Norway put its business registers in a small town on the coast and made them remarkably open. Brønnøysund runs the lot through a free REST API with no login, the nine-digit organisation number doubles as the basis for VAT, and annual-accounts key figures are available as open data. For registration facts and headline financials on a Norwegian business, you can build on the public API and pay nobody.

So, as in the rest of the Nordics, the commercial question is what sits on top: credit scoring, monitoring, ownership networks and the analytics the raw registers do not provide. The incumbent here is the rebranded former Bisnode, now Dun & Bradstreet; a Finnish-owned lookup covers the free-research end; and a modern Norwegian analytics platform serves the banks. This guide sorts them out.

It ranks {count} providers on merit. We sell Norwegian business data ourselves, so our pitch sits in a marked box rather than at number one.

In a hurry? The short answer

Full business information and credit

Dun & Bradstreet · The largest Norwegian file, the former Bisnode

A free lookup, or a paid deep dive

Proff / Forvalt · Free company search, paid Forvalt for financials and ratings

Modern analytics for lending and fraud

Enin · Credit models, ownership networks and monitoring on register data

Multi-country credit checks

Creditsafe · Consistent scoring across Norway and other markets

Just the register, free

Brønnøysund · A free public API for the official registers

Norway plus other markets in one format

CompanyData · That is us. One schema across 200+ markets

Jump to a provider

1. Dun & Bradstreet Norway: the incumbent

The largest Norwegian business-data house, and the default for credit and enrichment at scale.

Formerly Bisnode Norway, rebranded after Dun & Bradstreet completed the Bisnode acquisition in January 2021, this is the country's largest business-information house. It offers credit ratings and scores, financials, the D-U-N-S number, monitoring and marketing data, and its Ravninfo brand sits under the same roof. For Norwegian credit risk, compliance and B2B marketing at scale, it is the incumbent to beat.

Oslo, Norway · Quote only · Built on: Brønnøysund, Annual accounts, D&B network

✓ Why it stands out

  • The largest Norwegian commercial file
  • Credit, compliance and marketing together
  • D-U-N-S and global reach

⚠ Watch out for

  • No public pricing
  • US-owned after the Bisnode deal
  • Enterprise sales cycle

2. CompanyData

Full disclosure: where CompanyData fits in Norway

We publish this guide and we sell Norwegian business data, so here is our pitch in the open rather than dressed up as an objective first place. Our Norwegian file is registry-sourced and built for volume work: enrichment, segmentation and cross-border lists, in the same schema we use for 200+ other markets.

Norway is where our corporate-structure data is at its very best: we hold group relations for 83% of the file, our highest anywhere, which the open registers make possible. Where we are honest about being weaker: Norwegian credit scoring, which is D&B's and the bureaus' territory, and direct mobile numbers, which are thin in our Norwegian data. For a credit decision go to them; for reach and the deepest ownership mapping across every market, come to us.

1.9M

Norwegian businesses

1.6M

with group relations

🏆 83% of the file, our best ownership coverage anywhere

1.1M

with a contact named

981K

phone or mobile

477K

with a website

456K

email addresses

Because Brønnøysund makes ownership visible, we map it thoroughly: 1,612,603 Norwegian entities in our records carry ownership structure links, parents to subsidiaries across borders, our deepest coverage of any market.

See our Norwegian business data

3. Proff / Forvalt: the lookup and its paid tier

Free company research for anyone, with a paid Forvalt tier for credit and deep financials.

Proff.no offers free company profiles, financials, roles and credit ratings built on register data, with Proff Forvalt as the paid tier adding deeper financials, background and monitoring. It is owned by the Finnish Enento group, which bought it from Eniro in 2019. For quick research on a Norwegian business it is the convenient free default; for systematic credit or monitoring, Forvalt or a full bureau does the heavier lifting.

