Best Global Database Alternatives (2026)
Global Database is a London-based B2B intelligence platform with broad volume claims and prospecting workflows aimed at sales, marketing and ABM teams. The data is web-scraped rather than registry-sourced, which is fine for prospecting and weak for KYB, AML and any audit-able workflow. Compare 24 alternatives across registry sourcing, API access and reseller terms. Find the provider that fits your use case, jurisdictional needs and budget.
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Top Global Database Alternatives
Registry-first business directory with 385M+ business records across 190+ countries. Data sourced directly from official government registries (Dutch KvK, UK Companies House, German Handelsregister and others), not scraped from the web. Delivered via REST API, bulk data dumps or self-service platform. Flexible reseller and SaaS terms. No annual contract. Transparent pricing from $25/mo. Audit-ready by default for KYB and AML use cases.
From $25/mo
The legacy standard for commercial data with 500M+ records, the D-U-N-S number system and deep credit and risk products. Strongest US enterprise relationships and global supply-chain risk intelligence. The trade-off: expensive multi-year contracts, restrictive reseller terms, an older API and limited developer tooling.
Enterprise only
London-based B2B intelligence platform claiming 600M+ businesses worldwide. Strong volume figures, broad sector coverage and prospecting workflows for sales, marketing and ABM teams. Important caveat: the underlying data is web-scraped, not sourced from official business registries. That makes it fast and cheap to ingest, but legally weaker for KYB, AML and any audit-able workflow where regulators expect registry-sourced provenance.
From ~$99/mo
The largest open registry-sourced business directory, with 200M+ records across 200+ jurisdictions. Built on official government registry data, with transparent licensing for journalism, research, fintech and KYB use cases. Strong on registry IDs, jurisdiction breadth and corporate-network analysis. Lighter on filed financials and credit data than commercial heavyweights.
From free / API tiered
Orbis by Moody's Analytics, the platform built on the Bureau van Dijk acquisition, covers 625M+ businesses with the world's deepest private business financials, cross-border ownership hierarchies and risk intelligence. Gold standard for M&A due diligence, transfer pricing and beneficial ownership analysis. Enterprise-only pricing, restrictive licensing.
Enterprise only
Europe's most-used business credit platform. 365M+ businesses, credit scores, financial data and real-time portfolio monitoring. More accessible pricing than Moody's or Dun & Bradstreet, and registry-sourced where it matters. Trusted by 100,000+ businesses, especially strong across the UK, Benelux and continental Europe.
From ~$99/mo
Business credit reports from one of the world's largest credit bureaus. Strong US and UK credit scores, payment history and risk data. KYB capabilities expanded following 2025 acquisitions. A credible registry-grade alternative for credit-led decisioning.
Enterprise only
Private-markets and startup intelligence platform with strong funding rounds, founder profiles and venture data. The default tool for VC research, startup sales and M&A scouting. Coverage is community-edited and editorial, not registry-sourced, so it overlaps with Global Database on the scraped-data side but specialises in tech and venture rather than universal B2B.
From $49/mo
Germany-focused registry intelligence platform with deep Handelsregister filings, ownership networks and event monitoring across DACH. Strong on German filed financials, free baseline access and clean API. Coverage outside DACH is intentionally limited, so it complements rather than replaces Global Database.
From free / paid tiers
AI-native business intelligence provider claiming 130M+ businesses sourced through web crawling and machine learning. Strong on firmographics, products and supplier discovery. Useful for procurement and sourcing workflows. Like Global Database, the data is web-scraped rather than registry-sourced, so it shares the same audit-readiness limitations for compliance work.
Enterprise pricing
Long-established B2B directory and prospecting platform with 70+ years of trading history. 60M+ businesses across 70+ countries with classifications, contacts and trade-show data. Sales and marketing focused, similar intent to Global Database, with stronger French and Southern European depth and weaker compliance angle.
From ~$49/mo
What is Global Database and why look for alternatives in 2026?
Global Database is a London-headquartered B2B intelligence platform, founded in the mid-2010s and operated privately. The platform sells access to a directory of 600M+ businesses worldwide, bundled with prospecting, marketing and account-based marketing workflows. Typical buyers are sales development reps, demand-generation marketers, ABM teams and supplier-research analysts who want broad B2B coverage at a mid-market price.
On surface metrics, the volume claims are competitive with the largest providers in the market. The underlying sourcing model is different. Global Database aggregates business records from web crawling, third-party feeds and editorial enrichment rather than direct connections to official government registries like the Dutch KvK, UK Companies House, German Handelsregister, French Infogreffe or the US Secretary of State filings. That sourcing choice has real consequences downstream.
