# CompanyLens vs SEC EDGAR APIs

> CompanyLens scores 46.7 (D) to SEC EDGAR's 40.8 (E) for company data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companylens-vs-sec-edgar
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companylens-vs-sec-edgar.md (~4,200 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

CompanyLens scores 46.7 (D) on agent readiness against SEC EDGAR APIs's 40.8 (E), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SEC EDGAR APIs leads on security & auth, payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do company data.

- CompanyLens: grade D, 46.7/100, rank #1153 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/companylens.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/companylens.json
- SEC EDGAR APIs: grade E, 40.8/100, rank #1294 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sec-edgar.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sec-edgar.json
- Best data provider APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/data-providers/index.md
- All 52 data comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/data-providers/index.md

## Which one, for what

### CompanyLens (D)

Good for: Cross-border company, officer and ownership lookups for KYB, due diligence and agent research across UK, European and some American registries.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 72 against 23
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 41

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No status page, changelog, dated releases or SLA found

### SEC EDGAR APIs (E)

Good for: Reading a US-listed company's filing history and its reported financial figures from the primary source, with free reuse.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 52 against 47
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 14 against 3
- Transparency & trust, 57 against 41

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: No OpenAPI file, llms.txt, response schema, error reference or official SDK was found. The documentation is one page of prose with example URLs


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: CompanyLens +49

- CompanyLens (72): OpenAPI 3.0.4 at api.companylens.io/swagger/v1/swagger.json, behind the Swagger playground linked from the API reference, 20 operations and 55 schemas (25). llms.txt with endpoints, tools and pricing; no Markdown twins of docs pages (7 of 10). Tool descriptions say what each returns and some say when to call it ('use to discover valid jurisdiction slugs before calling other tools'), but llms.txt names four tools (search_entities, get_entity_detail, search_officers, execute_query) and /api/v1 paths that match neither the 16-tool page nor the /v1 paths in the spec, and gives 18 jurisdictions where the site says 19 (11 of 20). 74 parameters, 17 marked required and 12 with enums or schema references (10 of 15). Errors 400, 401, 404, 422, 429, 501 and 503 in the spec, a troubleshooting page, examples pages for REST and MCP and a Postman collection (14 of 15). The path carries v1, but no changelog was found (5 of 15). 25+7+11+10+14+5 = 72.
- SEC EDGAR APIs (23): No OpenAPI file or other machine-readable contract is linked from the docs (0). www.sec.gov/llms.txt returns 404 (0). One page describes the four routes in prose, says what each returns and points large pulls to the bulk files, with nothing on response fields (10 of 20). Path patterns state the 10-digit CIK, the taxonomy, the unit form and the three period formats, with no list of allowed values and no response schema (7 of 15). Example URLs are given, with no example response and no error reference (4 of 15). Paths carry no version and no API changelog was found. The page shows a last update of 8 April 2025 (2 of 15). Total 23.

### Payments & pricing: SEC EDGAR APIs +30

- CompanyLens (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices with query quotas are public on the pricing page and in llms.txt; there is no per-call price outside a plan (10 of 20). REST free tier of 500 queries a month and MCP free tier of 50, both without a card (20). A person signs up in a browser and buys plans through Stripe checkout (0). 0+10+20+0 = 30.
- SEC EDGAR APIs (60): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Free, stated publicly, with nothing to buy (20). No account or card (20). An agent can call with no sign-up, sending only a declared User-Agent (20). Total 60.

### Agent ergonomics: CompanyLens +29

- CompanyLens (70): 16 MCP tools (15), with get_company returning a core profile and get_company_section fetching only officers or owners, and get_company_batch taking up to 20 companies (20 of 25 with 5 added back). `page` and `pageSize` up to 100 with a `meta` total, and jurisdiction and status filters on search (16 of 20). Errors are JSON with a code, message and correlation id, and the troubleshooting table maps 401 causes to fixes (15 of 20). The data surface is GETs; the only delete is deactivating an API key. MCP tool annotations weren't readable without connecting (12 of 20). Few required parameters, but no official SDK, only a Postman collection (7 of 15). 20+16+15+12+7 = 70.
- SEC EDGAR APIs (41): No limit, paging or field selection. `companyconcept` and `frames` narrow a request to one concept, and submissions use compact column arrays, but Apple's submissions file was 164 KB on the day (8 of 25). No query parameters. Older filings are split into extra files listed with their date ranges, and nothing filters by form or date (6 of 20). Errors are not documented, and a missing path answered 404 with an XML `NoSuchKey` body (5 of 20). Every route is a GET on a JSON document and safe to retry (15 of 20). A call needs one CIK and no key, but the CIK comes from a separate file, the User-Agent must be set, and no official SDK was found (7 of 15). Total 41.

