vs. Bureau van Dijk Orbis

The self-serve alternative to Orbis.

Skip the €24,000/year per-seat licence and the annual contract. Nordic Data delivers the same Norwegian company foundation — identity, accounts, ownership, M&A signals — as a developer-grade API from €0/month. Native MCP for AI agents. No sales call.

Get a free API key → Try on a real company →
5,000 free / mo No card Cancel via API
— Side by side

Same Norwegian data. 75-99% cheaper. Self-serve.

Bureau van Dijk Orbis is the gold standard for cross-border M&A research, but it's priced for enterprise — €24,000+/year per seat, annual contracts, sales-led procurement. Nordic Data delivers the same Norwegian (and rest-of-Nordic, soon all-EU) company foundation as a self-serve API from €0/mo.

Feature Nordic Data Orbis (BvD)
Norwegian company registry (Brønnøysund) 1.4M companies, 30-min refresh Yes — quarterly refresh
Cross-border ownership chains Norway depth (full); EU rollout in progress 200+ jurisdictions — Orbis's core strength
Annual accounts + ratios Multi-year, computed ratios Yes
Officer + board data With change tracking Yes
Shareholder registry Aksjonærregisteret, annual snapshots Yes (where filed)
M&A deal database Not included Zephyr (BvD's M&A product)
Sanctions screening (OFAC + EU + UN) Company + every officer in one call Compliance Catalyst (separate product)
Public contract awards (TED + Doffin) All Nordic, incl. sub-EU threshold Not included
EU R&D grants (Horizon) Per-orgnr, with EC contributions Not included
LEI codes (GLEIF) Auto-joined Not auto-joined
Logos, descriptions, founding date For all major companies (Wikidata) Limited
Bankruptcy webhooks HMAC-signed Not real-time
AI-generated narrative Cached per company Not included
Native MCP server (28 tools) Plug into Claude / Cursor in 30s Not available
Modern REST API OpenAPI 3.1, JSON OData / SOAP, complex
Self-serve signup 60 seconds, no sales call Sales call + annual contract
Free tier 5,000 requests/month, no card No free tier
Pricing €0/mo Free · €499/mo Business — no seat licence From €24,000/yr per seat, annual contract
— FAQ

Common questions

If you're evaluating Nordic Data against Orbis, these are the answers most teams ask first.

How does Nordic Data compare to Orbis for Norwegian companies?

For Norwegian-specific use cases, Nordic Data offers more — fresher data (30-min vs. quarterly refresh), all Nordic public-contract awards (including sub-EU threshold tenders), EU R&D grants, LEI codes, AI summaries, sanctions screening, and a native MCP server for agents — at €499/mo vs. €24,000/year per seat for Orbis. If your use case is purely Norwegian or Nordic, Nordic Data is the better fit.

What does Nordic Data cost vs. Orbis?

Nordic Data starts at €0 (5,000 requests/month). Pro €149/mo, Business €499/mo, unlimited users on every plan. Orbis is licenced per seat starting around €24,000/year per user, with annual contracts. A typical 5-person research team pays Orbis €120,000/year — Nordic Data Business covers the same team for €5,988/year (a 95% reduction).

Can Nordic Data replace Orbis for European M&A research?

Today: only for Norwegian deals. Orbis's strength is cross-jurisdiction ownership chains across 200+ countries — that's where it earns its price. Nordic Data has full Norwegian depth and is rolling out Nordic, then EU markets through 2026. If your dealflow is Nordic-heavy, switch now. If it's pan-European, run both during transition.

Does Nordic Data have ownership-chain data like Orbis?

Yes for Norwegian companies — via Aksjonærregisteret (full annual share registry) joined to Brønnøysund officer/role data. Cross-border chains are joined on LEI and EUID where available. Pure cross-jurisdiction depth (e.g., tracing a Norwegian subsidiary up through 7 layers of holding companies in Cyprus, Bermuda, etc.) is still Orbis territory.

Why does Nordic Data have public-contract data Orbis doesn't?

Orbis focuses on corporate identity + financials; public procurement is a separate data domain Orbis doesn't index. We index Doffin and TED directly — every Norwegian municipal tender (including the ones below the EU threshold most providers miss) plus every TED award notice. Useful for competitive intel, lead generation, and supplier discovery in a way Orbis can't replicate.

Can AI agents subscribe and pay autonomously?

Yes. Our /agent/subscribe endpoint lets an agent enrol, select a plan, and pay via Stripe with no human in the loop. Combined with the MCP server, an agent can discover Nordic Data, subscribe, and start enriching companies in under a minute — Orbis requires a sales process measured in weeks.

Skip the €24,000 seat licence. Start free.

5,000 requests/month, all read endpoints, native MCP, no card. Cancel any time via the API or customer portal.

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