Search the Germany Company Register by Name
Gemeinsames Registerportal der Länder
Search the Handelsregister
Search Company Records in Germany
3 free lookups per day. No sign-up required.
How do I search the Handelsregister company registry?
The Handelsregister is the official Germany business registry. Search it for free by company name, registration number, or VAT — no signup required — using the lookup above or directly at https://www.handelsregister.de.
- Registry
- Handelsregister
- Coverage
- All companies registered in Germany
- Cost
- Free for basic lookups
- Data freshness
- Mirrored from the primary source
Germany company records
Every record below has its own page with the registered name, registration number, registered address, legal form and status, plus free change monitoring. Records are mirrored from public open data (GLEIF LEI, CC0), which sources them from the national register.
What Handelsregister contains, and what it costs
Field coverage, identifier formats and fees, verified against the official sources listed at the end of this section.
What a Germany company record returns
- Registered company name (Firma) and legal form
- Handelsregister number and the local court (Amtsgericht) holding it
- Registered seat (Sitz) and business address
- Object of the company (Unternehmensgegenstand)
- Share capital (Stammkapital)
- Managing directors and authorised representatives
- Filed annual accounts, via the Bundesanzeiger
Free versus paid
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Company search and basic register extract | Free since 2022 |
| Current and chronological printouts (Ausdruck) | Free |
| Filed documents (Dokumente) | Free |
| Annual accounts via Bundesanzeiger | Free |
What a Germany registration number looks like
HRA or HRB, a number, and the registering court
HRB 12345 (Amtsgericht München)
HRB is for corporations (GmbH, AG); HRA for partnerships and sole traders. The number is only unique together with the court.
DE followed by 9 digits
DE123456789
Official sources
- Handelsregister — common register portal — The official German commercial register
- Unternehmensregister — Single access point for register data and company publications
- Bundesanzeiger — Published annual accounts and statutory notices
Step-by-step guides for Germany
Free how-to walkthroughs — search by name, check directors, get an official extract.
Searches people run for Germany
Each one answers a different question — free, no account needed.
Email me the Germany record as a PDF
FreeA dated, source-cited Germany record you can file against a KYB or vendor-onboarding check. Free — no account needed.
Free. We only use your email to send the document and tell you if the record changes.
Germany — by the numbers
- Records indexed
- 3,076
- Last updated
- 2026-08-04
- Top entity type
- GENERAL
- Cost
- Free
3,000 records
No signup required
About the German business register
The German business register — known locally as the Handelsregister — is the official commercial register for every GmbH, AG, UG and partnership in Germany. Use this page to run a German business entity search by company name, register court (HRA/HRB) number or city, and pull the same data the Handelsregister itself exposes: managing directors, share capital, registered office and date of entry. All searches on LemReveal are free and require no signup.
Access German Handelsregister (commercial register) data. Search for GmbH, AG, and other German business entities with registration details.
Get the full Germany list — free
Sign in with Google to unlock every Handelsregister record, save searches, and export results.
3.5M+
Registered Companies
#3 Global
GDP Rank
$1.8T
Export Volume
Court-based
Registry Type
Registry Overview
Germany's Handelsregister (commercial register) is maintained by local courts across 16 federal states. It contains mandatory registration data for all commercial enterprises including GmbH (limited liability), AG (stock corporation), and partnerships. Germany is Europe's largest economy with over 3.5 million registered businesses. The Handelsregister is partially available online through the common register portal.
Entity Types
- •GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung)
- •AG (Aktiengesellschaft)
- •UG (Unternehmergesellschaft)
- •OHG (Offene Handelsgesellschaft)
- •KG (Kommanditgesellschaft)
- •GmbH & Co. KG
Data Available
- ✓Company name and legal form
- ✓Registered office address
- ✓Registration court and number
- ✓Managing directors
- ✓Share capital
- ✓Purpose of the company
- ✓Proxy holders (Prokura)
- ✓Date of registration
Free tools for Germany
How to search the Handelsregister
- 1
Search via Handelsregister or Unternehmensregister
Handelsregister.de is the official trade register; Unternehmensregister.de is the umbrella portal that includes Handelsregister plus accounts and announcements. Most workflows start with Unternehmensregister for breadth.
- 2
Identify the entity form
GmbH is the most common limited-liability form; AG is the public stock corporation; UG (haftungsbeschränkt) is the entrepreneur company. Each form has different capital, governance, and disclosure requirements.
- 3
Pull the current Handelsregister excerpt
The HR-Auszug lists registered office, managing directors, share capital, and signing authority. It's the canonical document for German B2B due diligence.
- 4
Cross-check accounts via Bundesanzeiger
Annual accounts are published in the Federal Gazette. Mid-sized and large GmbHs publish full P&L and balance sheet; small entities may file abbreviated accounts.