The reasons buyers look for alternatives are consistent. Compliance teams flag that scraped records are not audit-ready for KYB and AML workflows. Procurement and supplier-onboarding functions want registry IDs and verified directors, not enriched best-guesses. Data and engineering teams want clean REST API delivery with transparent reseller terms. And finance teams want self-service pricing rather than long negotiation cycles. Modern registry-sourced providers like CompanyData.com solve each of those concerns directly.
⚠️ Why buyers look for Global Database alternatives: Global Database is widely flagged for web-scraped sourcing rather than registry connections, uneven verification on directors and beneficial owners, and limited audit trails back to official filings. For sales prospecting and marketing enrichment, that trade-off is acceptable. For KYB, AML and any regulated workflow, modern registry-sourced alternatives deliver the same breadth with the legal provenance regulators actually accept.
Registry-sourced vs web-scraped business data: which Global Database alternative do you need?
Before comparing providers, decide which sourcing model actually fits your use case. The market splits three ways, and the wrong category will waste budget regardless of which provider you pick inside it.
Registry-sourced and API-driven. CompanyData.com, OpenCorporates, Kyckr and North Data serve this intent. The buyer is a product team, a fintech, a SaaS platform, a KYB onboarding function or a procurement team. They want structured, audit-ready business records through a clean REST API, with transparent pricing and terms that allow data reuse, embedding and reseller programmes. Registry IDs, verified directors and UBO data are non-negotiable.
Web-scraped B2B intelligence. Global Database, Veridion, Crunchbase, Coresignal and People Data Labs serve this intent. The buyer is a sales development rep, an ABM marketer or a growth-engineering team. They want breadth, freshness, contact signals and firmographics for outbound campaigns, lead scoring and enrichment. Legal provenance is not the deciding factor. Coverage breadth and signal quality are.
Enterprise risk and credit. Moody's Orbis, Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business and Creditsafe serve this intent. The buyer is an analyst, a risk team or a credit function. They want deep filed financials, credit scores, payment histories and cross-border ownership hierarchies, packaged for analyst workflow rather than systematic consumption.
Global Database sits firmly in the second bucket. If your actual need is in the first or third bucket, paying for a web-scraped product means paying for breadth you cannot legally rely on.
The 11 best Global Database alternatives in 2026
This ranking matches the default scoring of the tool above and is built around real differentiators: data sourcing, jurisdictional coverage, pricing transparency, API access and commercial terms. Click through to any provider for their website. All pricing and coverage figures were verified against vendor sources as of 2026.
1. CompanyData.com
CompanyData.com is a registry-first business directory with 385M+ business records across 190+ countries. The data is sourced directly from official government registries like the Dutch KvK, UK Companies House, German Handelsregister, French Infogreffe, Italian Registro delle Imprese and more. That sourcing makes registry IDs, VAT numbers, directors, UBOs and registered addresses audit-ready by default.
Delivery is via REST API, bulk data dumps or a self-service platform, with transparent pricing from $25 per month and no annual contract. Reseller and SaaS terms are explicitly flexible. Best fit for: API integrations, KYB onboarding, financial data enrichment, data resellers and B2B SaaS that needs to embed registry-grade business data.
2. Global Database
The subject of this comparison. Global Database delivers 600M+ business records across most major economies through a web platform, CSV exports and an API. The platform is strong on sales-prospecting workflows, ABM enrichment and supplier discovery, and pricing sits in the mid-market band, well below the enterprise heavyweights.
The trade-off is the sourcing model. Records are aggregated from web crawling, third-party feeds and editorial enrichment rather than from official registries. For prospecting and marketing, that breadth is useful. For KYB, AML, procurement onboarding and any regulator-facing workflow, the missing audit trail is a structural limitation. Buyers who outgrow Global Database typically move toward a registry-first spine and keep one scraped layer for sales enrichment.
3. Dun & Bradstreet
The legacy heavyweight of commercial data, with 500M+ records, the D-U-N-S number system and the deepest US enterprise relationships of any provider in this list. For Fortune 500 procurement, supply chain risk and global AML programmes, it sits alongside Moody's as a default.
Enterprise-only pricing, multi-year contracts, restrictive reseller terms and an older API. If your budget supports Dun & Bradstreet, the registry-grade coverage and credit depth comfortably outclass Global Database. See our deeper Dun & Bradstreet alternatives breakdown for the full picture.
