Every row below is a data point or function a user can actually rely on when checking a company. We list what each service provides, and what it does not.
How to read this grid: tick = included. amber dash = partial or paid tier only. cross = not offered. Details under each mark come from the providers' own published material and our own audits, with dates at the foot of the page.
| Data function | Black Flag Alertfree for everyone | Company Watchpaid plans | RedFlag Alertpaid subscription |
|---|---|---|---|
| Risk scoring | |||
| Headline risk scoreThe number you act on | YesR-Score 0 to 100, plus a Risk Rating of 1 to 10 with plain band labels. | YesH-Score 0 to 100, plus a colour-coded risk rating. | YesCategories, not numbers: Gold, Silver, Bronze, then one to three red flags. |
| Score breakdownSee why the score is what it is | YesThree components with published weights: Profit 42%, Assets 38%, Funding 20%. Every ratio explained in plain English. | PartialH-Score factors shown, but the formula is proprietary. | NoSingle composite score. The breakdown field exists but is locked behind premium tiers. |
| Event overrideA winding-up petition beats healthy accounts | YesAn active winding-up petition forces Risk Rating 10, whatever the accounts say. | NoH-Score is purely financial. Petition data sits in separate Gold-tier feeds. | YesDetrimental events force the three-red-flag rating. |
| 5-year score trend | YesCharted per company with a warning threshold. | PartialHistorical H-Score available in reports. | NoCurrent rating only. |
| Recommended credit limit | YesFigure plus a plain-English credit recommendation. | YesCredit and contract limits, from Bronze tier. | YesCredit limit and a separate credit score. |
| Company financials | |||
| Filed accounts depth | 5 yearsTurnover, operating profit, PBT, net assets and staff per year, direct from Companies House iXBRL. | YesFull financial statement explorer as a paid add-on. | PartialRatios surfaced, not the full filed figures. |
| Ratio breadth | 9 ratios × 5 yearsROCE, RONW, margins, leverage, interest cover, current ratio, cash coverage, each with an explanation. | YesRatio analytics around the H-Score. | 27 ratiosWide set, including per-employee measures. |
| Sector benchmarking | YesCash vs sector peers: percentile against thousands of same-sector companies. | YesIndustry percentile positioning. | No |
| Data quality indicator | YesPer company: how many metrics were usable, scored out of 100. We show our confidence, not just the result. | No | No |
| Court and insolvency events | |||
| County Court Judgements | DailyChecked daily from HMCTS records, shown on the company page. | NoNot listed in current plans. | Yes |
| Winding-up petitions | DailyFrom The Gazette, checked daily, overrides the score. | Gold tierIncludes unadvertised petitions and applications. | Yes |
| Tax tribunal decisionsHMRC wins at FTT/UT: tax debts before they reach the Gazette | YesDaily feed of First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal tax decisions, matched to company numbers. Shows HMRC wins, amounts and tax type, months before any Gazette or Companies House record. Example: an adjudicated £320k unpaid-VAT finding shows on our company page the day the judgment publishes, while the company still reads “Active” everywhere else. | NoNot in their published input list (CCJs, petitions, charges, filings, director histories). | NoTheir published 90-signal monitoring list (CCJs, Gazette, HM Courts, insolvency events) contains no tax-decision signal. |
| Strike-off and Gazette notices | YesFirst Gazette notices and proposals to strike off, dated, in the credit events table. | NoNot listed in current plans. | YesTracked as detrimental events. |
| Fraud and supply-chain risk | |||
| Import risk profileHMRC border data: what a company actually imports, decoded | YesHMRC’s own published border data, matched to the register. Every profiled company shows its import basket in plain English, plus flags for importing young, importing while accounts are overdue, or importing goods that do not match its declared SIC business activity. | NoNot listed in current plans or their published data-source list. | NoTheir published signal list contains no border-data or import signal. |
| Import/SIC mismatch flagcompany imports goods unrelated to its declared business | YesA taxi firm importing cosmetics. A waste-remediation firm importing phone parts. When the border record contradicts the declared business, the page shows the factual record. | No | No |
| Directors, ownership and identity | |||
| Phoenix director detection | YesNames directors who previously served on companies that later failed, with the companies listed and verifiable. | Gold tierEnhanced directorships data, Gold only. | No |
| Ownership structure | YesPSC data with a visual ownership map and control breakdown. | No | No |
| VAT number | VerifiedChecked against HMRC, with the verification date shown. | YesFrom Bronze tier. | No |
| Registered charges and mortgages | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Monitoring and workflow | |||
| Email alerts on risk changes | FreeWith a free account. | YesFrom Bronze tier. | YesMonitoring is their core product. |
| PDF reports | Free | YesSnapshot reports plus Excel export. | Yes |
| SI Agentic Search | YesAsk in plain English, get matching companies across the whole register. | No | No |
| Data access and integration | |||
| API | Free trialSelf-serve, no card. 100 calls and 20 contact lookups per rolling 24 hours. | YesAPI, scoring gateway and BigQuery access. | YesGraphQL API with paid access. |
| AI agent integration (MCP) | YesWorks inside Claude, Cursor and Windsurf. | No | No |
| Warehouse access (BigQuery) | No | YesDirect dataset access for enterprise users. | No |
| Coverage | 5.1m searchableEvery England and Wales company, around 3.4m scored. Scotland and Northern Ireland not covered. | UK-wideCount not published. | ~3.5m ratedTheir claimed figure. |
Prices as published or audited on the dates shown at the foot of the page.
Sources. Black Flag Alert: live product, August 2026. RedFlag Alert: our own audit of their platform and API, March 2026; their website blocks automated access, so current-page verification was not possible. Company Watch: their public plans page, 18 August 2026. Where a cell says a feature sits in a paid tier, that comes from the provider's own plan list.