Official SAM.gov data · extract of
Free CAGE code lookup
A CAGE code is a five-character identifier assigned to suppliers of the U.S. government. Search 794,847 CAGE codes, or find any of 895,429 registered entities by company name — every field decoded into plain English.
What is a CAGE code?
A CAGE code is a five-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to suppliers of the United States government. CAGE stands for Commercial and Government Entity. It identifies one specific facility at one specific physical location — which is the detail most people miss. A CAGE code does not identify a company, it identifies a place, so a manufacturer with plants in three states holds three separate CAGE codes.
In the United States, CAGE codes are issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) through its CAGE Program office, and they are free to obtain. Nobody needs to pay a third-party service for one, and any site charging a fee to “register” your CAGE code is selling something you can get yourself at no cost.
The code appears across almost every part of federal procurement: in contract awards, in solicitations, in shipping and payment records, and inside National Stock Numbers (NSNs), where it identifies which supplier’s part number a stock item corresponds to. If your business sells to a federal agency, you will end up with one.
You generally do not apply for a CAGE code directly. When a United States entity completes an entity registration in SAM.gov, a CAGE code is requested and assigned automatically as part of that process. Entities outside the United States receive an NCAGE code instead, issued through the NATO codification system.
What does a CAGE code look like?
Five characters, with strict rules for each position. This is exactly what the validator above checks as you type.
The letters I and O are never used anywhere in a CAGE code. They are excluded because they are too easily confused with the digits 1 and 0 when a code is handwritten, faxed, or read aloud over a phone. If you have been given a code containing an I or an O, it has been transcribed wrong — and that is the most common reason a lookup returns nothing.
A CAGE code carries no hidden meaning.It is not a serial number, it does not encode the state or the industry, and a lower number does not mean an older company. The only thing the characters indicate is which country’s codification bureau issued it: United States codes open and close with a digit, while other NATO members follow different patterns — French codes, for example, begin with F or M.
If a lookup returns nothing, check the characters before assuming the code does not exist.
CAGE vs UEI vs DUNS vs NCAGE
Four identifiers, four different jobs. This is the most common point of confusion in federal contracting.
| Identifier | Issued by | Format | What it identifies | Current? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAGE | Defense Logistics Agency | 5 characters | A specific facility at a specific address | Yes |
| NCAGE | NATO / national bureaus | 5 characters | The same, for entities outside the U.S. | Yes |
| UEI | SAM.gov (U.S. government) | 12 characters | The legal entity registered in SAM.gov | Yes |
| DUNS | Dun & Bradstreet | 9 digits | A business in D&B’s commercial database | Retired for federal use |
The DUNS number was replaced by the UEI in April 2022 as the United States federal government’s entity identifier. If a form or an old guide is asking you for a DUNS number, it is out of date. The CAGE code was never replaced and still does its own separate job.
The clearest way to hold it in your head: the UEI identifies who you are, and the CAGE code identifies where you operate from. One company has one UEI. That same company can hold several CAGE codes, one per facility.
How do I get a CAGE code?
It is free, and for United States entities it happens as part of SAM.gov registration rather than as a separate application.
Gather your entity details
Collect your legal business name and physical address exactly as they appear on official records, your taxpayer identification number, and bank details for electronic payment. A mismatch between your legal name and your IRS records is the single most common cause of delay.
Register the entity in SAM.gov
Create an account at SAM.gov and complete a full entity registration. Registration is free, and you are assigned a Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) during this process.
The CAGE code request is raised automatically
For United States entities, completing the SAM.gov registration triggers a CAGE code request to the Defense Logistics Agency on your behalf. There is no separate application to file and no reason to pay a third party.
Wait for DLA validation
The Defense Logistics Agency verifies your entity details against external records before assigning the code. This is the step that takes time, so plan for it rather than assuming same-day turnaround.
Keep the registration current
A SAM.gov registration must be renewed annually or it lapses, and a lapsed registration makes an entity ineligible to receive federal contract awards. Set a reminder ahead of the expiry date.
CAGE status and type codes
Two single letters on the DLA record, and why the important one is already checked for you on every lookup.
A CAGE record maintained by the Defense Logistics Agency carries a status code and a type code, each a single letter. The status code describes whether the entity is still trading, and the type code describes what kind of supplier it is — a manufacturer, a distributor, a service provider, a government body, or a standards organisation.
The status code matters most. One value flags an entity as debarred, suspended, or proposed for debarment, which should stop a procurement decision immediately. That is exactly the check this site performs on every lookup — see the exclusion warning on any affected record — so you do not need to decode a letter by hand to get the answer.
These two codes live in the DLA’s own CAGE system rather than in the SAM.gov entity registration data, so they are not shown on the records here. For the authoritative list of values and their meanings, go to cage.dla.mil, the Defense Logistics Agency’s CAGE portal.
We publish decode tables only where we can verify them against an official source. The entity structure and registration purpose codes shown on each result come from SAM.gov’s own published data dictionary. We have not found an authoritative published table for the DLA status and type codes, so we do not reproduce one rather than risk repeating an error.
