Comparison
If you need company data for France, you can choose between the Sirene open data, official search services, directories, subscription platforms, list brokers and one-off exports. This page compares the types of sources, not individual providers.
Updated: 4 November 2026 · sources checked on 4 November 2026 · by Martin Adamec
In brief
| You want to … | Suitable source |
|---|---|
| Check individual business partners | Annuaire des Entreprises or the Sirene database, searched by SIREN. You do not need a list for this. |
| Gauge market size | Official statistics. The figure per sector is on our industry pages, the breakdown by region under Data. |
| Enrich or clean customer data in your CRM | Sirene for identifiers and NAF codes, plus a one-off export for the contact details businesses publish themselves. |
| A B2B email campaign for one sector and region | One-off export with the email field as a required field, used within the CNIL framework: offer related to the recipient’s profession, simple unsubscribe link (CNIL). |
| Territory planning for field sales | One-off export with department and postcode, plus the official figures per region for comparison. |
| Marketing to consumers | No business file solves this: consumers must have given prior consent, and our files contain no consumer data. |
The table can be scrolled sideways.
| Source | What you get | Cost model | Strength | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sirene database (INSEE) | SIREN and SIRET, name, legal form, NAF code, size band, address of each establishment, creation date | free bulk download as open data under the Licence Ouverte 2.0 (data.gouv.fr), updated monthly | the official reference for identifiers and activity codes of all businesses | no phone numbers, email addresses or websites; for units that have objected, name and address are not published (restricted publication, INSEE) |
| Annuaire des Entreprises and API Recherche d’entreprises | company profile by SIREN with directors, VAT number and other public data | free search; the API is free and needs no key, limited to 7 calls per second (API Recherche d’entreprises) | the right tool for checking individual business partners | made for lookups, not lists; no contact details; units with restricted publication are not returned |
| Official statistics (INSEE, Eurostat) | number of businesses, local units, creations and failures by sector and region | free of charge | the best basis for estimating the size of a market | aggregate figures only, no individual businesses |
| Online business directories | entries created or booked by businesses: name, address, often phone and website | free search | good for finding individual providers in a town | completeness depends on who signs up; the directory’s terms of use govern any reuse of the data |
| Subscription sales platforms | search interface with filters, often with contact persons, financial figures and CRM integration | usually a monthly or yearly user licence, exports often limited by quotas | for ongoing sales work with several users | terms and quotas tie you in; the contract governs what may be exported and reused |
| List brokers (rented lists) | ready-made lists by sector and region, to buy or to rent | price per list or per thousand addresses; rented lists only for agreed mailings | quickly available for a single campaign | with rented lists you often do not receive the data yourself; source and date are not always stated |
| Your own research on websites | contact pages and legal notices: name, address, email address, often phone and SIREN | costs working time instead of money | you know exactly where each detail comes from | laborious beyond a few dozen businesses; for sole traders the details are personal data (GDPR) |
| One-off export by sector and region (how firmdata.fr works) | one file with fixed columns (15 at firmdata.fr), selected by sector, 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; records are not yet assigned to sectors and SIREN matching is in progress, the quote states scope and the date of the data |
More on the official registers: Sirene, SIREN and SIRET: what is public and data sources and methodology. The registers per sector are listed on the industry pages.
The detailed version is in the guide Buying French company data: what to check.
firmdata.fr supplies company data as a one-off export by sector and region, with 15 fixed columns from SIREN and VAT number to address, phone, email and website. This fits if you need a clearly defined target group once for CRM, B2B prospecting, postal mailings, market analysis or territory planning and continue working with it yourself.
It does not fit if you are looking for named contact persons and their roles, research new prospects every day or want data updated continuously in your CRM. Subscription platforms are built for that. Nor does it fit marketing to consumers.
Good to know: our records come from Overture Maps and from company websites, whose collection continues; matching with the Sirene database (SIREN, NAF code, legal form) is in progress. The measured status is shown on the database status page, and the price for exporting a whole sector under Pricing. We state the scope, the date of the data and price of an individual selection in the quote.
Yes: INSEE publishes the Sirene database as open data under the Licence Ouverte 2.0, free and downloadable in bulk. It covers 16,833,577 active legal units on 1 November 2026, including sole traders, property companies (SCI) and associations. What it lacks are contact details: no phone number, email address or website.
Because prices and services change often 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 checklist in the guide Buying French company data: what to check you can compare specific offers yourself.
It depends on what is counted. Eurostat counts 5,445,577 businesses in industry, construction and market services in 2024; INSEE counts 5,178,283 businesses in 2023 in the market sectors excluding agriculture and finance. The Sirene database lists 16,833,577 active legal units because it also contains property companies, associations and inactive sole traders. No company file contains a phone number and email for every business, so ask for the number of records with the field you need.
It depends on how often you need new data. For a single campaign, a CRM data match or territory planning, 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 suits you better.
This page provides general guidance and is not legal advice.
Name the sector, region, the fields you need and the intended use. We tell you what can be delivered and state scope and price before you order.
