Explore competitor relationships
Inspect ranked company matches and available similarity reasons.
Before you begin
Your API key must include the fields and collections requested below. Check your API package if an endpoint or field is unavailable. Complete your first API request to set CRUNCHBASE_API_KEY in bash or zsh. Commands below include response headers; look for HTTP 200, then read the JSON body.
Primary APIs: Organization Search and Organization Similarity Search
About Crunchbase Competitors
Crunchbase's Competitors endpoint (org_similarity) identifies a company's closest competitors and explains the signals behind each competitive relationship.
- Competitive Score — How closely the two organizations resemble one another
- Category Overlap — Shared industries and market categories
- Location Overlap — Shared geographic presence
- Product Similarities — Overlapping products and offerings
- Additional Reasons — Which identifies whether they overlap in global markets
1. Find the source company’s UUID
Retrieve the organization UUID for a portfolio company or potential investment. Use it as the source for the competitor lookup in Step 2.
Endpoint
POST https://api.crunchbase.com/v4/data/searches/organizations
API reference and guides
Fields used in this query
| field_id | What this field does | operator_id (these are the compatible operators per field) |
|---|---|---|
uuid | Crunchbase’s Unique Identifier (this is what’s being returned). | blank; eq; includes; not_eq; not_includes |
website_url | Use this field_id to search for your source company by its domain/website (this will go into your query) | domain_blank; domain_eq; domain_includes; not_domain_eq; not_domain_includes |
Scroll to view all columns →
Run the request
Find Fiveonefour by its website, inspect the match, and copy its organization UUID into the source filter in Step 2.
curl --include --request POST \
--url 'https://api.crunchbase.com/v4/data/searches/organizations' \
--header "X-cb-user-key: $CRUNCHBASE_API_KEY" \
--header 'Accept: application/json' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"field_ids": [
"identifier",
"website_url"
],
"query": [
{
"field_id": "website_url",
"operator_id": "domain_eq",
"type": "predicate",
"values": [
"www.fiveonefour.com/"
]
}
],
"limit": 3
}'
Example response
Response examples below are historical, shortened JSON samples; search samples show one entity and card samples show at most one record per card. Other fields or records may be omitted. Counts and values change; count is the total matching records, while entities contains the returned page.
{
"count": 1,
"entities": [
{
"uuid": "2d44d8e3-d7cb-4983-9a35-f78060dffe9c",
"properties": {
"website_url": "https://www.fiveonefour.com/",
"identifier": {
"permalink": "fiveonefour",
"image_id": "aa125f087c634b89a8fe2892033f28ec",
"uuid": "2d44d8e3-d7cb-4983-9a35-f78060dffe9c",
"entity_def_id": "organization",
"value": "Fiveonefour"
},
"uuid": "2d44d8e3-d7cb-4983-9a35-f78060dffe9c"
}
}
]
}
Interpret the response
The example returns Fiveonefour with organization UUID 2d44d8e3-d7cb-4983-9a35-f78060dffe9c. After confirming the website and organization match your intended company, use its UUID in the Step 2 source filter.
2. Find competitors and similar organizations
Use the target company's UUID to retrieve a ranked list of competitors along with the signals behind each competitive relationship.
Endpoint
POST https://api.crunchbase.com/v4/data/searches/org_similarities
API reference and guides
Fields used in this query
| field_id | What this field does | operator_id (these are the compatible operators per field) |
|---|---|---|
source | The company whose competitors you want to find. Filter by its UUID | blank; contains; eq; includes; not_contains; not_eq; not_includes; starts |
target | The competitor (similar company) returned for the source. | blank; contains; eq; includes; not_contains; not_eq; not_includes; starts |
score | The similarity score for the match. Use it to rank or threshold competitors. | between; blank; eq; gt; gte; lt; lte; not_eq |
category_overlap | The shared industries the two companies operate in. | blank; includes; includes_all; not_includes; not_includes_all |
location_overlap | Shared geography, down to the region level (city, region, country) | blank; includes; includes_all; not_includes; not_includes_all |
product_similarities | Overlapping products that make the two companies compete | blank; includes; includes_all; not_includes; not_includes_all |
additional_reasons | Currently only flags when the overlap is global (more additional reasons are on our product roadmap) | Not currently queryable. |
Scroll to view all columns →
The response returns a ranked list of organizations that compete with the target company, each with a competitive score and supporting signals when returned: category overlap, location overlap, product similarities, and additional reasons. Investors can use the score to prioritize where to focus diligence and the signals to defend the why.
curl --include --request POST \
--url 'https://api.crunchbase.com/v4/data/searches/org_similarities' \
--header "X-cb-user-key: $CRUNCHBASE_API_KEY" \
--header 'Accept: application/json' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"field_ids": [
"source",
"target",
"score",
"identifier",
"category_overlap",
"location_overlap",
"product_similarities",
"additional_reasons"
],
"query": [
{
"field_id": "source",
"operator_id": "eq",
"type": "predicate",
"values": [
"2d44d8e3-d7cb-4983-9a35-f78060dffe9c"
]
}
],
"order": [
{
"field_id": "score",
"sort": "desc"
}
],
"limit": 3
}'
Example response
{
"count": 11,
"entities": [
{
"uuid": "b6570d4b-33d2-4dd7-952a-11b90bd7df72",
"properties": {
"category_overlap": [
{
"permalink": "analytics",
"image_id": "ca9c73c2692e4557924ec8ed54c34083",
"uuid": "99c5404c-0ff5-8ee5-d334-4b944ddb8cd9",
"entity_def_id": "category",
"value": "Analytics"
},
{
"permalink": "software",
"image_id": "f137af6adb1a4170908597d523483c13",
"uuid": "c08b5441-a05b-9777-b7a6-012728caddd9",
"entity_def_id": "category",
"value": "Software"
}
],
"source": {
"permalink": "fiveonefour",
"image_id": "aa125f087c634b89a8fe2892033f28ec",
"uuid": "2d44d8e3-d7cb-4983-9a35-f78060dffe9c",
"entity_def_id": "organization",
"value": "Fiveonefour"
},
"identifier": {
"uuid": "b6570d4b-33d2-4dd7-952a-11b90bd7df72",
"entity_def_id": "org_similarity",
"value": "Fiveonefour competes with Evidence"
},
"score": 97.0,
"product_similarities": [
{
"entity_def_id": "product_similarity",
"uuid": "1e700a04-4e65-46a9-b1f8-0e68fb25d76e",
"value": "Moose is similar to Open Source Framework"
}
],
"target": {
"permalink": "evidence-1cfc",
"image_id": "jksqcivnsmajx29z3aa3",
"uuid": "893bf234-3e1c-4476-94ab-83e4b1fe1cfc",
"entity_def_id": "organization",
"value": "Evidence"
}
}
}
]
}
Interpret the response
The illustrative response identifies Fiveonefour as properties.source and Evidence as properties.target, with a score of 97. It includes category_overlap and product_similarities. Inspect those returned reasons, then use properties.target.uuid to research Evidence. Other matches may return different supporting fields.
Check your result
The first request should identify your intended organization. In the similarity response, source.uuid should match that organization; use target.uuid to identify the peer company. A similarity record UUID identifies the relationship, not the peer. Inspect the returned overlap fields before treating a match as relevant.
Search requests here use limit: 3 for a small first page. For a complete result set, follow search pagination while preserving the filters and ordering. For request failures, use the shared request and retry guidance.
Updated 14 days ago