Why this data is different
Most free CAGE lookup tools serve a bulk database copy downloaded once and never refreshed. Some are more than a decade stale.
| This site | Typical free lookup tool | |
|---|---|---|
| Data source | Official SAM.gov public extract, kept current | A bulk file downloaded years ago |
| Freshness | Refreshed from the current SAM.gov extract | Often 2015–2020 vintage |
| Debarment check | Live federal exclusions flag on every record | Invisible unless it predates the extract |
| Codes decoded | Plain English, inline on the record | Bare letters, look them up yourself |
| Search by company name | Yes, ranked by relevance | Sometimes |
| Mobile experience | Built mobile-first | Desktop layout, shrunk |
| Login or cookie wall | None | Varies |
| Attribution | Source stated on every record | Frequently absent |
Frequently asked questions about CAGE codes
What is a CAGE code?
A CAGE code (Commercial and Government Entity code) is a five-character alphanumeric identifier assigned to suppliers of the United States government. It identifies one specific facility at one specific physical location, not a company as a whole. In the United States the first and last characters are always digits, and the letters I and O are never used.
How do I find a company’s CAGE code?
Search the company name using the Company name tab on this page. We query the official SAM.gov API live and return every matching registered facility. If a business operates from several locations, expect several CAGE codes — one per facility.
Is CAGE code lookup free?
Yes. Searching a CAGE code here is free, with no account, no login wall and no cookie gate. Obtaining a CAGE code from the Defense Logistics Agency is also free, and so is registering in SAM.gov. Any service charging a fee to "register" your CAGE code is charging for something you can do yourself at no cost.
Who issues CAGE codes?
In the United States, CAGE codes are issued by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) through its CAGE Program office. Entities outside the United States receive an NCAGE code instead, issued through the NATO codification system.
How do I get a CAGE code?
For a United States entity, you do not apply for a CAGE code separately. Completing a full entity registration at SAM.gov automatically raises a CAGE code request with the Defense Logistics Agency on your behalf. The DLA then validates your details against external records before assigning the code, which is the step that takes time.
How long does it take to get a CAGE code?
It is not instant. The Defense Logistics Agency validates your entity details against external records before assigning a code, and anything that needs correcting adds to the wait. The most common cause of delay is a mismatch between the legal business name in your SAM.gov registration and your IRS records. Do not plan a bid submission assuming a same-day code.
Can one company have more than one CAGE code?
Yes, and it is normal. A CAGE code identifies a facility, not a business, so a manufacturer with plants in three states holds three separate CAGE codes. This is why searching a large supplier by name returns a list of locations rather than a single result.
Why are the letters I and O never used in a CAGE code?
The letters I and O are excluded from every position because they are too easily confused with the digits 1 and 0 when a code is handwritten, faxed, or read aloud. If you have been given a CAGE code containing an I or an O, it has been transcribed incorrectly.
Does a CAGE code expire?
The code itself persists, but the registration behind it does not maintain itself. A SAM.gov registration must be renewed annually or it lapses, and a lapsed registration makes an entity ineligible to receive federal contract awards. Every lookup on this page shows the registration expiry date and how many days remain.
What is the difference between a CAGE code and a UEI?
A UEI (Unique Entity Identifier) is a 12-character code that identifies the legal entity registered in SAM.gov. A CAGE code is a 5-character code that identifies a physical facility. One company has one UEI but can hold several CAGE codes, one per location. The UEI replaced the DUNS number for United States federal use in April 2022.
What is the difference between CAGE and NCAGE?
They serve the same purpose in the same five-character format. CAGE codes are issued to United States entities by the Defense Logistics Agency, while NCAGE codes are issued to entities outside the United States through the NATO codification system. A foreign business registering to work with the United States government needs an NCAGE code. Around 36,900 of the registrations in the SAM.gov entity register are held by entities outside the United States, the largest groups being Canada, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan and Germany.
Why does my CAGE code start with a letter?
Because it is almost certainly an NCAGE code rather than a United States CAGE code. The rule that a code starts and ends with a digit applies only to codes issued in the United States. NCAGE codes issued through the NATO codification system follow different national patterns and can begin or end with a letter — R8212 in Denmark, 642HF in South Korea, 6194N in Austria and L0FP9 in Canada are all genuine examples. Around 32,500 codes in the register do not follow the United States pattern, and this site looks all of them up.
What is BINCS?
BINCS is the Business Identification Number Cross-Reference System, the Defense Logistics Agency’s own search tool for CAGE records. It is authoritative but the interface is dated. This site answers the same question against live SAM.gov data with fewer steps.
How do I know if a supplier is debarred?
Every lookup on this page checks the federal exclusions flag on the SAM.gov record and displays a prominent warning if the entity is debarred, suspended, or proposed for debarment. This is the main risk of using an old downloaded CAGE code list: a list extracted in 2015 cannot show you a debarment that happened afterwards.
Why can I not find a CAGE code I know exists?
There are four common reasons: the record is obsolete rather than active, the entity has set a no-public-display flag on its record, the registration has lapsed, or the code has been transcribed with an I in place of a 1 or an O in place of a 0. Check the characters first, since that is the most frequent cause.
Is this an official government website?
No. cagecodelookup.com is an independent tool that queries the official SAM.gov public Entity Management API. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by any United States government agency. For the authoritative record, go to SAM.gov directly.
How current is the data on this page?
Every record comes from the official SAM.gov public Entity Registration file extract, and the date of the extract in use is displayed on every result. SAM.gov publishes a new extract each month and this site is refreshed against it, so the data is current to within weeks rather than the years-old copies many free CAGE code tools still serve.