4. OpenCorporates
The largest open registry-sourced business directory, with 200M+ records across 200+ jurisdictions. Built on official government registry data, with transparent licensing for journalism, research, fintech and KYB. Strong on registry IDs, jurisdictional breadth and corporate-network analysis. Lighter on filed financials and credit data than commercial heavyweights.
Best fit for: investigative journalism, public-interest research, fintech KYB and any team that wants registry-grade provenance without an enterprise contract. See the dedicated OpenCorporates alternatives comparison for full detail.
5. Moody's Analytics (Orbis)
Orbis by Moody's Analytics, built on the Bureau van Dijk acquisition, covers 625M+ businesses with the deepest available private business financials, cross-border ownership hierarchies and risk intelligence. Gold standard for M&A due diligence, transfer pricing and beneficial ownership analysis.
Enterprise-only pricing, restrictive licensing. Best fit for: investment, large compliance functions and analyst-driven research. See the dedicated Moody's alternatives breakdown for the full ranking.
6. Crunchbase
Private-markets and startup intelligence platform with strong funding rounds, founder profiles and venture data. The default tool for VC research, startup sales and M&A scouting. Coverage is community-edited and editorial, which puts it on the scraped side of the sourcing question, but specialised in tech and venture rather than universal B2B.
Best fit for: VC and corporate development teams, startup-focused outbound and emerging-tech research.
7. Veridion
AI-native business intelligence provider claiming 130M+ businesses sourced through web crawling and machine learning. Strong on firmographics, product taxonomies and supplier discovery. Useful for procurement, sourcing and supply-base analytics.
Like Global Database, the data is web-scraped rather than registry-sourced. It shares the same audit-readiness limitations for KYB and compliance, with stronger depth on product and supplier signals.
8. Experian Business
Business credit reports from one of the world's largest credit bureaus. Strong US and UK credit scores, payment history and risk data. Experian expanded its KYB capabilities through 2025 acquisitions and is now a credible registry-grade alternative for credit-led use cases.
Best fit for: US and UK credit teams, B2B lenders and trade credit decisioning. See the dedicated Experian Business alternatives page.
9. Creditsafe
Europe's most-used business credit platform with 365M+ businesses across 160+ countries. Credit scores, financial statements, payment history and portfolio monitoring, all registry-sourced where it matters. Especially strong in the UK and continental Europe.
Best fit for: credit teams, finance functions and EU-centric supply chain monitoring.
10. North Data
Germany-focused registry intelligence platform with deep Handelsregister filings, ownership networks and event monitoring across DACH. Strong on German filed financials, free baseline access and a clean API. Coverage outside DACH is intentionally limited, so it complements rather than replaces a global provider.
Best fit for: DACH-focused KYB, German supplier onboarding and EU compliance teams that need deep German filings. See the dedicated North Data alternatives comparison.
11. Kompass
Long-established B2B directory and prospecting platform with 70+ years of trading history. 60M+ businesses across 70+ countries with classifications, contacts and trade-show data. Sales and marketing focused, similar intent to Global Database, with stronger French and Southern European depth and a weaker compliance angle.
Best fit for: outbound sales, trade-show prospecting and Southern European market entry.
Global Database alternatives compared
Side-by-side on the dimensions that matter for most Global Database buyers. Use this to shortlist three providers, then request samples from each.
| Provider | Sourcing | Best for | Pricing model | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CompanyData.com | Registry-sourced | API integrations, KYB, resellers | From $25/mo, self-serve, PAYG | API, bulk, self-service portal |
| Global Database | Web-scraped | Sales prospecting, ABM, marketing | From ~$99/mo, subscription | Portal, CSV, API |
| Dun & Bradstreet | Registry + commercial | Fortune 500 procurement, supply chain | Enterprise only, multi-year | Portal, bulk, API |
| OpenCorporates | Registry-sourced (open) | Journalism, fintech KYB, research | Free baseline, tiered API | Portal, API, bulk |
| Moody's Analytics (Orbis) | Registry + commercial | M&A, ownership analysis, research | Enterprise only, premium | Desktop, bulk, API |
| Crunchbase | Community + editorial | VC, startup intelligence, tech sales | From $49/mo, subscription | Portal, API |
| Veridion | Web-scraped (AI) | Procurement, supplier discovery | Enterprise pricing | API, portal |
| Experian Business | Registry + bureau | US and UK credit, B2B lending | Enterprise pricing | Portal, API |
| Creditsafe | Registry + bureau | Credit decisioning, AR teams | From ~$99/mo, subscription | Portal, API |
| North Data | Registry-sourced (DACH) | German filings, DACH KYB | Free baseline, paid tiers | Portal, API |
| Kompass | Editorial + commercial | Sales, trade-show prospecting | From ~$49/mo, subscription | Portal, CSV, API |
Registry-sourced vs web-scraped business data: what regulators actually accept
The most important question when comparing Global Database to its alternatives is sourcing. Web-scraped business data is fast and cheap to ingest. A crawler can sweep a million company websites in days, and an editorial team can normalise the output into a clean schema for sales and marketing tools. For outbound prospecting, ABM and lead enrichment, that pipeline is genuinely useful. Freshness matters more than provenance, and the cost per record is low.