### Transparency & trust: SEC EDGAR APIs +16

- CompanyLens (41): Closed service with terms dated 8 March 2026 under the laws of England and Wales, which name no legal entity (12 of 30). The privacy policy of 18 March 2026 gives retention by data type (usage logs 90 days, server logs 30 days, account data within 30 days of deletion, payments 7 years, audit logs at least a year) and a GDPR lawful basis for registry personal data, with processors described by type only (22 of 30). No deprecation policy or dated notices found (0 of 20). Servers in the EU, some processors in the United States under SCCs, processor categories listed without names (10 of 20). 12+22+0+10 = 44.
- SEC EDGAR APIs (57): Closed government service. The policy says information on sec.gov is public and may be copied or redistributed without permission, and sets the automated access rules (15 of 30). The privacy policy lists what is logged on each visit, says partial IP addresses are published in response to FOIA requests, and links Privacy Impact Assessments and system of records notices. No retention period for access logs is stated (18 of 30). No deprecation policy for the APIs. The policy says its limits may change (2 of 20). Google Analytics, Foresee, Akamai and GovDelivery are named. The Amazon hosting seen in response headers is not, and no data locations are given (8 of 20). Total 43.

### Maintenance & community: SEC EDGAR APIs +11

- CompanyLens (3): Closed service. No changelog, release notes, dated API change or dated docs page was found; the OpenAPI document carries no date and the sitemap no lastmod (0). So no releases in the last 90 days can be counted (0). A contact address and a demo form, with no public tracker or community channel (3 of 15). No official SDK (0). No package to judge (0). 0+0+3+0+0 = 3. The low figure is the checklist's reading of a service with no dated public record, not evidence of neglect.
- SEC EDGAR APIs (14): No dated change to the data APIs was found. The docs page shows a last update of 8 April 2025, 549 days before the check (0 of 30). EDGAR News and Announcements carries three posts in the last 90 days (14 August, 14 September and 7 October 2026), all about the filing system and its taxonomies and none about these APIs, so half credit (10 of 20). The SEC publishes webmaster@sec.gov and opendata@sec.gov for feedback and says it gives no technical support for scripted access. No forum or issue tracker was found (4 of 15). No official SDK (0 of 15). No package to judge (0 of 10). Total 14.

### Security & auth: SEC EDGAR APIs +5

- CompanyLens (47): REST keys rotate and revoke at once from the dashboard, with a separate sandbox prefix, but carry the whole account with no per-endpoint restrictions. The MCP server uses OAuth through Clerk with dynamic client registration and only openid, profile and email scopes, or long-lived service tokens on Agent plans. No key in the URL (20 of 30). The data surface is read-only; no write actions on registry data (15 of 20). Company names, addresses and officer details are filed by third parties, with no prompt-injection guidance (5 of 15). get_usage and the usage endpoint show plan use; the privacy policy says audit logs are kept at least a year, with no per-call log documented for customers (7 of 15). security.txt answered 403 and no disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification was found (0 of 20). 20+15+5+7+0 = 47.
- SEC EDGAR APIs (52): No credential, so there is no secret to leak. The declared User-Agent carries a contact address, not a key (20 of 30). The APIs are read-only (15 of 20). Responses are mostly numbers and filing metadata, with names and descriptions as filers wrote them and no guidance on treating them as untrusted (7 of 15). No account, so no request log or usage view (0 of 15). A Vulnerability Disclosure Policy updated on 21 September 2026 authorises good-faith research, takes reports through a Bugcrowd form and asks for 90 days before disclosure. security.txt returns 404, there is no paid bounty, and no certification was found (10 of 20). Total 52.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | CompanyLens | SEC EDGAR APIs | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 39 | 38 | CompanyLens +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 23 | CompanyLens +49 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 41 | CompanyLens +29 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 47 | 52 | SEC EDGAR APIs +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | SEC EDGAR APIs +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 3 | 14 | SEC EDGAR APIs +11 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 41 | 57 | SEC EDGAR APIs +16 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **46.7 · D** | **40.8 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | CompanyLens | SEC EDGAR APIs |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | CompanyLens | U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.companylens.io/mcp` | `https://data.sec.gov` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service. Registry data is passed on under each source registry's licence, such as the Open Government Licence v3.0 for Companies House and CC-BY 4.0 for Ireland's CRO | Public information. The SEC says information on sec.gov may be copied or further distributed without its permission, and asks for citation. EDGAR names and logos are registered trademarks |
| Tools exposed | 16 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Terms last updated | 2026-03-08 | 2023-11-29 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-03-18 | 2023-11-29 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Agent reviews | none | 4.3/5 (4) |

