=true parameter to get a lightweight version of company data. Simplified responses are free and don't consume any credits. They are perfect for displaying search result previews or lists.

GET

https://api.thecompaniesapi.com/v2/companies

Our segmentation system

The query parameter for the

Search companies

endpoint is an array of conditions. Each condition is an object with the following properties:

attribute: The attribute you want to filter by (e.g., about.industries, about.totalEmployees, finances.revenue). Refer to the API endpoint documentation for a full list of available attributes.
operator: Logical operator to combine the values. Use and to require all values to be true, or or to require at least one value to be true.
sign: The comparison sign for the condition. Options include:
- equals: Matches if the specified value is included in the attribute value.
- exactEquals: Matches if the specified value exactly matches the attribute value.
- notEquals: Matches if the specified value is not included in the attribute value.
values: An array of values to match against the attribute (e.g., ["saas", "software"] for the about.industries attribute).

An example is worth a thousand words:

[
  // Match companies in both SaaS AND software industries
  {
    "attribute": "about.industries",
    "operator": "and",
    "sign": "equals",
    "values": ["saas", "software"]
  },
  // Match companies with revenue NOT in the 50m-100m range
  {
    "attribute": "finances.revenue",
    "operator": "or",
    "sign": "notEquals",
    "values": ["50m-100m"]
  }
]

This query must be converted into a string and URL-encoded before being used in the query parameter of the endpoint.

GET

https://api.thecompaniesapi.com/v2/companies?query=%5B%7B%22attribute%22%3A%22about.industries%22%2C%22operator%22%3A%22or%22%2C%22sign%22%3A%22equals%22%2C%22values%22%3A%5B%22retail%22%2C%22internet%22%2C%22services%22%5D%7D%5D

The endpoint that defines your search criteria.

Code examples

Here are code examples in multiple languages to help you get started with building your own company search engine.

Select your favorite language:

Java

JavaScript

SDK

PHP

Python

Ruby

Rust

async function searchCompanies(query, page = 1, size = 25) {
  const baseUrl = 'https://api.thecompaniesapi.com/v2/companies';

  const params = new URLSearchParams({
    query: JSON.stringify(query),
    page,
    size
  });

  const url = `${baseUrl}?${params.toString()}`;

  const response = await fetch(url, {
    headers: {
      Authorization: `Basic ${process.env.YOUR_API_TOKEN}`,
    },
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    throw new Error(`API request failed: ${response.status}`);
  }

  return await response.json();
}

// Retrieve SaaS companies with revenue between 50m and 100m
const query = [
  { "attribute": "about.industries", "operator": "and", "sign": "equals", "values": ["saas"] },
  { "attribute": "finances.revenue", "operator": "or", "sign": "notEquals", "values": ["50m-100m"] }
]

await searchCompanies(query)

How to build your company search engine

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