The fastest free way to see new Florida businesses is the state's daily filing files. Every business day, the Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) publishes a file with every corporation, LLC, and partnership added to its records that day. It covers the whole state and costs nothing.
The catch is that the file is raw. It lists roughly 2,527 filings a day in a fixed-width text format, with no phone numbers and no county column. Below are the five ways to find new businesses, from free and manual to paid and ready to call.
How many new businesses register in Florida?
We count them. Between August 17 and October 9, 2026, the state's daily files contained 82,004 new entity filings across 39 business days, after we removed holding companies, investment vehicles, filing-service names, and filings that used a shared registered-agent or virtual-office address.
- About 84% were Florida LLCs.
- About 4% were out-of-state companies registering to do business in Florida.
- The busiest counties were Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Orange, and Hillsborough.
See every county's numbers in the Florida new business report.
1. Sunbiz search
Sunbiz search is the state's lookup tool. It is built for checking a business you already know about: by name, officer or registered agent, document number, or similar details.
It does not have a "filed this week" view, so it is the wrong tool for discovering new businesses. Use it to verify a single company after you find it somewhere else.
2. The state's daily filing files (free)
The Division of Corporations posts daily files on a public SFTP server. The corporate filings file is named with the date, like 20260929c.txt. The state publishes the login on its daily data page.
Each record includes the entity name, filing type, principal and mailing addresses, filing date, registered agent, and up to a few officers or managers. You will need a script or a spreadsheet import to read it. Our step-by-step guide to the daily files covers the format and includes a short Python example.
Good for: anyone comfortable with data who wants every filing for free. Missing: county, industry, and any contact details.
3. Fictitious name (DBA) registrations
Florida also publishes daily files of new fictitious name registrations. A DBA often means an existing owner is launching a new brand or storefront, which can be a better buying signal than a bare LLC. Sole proprietors who never form an LLC show up here too.
4. Local business tax receipts
Most Florida counties and many cities require a local business tax receipt before a business can operate. New receipts are a stronger signal that a business is actually opening at a location. Availability varies: some tax collectors publish searchable records, and others provide lists through a public records request.
5. Prepared lists
List vendors take the state data, filter it, and add contact details. Quality varies a lot, so check how fresh the records are, whether they are filtered to your area, and whether phone numbers are included or sold as an add-on.
FiledToday is one option. We filter each weekday's filings to your county, research the owner's phone number from other public sources, and send the list by email, Google Sheets, or CSV. Every delivered lead has a phone number.
Which method fits you?
| Method | Cost | Fresh daily | Filtered to your area | Owner phone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunbiz search | Free | No date view | No | No |
| Daily filing files | Free | Yes | Do it yourself | No |
| DBA files | Free | Yes | Do it yourself | No |
| Local tax receipts | Free to low | Varies | Yes | Sometimes |
| FiledToday | From $99/month, free sample | Weekdays | Yes, by county | Yes, on every lead |
Tips for working a new-business list
- Skip the shells. Names with "Holdings", "Investments", or "Ventures" are often ownership vehicles with no customers or employees.
- Watch for filing services. Many filings list a registered agent company instead of the owner. The agent will not buy anything from you.
- Use the principal address. The mailing address can be an accountant or a virtual office. The principal address is the better guess at where the business operates.
- Move quickly. A new owner makes most of their setup decisions in the first few weeks: bank, insurance, payroll, bookkeeping, and vendors.
Common questions
Is there a list of new businesses in Florida?
Yes. The Florida Division of Corporations publishes every new filing in free daily data files on its public SFTP server. The files cover the whole state, so you have to filter them to your county yourself. FiledToday publishes weekly counts for every county in its Florida new business report.
How many new businesses start in Florida each day?
Between August 17 and October 9, 2026, the state's daily files averaged about 2,527 new entity filings per business day. After removing holding companies, filing services, and shared registered-agent addresses, about 2,103 a day had a usable local address.
Can I search Sunbiz by filing date?
Not in the regular search screens, which look up a business by name, officer, document number, or similar details. To see everything filed on a given day, use the daily data files instead.
Are new Florida business filings public record?
Yes. Entity filings, including the business name, addresses, registered agent, and listed officers or managers, are public. Phone numbers and email addresses are not part of the filing.
Updated October 12, 2026 · By Ben Thalmann, founder of FiledToday