Norway (Enento Group) · Free tier, paid Forvalt · Built on: Brønnøysund, Annual accounts

✓ Why it stands out

  • Free, easy company and financial lookup
  • Paid Forvalt tier for credit and depth
  • Widely used and recognised

⚠ Watch out for

  • Finnish-owned, not Norwegian
  • Light for bulk or systematic use
  • A reseller layer, not an official source

4. Enin: the modern analytics platform

The banks' choice for modern analytics on register data, from credit models to ownership networks.

Enin builds a modern intelligence platform on top of the Brønnøysund registers and public feeds: credit-risk and bankruptcy models, AML and KYC, ownership networks, property analysis and event monitoring, used by Norwegian banks and fintechs for onboarding, fraud and due diligence. It is the local, analytics-led alternative to the legacy bureaus, and its ownership-network mapping is a particular strength in a market where the register makes structures visible.

Lysaker, Norway · Quote only, free trial · Built on: Brønnøysund, Annual accounts, Public feeds

✓ Why it stands out

  • Modern credit, AML and ownership analytics
  • Built on Norway's open registers
  • Trusted by Norwegian banks

⚠ Watch out for

  • Younger than the incumbents
  • Pricing not public
  • Norway-focused

5. Creditsafe Norway: the international option

Where Creditsafe began, and the fit when Norwegian credit checks need to match other markets.

Creditsafe was founded in Oslo in 1997 before expanding across Europe, so Norway is its birthplace. The Norwegian arm offers business credit reports, the Creditsafe rating, monitoring, portfolio tools and B2B marketing data, with the group's subscription model. Its edge is consistency across the sixteen-plus countries it covers, so a Norwegian check reads the same as a Swedish or German one. Domestic depth is solid rather than market-leading.

Oslo, Norway · Subscription, quoted · Built on: Brønnøysund, Annual accounts, International registers

✓ Why it stands out

  • Consistent scoring across many countries
  • Subscription pricing with monitoring
  • Norwegian roots and presence

⚠ Watch out for

  • Domestic depth trails D&B
  • Annual commitment for the price
  • Now part of a larger group

6. Experian Norway: the credit bureau

A recognised credit bureau in Norway, though skewed more to consumer than to business data.

Experian operates in Norway as a credit-reporting business, and it is still active despite occasional assumptions to the contrary. Its Norwegian centre of gravity is consumer credit scoring, with some business credit services alongside, so it is better seen as a credit-bureau layer than a primary business-data source. For business information the local incumbents lead, but Experian remains a name in Norwegian credit decisioning.

Lysaker, Norway · Quote only · Built on: Brønnøysund, Consumer-credit data

✓ Why it stands out

  • Established credit-bureau presence
  • Consumer and some business credit data
  • Backed by a global group

⚠ Watch out for

  • Consumer-leaning in Norway
  • Not a primary business-data source
  • No public pricing

7. Purehelp: the free portal

A free Norwegian business search with a freemium model, handy for a quick look rather than volume.

Purehelp runs a free-access Norwegian business search covering company data, accounts, market reports and monitoring, on a freemium model that drives traffic to paid extras. It is a convenient, no-friction way to look up a Norwegian business and glance at its numbers. As with the other free portals, it is a light research tool rather than a systematic data source, and its ownership is not clearly disclosed.

Norway · Freemium · Built on: Brønnøysund, Annual accounts

✓ Why it stands out

  • Free, immediate Norwegian business search
  • Accounts and basic monitoring included
  • No account needed to start

⚠ Watch out for

  • Light for systematic or bulk use
  • Ownership not clearly disclosed
  • Freemium upsells throughout

Want to weigh all the options yourself?

Our interactive tool ranks 92 B2B data providers worldwide. Filter by region, data type, budget and use case to build your own shortlist in seconds.

Compare 92 providers →

How Norway built its open registers

Norway centralised its registers early and kept them open, and the commercial layer grew around that openness:

1988-1989 · Brønnøysund is established

The register centre is set up as a separate agency, with the accounts register following the next year, centralising Norwegian company data in one open place.

2016 · Enin launches

A Norwegian startup begins turning the open registers into modern credit, AML and ownership-network analytics for banks and fintechs.

