---
updatedAt: 2026-10-29T18:58:58.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://data.crunchbase.com/llms.txt
---

# Find similar companies

Start with a company and retrieve ranked similarity matches.

<div class="cb-playbook-pilot" aria-hidden="true"></div>

## Before you begin

Your API key must include the fields and collections requested below. Check <a href="https://data.crunchbase.com/docs/api-packages-overview" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">your API package</a> if an endpoint or field is unavailable. Complete <a href="https://data.crunchbase.com/docs/make-your-first-api-request" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">your first API request</a> 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

<div class="cb-pilot-goal">
      <b>Goal:</b> Retrieve ranked organizations similar to a known company, including any available reasons for the matches.
    </div>

## About Crunchbase Competitors

Crunchbase Competitors endpoint (org\_similarity in the API) 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** - The shared industries the two companies operate in
* **Location\_overlap** - Shared geography, down to the region level (city, region, country)
* **Product\_similarities** - Overlapping products that make the two companies compete
* **Additional\_reasons** - which identifies overlap in global markets

Together, these signals help GTM teams understand not only who a company competes with, but why they compete.

<span id="step-1"></span> <span id="find-your-source-companys-uuid"></span>

## 1. Find the source company’s UUID

Retrieve an organization UUID for an existing customer, recently closed opportunity, or target account. Use it to find similar organizations in Step 2.

### Endpoint

`POST https://api.crunchbase.com/v4/data/searches/organizations`

<Accordion title="API reference and guides" icon="fa-info-circle">
  <ul>
    <li><a href="https://data.crunchbase.com/reference/searchorganizations-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Search organizations</a></li>
  </ul>
</Accordion>

<span id="key-fields-for-this-query"></span>

### Fields used in this query

<div class="cb-mobile-table" role="region" aria-label="Fields used in this query — scroll horizontally to view all columns" tabIndex={0}>

| 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 is will go into your query) | `domain_blank`; `domain_eq`; `domain_includes`; `not_domain_eq`; `not_domain_includes` |

</div>

<p class="cb-mobile-table-hint">Scroll to view all columns →</p>

### Resolve the source company

Run this request to resolve the source company:

```bash
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": [
        "writer.com"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "limit": 3
}'
```

Inspect the matches and select the intended company. Copy its organization UUID into the `source` predicate in the following step; do not substitute a display name.

<span id="step-2"></span> <span id="find-competitors-for-the-source-company"></span>

## 2. Find similar companies

### Endpoint

`POST https://api.crunchbase.com/v4/data/searches/org_similarities`

<Accordion title="API reference and guides" icon="fa-info-circle">
  <ul>
    <li><a href="https://data.crunchbase.com/reference/searchorgsimilarities" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Search organization similarities</a></li>
  </ul>
</Accordion>

<span id="sample-query"></span>

### Run the request

Run this query with Writer’s UUID (`a3674669-6d9e-4f70-895f-3c8c99bcb7ad`) to find competing companies for adjacent-account research:

```bash
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",
    "category_overlap",
    "location_overlap",
    "product_similarities",
    "additional_reasons"
  ],
  "query": [
    {
      "operator_id": "includes",
      "type": "predicate",
      "field_id": "source",
      "values": [
        "a3674669-6d9e-4f70-895f-3c8c99bcb7ad"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "order": [
    {
      "sort": "desc",
      "field_id": "score"
    }
  ],
  "limit": 3
}'
```

<span id="response"></span>

### 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.

The response returns a list of organizations that compete with the target company, Writer — providing underlying reasons why and the score of how competitive (or in this case, similar as you find adjacent opportunities) to identify net-new prospect accounts and prioritize outreach based on shared products, markets, and business characteristics.

