Order corporate searches across Canada, including Profile Reports, Certificates of Status, and Copies of Articles of Incorporation. Our bulk corporate search option makes it easy to search up to five businesses at once, with corporate search services available for provincial and Federal corporations across Canada.
Submit a business name or corporation number. Choose Ontario or another Canadian jurisdiction.
Click "Add Another Search" to include additional corporations.
From $74.47
Pay by credit card.
The official registry Profile Report is emailed to you once completed, with most electronically available reports delivered within 30 minutes during business hours.
This video will identify how to search an existing Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership, Trade Name or Corporation to obtain details on the business.
Three core products types, order any combination across all 5 search lines
A current snapshot of information available on the public registry. Depending on the jurisdiction and entity type, the report may include the legal name, status, registered address, directors and officers, corporate number, registration dates and certain historical information. Here are the most common search types for due diligence:
Timeline: 30 minutes (live data)
Single-purpose Ministry document confirming the corporation is currently active with the Business Registry. Often requested by banks for loans and lawyers for closings. Available for incorporated companies only.
Timeline: 30 minutes (live data)
Original founding documents from when the corporation was incorporated. Depending on the jurisdiction, these may show the incorporators, share structure, director provisions, restrictions and other original corporate provisions. Certified copies are also available where required.
Timeline: 30 minutes post-2021 / 1-10 days pre-2021
All search results delivered together for easy file management
All search results from your bulk order arrive in one consolidated email. Separate PDFs for each corporation and product type, easy to forward to a client, or save to a matter file. *Note: Pre-2021 archived Articles can arrive separately.
PDFs are named with corporation name and document type (E.g "ABC-Corporation-Profile-Report.pdf") so you can identify each file at a glance for matter file organization.
If you provided Matter and Reference # at order time, those identifiers appear in the order confirmation, making law firm internal billings and matter file tracking simpler.
If you ordered Articles of Amendment, Certificate of Status, or Profile Report alongside, those documents arrive in the same email as separate PDFs.
The four most common scenarios where law firms, accountants, lenders, and consultants use this page
Mergers, acquisitions, and major share transfers often involve Profile Reports + Articles of Incorporation + Certificate of Status for all entities involved. The target corporation, parent companies, subsidiaries, and related parties may need to be searched in coordinated due diligence.
Lenders financing complex business structures may need to verify the borrower corporation plus all guarantor and related entities. A single bulk order replaces what would otherwise be 3-5 separate transactions across multiple jurisdictions.
Commercial real estate closings frequently involve a buyer corporation, seller corporation, and one or more related guarantors. Lawyers handling these closings may need Certificates of Status and Profile Reports for all parties, often delivered same-day.
Process servers, paralegals, and litigators preparing service of court documents on multiple corporate defendants may need registered office addresses for each entity. Profile Reports provide the official address-for-service for all corporations involved in a single bulk order.
Comparison across speed, account requirements, and bulk handling
| Provider | Bulk Capability | Account Required | Mix Product Types | Turnaround |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario Business Central | Up to 5 per order | No login required | Mix per search line | 30 minutes |
| ServiceOntario Direct (DIY) | No bulk capability | Business Documents Search can be accessed without creating an Ontario Business Account and anyone can search/order public search products | One at a time | Variable |
Why OBC is the easiest bulk option: Account-based competitors (ESC, Dye & Durham) are designed for high-volume law firms with continuous workflows. For occasional bulk needs (2-5 corporations once or twice a month), the account-setup friction makes them impractical. OBC's no-login bulk capability fills this gap. The mix-and-match flexibility per search line is a workflow advantage even compared to account-based competitors. We also offer a free jurisdiction-finding service: If you don't know where a corporation is registered, contact our team and we'll find it at no charge.
Quick answers to the most common questions from law firms, accountants, and lenders
Ontario Business Central allows up to 5 separate corporate searches in a single bulk order. Each search line can independently include any combination of Profile Report, Certificate of Status, Articles of Incorporation, or Articles of Amendment. If you need 6 or more searches in one order, contact our team for custom bulk pricing, we accommodate larger volumes for law firm and corporate due diligence projects.
Yes. Each of the 5 search lines is independent; you can have one search be an Ontario Profile Report, another be a Federal Certificate of Status, and another be a BC Articles of Incorporation. Mix and match product types and jurisdictions freely. This is one of the main advantages of bulk ordering through OBC.
Orders submitted before 4:30pm Monday to Friday EST are processed and delivered the same business day (typically within 30 minutes for live data products). Orders placed after 4:30pm, on weekends, or on statutory holidays are processed first thing the next business day. For time-sensitive transactions, place your order as early in the day as possible.
Contact our team, we provide a free jurisdiction-finding service. Tell us the corporation name and we'll search to determine where it's registered (provincial, federal, or extra-provincial). From there, you can place the search order in the correct jurisdiction. This service is at no charge and is unique to OBC.
A Profile Report is a live snapshot of the public record showing current directors, officers, registered office, status, and filing history. It is the most common search type. A Certificate of Status is a single-purpose Ministry document confirming Active or In Default status, required for banking and legal transactions. Articles of Incorporation are the original founding documents showing original directors and share structure at incorporation required for M&A and corporate audits. Many transactions may need 2 or 3 of these together.
Articles of Incorporation are historical archive documents. For corporations incorporated after October 19, 2021 (when the Ontario Business Registry launched), Articles are pulled digitally and delivered in 30 minutes. For pre-October 2021 corporations, the original Articles are stored on microfilm in the Ministry archives, retrieving them requires a manual conversion request that takes 1-10 business days. Profile Reports and Certificates of Status are pulled from live data and always deliver in 30 minutes.
No, a company key is not required to order document copies. Just provide the corporation name and we handle the rest.
Yes, but only for Profile Reports. Sole Proprietorships, General Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, and Trade Names registered under the Business Names Act can be searched via Profile Report. Certificates of Status and Articles of Incorporation are only available for incorporated companies, they don't apply to unincorporated registered businesses.
For registered businesses (Sole Proprietorships, General Partnerships, Trade Names) registered after October 19, 2021, a Business Name Registration Search retrieves the original filing copy - useful when the owner has lost their registration documents. A Profile Report shows the current public record details. For pre-October 2021 registrations, only the Profile Report is available. Most customers want a Profile Report for verification or due diligence; the BNR is requested when the original filing copy is needed.
All search results from your bulk order arrive in a single consolidated email with separate PDFs for each corporation and product type. PDFs are clearly labeled with corporation name and document type for easy identification. Matter and Reference number provided at order time are included in the email subject and order confirmation for law firm billing. Pre-2021 Articles requiring microfilm conversion arrive separately within 1-10 business days; all other results arrive within 30 minutes during business hours.
Have a different question? Speak with an agent or call 1-800-280-1913
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Available Across Canada
G Waters
I have used Ontario Business Central on numerous occasions to provide me with Corporate Profiles and other similar documents. They are the best company of this sort that I have dealt with so far. Reasonable prices, easy to use, excellent communication and fast and accurate delivery of documents. All anyone could want.
Helen Ambas
Ontario Business Central was very user friendly and easy to use. Upon submission of your request, the information was sent almost immediately to you. It was a very quick and seamless process. I would recommend using Ontario Business Central to anyone that requires company information.
Pratapsinh Pathak
Great service.. Very professional, no fuss, superfast. Highly recommend!
350,000+