2019 · Proff goes to Enento

Eniro sells Proff to Finland's Asiakastieto, later Enento, moving the familiar Norwegian lookup into Finnish ownership.

Jan 2021 · Bisnode becomes Dun & Bradstreet

D&B completes its Bisnode acquisition, and Bisnode Norway, including the Ravninfo brand, is rebranded Dun & Bradstreet Norway.

So who is still actually Norwegian?

The open registers let Norwegian analytics players thrive, while the big data brands are foreign-owned:

Norwegian-owned

  • Enin
  • Purehelp

Norwegian brand, foreign owner

  • Dun & Bradstreet Norway (Dun & Bradstreet, US, since 2021)
  • Proff / Forvalt (Enento Group, Finland, since 2019)
  • Creditsafe Norway (Creditsafe Group)
  • Experian Norway (Experian, UK/Ireland)

Open registers, and what they leave out

Brønnøysund is about as open as company registers get. A free REST API with no login returns the core register data under an open-government licence, the organisation number ties everything together and doubles as the VAT basis, and annual-accounts key figures are published as open data too. Only certified document copies are paid. For verification, enrichment and headline financials, the public API does the job for nothing.

What the registers do not do is score credit, predict bankruptcy, map ownership networks into a usable graph or monitor events for you. That is the work the providers here add. Norway's transparency culture goes further still, into published tax lists, but access there is logged and restricted, so treat it as a cultural talking point rather than a B2B data source. Check the free registers here:

  • Brønnøysund open data : A free REST API for the official registers, no login, under an open-government licence.
  • Brønnøysundregistrene : The register centre itself: free search, with certified document copies available for a fee.
  • Regnskapsregisteret : The accounts register: key figures from filed annual accounts, available as open data.

Four questions before you sign anything

1. Do you need more than the free API gives you? Brønnøysund hands you registration facts and headline financials free. If that is enough, build on the API. The defensible purchases are scoring, bankruptcy prediction, ownership graphs and monitoring.

2. Do you want analytics, or a report? For a modern, model-driven view for lending or fraud, Enin is built for it. For a traditional credit report and rating, D&B or Creditsafe. They are different products at different prices.

3. Free lookup, or systematic work? Proff and Purehelp are fine for a quick look. For automated, at-scale credit and compliance you want an API-led platform or a bureau feed, not a consumer portal.

4. Is ownership mapping the point? Norway's registers make ownership unusually visible, so if corporate-structure mapping matters, favour providers that turn it into a usable graph rather than just listing roles.

Frequently asked questions

Largely, yes. Brønnøysund runs the official registers through a free REST API with no login, under an open-government licence, and publishes annual-accounts key figures as open data. The organisation number ties it all together and is the basis for VAT. Only certified document copies are paid. For registration facts and headline financials on a Norwegian business, the public API does the job for nothing.
Because the registers give you facts and figures, not decisions. They do not score credit, predict bankruptcy, turn ownership into a usable network graph or monitor changes for you. Providers add that layer: D&B and Creditsafe bring ratings, Enin brings modern analytics for banks, and Proff packages it for easy research. You pay for judgement and workflow, not raw data.
The Finnish Enento group. Eniro sold Proff, covering Norway and Denmark, to Asiakastieto in 2019, and Asiakastieto later renamed itself Enento. So Proff.no and its paid Forvalt tier, despite being a familiar Norwegian lookup, are Finnish-owned. It is convenient and widely used, but it is a reseller layer on the open registers rather than an official or Norwegian-owned source.
Not really. Norway does publish individual tax lists as part of its transparency culture, but access is through the tax authority, searches are logged and non-anonymous, and only registered press may access bulk lists, without republishing them in searchable form. It is a genuine cultural feature, but it is not a usable source of B2B business data, so rely on the registers and providers instead.
Because they solve a different problem. The global sales-intelligence platforms are strong on contact data but hold thin Norwegian coverage and take little from Brønnøysund. For registration facts, financials, credit decisions and ownership analytics in Norway, the providers on this page are far ahead.