Best distributor databases and B2B directories for Europe in 2026: 12 tools compared

No single tool is best at finding European distributors: B2B directories such as Europages and wlw cover the most companies, sales databases such as Sales Navigator, Apollo and ZoomInfo give the best contact data, and Cresques gives the strongest documentary evidence that a company already sells your category. Pick the tool by the question you need answered, and expect to use two or three of them in sequence.

Putting it simply: Directories tell you what a company says it sells. Sales databases tell you who works there and how to reach them. Public contract award notices, the source behind Cresques, tell you what a company has actually supplied, to which buyer and when, but only for public-sector buyers.

Disclosure: Cresques is our own product. We compare on criteria you can check yourself and link to each source, in line with Directive 2006/114/EC on comparative advertising.

How we compared

We opened each tool's own website on 8 November 2026 and took every figure and price from there. Where a site blocked automated access, we say so and name the page we used instead. Where a price is not published, we write "pricing on request". We did not use review-site scores.

We ranked on four criteria, and we name the winner of each one separately:

• Evidence that the company sells your category. Is the claim self-declared, assigned by the database, or proven by a dated third-party document?
• Breadth. How many companies, and how many European countries, the tool covers.
• Contact data. Named people, roles, e-mail addresses and phone numbers.
• Price transparency. Can you see the price before talking to sales?

This page is the tool-by-tool table. For methods such as trade fairs, agencies and AI assistants, see how to find distributors in Europe: seven methods ranked, and for a wider honest table see Cresques vs the alternatives.

The comparison

Winners by criterion

The tools one by one

Europages

Europages, run by Visable, is the broadest free directory for Europe: 2.2 million registered companies, profiles translated into 21 languages. Companies describe their own range and choose their own categories, and suppliers can buy better placement. That makes it fast for checking what a company claims to sell, and weak as proof. See Cresques vs Europages.

wlw

wlw is Visable's platform for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with 600,000 B2B providers. It is useful when your target is a German-speaking wholesaler. The same limit applies: listings are self-declared.

Kompass

Kompass EasyBusiness offers filtered company lists with named executives, phone numbers and e-mail addresses across more than 70 countries. Categories are assigned in the database, not proven by sales. Its own page gives two different company totals (more than 60 million and more than 21 million), so treat the size as approximate. See Cresques vs Kompass.

DirectIndustry

DirectIndustry is a B2B platform where manufacturers publish product pages. Its own site blocked automated access on 8 November 2026; a Business France listing calls it the dedicated B2B platform for industry, visited by more than 2.7 million buyers a month. It shows who makes a product type, which helps you map competitors more than distributors.

EEN partnering database

The Enterprise Europe Network's database is free and lists 5,816 business and technology offers and requests. A profile means a company is actively looking for a partner now, which no other tool here tells you. Coverage of any one niche can be thin, and the network suggests starting with your local EEN contact point.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator is a strong place to find the purchasing or category manager at a company you have already chosen. Prices are published, from €120.99 a month per licence for Core. It records people and job titles, not what a company has sold.

Apollo.io and ZoomInfo

Both are sales contact databases: Apollo reports 240 million contacts at 30 million companies and has a free plan; ZoomInfo reports 410 million+ contact profiles and quotes custom packages. They are strong on e-mail addresses. Before you write, check the lawful channel for the country: a cold e-mail is unlawful without consent in Germany (our explainer).

D&B Hoovers

D&B Hoovers combines Dun & Bradstreet company intelligence with contact data, news, trigger events and buying signals. It is useful for researching a company you already know. Its product page gives no database size or prices; a free trial is offered.

Chamber directories

Chambers of commerce publish member and register-based databases. firmen-in-bayern.de, run by the Bavarian IHKs, holds over 215,000 companies from the commercial register according to an undated chamber flyer, with sector, export/import links and profiles in German and English. Coverage stops at the region, and search criteria describe the company, not its customers.

Thomasnet

Thomasnet describes itself as North America's number one industrial sourcing platform, with more than 500,000 North American suppliers. It is a North American tool. For a European distributor search, it helps only to see how US competitors present themselves.

Cresques

Cresques builds markets from EU contract award notices, which public buyers must publish above the EU thresholds (Directive 2014/24/EU, Article 50). Since November 2023 that is 1,604,107 awards in 30 countries, with 103,430 winning companies in the evidence as a whole; in the last 12 months 98.6% of awards went to companies registered in the buyer's country, which is why a local distributor is often the route in (methodology). Company profiles add an AI-researched role, such as independent distributor or manufacturer's subsidiary, backed by verbatim quotes, and Cresques drafts a first message for the lawful channel of each country. It has blind spots: it does not cover distributors that sell only to private customers, it is thinner in categories public buyers rarely purchase, and it does not sell contact lists.

Which to use when

• You sell to hospitals, schools, utilities or other public buyers, through distributors. Start with Cresques for an evidence-based shortlist, then use Sales Navigator to find the person.
• You sell to retailers, installers or industrial users only. Award notices will show little. Use Europages, wlw or a chamber directory for names, then a trade fair or export agency to vet them.
• You already have company names and need contacts. Sales Navigator, Apollo or ZoomInfo. Cresques does not add value here.
• You want someone actively looking for a partner. Search the EEN database, free.
• You need company intelligence on a firm you already know. D&B Hoovers or Kompass.
• You are a US company looking at US suppliers. Thomasnet; for Europe, see tools for US manufacturers.
• You do not know your product's category codes. Look them up in the free CPV search first; every procurement source uses them.