Both KnowFirm and Middesk verify US businesses against public records. The practical difference for a developer evaluating today is access: KnowFirm publishes its pricing and lets you start on real data for free, while Middesk is a sales-led enterprise platform that does not publish pricing. This page cites its sources and uses the Middesk name nominatively only.
| KnowFirm | Middesk | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Transparent & self-serve: Free (10 credits/mo), Starter $49/mo (1,500 credits), Growth $199/mo (8,000 credits). Hard quotas, no surprise overage. | Sales-led; pricing is not published publicly (contact sales / custom quote). |
| Start without talking to sales | Yes — sign up and query live data on the Free plan, no credit card. | Typically requires a sales conversation to get started. |
| MCP server for AI agents | Yes — a published MCP server so AI agents (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, etc.) can call KYB tools directly. See /docs/mcp. | No MCP server documented at the time of writing. |
| Coverage focus | US business entities from public records (Secretary-of-State registrations, EIN/TIN signals, watchlists, firmographics) with measured per-field fill rates on /coverage. | US business verification and identity, including Secretary-of-State and TIN data; coverage details via sales. |
| Data posture | Public-record & firmographic data with per-field provenance and confidence scores; documented opt-out and data-sources attribution. | Enterprise KYB/identity data; specifics provided during the sales process. |
| FCRA boundary | KYB only — explicitly not a consumer report (FCRA); not for credit, employment, insurance, or housing eligibility. | Positioned as business identity/verification, not consumer credit reporting. Confirm permitted use with the vendor. |
KnowFirm returns KYB & firmographic data only — it is not a consumer report (FCRA) and must not be used for credit, employment, insurance, or housing eligibility decisions.
Middesk is a trademark of its respective owner and is referenced here nominatively for comparison only. Claims about Middesk are drawn from the public sources below; figures are estimates where the vendor does not publish them and may change.