Camille is launching her consulting business and wants to reach out to industrial SMEs in her region. She types "list of French companies" into her search engine and is met with dozens of results: free directories, paid files costing hundreds of euros, official registers with obscure names (Sirene, RNE, BODACC). Before spending a single euro, she asks herself the right question: what exactly is a company database, and where does this data actually come from?
It's a more fundamental question than it appears. Understanding what a company database is, where its official sources are, what falls under open data and what counts as personal data will help you avoid both paying for publicly available information and running afoul of GDPR. This guide sets out the definitions, maps out the French official sources, and explains how to build a reliable, up-to-date list.
Definition: what is a company database?
A company database is a structured collection of information describing legal entities and their establishments: business name, identification number (SIREN, SIRET), address, industry sector, legal form, directors, and sometimes contact details. Each company is a record, queryable by filters (geographic area, activity code, size).
In practice, a company database answers questions like "which businesses operate in a given sector, in a given city, under a given legal form?" There are two broad categories: official administrative registers, which record the legal existence of companies (and which the French government makes available for free), and commercial prospecting files, which add contact data for outreach purposes. The former is a source; the latter is a derivative. This distinction is the key to not confusing a company database with a simple "purchased file."
A company database is also measured by its freshness. Businesses are created, relocated, or dissolved every day. A database frozen at a given moment quickly becomes stale; one connected to a daily-updated source remains reliable. That is why the question "where does the data come from?" always matters more than "how many rows are there?"
Where does the data come from? The four official French sources
In France, the vast majority of company data comes from four official public sources, all freely accessible as open data: INSEE's Sirene database, INPI's National Register of Businesses (RNE), the data.gouv.fr portal, and the BODACC. These are the "primary" sources from which most directories you encounter online are derived — including those that charge you for access.
The Sirene database, managed by INSEE (France's national statistics institute), is the foundation. It provides access to data covering nearly 25 million businesses and 36 million establishments registered since 1973, updated daily and distributed for free (INSEE, 2026). It contains company identity, activity code (APE), standardized address, and workforce size band. It has been distributed as open data since January 2017 (INSEE, 2026), available either as a full download or via API.
The National Register of Businesses (RNE), operated by INPI (France's national industrial property institute), complements Sirene on the legal side. Mandatory since January 1, 2023, it replaces the RNCS, the trades directory, and the agricultural operators register, and freely distributes public data in JSON format (INPI, 2026): legal form, share capital, directors, and annual accounts. The BODACC (Official Gazette of Civil and Commercial Notices) publishes company lifecycle events (incorporations, changes, insolvency proceedings); its data is freely reusable under an open licence. Finally, data.gouv.fr is the platform centralizing French government open data, including company data — more than 70,000 datasets are indexed there.
The Annuaire des Entreprises: the free official public gateway
If you want to look up a specific company without downloading a multi-gigabyte file, the official tool is the Annuaire des Entreprises (Business Directory). It is a free public search engine, developed by the French government, that consolidates legal data from Sirene, the RNE, and other registers into a single interface.
Operated by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), the Annuaire des Entreprises (data.gouv.fr, 2026) lets you look up a company's legal information by name, SIREN/SIRET number, director name, or geographic area. You can see the legal form, financial year-end date, address, and status (active or dissolved).
It is the ideal tool for qualifying an existing record — confirming a company is still active, verifying its sector or director. However, like all public registers, it provides no email address or prospecting phone number: that data simply does not appear in administrative files. This is precisely the boundary between public data and data you have to build yourself.
Open data vs. paid databases: what are you actually paying for?
Open data provides legal and administrative information for free; paid databases (commercial directories, prospecting files) charge primarily for the work of aggregating, enriching, and maintaining that data on top of the public sources. In other words, you are almost never paying for the raw data: you are paying not to have had to go and fetch it yourself.
A file vendor typically starts from Sirene and the RNE, then adds emails, phone numbers, precise headcounts, or "business signals." This added value has a real cost and a real benefit — provided you know what you are buying and are not paying twice for data the government already distributes freely.
| Criterion | Open data sources (Sirene, RNE, BODACC) | Paid databases / files |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Paid (often per volume or subscription) |
| Legal identity (SIREN, legal form, directors) | Yes | Yes (sourced from open data) |
| Prospecting email / phone | No | Variable, verify before purchasing |
| Freshness | Daily updates at source | Depends on provider, sometimes static |
| Remaining work for you | Enrichment and qualification still needed | Variable depending on the offer |
The classic trap with ready-made paid databases is data decay: a purchased file is a snapshot in time, while the business landscape is constantly shifting. Before comparing offers, it is useful to understand what data enrichment is — the process that turns a raw list from official registers into a usable prospecting file. To compare providers, detailed breakdowns like OutSend vs Societeinfo or OutSend vs Manageo show where the real price differences lie.
Company data vs. personal data: the GDPR framework
A company's data (business name, SIREN number, registered address, sector) is professional data, freely reusable. However, as soon as a piece of information identifies a natural person — a director's name, their personal work email, their direct phone number — it becomes personal data subject to GDPR, even in a purely professional context.
For B2B prospecting, France's data protection authority (CNIL) does not require prior consent: outreach can be based on legitimate interest, provided the subject matter is related to the recipient's profession. The CNIL specifies (CNIL, 2026) that the individual must have been informed that their contact details may be used for prospecting, and must be able to opt out easily and at no cost with each message.
In practice, this means three habits: target contacts whose profile is relevant to your offer, clearly state your identity and provide a simple unsubscribe mechanism, and honour opt-out requests immediately. To build a clean file from the outset, our guides on automatic SIRET/SIREN/VAT/RCS enrichment and on using legal data to qualify a list explain how to maintain source traceability — a central element of compliance.
How to build your own up-to-date list
The most reliable method is to start with a precise target (a trade and a geographic area), pull the matching companies, then enrich and qualify each record. This is what distinguishes a living list, built on demand, from a static database bought once and left to go stale.
Several approaches exist. You can download Sirene files and cross-reference them yourself with the RNE — a robust but technical solution. You can query the Annuaire des Entreprises or public APIs for one-off lookups. Or you can use a tool that builds the list for you from a trade + area query, then automatically chains email discovery, deliverability verification, and legal data enrichment.
That is OutSend's approach: rather than reselling a static global database, the tool builds your list on demand for the area you are targeting, from public sources, then chains enrichment and qualification in a single workflow. You get a fresh, traceable file tailored to your target, without stacking four separate subscriptions. To go further depending on your need, see how to build a list of 500 targeted companies or explore the no-code prospecting pipeline that chains these steps together.
FAQ — company databases and open data sources
Where can I find a free company database in France?
The official free sources are INSEE's Sirene database, INPI's National Register of Businesses (RNE), the BODACC, and the data.gouv.fr portal, which indexes more than 70,000 public datasets. For a simple lookup, the Annuaire des Entreprises is the most accessible starting point.
What is the difference between Sirene and the RNE?
The Sirene database (INSEE) is the statistical register that identifies businesses and establishments via their SIREN/SIRET numbers, activity codes, and addresses. The RNE (INPI) adds the legal dimension: legal form, share capital, directors, and annual accounts. The two are complementary and both freely available as open data.
Is company data subject to GDPR?
The company's own data (business name, SIREN, registered address) is not personal data. However, a director's name, a personal work email, or a direct phone number identify a natural person and fall under GDPR, even in a professional context.
Can you do B2B prospecting without consent?
Yes. The CNIL allows B2B email prospecting on the basis of legitimate interest, without prior consent, provided the subject matter is related to the recipient's profession, they have been informed, and they can opt out easily and at no cost with each communication.
Why pay for a company file if the data is public?
Because paid databases generally do not charge for the raw data (which is public), but for the work of aggregating, enriching (emails, phone numbers), and maintaining that data on top of the official sources. The value depends on the actual freshness and quality of that enrichment.
How do you keep a company database up to date?
By connecting it to a frequently updated source rather than buying a static file. The Sirene database is refreshed daily. Rebuilding or re-enriching your list regularly, by area and by trade, avoids the inevitable decay of a file purchased just once.
To place this topic in the broader context, browse the complete prospecting glossary.
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