A free company name checker that searches the live Companies House register for your proposed name. We apply the official "same as" normalisation rules, flag similar active companies, and highlight any restricted words that need prior approval — so you know whether the name will pass before you pay £100 to submit an application.
e.g. "Acme Consulting Limited" or just "Acme Consulting"
No spam. Only a notification if this name gets taken, so you don't lose time.
Type in your proposed name — with or without "Limited" — and we run it against the live Companies House register in a few seconds. The tool is free, needs no sign-up, and works for any name you're considering for a new UK limited company.
Behind the scenes, we apply the same normalisation rules that Companies House uses to decide whether two names are "the same." That means we strip legal suffixes ("Limited," "Ltd," "PLC"), ignore punctuation and spacing, treat "&" the same as "and," and ignore case — then compare the stripped version of your name against every company on the register. If there's a match, you won't be able to register. If the match is only close, you'll see a warning and a list of similar companies so you can judge the risk yourself.
A good business name availability checker does more than a literal string search. Our tool surfaces four things at once:
The cheapest way to avoid a rejected incorporation is to run the check before you apply. Companies House charges £100 each time you submit — a name rejection means starting from scratch with a new name, a new application, and a new fee. Worse, if you pass the automatic check but pick a name that turns out to be too similar to an existing business, you can be directed to change it within 12 months of registration — after you've printed business cards, opened a bank account, and told clients who you are.
The official Companies House name availability checker on gov.uk is the definitive source, but it only tells you whether an identical match exists. It won't warn you about similar names, sensitive words, or dissolved companies whose re-use carries risk. Our tool layers those checks on top so you can make a better decision in one search.
A few patterns trip people up repeatedly:
If you'd rather understand the rules before you start typing names into the tool, our guide to choosing a UK company name walks through how Companies House actually checks for identical names, the full sensitive words list, trademark risks, and what happens if you pick a name too similar to an existing company.
Once you've found a name that passes the availability check, the rest of the incorporation process is straightforward but has its own requirements. Our company formation checklist walks through everything Companies House will ask for — directors, shareholders, addresses, SIC codes, and the decisions you'll make during registration. For a deeper read on the rules behind this check, our guide to choosing a UK company name covers the full normalisation logic, the sensitive words list, dissolved-company restoration risk, and trademark conflicts.