*The response below illustrates the competitor matches returned for Writer.*

```json
{
  "count": 12,
  "entities": [
    {
      "uuid": "5e81b73c-5e05-4e35-bcba-6fb601aeff14",
      "properties": {
        "category_overlap": [
          {
            "permalink": "foundational-ai",
            "image_id": "fd41cd7328c54618aeda4f9e3f0d45ef",
            "uuid": "35c06bd3-3e46-44d3-a205-e16c45c40c4c",
            "entity_def_id": "category",
            "value": "Foundational AI"
          },
          {
            "permalink": "agentic-ai-17fa",
            "image_id": "b8046d3bdcdf4b3fad3ceeb7a860acb7",
            "uuid": "400037b5-8546-4a2c-98e1-7e7a165957dd",
            "entity_def_id": "category",
            "value": "Agentic AI"
          },
          {
            "permalink": "natural-language-processing",
            "image_id": "81cfc38feb1a47878d8b160476c4144a",
            "uuid": "789bbbef-c46e-1532-a68d-f17da87090ea",
            "entity_def_id": "category",
            "value": "Natural Language Processing"
          },
          {
            "permalink": "generative-ai",
            "image_id": "c1ecf22becf54352901f6583f1d7ad49",
            "uuid": "8314a534-8f18-4ee0-869b-05bc6e46258e",
            "entity_def_id": "category",
            "value": "Generative AI"
          },
          {
            "permalink": "artificial-intelligence",
            "image_id": "930c72a5a7b544999596ac1c0dc8b549",
            "uuid": "c4d8caf3-5fe7-359b-f9f2-2d708378e4ee",
            "entity_def_id": "category",
            "value": "Artificial Intelligence (AI)"
          }
        ],
        "source": {
          "permalink": "writer",
          "image_id": "jqgtyt2qclr1ikl5mpjv",
          "uuid": "a3674669-6d9e-4f70-895f-3c8c99bcb7ad",
          "entity_def_id": "organization",
          "value": "Writer"
        },
        "identifier": {
          "uuid": "5e81b73c-5e05-4e35-bcba-6fb601aeff14",
          "entity_def_id": "org_similarity",
          "value": "Writer competes with OpenAI"
        },
        "additional_reasons": [
          "global_location_overlap"
        ],
        "score": 100,
        "product_similarities": [
          {
            "entity_def_id": "product_similarity",
            "uuid": "b77db926-9fd0-4a5d-b0a8-37895215067b",
            "value": "WRITER End-to-End Agent Builder Platform is similar to Responses API"
          }
        ],
        "location_overlap": [
          {
            "entity_def_id": "location",
            "permalink": "california-united-states",
            "uuid": "eb879a83-c91a-121e-0bb8-829782dbcf04",
            "value": "California"
          },
          {
            "entity_def_id": "location",
            "permalink": "north-america",
            "uuid": "b25caef9-a1b8-3a5d-6232-93b2dfb6a1d1",
            "value": "North America"
          },
          {
            "entity_def_id": "location",
            "permalink": "united-states",
            "uuid": "f110fca2-1055-99f6-996d-011c198b3928",
            "value": "United States"
          }
        ],
        "target": {
          "permalink": "openai",
          "image_id": "jjykwqqhsscreywea4gb",
          "uuid": "cf2c678c-b81a-80c3-10d1-9c5e76448e51",
          "entity_def_id": "organization",
          "value": "OpenAI"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
```

<span id="outcome"></span>

### Interpret the response

<Cards><Card title="Inspect the matched organization and supporting fields" icon="fa-solid fa-clipboard-list">In the illustrative response, `properties.source` identifies Writer and `properties.target` identifies OpenAI. The relationship has a `score` of 100 and includes `category_overlap`, `location_overlap`, `product_similarities`, and `additional_reasons`.</Card></Cards>

Use `properties.target.uuid` to look up a matched company. Review the available overlap fields against your account criteria before adding it to a prospect list; a similarity match does not establish sales qualification.

## 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 <a href="https://data.crunchbase.com/docs/paginate-search-results" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">search pagination</a> while preserving the filters and ordering. For request failures, use <a href="https://data.crunchbase.com/docs/api-essentials#request-limits-and-retries" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the shared request and retry guidance</a>.