Registry-sourced data moves slower. A registry-first provider holds direct connections to UK Companies House, the Dutch KvK, the German Handelsregister, French Infogreffe, Italian Registro delle Imprese and dozens more. Every record carries a registry ID, an official registration date, audit-ready director listings and verified registered addresses. Refresh cycles match the registry, not the crawler.
For regulator-facing work, that gap is decisive. KYB, AML and customer due diligence rules in the EU, UK, US and most major jurisdictions require evidence that the business identity, directors and beneficial owners have been verified against an authoritative source. A scraped record cannot evidence that. An auditor will not accept "our vendor crawled the company website" as the underlying proof for an onboarding decision. They will ask for the registry filing, the registration number and the date the data was pulled from the official source.
The right way to read this is not registry vs scraped as a winner-takes-all. The right way is to separate the layers. Registry-sourced for the spine: onboarding, KYB, compliance, ownership structures, supplier verification. Web-scraped for the edges: sales prospecting, marketing enrichment, ABM targeting, intent signals. Most modern data stacks now build exactly this split. Global Database is a credible edge layer. The spine should be registry-sourced.
EU and GDPR-friendly alternatives to Global Database
Global Database is UK-headquartered. Post-Brexit, UK providers operate under UK GDPR, which is broadly aligned with EU GDPR but treated as a separate regime for cross-border transfer purposes. EU buyers regularly raise data-residency and lawful-basis questions when reviewing UK-based commercial-data paper, especially where the sourcing model relies on aggregated web data rather than authoritative public filings.
CompanyData.com is based in the Netherlands and operates under EU data-protection regimes by default, with registry-sourced records that carry their own lawful-basis trail back to the originating government filings. OpenCorporates publishes open registry data under transparent licensing. North Data is the German DACH specialist with strong German filed accounts. For most EU buyers, picking an EU-headquartered registry-first provider for the compliance spine removes a category of legal review that web-scraped contracts trigger every time.
Is Global Database data accurate? What scraping means for KYB and compliance
The honest answer is: any individual Global Database record can be accurate, but you cannot prove it to a regulator. That distinction is the whole point of registry-sourced data, and it is the structural reason buyers move off scraped providers when their use case crosses into compliance, supplier onboarding, lending or any regulated workflow.
For sales and marketing, scraped accuracy is usually good enough. A salesperson does not need a court-admissible chain of custody to send an outbound email. The cost of a wrong record is a wasted touch, which is acceptable in volume. For KYB and AML, the cost of a wrong record is a regulator finding, a frozen onboarding pipeline or, in the worst case, a sanctioned entity slipping through. That asymmetry is why compliance teams insist on registry-sourced spines.
The other practical issue with scraped sourcing is that director and beneficial-owner data is harder to verify without an authoritative filing. A scraped record might list a CEO who left the business two years ago, or a UBO derived from an enrichment service rather than a registry filing. For sales, that is noise. For UBO screening, sanctions checks or politically exposed person screening, it is a control failure waiting to happen.
If you currently use Global Database and the work is shifting toward compliance, supplier verification or any audit-able use case, the right move is to add a registry-sourced spine alongside, not to fight with the scraped layer. CompanyData.com, OpenCorporates and the DACH-focused North Data are the cleanest registry-first providers to layer in. Global Database can stay as a sales-side enrichment layer, where its breadth genuinely earns its place.
Is there a free Global Database alternative?
Partly. OpenCorporates publishes registry-sourced business information for free via its website, covering 200M+ records across 200+ jurisdictions. Most national business registries (UK Companies House, Dutch KvK basic search, German Unternehmensregister, French Infogreffe) publish basic firmographics free of charge. North Data offers free baseline access for DACH filings. For systematic API access, broad jurisdictional coverage and verified directors and UBOs at scale, free options effectively do not exist. CompanyData.com offers free CSV samples on request so you can verify coverage on your exact criteria before any commercial decision.
