Frequently Asked Questions

Sunbiz Daily is a free web application that tracks newly registered Florida businesses. It transforms raw data from the Florida Division of Corporations into an interactive experience with maps, search, and trend visualizations. You can explore new business filings, discover naming trends, and find businesses using natural language queries like "restaurants in Miami."

All business data comes from the Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) public FTP server. Every business day, the state publishes new filing records, and our automated pipeline downloads, parses, and processes this data. You can check the current data status on our Data Status page.

Data is updated daily. The Florida Division of Corporations publishes new filing records each business day (Monday through Friday), and our system automatically processes them. Data typically appears on Sunbiz Daily within hours of being published by the state.

The underlying business data is official government data published by the Florida Division of Corporations. However, Sunbiz Daily is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the State of Florida. We present the data as-is from the state's public records. For the most authoritative information, visit sunbiz.org directly.

When you type a natural language query like "restaurants in Miami" or "plumbers near 33101," our AI (powered by Anthropic's Claude) interprets your intent and extracts structured filters such as industry type, city, and zip code. These filters are then applied to the database to find matching filings. If the AI is unavailable, the system falls back to a keyword-based search.

You can search using natural language or specific terms. Some examples:

• By industry: "restaurants," "plumbing companies," "hair salons"
• By location: "businesses in Tampa," "companies near 33139"
• Combined: "restaurants in Miami," "tech companies in Orlando"
• By name: Search for a specific business name directly

You can also use the sidebar filters on the Filings page to filter by filing type, city, date range, and more.

If the AI doesn't return the results you expected, you can try rephrasing your query or using more specific terms. The search results page shows the filters the AI applied, so you can see how your query was interpreted. You can also use the Filings page to apply manual filters directly.

AI-parsed search queries are cached (as a hash, not personally identifiable) to improve performance and reduce API calls. This means if someone else searches for the same query, the results can be returned faster without calling the AI again. We do not associate cached queries with individual users. For more details, see our Privacy Policy.

There are a few reasons a search might return no results:

• The specific industry or business type may not have any recent filings in the selected location
• The AI may not have recognized an uncommon industry term
• The date range may be too narrow

Try broadening your search terms, removing location filters, or expanding the date range.

The interactive map shows business filings grouped by zip code. Each pin on the map represents a zip code, and filings with U.S. addresses are geocoded to the center of their zip code. Clicking a pin shows all the filings associated with that zip code. Use the time period filter to see filings from the last 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or all time.

Filings with U.S. addresses are geocoded to the center of their zip code, not to an exact street address. This means all filings in the same zip code share a single map pin. We use zip code-level geocoding for consistency and privacy — it gives a useful geographic overview without pinpointing specific street addresses. Clicking a pin reveals all individual filings in that zip code.

The "All Time" filter shows all filings in our database since we started collecting data. Note that this doesn't cover the entire history of Florida business filings — only from the date our system began processing data. You can check the exact date range on the Data Status page.

Filings only appear on the map if their principal address has a valid U.S. zip code that could be geocoded. Filings may be missing from the map if:

• The principal address has no zip code or an invalid zip code
• The principal address is outside the United States
• The filing has no principal address on record

These filings are still available through search and the filings table.

Each filing includes the following information as available from the state records:

• Corporation name and number
• Filing type (e.g., Domestic Profit, Foreign LLC)
• Filing date and status (Active/Inactive)
• Principal address and mailing address
• Registered agent name and address
• Officers (up to 6 per filing)
• Industry classifications (AI-generated)

Florida recognizes several business entity types. The most common include:

• DOMP — Domestic Profit Corporation (Florida-based, for-profit)
• DOMN — Domestic Non-Profit Corporation
• FLAL — Florida Limited Liability Company (LLC)
• FORL — Foreign Profit Corporation (out-of-state, registered in FL)
• FORN — Foreign Non-Profit Corporation
• FORLL — Foreign Limited Liability Company
• DOMLP — Domestic Limited Partnership

"Domestic" means the entity was formed in Florida. "Foreign" means it was formed in another state but registered to do business in Florida.

Industry classifications are AI-generated labels that describe the likely industry of a business based on its name. For example, a business named "Joe's Pizza Palace LLC" might be classified as "Restaurant" and "Food Service." These classifications help power the search feature and make it possible to find businesses by industry type.

Classifications are generated automatically and may not always be accurate, especially for businesses with generic or ambiguous names.

Yes. You can export search results and filing data to CSV or Excel format from the Filings page. Apply your desired filters first, then use the export button to download the matching records.

In Florida business terminology, "Domestic" and "Foreign" don't refer to countries — they refer to where the business was originally formed:

• Domestic: The business was formed (incorporated or organized) in Florida
• Foreign: The business was formed in another U.S. state (or country) but has registered to do business in Florida

For example, a Delaware LLC that opens an office in Miami would file as a "Foreign LLC" (FORLL) in Florida.

The Trends page shows a word cloud visualization of the most popular keywords found in business names. Larger words appear more frequently. This gives you a snapshot of what kinds of businesses are being registered and what naming patterns are trending.

Keywords are automatically extracted from business names by splitting them into individual words and filtering out common, non-meaningful terms (like "LLC," "Inc," "Corp," "of," "the," etc.). The remaining meaningful words are counted and displayed proportionally in the word cloud.

Yes. The Trends page includes a time period filter that lets you view keyword trends for the last 7 days, 30 days, 90 days, or all time. This lets you compare how naming patterns change over different periods.

No. All core features — search, map, trends, and filing details — are available without an account. Creating a free account gives you access to additional features like saved searches and data exports.

You can sign in using a magic link (passwordless email login) or with a traditional email and password. Click "Sign In" in the top-right corner to get started. If you don't have an account yet, you can create one from the sign-in page.

Saved searches let you bookmark your favorite search queries so you can quickly re-run them later. When signed in, you'll see a save button on search results pages. Your saved searches are accessible from the user menu in the top-right corner.

Yes, Sunbiz Daily is free. All features including search, map, exports, saved searches, alerts, and API access are available at no cost. See our Pricing page for details.

All features are free for every user: browse and search filings, view record details, interactive map, data exports (CSV, Excel, JSON), saved searches and daily email alerts, and full REST API access.

We use privacy-friendly analytics (Umami) that does not use cookies and does not collect personally identifiable information. We do not sell data to third parties or use advertising trackers. For full details, see our Privacy Policy.

No. All business data displayed on Sunbiz Daily is public record, published by the Florida Division of Corporations. Business registration information — including entity names, officer names, registered agents, and addresses — is part of the public record under Florida law. We do not display any private information that isn't already publicly available through the state.

Sunbiz Daily uses AI (Anthropic's Claude) in two ways:

• Search query parsing: When you type a natural language query, AI extracts structured filters (industry type, location, etc.) to find relevant filings
• Industry classification: AI analyzes business names to automatically assign industry labels (e.g., "Restaurant," "Construction," "Technology")

AI is used as a tool to improve the user experience. All underlying data comes from official state records. AI-generated classifications are clearly labeled and may not always be perfectly accurate.