EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) is the SEC's free public system holding every corporate filing since 1993. Search at sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar or the full-text search at efts.sec.gov — no login required, updated in near real-time.
EDGAR is one of the greatest open-data resources in finance. Every SEC filing since 1993 — every 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, insider transaction, and proxy statement — is free, searchable, and machine-readable. Here's how to use it.
## The Two Search Interfaces - **Company search** — [sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch](https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch). Find a filer, list all their filings, jump to any document. - **Full-text search** — [efts.sec.gov](https://efts.sec.gov/LATEST/search-index?q=). Query the content of filings, not just metadata. Ideal for finding customer/vendor mentions, litigation exposure, or executive references.
## Essential Form Types - **10-K** — annual report, audited financials, MD&A, risk factors - **10-Q** — quarterly report, unaudited financials - **8-K** — material events (M&A, executive changes, earnings, bankruptcy) within 4 business days - **S-1** — IPO prospectus - **DEF 14A** — proxy statement, executive compensation, shareholder proposals - **Form 4** — insider transactions, within 2 business days - **13D / 13G** — beneficial ownership over 5% - **20-F** — annual report for foreign private issuers
## Understanding the CIK Every EDGAR filer gets a **Central Index Key** — a 10-digit ID that persists across name changes, ticker changes, and mergers. Direct URLs use the CIK: `https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000320193&type=10-K` (That's Apple's 10-K history.)
## The Full-Text Search Superpower The EFTS full-text search indexes every word inside every filing. Practical uses: - Find every company that mentioned **your product** in a 10-K risk factor - Discover which suppliers list **you** as a customer - Track litigation mentions across an industry - Detect early signals of ESG initiatives
## The Free API - **data.sec.gov** — structured company facts, filings index, submissions history (JSON) - **efts.sec.gov** — full-text search (returns JSON with hit highlights) - Rate limit: **10 requests/second per IP** — respect it or get blocked - User-Agent header required (email + company name) > LemReveal's [Company Lookup](/tools/company-lookup) pulls SEC + Companies House + KVK + KBO + DUNS into one query — one lookup, all the registries a US-listed multinational touches.
Yes. Every filing since 1993 is free to search, view, and download. The SEC has never charged for EDGAR access and there's no login.
Near real-time. Filings appear on EDGAR within minutes of acceptance by the SEC. 8-Ks are typically visible within an hour of the material event they describe.
10-K is the annual report with fully audited financials, filed within 60-90 days of fiscal year end. 10-Q is quarterly with unaudited financials, filed within 40-45 days of quarter end. Both are required for public companies.
Form 4 filings report insider transactions within 2 business days. Search by CIK or use openinsider.com which pulls EDGAR data. Form 3 (initial) and Form 5 (annual summary) round out insider reporting.
Yes. The EDGAR API at data.sec.gov and the full-text search API at efts.sec.gov are both free with reasonable rate limits (10 requests/second). See sec.gov/os/accessing-edgar-data for the terms.
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