Austrian company register free of charge: what you see without a fee
The register is public, the official extract costs money. In between sits the open data of the Ministry of Justice: name, register number, seat, legal form, status and the list of annual accounts. Here is what is free and what is not.
Three ways to look up a company
Anyone checking an Austrian company can choose between three sources. They differ in price and depth:
- JustizOnline: the search by name or register number is free and shows name, FN, seat and court. The extract behind it carries a fee.
- Clearing offices of the judiciary (firmenbuch.at, for example): extracts for a fee, usually 15 to 25 euros per document.
- firmenbuchdaten.at: the open data of the Federal Ministry of Justice, free, with source and retrieval date on every page.
What firmenbuchdaten.at shows for free
Without sign-in and without a fee:
- Search by company name or register number
- Company name, register number, seat, business address, legal form, register court and status (registered or deleted)
- The list of all published annual accounts with balance sheet date, filing date and size class
- Whether the latest accounts were filed within the deadline of section 277 UGB
What needs a sign-in or a subscription
The full financial report of one company, that is balance sheet, income statement and ratios across all years, is free once per e-mail address. A sign-in by link is enough, no password needed.
For ongoing checks there is the subscription: unlimited financial reports, watch lists with e-mail on changes, lists with CSV export and the API. The plans are on the pricing page.
What is never free
The official register extract is issued only by the judiciary and its clearing offices, for a fee. Banks, notaries and authorities often ask for exactly this document. firmenbuchdaten.at does not sell extracts and does not replace them.
Documents in the register's document archive, such as articles of association, also carry a fee. Annual accounts are published by the judiciary as open data, which is why we can show them.
Where the data comes from
The Federal Ministry of Justice publishes company data and annual accounts as open data under the CC BY 4.0 licence. We read the register's daily change reports, refetch changed companies and show the retrieval date on every page.
Register content stays unchanged and separate from our analysis. Whatever we calculate, such as the equity ratio, is labelled as an analysis by firmenbuchdaten.at.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Austrian company register public?
Yes. Anyone may inspect it without giving a reason. The search by name and number is free on JustizOnline and on firmenbuchdaten.at.
Can I see the managing directors for free?
On firmenbuchdaten.at signed-in users see the persons holding a function in a company, without dates of birth. The official extract always lists them.
Can I read the annual accounts for free?
The list of accounts is free. Balance sheet and income statement across all years come as a financial report, once for free after sign-in, then with a subscription.
Is the free lookup enough to check a supplier?
For a first look, yes: status, legal form, seat and whether the accounts arrive on time. A credit assessment needs the figures from the financial report and, in doubt, professional advice.
Read on
Sources
- JustizOnline (Firmenbuch)
- JustizOnline, Informationsweiterverwendung (Listen und Ediktsdatei)
- § 277 UGB (Offenlegung), RIS
Information only, not legal, tax or investment advice. The law in its current version prevails.
Source: Austrian company register (Firmenbuch), Republic of Austria, represented by the BMJ, open data under CC BY 4.0.