I'm trying to automate research with an API; suggest options for public records and company data that are easy to integrate

Here are some easy-to-integrate public records and company data options for automating research with an API, grouped by use case.

1) Company / business intelligence APIs

OpenCorporates

• What it gives: Global company registry data, officers, filings, ownership links
• Why it’s easy: Clean API, strong entity matching, good for basic corporate lookup workflows
• Best for: Company verification, corporate structure, cross-referencing names
• Notes: Coverage varies by country and registry source

Companies House API (UK)

• What it gives: UK company registration, officers, filing history, PSC data
• Why it’s easy: Official government API, straightforward REST endpoints
• Best for: UK-based entity research and compliance checks
• Notes: Very developer-friendly, but limited to UK

SEC EDGAR API / EDGAR data

• What it gives: Public US filings, 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks, ownership filings
• Why it’s easy: Public data, widely documented access patterns
• Best for: Public company research, financial analysis, compliance monitoring
• Notes: Not a “single polished API” from SEC, but widely used with wrappers and data feeds

Crunchbase API

• What it gives: Startup/company profiles, funding rounds, acquisitions, people
• Why it’s easy: Structured data and simple integration
• Best for: Startup research, business development, market mapping
• Notes: Paid tiers usually required

Clearbit API

• What it gives: Company enrichment, domain-to-company mapping, firmographics
• Why it’s easy: Very simple enrichment use cases
• Best for: Lead enrichment, account research
• Notes: Product availability has changed over time; check current offering and docs

People Data Labs (PDL)

• What it gives: Company and person enrichment, employment history, firmographics
• Why it’s easy: Designed for API-first enrichment pipelines
• Best for: Sales ops, research workflows, identity resolution
• Notes: Commercial service; strong developer experience

ZoomInfo

• What it gives: B2B company and contact data
• Why it’s easy: Integrations available, but often more enterprise-oriented
• Best for: GTM/sales research
• Notes: Typically heavier sales process, not always “easy” in a lightweight sense

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2) Public records / legal / regulatory APIs

CourtListener / RECAP

• What it gives: US court opinions, dockets, some PACER-copied records
• Why it’s easy: Public API, great for legal research automation
• Best for: Litigation monitoring, case research
• Notes: Coverage depends on source availability

Federal Register API

• What it gives: US federal rules, proposed rules, notices
• Why it’s easy: Official API, clean search/filtering
• Best for: Regulatory monitoring
• Notes: Excellent for policy and compliance workflows

GovInfo API

• What it gives: US congressional, legal, and government publications
• Why it’s easy: Official government API
• Best for: Legislative and regulatory research
• Notes: Broader document access than a typical “records” API

FOIA / open-data portals

• What it gives: Depends on jurisdiction and agency
• Why it’s easy: Many portals support simple REST/CSV access
• Best for: Administrative records, procurement, licensing, permits
• Notes: Quality varies widely; often requires custom normalization

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3) Property, liens, and asset-related data

County/municipal open data portals

• What it gives: Property tax, permits, zoning, building records, business licenses
• Why it’s easy: Many expose CSV/JSON endpoints or Socrata APIs
• Best for: Local investigations, real estate research
• Notes: Highly fragmented across jurisdictions

Socrata-powered portals

• What it gives: Whatever the city/state publishes
• Why it’s easy: Standard API pattern across many governments
• Best for: Public records aggregation at local/state level
• Notes: Extremely useful if you need many jurisdictions

Property data vendors

• Examples: ATTOM, Regrid, CoreLogic (enterprise)
• Why it’s easy: Structured APIs for parcels, ownership, valuation
• Best for: Real estate analytics
• Notes: Usually commercial and sometimes expensive

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4) Sanctions, watchlists, and compliance data

OFAC / sanctions lists

• What it gives: Sanctions lists, entities, programs
• Why it’s easy: Official government data files and feeds
• Best for: Compliance screening
• Notes: Often implemented as downloadable datasets rather than a pure API

OpenSanctions

• What it gives: Consolidated sanctions, watchlists, PEPs, adverse media sources
• Why it’s easy: Good API and entity resolution features
• Best for: AML/KYC workflows
• Notes: Strong choice for quick integration

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5) If you want “easy integration” specifically

These are often the simplest to start with:

1. Companies House API – best official company registry API experience
2. OpenCorporates – broad global company lookup
3. SEC EDGAR data – public company filings
4. Federal Register API – regulatory monitoring
5. CourtListener API – litigation and court research
6. OpenSanctions – compliance/watchlist screening
7. Socrata open-data portals – local government records at scale

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6) Practical stack suggestions

If your goal is company enrichment

• OpenCorporates + PDL + Crunchbase
• Add Companies House for UK verification
• Add SEC EDGAR for public-company financials

If your goal is compliance / due diligence

• OpenSanctions + OFAC + Companies House/OpenCorporates
• Add CourtListener and Federal Register for adverse legal/regulatory signals

If your goal is local public records

• Socrata portals + county open-data + property vendor
• Build a normalization layer because schemas vary a lot

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7) Tips for choosing a provider

Look for:

• REST + JSON
• Good search endpoints
• Pagination and bulk export
• Clear rate limits
• Stable identifiers for companies/people
• Webhooks or incremental updates if available
• Transparent licensing for data reuse

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If you tell me:

1. what kind of research you’re automating,
2. which countries/jurisdictions, and
3. whether you need free/open data vs paid commercial APIs,

I can narrow this to a short recommended stack and even sketch an integration architecture.