How to look up a CNPJ for free: 3 fast and reliable ways
Learn how to look up any CNPJ for free with up-to-date data from the Receita Federal. See registration status, partners, address and economic activity.
Looking up a company's CNPJ (the Brazilian company registration number) is one of the most common searches in Brazil — whether to check if a company is trustworthy before a purchase, to verify a supplier's details, or to run due diligence on a deal. In this guide, we show the fastest and most reliable ways to look up any CNPJ for free.
1. Lookup on Inddex (recommended)
Inddex is a business intelligence platform that brings together data on more than 67 million Brazilian companies. The lookup is free and presents the information in an organized way:
- Legal name and trade name
- Up-to-date registration status (Active, Closed, Unfit, etc.)
- Full address with map
- Main and secondary economic activities (CNAE)
- Share capital and company size
- Ownership structure with each partner's role
- Simples Nacional and MEI status
- Establishments (branches) of the same company
How to use it
- Go to the search page
- Type the CNPJ number (with or without formatting) or the company name
- Click the result to see the full details
Tip: on Inddex, you can search by company name, not just by CNPJ number. The smart search finds results even with approximate spellings. You can also filter by state, city and economic activity.
2. Lookup on the Receita Federal website
The Receita Federal offers the "Comprovante de Inscrição e de Situação Cadastral" (registration and status certificate), which is the official CNPJ document. The process:
- Go to the Receita Federal services portal
- Enter the full CNPJ number (14 digits)
- Solve the CAPTCHA
- View or print the certificate
Limitations: it does not allow searching by name, does not show the ownership structure, has no filters, and the interface requires solving a CAPTCHA for every lookup.
3. Lookup via Open Data
Every month, the Receita Federal publishes the full CNPJ database on the government's Open Data portal. It consists of dozens of compressed CSV files totaling more than 20 GB.
This option is aimed at developers and analysts who need to work with the entire database. For individual lookups it is impractical — you would need to download, unpack and process the files.
What to check when looking up a CNPJ
When looking up a CNPJ, pay special attention to these points:
Registration status
The most important indicator. A company with "Active" status is operating normally. Statuses such as "Closed", "Unfit" or "Suspended" signal problems. Learn more in the article CNPJ registration status.
Opening date
Very recent companies can carry higher risk in high-value transactions. The activity start date shows how long the company has existed.
Address
Check whether the registered address matches the actual place of operation. Significant discrepancies can indicate problems.
Economic activity (CNAE)
Check that the registered economic activity matches what the company claims to do. A technology company registered as a food retailer, for example, deserves a closer look.
Share capital
Although it does not necessarily reflect current financial health, a share capital that is very low for the declared scale of the operation can be a warning sign.
How to find a company's CNPJ by name
One of the most common needs is finding a company's CNPJ when you only know its name. On the Receita Federal website this is not possible — there you must provide the CNPJ.
On Inddex, the name lookup works with smart search that looks at both the legal name and the trade name. You can refine the results by filtering by:
- State and city
- Registration status (active companies only)
- Economic activity sector
Automated lookups via API
For companies that need to look up CNPJs at scale — for example, to validate customer records or enrich databases — Inddex offers a REST API with programmatic access to the entire database.
The API returns structured JSON data, including legal name, address, CNAE, registration status, ownership structure and more. Ideal for integration with CRM, ERP and compliance systems.
Frequently asked questions
Is looking up a CNPJ free?
Yes. Looking up the registration data of a CNPJ is free both on the Receita Federal website and on Inddex. The data is public by law.
Is the data reliable?
Yes. Inddex uses only official data from the Receita Federal do Brasil (RFB), updated monthly as new datasets are published. It is the same information available in the official Receita certificate.
Can I look up CNPJs from all over Brazil?
Yes. The Inddex database contains more than 67 million companies from all 27 Brazilian states. You can explore companies by state on the companies by state page.