Who uses this data
Handelsregister data is essential for sales teams in DACH markets, credit-risk and supply-chain teams meeting German Lieferkettengesetz obligations, and EU-wide compliance teams reconciling beneficial ownership against the Transparenzregister.
Access, fees & notes
Most basic excerpts cost €4.50 per document via Handelsregister.de. The German government has been gradually expanding free access; some excerpts are now free as of 2022 reforms.
Cost & access
Since August 2022, most standard electronic excerpts (AD, CD, HD) are free of charge. Bulk data and specialized API access are available through the Bundesanzeiger Verlag via paid subscriptions.
Local-language glossary
- Amtsgericht (AG)
- The local court responsible for maintaining the commercial register for its specific jurisdiction.
- Handelsregister Abteilung B (HRB)
- The section of the register for corporations such as GmbH, AG, and UG.
- GmbH
- Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung; a limited liability company and the most frequent legal entity in Germany.
- Prokura
- A specific legal power of attorney granted to an individual representing the company, which must be registered.
- Aktueller Ausdruck (AD)
- A current printout showing the present valid data of a company.
- Chronologischer Ausdruck (CD)
- A chronological printout containing all data entered since the transition to electronic register management.
Common mistakes to avoid
✗ Using unofficial 'Handelsregister' websites that charge high service fees.
✓ Always use the official governmental portal (handelsregister.de) where standard extracts are now free.
✗ Confusing the Handelsregister with the Transparenzregister.
✓ The Handelsregister tracks legal ownership and representation, while the Transparenzregister tracks beneficial owners (UBOs).
✗ Ineffective searching due to umlauts (ä, ö, ü).
✓ Try searching both with the umlaut and the 'ae, oe, ue' transcription if the company is not found initially.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I search the German company register?▾
The Handelsregister is searchable online at handelsregister.de. You can search by company name, registration number, or registered location. Basic searches are free, but accessing full documents may require a fee.
What is the difference between GmbH and AG?▾
GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) is the equivalent of an LLC — a limited liability company requiring minimum €25,000 share capital. AG (Aktiengesellschaft) is a public stock corporation requiring minimum €50,000 share capital, comparable to a PLC or Corp.
What is a UG (haftungsbeschränkt)?▾
The UG is a 'mini-GmbH' introduced in 2008. It can be founded with as little as €1 share capital, making it popular for startups. UGs must retain 25% of annual profits until they accumulate €25,000, at which point they can convert to a full GmbH.
Is German company data available in English?▾
The Handelsregister portal is primarily in German. Company documents and filings are in German. Some commercial data providers offer translated or structured English-language data extracted from the registry.
How do I search for a company in Germany by name?▾
Type the company name into the search box above. Results come from the Handelsregister and show the registered name, HRB number, status and registered address. Partial names work — searching "acme" returns every registered entity whose name starts with it.
Is the Germany company register free to search?▾
Yes. Searching by company name or HRB number is free here and on the official Germany register — no account or payment is required for a basic lookup. Certified extracts and filed documents may carry a fee on the official register.
Can I search Germany companies by registration number?▾
Yes. Enter the HRB number instead of the name and the lookup resolves it directly to the matching record, which is the fastest way to confirm an identifier printed on an invoice or contract.
How do I check whether a company is registered in Germany?▾
Search the name or HRB number above. If the business is on the Handelsregister, the record appears with its registered name and identifier. If nothing is returned, the name as spelled is not on the register — try a partial name or the number printed on the invoice or contract before concluding the business is unregistered.
How can I tell if a Germany company is still active?▾
Each record carries the status the Handelsregister publishes for that entity. Registration status is a factual register field, not a judgement about the business — for ongoing certainty you can watch a record and be emailed when its registered details change.
How do I find a company's HRB number?▾
Search the company name above. Each result shows its HRB number alongside the registered name, status and address, sourced from the Handelsregister.
What is the difference between HRB and Handelsregister?▾
Both identify a business on the Handelsregister, but they are issued for different purposes and are not interchangeable. A company can appear under either — searching by name returns both where they exist.
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Decision-makers indexed across Germany companies
Platform-wide: 5,926 decision-makers indexed across 734 companies. Distribution by seniority:
- C-Suite331 · 6%
- VP31 · 1%
- Director173 · 3%
- Manager18 · 0%
- Individual Contributor4,474 · 75%
- Other899 · 15%
Aggregate counts only — no personal information is shown. Data refreshed 2026-07-04.
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Cite this record
LemReveal. (2026). Germany — Handelsregister Dataset. Source: Handelsregister. Retrieved September 16, 2026, from https://lemreveal.com/data/germany
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- Germany registry access: 27/100
60% of 155 measured searches returned a record
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