Comparison
If you need company data for Austria, you can choose between official registers, directories, subscription platforms, address publishers and one-off exports. This page compares the types of sources, not individual providers.
Updated: 25 October 2026 · legal bases checked on 25 October 2026 · by Martin Adamec
In brief
| You want to … | Suitable source |
|---|---|
| Check individual business partners | Firmenbuch and GISA, searched individually. You do not need a list for this. |
| Gauge market size | Official statistics. The figure per industry is on our industry pages, the breakdown by federal state under Data. |
| Enrich or clean customer data in your CRM | One-off export with register number, VAT number and address, matched against your records. |
| A postal mailing for one industry and region | One-off export or a list from an address publisher. Ask for confirmation of the number of records with a complete address. |
| Territory planning for field sales | One-off export with district and postcode, plus the official figure per federal state for comparison. |
| Newsletters, email or telephone marketing | No list solves this: marketing emails and marketing calls require prior consent in Austria, also towards businesses (§ 174 TKG 2021). |
The table can be scrolled sideways.
| Source | What you get | Cost model | Strength | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firmenbuch (company register) | register number, company name, legal form, registered office and business address, line of business, authorised representatives | individual searches, for example via JustizOnline; a short summary must be offered free of charge, the full register extract is subject to a fee | official; the right source for checking individual business partners | individual searches for everyone, bulk and change queries only under a licence from the Ministry of Justice (§ 34 FBG). No phone numbers or email addresses; unregistered sole traders are missing. |
| GISA (trade licence register) | licence holder, wording of the trade licence, location, start and end of the licence | free online search | shows whether a business has registered a particular trade; also covers sole traders | each search must relate to a single person or business (§ 365e GewO); no contact details, no liberal professions |
| Official statistics (Statistics Austria, Eurostat) | number of businesses, employees, births and deaths of enterprises by industry and federal state | free of charge, open data partly under CC BY 4.0 | the best basis for estimating the size of a market | aggregate figures only, no individual businesses |
| WKO Firmen A–Z | members of the Austrian Economic Chambers with name, location and licences, contact details where provided voluntarily | free search | extensive directory of commercial businesses, useful for looking up individual firms | liberal professions without chamber membership are largely missing; the terms of use govern whether and how data may be reused |
| Online business directories | entries that businesses created or booked themselves: name, address, often phone and website | free search | good for finding individual providers in a region | 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, credit or company 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 |
| Address publishers and list brokers | ready-made lists by industry and region, to buy or rent | price per list or per address; rented lists for agreed mailings only | quickly available for postal mailings | regulated trade under § 151 GewO with a Robinson list; with rented lists often only a mailing house receives the data |
| Your own research on websites | details under § 5 ECG and § 14 UGB: name, address, email address, often phone, register number | 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 industry and region (how kontaktdatenbank.at works) | one file with fixed columns (15 at kontaktdatenbank.at), selected by industry, federal state 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; the records are not yet assigned to industries, the quote states scope and data status |
More on the official registers: Firmenbuch and GISA: which data are public and data sources and methodology. The registers per industry are listed on the industry pages.
The detailed version is in the guide Buying company addresses in Austria.
kontaktdatenbank.at supplies company data as a one-off export by industry and region, with 15 fixed columns from register number and VAT number to address, phone and website. This fits if you need a clearly defined target group once for CRM, 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 emails or marketing calls without consent.
Good to know: our database relies on one source so far (Overture Maps) and further sources will be added. The counted status is shown on the database status page, and the price for exporting a whole industry under Pricing. We state the scope, data status and price of an individual selection in the quote.
For individual searches, yes: the GISA search is free, and a free short summary is provided for the Firmenbuch. However, no public authority provides a complete list with contact details that can be filtered by industry and region and downloaded. Bulk queries of the Firmenbuch require a licence, and GISA searches must relate to individual businesses.
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 company addresses in Austria you can compare specific offers yourself.
According to Statistics Austria, 628,058 businesses in industry, construction, trade and market services in 2024, excluding agriculture and forestry and public administration. The WKO Firmen A–Z directory listed 630,224 entries on 25 October 2026. No company database 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 mailing, 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 industry, region, the fields you need and the intended use. We tell you what can be delivered and state scope and price before you order.
