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South Carolina Business Entity Search

The South Carolina Secretary of State provides Business Entities Online with a business name search and a separate registered agent search. Both forms opened without a login. A CAPTCHA appeared on our test search, so this guide covers the forms and the state’s published prices, not result screens.

Official agency: South Carolina Secretary of State’s Office, Business Entities Online

Open Official Government SearchOpens businessfilings.sc.gov in a new tab. This is the official government site, not EntityLocator.

Direct links on the official site

Search methods offered

  • Business Name SearchOne business name field and a Type of Search dropdown: Begins With (the default), Contains or Exact Match.
  • Registered Agent SearchOne Agent Name field (full or partial name). It shows only the first 50 results.

How to search

  1. Open the Business Name Search using the button above.
  2. Choose Begins With, Contains or Exact Match.
  3. Enter the business name and select Search.
  4. If a CAPTCHA appears, complete it yourself and search again, following the site’s prompt.
  5. The official page says to find your business in the results and select it to open its official business profile.
  6. To search by agent instead, open the Registered Agent Search, enter a full or partial agent name and select Search. If there are more than 50 matches, the form tells you to contact the Secretary of State’s Office.

What you can expect to find

  • We did not see a results list or a business profile, so this guide does not list result columns or profile fields.
  • The Secretary of State’s service-of-process guidance says public entity lookup provides registered agent and registered office information.
  • We saw no entity-number search field on either form. That doesn’t mean no way to search by number exists elsewhere.

Limitations, fees and notices

  • Both search forms opened without a login, and no payment prompt appeared before the CAPTCHA. We did not complete a lookup, so we can’t confirm it costs nothing.
  • The site separates viewing public business information from buying copies and certificates. Published prices: $3 for the first page of each requested document and $0.50 for each additional page; $10 for a Certificate of Existence or Authority; and $20 for a Certificate of No Record or Certificate Under Seal. These apply to documents and certificates, not automatically to the lookup. We did not test checkout, so surcharges are unknown.
  • The portal carried a September 10, 2026 identity-verification notice about logging in to filing services. We did not find that it applies to searching public records.
  • The office handles corporations, nonprofits, LLCs, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships. Per its agency page, sole proprietorships and general partnerships do not file there, and it does not hold company officer or director names and addresses, so don’t expect an ownership or officer search.
  • A match or no match in a name search is not a binding name-availability determination.

Sources and research notes

Sources reviewed: . Official sites change; always confirm current details on the government site.

Research for this guide used the official South Carolina sites in a web browser. Both search forms were inspected, but a CAPTCHA stopped the test search, so no results or business profiles were reviewed.

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