How to search the Colombia company registry (NIT lookup).
The official, free tools to check one company in Colombia, what each returns, the NIT format, and how to get every company at once.
Official lookup tools
RUES (Registro Único Empresarial y Social)
- Run by
- Confecámaras and the chambers of commerce
- Search by
- name, NIT or registration number (matrícula)
- What you get
- legal name, NIT, registration status, chamber of commerce, CIIU activity code
- Address
www.rues.org.co
Links checked on 2026-11-10. The sites are in Spanish or Portuguese.
The RUES is the chambers' shared register. The official certificate of existence and legal representation is issued by the chamber where the company is registered, and the tax registration (RUT) is the DIAN's.
The NIT format
Companies have a 9-digit NIT plus a check digit (written 900.123.456-7). Enter it in the RUES without dots and without the check digit.
Every company at once
The lookups answer "does this company exist, and is it active?" one company at a time. For market sizing, territory planning or a prospect list you need the whole register, filtered by industry and department: Colombia company data shows the counts by sector and department for free, with a 25-row sample, built from the RUES + Supersociedades (datos.gov.co).
Questions
How do I look up a company in Colombia?
Start with RUES (Registro Único Empresarial y Social), run by Confecámaras and the chambers of commerce: it is free and needs no account. The table lists what it returns.
What is the NIT format?
Companies have a 9-digit NIT plus a check digit (written 900.123.456-7). Enter it in the RUES without dots and without the check digit.
Can I get a list of all companies in Colombia?
Not from the lookup tools, which return one company at a time. LatSouth publishes counts by sector and department and sells the full file in English, built from the RUES + Supersociedades (datos.gov.co).
Other countries
All of Colombia's companies, not one at a time.
Counts by sector and department, a free sample and the full file in English.