If you want to confirm a Florida LLC or corporation is real, still active, and legally allowed to do business, the tool is Sunbiz, the Florida Division of Corporations’ public database. A florida business entity search there is free, and most people land on the right page within a couple of clicks. What trips people up isn’t finding the record. It’s reading it correctly once they have it.

How to search Sunbiz

Go to search.sunbiz.org and pick a search type: entity name, officer or registered agent name, or document number if you already have one from a notice. For a name search, type in just the core name and leave off “LLC,” “Inc,” or “Corp.” Adding the suffix can cause the search to miss close matches that use a different one, and Sunbiz warns about this directly on the search page.

Results come back in a table ordered by name. Click into any record and you’ll get the document number, FEI/EIN, current status, principal and mailing addresses, registered agent, the names on file for managers or officers, a filing history, and scanned images of the documents themselves, including the original Articles of Organization. That last part is worth knowing: Sunbiz is one of the few state registries that lets you pull the actual filed document image for free, not just a data summary.

What “Active” actually confirms, and what it doesn’t

An “Active” status on Sunbiz means one thing: the entity’s most recent annual report was filed on time and the state hasn’t dissolved it. That’s genuinely simpler than what you’ll find in some other states. Florida doesn’t run a second agency that can quietly flag an entity as delinquent while the main registry still shows it as fine, the way California splits status between the Secretary of State and the Franchise Tax Board. In Florida, the annual report covered in our annual report guide is the whole compliance picture at the state level. Miss it, and Sunbiz will eventually say so.

What “Active” doesn’t confirm is anything about the business itself: whether it’s actually operating, whether it’s paid its taxes, whether the registered agent listed is still valid, or whether the address on file is current. The status field only tracks the one thing Sunbiz controls, which is the paperwork relationship between the entity and the state.

The status most searchers have never seen before: INACT/UA

Search enough Florida entities and you’ll eventually hit one marked “INACT/UA.” It looks alarming and most people have no idea what it means. It stands for inactive, unavailable, and it shows up after an entity has already been administratively dissolved for missing its annual report, the process our annual report guide walks through in detail. The name isn’t released for anyone else to use right away. Florida holds it for one year after an administrative dissolution, or 120 days after a voluntary one, before it opens back up.

The practical takeaway: if you’re checking a company and see INACT/UA, don’t read it as “still kind of open.” The entity is gone. The name is just sitting in a holding period. And if you’re checking whether a name is available for your own new LLC, an INACT/UA result means not yet, even though the old company is no longer operating.

Fictitious names live in a different registry entirely

If you’re searching for a business by the name on its storefront or invoice and nothing comes up in the entity search, try the separate fictitious name (DBA) database on Sunbiz. A fictitious name registration doesn’t create a legal entity on its own. It just links an operating name to whatever person or company actually owns it, and it uses its own registration number system instead of a document number. This is a common source of confused searches: someone types in the name they see on a sign, finds nothing in the corporation search, and assumes the business isn’t registered at all, when it’s just filed under a different name in a different database.

Getting official proof instead of trusting the free lookup

For most everyday checks, the free search is enough. When you need something you can actually hand to a bank, a landlord, or a title company, order a Certificate of Status instead. For an LLC it costs $5, you request it online with the document number, and it’s emailed back as a PDF, usually within minutes.

A certified copy of the actual filed document costs more and varies by entity type in a way few guides mention: $8.75 for a corporation’s document, but $30 for an LLC’s, and it has to be requested by mail with a check or money order, not online. If you only need to prove the entity exists and is in good standing, the $5 Certificate of Status covers it. Save the $30 certified copy for when you specifically need a certified reproduction of the filed paperwork itself.

If you’re checking an entity before doing business with it, this search is the whole job. If you’re still deciding whether to form a Florida LLC in the first place, see our Florida LLC formation guide for what it actually costs and how the process works.

FAQ

Is the Florida business entity search free?
Yes. Searching by name, officer, registered agent, or document number at search.sunbiz.org doesn’t cost anything.

Why can’t I find a business I know is registered in Florida?
Try searching without “LLC,” “Inc,” or any suffix, since adding one can cause the search to miss close matches. If it’s still not showing up, it may be registered as a fictitious name (DBA) rather than as its own entity, which means it’s in a separate database.

What does “INACT/UA” mean on a Florida entity’s status?
The entity has already been dissolved, either administratively for missing its annual report or voluntarily, and its name is being held in reserve rather than released immediately. Administrative dissolutions hold the name for one year; voluntary ones for 120 days.

Does an “Active” status mean the business is in good standing in every sense?
It confirms the entity has filed its annual report and hasn’t been dissolved, which in Florida is the full state-level compliance picture. It doesn’t confirm the business is actually operating, paying its taxes, or reachable at the address on file.

How much does a Certificate of Status cost for an LLC?
$5, ordered online with the entity’s document number, delivered by email as a PDF.