BIN Lookup Tool
Enter the first 6 digits of a card to identify the issuing bank, brand, card level and country. Runs entirely in your browser against a database of 374,788 BIN ranges; nothing is sent to a server.
How this tool works
A BIN lookup takes the first six to eight digits of a card number and returns what they identify: the issuing bank, the card brand, the product type, the card category, the country of issue and the allocation range the prefix sits in. It reads a public allocation table, so it contacts nobody and authorises nothing. Every card beginning with the same six digits returns the same answer, because the digits are not part of the account.
The dataset behind it covers 374,788 prefixes across 225 countries, 71 card brands and 18,372 issuing institutions, built from a published open source and enriched. The lookup resolves locally in the browser when the prefix is already in the loaded chunk, and falls back to the keyless REST endpoint otherwise, so the same answer is available with or without a network round trip.
What a lookup returns
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Prefix | 424242 |
| Issuer | STRIPE PAYMENTS UK, LTD. |
| Brand | VISA |
| Type | CREDIT |
| Category | CLASSIC |
| Country | GB |
The prefix identifies the issuer and the product, not the cardholder. Every card issued under that prefix shares these values.
When to use it
- Check a listing against the public record of who issued the card it names
- Display the issuing bank on a checkout or an account page
- Enrich a set of records with brand, type and country in one pass
- Route a transaction on the network named by the brand
- Sanity-check data quality in a set of card records
Frequently asked questions
How do I look up a BIN?
Enter the first six digits of the card number. The tool searches the open dataset locally and returns the issuer, brand, type, category and country, and falls back to the API if the prefix is not in the loaded data.
What does a BIN lookup tell me?
Who issued the card, which network carries it, whether it is credit, debit, prepaid or commercial, what category of product it is, and which country issued it.
Does a BIN lookup tell me if a card is valid or has funds?
No. It reads a public allocation table. Whether the account exists, is active, has funds or has been reported can only come from the issuer, and only through a transaction.
How current is the data?
It is a snapshot of the published source, not a live query against the issuer. BIN allocations change when issuers reorganise portfolios, so a prefix can be reassigned. The method and its limits are set out on the data sources page.
Why does a lookup sometimes not find a prefix?
The prefix may be allocated after the snapshot, or it may be a typo. An unknown prefix means unknown, not invalid.
Is there an API for this?
Yes, a keyless REST endpoint. GET /api/bin/424242 returns the same fields as one JSON object, and GET /api/bulk takes a list of prefixes. The specification is at /openapi.json.
Can I bulk look up prefixes?
Yes. The batch lookup tool resolves many at once, and the API has a bulk endpoint for the same purpose.