SEC EDGAR Data API

Beginner's Pick Finance / No Auth Required Beginner HTTPS CORS
Free to Use
84 A
Measured Score 0 50 100 Speed 24/30 Consistency 17/20 Security 20/20 Browser access 15/15 Transparency 8/15 TESTED 2026-08-10

Overview

SEC EDGAR Data API provides free access to financial filings, annual reports (10-K), quarterly reports (10-Q), and ownership data for all publicly traded US companies. No API key is required — just use your email address as the User-Agent header to comply with SEC fair-access rules. It is a powerful resource for financial research, stock analysis, and building data-driven investment tools.

Beginner Tip

Always set a descriptive User-Agent header including your email address (e.g., "MyApp/1.0 [email protected]") — the SEC requires this for API access and will block requests that omit it.

Measurement Record

What actually happened when we called this API from our own infrastructure. Every value below was recorded by the request, not copied from the provider's documentation.

Request
GET https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000320193.json
Result
HTTP 200 · application/json · 164,379 bytes · compressed
Response time
45 ms (median of 3) · fastest 41 ms
Transport
TLSv1.3 · TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 · certificate issued by DigiCert Inc
Browser CORS
Allowed — Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Recorded
2026-08-10

Fields Returned

Top-level fields present in the response we captured, with the type and value we actually received.

Field Type Value received
cik string 0000320193
entityType string operating
sic string 3571
sicDescription string Electronic Computers
ownerOrg string 06 Technology
insiderTransactionForOwnerExists integer 0
insiderTransactionForIssuerExists integer 1
name string Apple Inc.
tickers array [1 item]
exchanges array [1 item]
ein string 942404110
lei null null
description string
website string

Captured Response

Captured from a real request to https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000320193.json on 2026-08-10. Long arrays and nested objects are truncated to keep the shape readable.

JSON Response · Captured
{
  "cik": "0000320193",
  "entityType": "operating",
  "sic": "3571",
  "sicDescription": "Electronic Computers",
  "ownerOrg": "06 Technology",
  "insiderTransactionForOwnerExists": 0,
  "insiderTransactionForIssuerExists": 1,
  "name": "Apple Inc.",
  "tickers": [
    "AAPL"
  ],
  "exchanges": [
    "Nasdaq"
  ],
  "ein": "942404110",
  "lei": null,
  "description": "",
  "website": "",
  "…": "(10 more fields)"
}

Field Reference

cik The company Central Index Key, a unique identifier assigned by the SEC.
name Official registered name of the company.
tickers Stock ticker symbols associated with this company.
exchanges Stock exchanges where the company is listed.
sic Standard Industrial Classification code describing the industry.

Implementation Example

Calls a real endpoint of this API. Replace any placeholder credentials with your own key.

Request
const url = "https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000320193.json";
const response = await fetch(url);
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

How This API Fails

We deliberately sent this API a broken request and recorded exactly what came back on 2026-08-10. Knowing the shape of an error before you hit it makes error handling much easier to write.

HTTP 404 Requesting a path that does not exist application/xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Error><Code>NoSuchKey</Code><Message>The specified key does not exist.</Message><Key>submissions/CIK0000320193.json/apisscore-nonexistent-path</Key><RequestId>SS8XVTCNKZJRY4J6</RequestId><HostId>z4WAoaNRD7zGO+eCPWIz4/MmM32XyXbUL1Dg6c2Oj+IClZlpu4XrttFdjzIEJ0eJ8

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

Generated guidance based on this API's documentation, not observed by us. Treat it as a starting point and check against the provider's own error reference.

403 Forbidden or rate limit block Missing, generic, or bot-like User-Agent header.
Set a User-Agent like "CompanyName AppName/Version [email protected]" as the SEC explicitly requires this format.
404 Not Found Incorrect CIK number format.
CIK numbers must be zero-padded to 10 digits (e.g., CIK0000320193 for Apple). Look up CIKs at https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar.
Large/slow response Company submissions files can be very large for major corporations.
Use the companyfacts or frames endpoints for aggregated data instead of parsing all raw submissions.

Measured Score Breakdown

Live HTTP request to the API endpoint

Speed 24/30
Consistency 17/20
Security 20/20
Browser access 15/15
Transparency 8/15
Endpoint Response Time 45ms

Fully tested on Aug 10, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth No Auth
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS YES
Category Finance
Difficulty Beginner
Endpoint last called: 2026-08-10

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