How to choose the right Global Database alternative
Work backwards from the use case, not from the provider:
- Need registry-sourced KYB through an API? Look at CompanyData.com, OpenCorporates and Kyckr.
- Need sales-prospecting breadth at mid-market price? Global Database, Crunchbase and Kompass cover that intent.
- Need cross-border ownership hierarchies and UBO depth? Look at Moody's Orbis and Dun & Bradstreet.
- Need EU credit decisioning at lower cost? Creditsafe, CRIF and Coface are the realistic shortlist.
- Need US business credit reports? Dun & Bradstreet, Experian Business and Equifax Business.
- Need DACH filings at depth? North Data is the specialist, with Creditreform on the bureau side.
- Need financial data via API for product integration? CompanyData.com and OpenCorporates lead on developer experience and transparent pricing.
- Need reseller or embedding terms? CompanyData.com and OpenCorporates are the only two on this list that explicitly welcome resellers and SaaS embedding.
Then request a free sample from your top three. Test it against 50 or 100 real businesses you already know across the jurisdictions that matter. Registry sourcing, coverage and freshness will separate the contenders fast.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Global Database alternative in 2026?
It depends on the use case. For registry-sourced business data with API delivery and audit-ready provenance, CompanyData.com is the leading option. For open registry data with broad jurisdictional coverage, OpenCorporates is the closest free alternative. For US enterprise compliance and the D-U-N-S number, Dun & Bradstreet is the heavyweight. For European credit decisioning, Creditsafe is the most-used choice.
Is Global Database data accurate?
Global Database publishes volume claims of 600M+ businesses worldwide. The underlying records are aggregated from web sources and third-party feeds rather than pulled directly from official business registries. That sourcing approach is fast to scale and useful for sales prospecting, where freshness and breadth matter more than legal provenance. For KYB, AML and any audit-able workflow where regulators expect registry-grade evidence, scraped sourcing is a structural weakness. The data may be correct on any given record, but you cannot point a regulator at the official registry filing it came from.
What is the difference between registry-sourced and web-scraped business data?
Registry-sourced data is pulled directly from official government business registries like the Dutch KvK, UK Companies House and German Handelsregister. Every record has an audit trail back to the original filing, with stable registry IDs, official director names and verified registered addresses. Web-scraped data is collected by crawling company websites, news sources and third-party directories. It is fast and cheap to scale, and useful for sales prospecting and enrichment. It is legally weaker for KYB, AML and compliance because no regulator accepts a scraped record as evidence of a verified business identity.
Does Global Database have an API?
Yes. Global Database offers an API alongside its web platform and CSV exports. For pure API-first integrations with transparent pricing, no annual contract and registry-sourced provenance, CompanyData.com and OpenCorporates are typically faster to onboard.
Is there a free Global Database alternative?
Partly. OpenCorporates publishes registry-sourced business information for free via its website and offers paid API tiers for systematic access. Most national business registries (UK Companies House, Dutch KvK, German Unternehmensregister) publish basic firmographics free of charge. CompanyData.com offers free CSV samples on request so you can test coverage on your exact criteria before any commercial decision.
What businesses does Global Database cover?
Global Database claims 600M+ businesses worldwide across most major economies, with sales, marketing and prospecting workflows on top. Coverage is broad rather than deep. For deep filed-accounts financials, cross-border ownership hierarchies or registry-grade KYB, the platform competes with rather than matches registry-first providers and the enterprise heavyweights.
Can I use Global Database for KYB?
Technically yes, but it is not the right tool for the job. KYB and AML workflows require evidence that the business identity, directors and beneficial owners are confirmed against official sources. Web-scraped records do not meet that bar on their own. For KYB, a registry-sourced provider like CompanyData.com, OpenCorporates or Kyckr is a better spine, with Global Database optionally layered on top for sales and marketing enrichment.
Is Global Database the same as the generic worldwide company database product category?
No. Global Database is a UK-based commercial brand. The generic intent of a worldwide business directory is served by several providers, including CompanyData.com, OpenCorporates, Moody's Orbis and Dun & Bradstreet, depending on whether the buyer prioritises registry sourcing, depth of financials, credit ratings or breadth of coverage.
Try the registry-first Global Database alternative
CompanyData.com gives you 385M+ business records, financial data, UBOs and registry data across Europe, the UK and North America. Sourced directly from official government registries. Delivered via REST API, bulk data dump or self-service platform. Unlike scraped providers, we will build you a free CSV sample on your exact criteria so you can verify coverage and provenance before any commercial decision.