Comparison
Company data for Germany is available from very different sources – from the free commercial register to subscription sales platforms. Which one fits depends on what you are planning. Here you will find what each source delivers and where its limits lie, including those of our own offer.
As of 13 October 2026 · legal bases checked on 11 October 2026 · by Martin Adamec
In brief
| You want to … | Suitable source |
|---|---|
| Check individual business partners | The federal states’ joint register portal (commercial register) – free of charge and official. You do not need a list for this. |
| Estimate market size | Official statistics. The figure per industry is on our industry pages, the breakdown by federal state and size under Data. |
| Run a postal or phone campaign for a specific industry and region | One-off export or purchased list. Get the number of records with the field you need confirmed beforehand. |
| Ongoing prospecting with contact persons and CRM integration | Subscription sales platform. Check the term, quotas and export rights. |
| Newsletters or email marketing | No list solves this: email marketing requires the prior express consent of every recipient, businesses included (§ 7(2) no. 2 UWG). |
Scroll the table sideways.
| Source | What you get | Cost model | Strength | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial and company register | company name, legal form, registered office, business address, register court and number, authorised representatives, filed documents | register extracts and documents from the commercial register free of charge and without login (since 1 August 2022) | official and up to date; the right source for checking individual business partners | individual retrievals only (§ 9 HGB); the register portal’s terms of use prohibit systematic retrievals to build parallel registers. No phone numbers, email addresses, websites or industry codes; freelancers and small traders are generally missing. |
| Official statistics (Destatis, Eurostat) | number of businesses by industry, region and size | free of charge | the best basis for estimating the size of a market | aggregated figures only, no individual businesses |
| Official industry registers | licences and authorisations, for example in the intermediary register or the market master data register | mostly free of charge | shows authoritatively whether a particular business holds a licence | intended for look-ups, not as an address directory; some registers expressly prohibit use for advertising |
| Online business directories | entries created or paid for by the businesses themselves: name, address, often phone and website | search free of charge | good for finding individual suppliers in a region | completeness depends on who registers; whether and how data may be reused is governed by the directory’s terms of use |
| Subscription sales platforms | search interface with filters, often with contact persons, company key figures and CRM integration | usually a monthly or annual user licence, exports often via quotas or credits | for ongoing sales work with several users and a regular need for new target customers | terms and quotas tie you in; the contract governs what may be exported and reused |
| Address dealers and list brokers | ready-made lists by industry and region, to buy or rent | price per list or per address; with rental, use for agreed mailings | quickly available for postal campaigns | with rented addresses you often do not receive the data yourself – a mailing service provider does; source and data status are not always disclosed |
| Your own research on websites | legal notice details under § 5 DDG: name, address, email address, often phone | costs working time instead of money | you know exactly where each piece of information comes from | time-consuming beyond a few dozen businesses; for sole traders the details are personal data (GDPR) |
| One-off export by industry and region (how b2bkartei.de works) | a file with fixed columns (15 at b2bkartei.de), selected by industry, region and required fields | one-off price per selection, no subscription | you pay once for a clearly defined target group and work in your own Excel or CRM | no ongoing access; no contact persons; at b2bkartei.de the sources for Germany are still under legal review, and we state scope and price per request |
More on the official registers: German commercial register: which company data is public and Data sources and methodology. The industry registers for each industry are listed on the industry pages.
The detailed version with warning signs is in the guide Buying company addresses: what to check.
b2bkartei.de supplies company data as a one-off export by industry and region, with 15 fixed columns from register data to phone, email and website. That fits if you need a clearly defined target group once and then work with it yourself.
It does not fit if you are looking for contact persons with name and job title, research new target customers every day or want data updated directly in your CRM. Subscription platforms are built for that. And it does not fit email marketing without consent.
Good to know: we are currently having the sources for the German dataset legally reviewed. We therefore do not yet publish our own figures per industry; we state scope, data status and price for each request in the quote.
For individual look-ups, yes: register extracts and filed documents from the commercial register have been available free of charge and without login since 1 August 2022. But no official body provides a complete list with contact details that can be filtered by industry and region and downloaded, and the register portal’s terms of use prohibit building parallel registers from it.
Because prices and services change frequently and we are a provider ourselves. A comparison of competitors by us would not be neutral. This page therefore describes types of sources; with the checks in the guide Buying company addresses: what to check, you can compare specific offers yourself.
According to Destatis, 3,543,865 legal units in reference year 2024. Only units with a turnover of more than 22,000 euros or with employees are counted. No company database contains phone and email for every one of these businesses – so ask for the number of records with the field you need.
That depends on how often you need new target customers. For a single campaign or a clearly defined market, a one-off export is usually simpler: one price, one file. If you research daily, work with several users and need contact persons, a subscription platform will serve you better.
This page provides general guidance and does not replace legal advice.
Tell us the industry, region and the fields you need. We tell you what can be delivered and state the scope and price before you order.
