You sell electrical supplies in France, you run quoting software for tradespeople, or you are opening an accounting practice and want to work with the electricians in one French department. You know the activity code for that trade: 4321A. What you don't have is the list. Buying a file for a first test means paying before you know how many companies you can actually reach.
The short answer. The list of companies by NAF code or APE code in France is public: it is the Insee Sirene register. There are three ways to get it out. The Sirene stock file on data.gouv.fr is free, but you filter it yourself. The Insee Sirene API is free too, but you have to write code. A tool that runs the filter for you, such as Outsend's "Companies by activity" module, gives you a CSV or Excel file per NAF code and per area. The data itself costs nothing. The real cost is the time spent removing closed establishments and duplicates.
How many companies per NAF code in each department: the count as of 1 October 2026
Before you build a list, you want to know if the volume is worth it. We counted the active establishments for the two NAF codes that show up in Google's suggestions for this search, department by department, in the Sirene establishments stock file published by Insee on data.gouv.fr, version dated 2026-10-01. The count was run on 2026-10-27 on that public file, read-only, keeping only establishments with an "active" administrative status.
Across France, the file holds 124,382 active establishments under 4321A, electrical installation work in all premises, and 103,039 under 7112B, engineering and technical studies (Sirene stock file, 2026-10-01).
| Department | 4321A, electrical installation | 7112B, engineering, technical studies |
|---|---|---|
| Bouches-du-Rhône (13, Marseille) | 5,031 | 4,319 |
| Paris (75) | 4,793 | 9,147 |
| Seine-Saint-Denis (93) | 4,509 | 2,496 |
| Rhône and Lyon metropolitan area (69) | 3,855 | 4,895 |
| Alpes-Maritimes (06, Nice) | 3,650 | 2,541 |
| Var (83) | 3,615 | 1,780 |
| Gironde (33, Bordeaux) | 3,471 | 3,082 |
| Hérault (34, Montpellier) | 3,413 | 2,381 |
| Nord (59, Lille) | 3,321 | 2,686 |
| Isère (38, Grenoble) | 2,903 | 2,570 |
| Haute-Garonne (31, Toulouse) | 2,782 | 2,968 |
| Yvelines (78) | 2,111 | 3,279 |
| Hauts-de-Seine (92) | 2,040 | 4,001 |
| Loire-Atlantique (44, Nantes) | 1,918 | 2,541 |
| La Réunion (974) | 1,492 | 1,114 |
The two trades are not spread the same way. There are more electricians in Bouches-du-Rhône than in Paris. Four departments of the Paris region missing from the table also hold many active electricians: Val-d'Oise (3,095), Seine-et-Marne (2,992), Essonne (2,368) and Val-de-Marne (2,305), same file, same count. Engineering firms sit mainly in Paris, then the Rhône and Bouches-du-Rhône: Paris has more than twice as many as Bouches-du-Rhône. If you want engineering firms outside the Paris region and Lyon, expect a shorter list.
What drives the real cost of a company list by NAF code
On the market, a company list is paid for in three ways. Files are sold per row or per batch. Prospecting tools charge a subscription with credits. The Sirene register is open data and free. In every case, what you really pay depends on how much you throw away before you can start working.
The first item is closed establishments. The stock file keeps the full history: of the 321,647 rows under code 4321A, 197,265 are closed establishments, or 61.3% (Sirene stock file, 2026-10-01). For 7112B, it is 64.2%. Forget the filter on the administrative status column and you end up calling more closed companies than open ones.
The second item is duplicates. A company has one SIREN and one SIRET per establishment. A list built on establishments can count the same company several times. If you are trying to reach management, filter on head offices.
The third item is time. The establishments stock file holds 44,282,364 rows and weighs 2.2 GB in parquet format, 2.9 GB as a compressed CSV (data.gouv.fr, version dated 2026-10-01). A spreadsheet will not open it in full. You need a data processing tool, or someone who knows how to use one.
Getting the list with Outsend's "Companies by activity" module
Outsend's Companies by activity module runs this filter on the Sirene register. It reads a local copy of the register, updated every day from the Insee daily feed. No website is scraped, and a list comes out in a few seconds.