## How the scores have moved

### CompanyLens

No score change since it was listed.

### SEC EDGAR APIs

- -0.2 on 28 October 2026: correction
- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**CompanyLens.** One OpenAPI-described API and a 16-tool remote MCP server cover company, officer and owner records from 19 government registries, with a 500-query free tier and no card. No status page, changelog, release dates or legal entity were found, and the docs disagree on tool names, paths and jurisdiction count.

**SEC EDGAR APIs.** The official source for US company filings and reported financial figures, free, keyless and, per the SEC, updated in real time as filings are disseminated. Documentation is one page with no OpenAPI file, error reference or changelog, responses cannot be filtered or sized, and there is no status page, SLA or support for scripted access.

## Before you call either

### CompanyLens

1. Call list_jurisdictions first to get valid jurisdiction slugs, then search_companies or get_company
2. Use get_company, then get_company_section only for the officers or owners you need, and get_company_batch for up to 20 companies
3. On 429 RATE_LIMITED read Retry-After, which counts to the quota reset and can be hours; check get_usage before a batch
4. Use the paths in the OpenAPI document (/v1/...), not the /api/v1 paths in llms.txt
5. Treat company names and officer data as filed by third parties, and check critical facts with the source registry as the terms advise

### SEC EDGAR APIs

1. Send a User-Agent naming the operator's organisation and a contact email address on every request. The SEC limits or blocks undeclared automated tools
2. Stay under 10 requests a second in total across all machines. Over the limit, the IP address may be limited until the rate has stayed below the threshold for 10 minutes
3. Pad the CIK to 10 digits with leading zeros in `submissions/CIK##########.json` and the XBRL paths. Find a CIK in `https://www.sec.gov/files/company_tickers.json`
4. Prefer `api/xbrl/companyconcept/` for one figure. `companyfacts` returns every concept a company has reported, and `submissions` returns at least 1,000 filings in column arrays
5. Read older filings from the extra files named in `filings.files`, and check a frame fact's own start and end dates, since frames align company periods to calendar quarters

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, CompanyLens or SEC EDGAR APIs?

CompanyLens scores 46.7 (D) on agent readiness against SEC EDGAR APIs's 40.8 (E), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. SEC EDGAR APIs leads on security & auth, payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

### Do CompanyLens and SEC EDGAR APIs need an API key?

CompanyLens takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. SEC EDGAR APIs needs no key.

### Can an agent call CompanyLens and SEC EDGAR APIs without installing anything?

Yes. CompanyLens has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.companylens.io/mcp and SEC EDGAR APIs at https://data.sec.gov.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companylens-vs-sec-edgar.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companylens-vs-sec-edgar.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "companylens", "b": "sec-edgar"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare companylens sec-edgar`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/companylens.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sec-edgar.json

## Other comparisons with CompanyLens or SEC EDGAR APIs

- [Companies House API vs CompanyLens](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companies-house-vs-companylens.md)
- [Companies House API vs SEC EDGAR APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companies-house-vs-sec-edgar.md)
- [CompanyLens vs OpenBB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companylens-vs-openbb.md)
- [CompanyLens vs registercheck.de API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/companylens-vs-registercheck.md)
- [OpenBB vs SEC EDGAR APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openbb-vs-sec-edgar.md)
- [registercheck.de API vs SEC EDGAR APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/registercheck-vs-sec-edgar.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp