Search for a “free company database” for Poland and you usually land on directories full of adverts. Yet the state runs free, public company registers. You just need to know which register contains what, how to access it, on what terms you may use the data and where its limits lie.
The three registers at a glance
The table can be scrolled sideways.
| Register | Who it covers | Machine access | Search by industry and region |
|---|---|---|---|
| CEIDG | natural persons running a business, partners in civil partnerships | data warehouse API, after registering an account | yes – PKD, voivodeship, county, municipality, status |
| KRS | commercial companies, cooperatives, associations, foundations | open API, no key | no – by KRS number only |
| REGON | entities of the national economy, including public offices, housing communities and private farms | BIR1 API, after obtaining a key | no – by REGON, NIP or KRS only |
CEIDG: the only register with an industry filter
The Central Register and Information on Economic Activity (CEIDG) covers entrepreneurs who are natural persons. You can check a single entry in the search on Biznes.gov.pl. For downloading many entries there is the CEIDG data warehouse: you need an account on Biznes.gov.pl, must fill in an access request and accept a statement on the protection and processing of personal data; you log in with the Polish Trusted Profile (Profil Zaufany), and after registration you receive an API key.
According to version 3 of the API documentation, the list of businesses can be filtered by PKD code, voivodeship, county, municipality, town and entry status, among others. The response contains the name, NIP, REGON, business address, dates and PKD codes, and the entry details also include phone, email and website – but only if the entrepreneur provided them in their application (Article 5 of the CEIDG Act refers to contact details “if such data has been provided”). Some entries therefore contain no contact details.
There are three limitations. The interface has a request limit – the current documentation gives 1,000 requests within 60 minutes – so collecting a larger dataset takes time. You need a programmer or a ready-made tool. And most importantly: CEIDG covers natural persons, so it contains no limited liability, joint-stock or limited partnership companies.
KRS: an open API, but no search
The National Court Register (KRS) is the register of companies and organisations. The Ministry of Justice provides a search and an open interface at api-krs.ms.gov.pl which – as we checked on 11 October 2026 – returns a current or full extract in JSON format without registration or a key. There is also a bulletin: a list of the KRS numbers under which entries were made on a given day.
The catch: you retrieve an extract by KRS number. The interface will not answer the question “show me construction companies from Piaseczno county”. To build an industry list you first have to get the numbers from somewhere – or download everything and filter by business objects yourself. There is no phone number in the extract. Companies’ financial statements, on the other hand, are available free of charge in the financial documents viewer.
REGON: the broadest, but for checking only
The REGON register kept by Statistics Poland (GUS) has the broadest scope: it covers companies, public offices, schools, housing communities and people running private farms. In December 2025 it held approx. 5.44 million entities. The search is public, and the BIR1 web service is – according to GUS – free of charge for commercial users too. You receive a user key after sending a request by email.
BIR1, however, searches only by identifier: REGON, NIP or KRS. It is a tool for verifying and completing data on companies you already know – not for building a list from scratch.
Can this data be used further?
The registers are public, but “public” does not mean “without conditions”. The framework is set by statute, not by website terms:
- CEIDG. Data and information made available by CEIDG is public and everyone has the right to access it (Article 45 of the CEIDG Act). Making it available other than on the website – i.e. through the interface – is free of charge but follows the setting of conditions with the minister responsible for the economy; the Open Data Act applies to the re-use of data made available in this way (Article 47).
- KRS. The Central Information office makes current and full information on registered entities available online free of charge (Article 4(4a) of the KRS Act). Data is provided for re-use subject to the Open Data Act, including through an API (Article 4b).
- REGON. The register is public (Article 45 of the Public Statistics Act); the Open Data Act applies to the re-use of data from official registers (Article 49a). On the BIR1 service page GUS states that the service and the data are provided free of charge and sets limits on the number of requests.
- The Open Data Act. The Act of 11 August 2021 gives everyone the right to re-use public sector information (Article 5), but limits it, among other things, on grounds of individuals’ privacy and the protection of personal data (Article 6(2)), and does not override data protection law (Article 7(2)). The body making data available may set conditions, e.g. an obligation to state the source and the time the data was obtained (Article 15).
In practice: downloading company data and using it in your own analysis raises few doubts. For data on sole traders – which is the whole of CEIDG – you need your own legal basis under the GDPR, must fulfil the information obligation and must respect objections. This is an overview of the law, not legal advice.
What none of them contains
- Complete contact details. Phone and website appear in CEIDG only if the entrepreneur provided them; KRS has no phone number.
- One list for all legal forms. Sole traders are in CEIDG, companies in KRS; only REGON connects them, and it cannot be searched by industry.
- A simple indication of company size. Companies’ financial statements give an approximation, but they have to be reviewed separately.
- A ready-made file. All three sources require work: queries, matching by NIP, removing duplicates.
When the registers are enough, and when they are not
The registers are entirely sufficient when you are checking a business partner, completing data for a few dozen known companies, or need a list of sole traders from one county and have someone who can work with the API. They stop being enough when you need a list of different legal forms from one industry together with publicly listed contacts.
We build our Polish company database from other sources – business directories, maps and professional lists – which is why it has different strengths and weaknesses: more phone numbers and websites, but incomplete NIP numbers and coverage that differs between voivodeships (most records in our own database come from the Mazowieckie voivodeship). We describe this openly in our methodology. Before you buy anything, it is also worth reading what to look out for when buying a company database.
Frequently asked questions
Can I download the whole CEIDG business database into Excel?
Not with one click. The search shows individual entries, and the CEIDG data warehouse provides data through an API once you have an account – according to the documentation with a limit of 1,000 requests per 60 minutes. You have to build the file yourself, with a program that queries the interface.
Does KRS contain companies’ phone numbers and email addresses?
Phone numbers, no. A KRS extract contains register data: name, registered office and address, NIP, REGON, governing bodies, share capital and business objects. The law provides for entering the website address and email address if the entity has them; it does not list a phone number among the register data.
Can free register data be used for marketing?
The fact that data is public does not override other laws. The Polish Open Data Act states that the right to re-use is limited by the protection of personal data, and the data of sole traders is personal data subject to the GDPR. In addition, sending commercial information by email or phone requires the recipient’s prior consent (Article 398 of the Polish Electronic Communications Law).
Why buy a company database if the registers are free?
The registers answer the question “who is this company?”. They do not answer “which companies in this industry and this county have a publicly listed phone number?”. What you buy is therefore not the data itself but its collection, combination and selection – or you do that work yourself.
Information as of 11 October 2026. Access rules and interface limits are set by their operators and may change; please check the current documentation before building your own solution.