- Activity. Enter a NAF code ("43.21A" or "4321A", with or without the dot) or a trade name in plain French ("électricien", "bureau d'études"). One trade can map to several NAF codes. You can put several in the same list.
- Area. A department, a region, a city with a radius ("Toulouse 20km"), a postcode, or the whole of France.
- Filters. Head offices only, companies created after a given date, minimum headcount band.
- Estimate. The module shows the expected volume before you run the list. You know how many rows you will get.
- Export. Download the result as CSV, JSON or XLSX.
Each row carries the company name, address, postcode, town, SIREN, SIRET, NAF code with its official label, headcount band in plain words ("10 à 19 salariés"), creation date, and whether the row is the head office or a secondary establishment. A company appears once per SIRET, even when a region is split into several departments.
Sirene is an administrative register: it publishes no phone number, email or website. The next step is to chain a second block. Company legal data (legal form, directors, share capital, BODACC notices) is matched row by row on the exact SIRET. If your file comes from another source and has no SIRET yet, the module to add SIRET, SIREN, VAT and RCS to an existing list works the other way round. To run these steps in sequence without restarting each one by hand, set them up as a no-code prospecting pipeline. Every field and filter is listed in the Sirene module documentation.
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Three lists by NAF code, three uses
A sales agent for electrical supplies in Marseille. He pulls the 4321A establishments in Bouches-du-Rhône, head offices only, and sorts by headcount band. Companies with 10 or more employees go to the top of his round.
A project manager looking for engineering firms around Lyon. She pulls 7112B on "Lyon 30km" to find structural and building services partners near her sites. The NAF label in the file lets her check she has not picked up land surveyors (7112A).
A founder launching an invoicing service for tradespeople. His target is self-employed electricians. In the stock file, 75.1% of active 4321A establishments have no declared employees (Sirene stock file, 2026-10-01, employer status column). For 7112B, it is 72.9%. He filters on companies created in the last year to reach those who are still choosing their tools.
For the same target, Google Maps extraction starts from a different source: public business listings, with phone, website and reviews. The two lists work together. Sirene gives the full administrative picture, Google Maps gives the companies that are visible online. All modules are listed on the Outsend features page.
NAF 2025: what changes for your list on 1 January 2027
From 1 January 2027, NAF 2025 becomes the reference classification for APE codes. Every active legal unit in the Sirene register, and each of its establishments, will get a new APE code (Insee, NAF 2025 page updated on 2026-02-12).
The stock file dated 2026-10-01 already carries the future code in a provisional column. Among active 4321A establishments, 99.6% are mapped to code 43.21G. Among active 7112B establishments, 98.7% are mapped to code 71.12Y. A list pulled today carries the NAF rev. 2 code. Keep the SIRET in your file: it does not change with the APE code, and it is how you will find each company again after the switch.
FAQ: company lists by NAF code
How can I get a list of companies by NAF code for free?
The Insee Sirene register is open data. You can download the establishments stock file from data.gouv.fr and filter it on NAF code, "active" status and municipality code. If you would rather not process a file of more than 2 GB, Outsend's "Companies by activity" module runs that filter and works with a free account.
NAF code or APE code: is it the same search?
Yes. The APE code is the activity code Insee assigns to a company, and it is taken from the NAF classification. Searching by APE code or by NAF code returns the same list.
How many 4321A companies are there in my department?
The table above gives the count for fifteen departments as of 2026-10-01. For yours, the module shows the estimate before you run the list.
Does the list include phone numbers and emails?
No. The Sirene register does not publish contact details. The list gives you the identity, address and SIRET of each company. For a phone number or a website, Google Maps extraction on the same trade and area is the right source.
Can I search by city instead of department?
Yes: a city with a radius, a postcode, a department, a region or the whole of France.
Will code 4321A change in 2027?
Yes. With NAF 2025, which Insee applies from 1 January 2027, almost all establishments currently under 4321A are mapped to code 43.21G in the stock file dated 2026-10-01. The SIRET stays the same.
Can I put several NAF codes in the same list?
Yes. You can combine several codes or trades, for example 4321A and 4322A to cover electrical and plumbing work. Each row shows which code or trade brought it in.