Belgian BCE/KBO API: comparison of 5 alternatives in 2026 (official, CBEAPI, BanqueCarrefourEntreprises, Kruispuntdatabank, Company Belgium)

In brief

In 2026, five major solutions allow querying the Belgian BCE/KBO database: the official SPF Economie SOAP API, the community project CBEAPI, two private French-language services and Company Belgium. The optimal choice depends on your functional depth (identity only vs full KYC with UBO and Peppol), your volume and your budget.

The choice that decides 6 months of development

You want to access BCE/KBO data from your application — verify suppliers, populate your CRM, automate invoicing, run a KYC. Five major options exist in 2026. The wrong choice costs weeks of rework. Here is the no-nonsense comparison.

The 5 players

Official SPF Economie API (kbopub.economie.fgov.be / KBOPublicSearch SOAP)

BCE Open Data (FTP download of ZIP files)

CBEAPI (cbeapi.be — independent free project)

Banque Carrefour Entreprises API (banquecarrefourentreprises.fr — private service)

Kruispuntdatabank API (kruispuntdatabank.be — private service)

Company Belgium (companybelgium.be — private service, that's us)

Detailed comparison

Technical criteria

Business criteria

Analysis per solution

Official API — SPF Economie

The official API is the natural entry point. It exposes two things:

• A SOAP service (KBOPublicSearch) to query the register

• An FTP download to retrieve Open Data files in bulk

Strengths: free, official source, data freshness.

Limitations:

• SOAP in 2026 — your stack must parse XML

• No REST, no native JSON

• No developer support (public mailing list)

• No SLA, no monitoring

• No enrichment (UBO, Peppol, statistics)

Ideal for: academic project, POC, weekly bulk processing.

CBEAPI — The community project

CBEAPI is an independent project that republishes official data through a free REST API.

Strengths: free, REST/JSON, easy to integrate.

Limitations:

• No continuity guarantee (volunteer project)

• No SLA

• Brief documentation

• No enrichment

• Variable latency

Ideal for: prototype, MVP, non-critical app.

Banque Carrefour Entreprises (banquecarrefourentreprises.fr)

French-language private service, accessible by subscription.

Strengths: REST/JSON, readable doc, email support.

Limitations:

• Non-transparent pricing (quote on request)

• Limited UBO coverage

• No webhooks

• No Peppol coverage

Ideal for: mid-sized companies with stable usage.

Kruispuntdatabank API (kruispuntdatabank.be)

NL equivalent of the previous.

Strengths: NL/FR/EN interface, REST, email support.

Limitations: comparable to BCE-FR (no webhooks, no UBO/Peppol enrichment).

Ideal for: Flemish businesses / NL clientele.

Company Belgium (us)

Freemium platform with enrichments.

Strengths:

• Modern REST/JSON, up-to-date OpenAPI doc

• Webhooks for changes (new director, accounts filing, corporate purpose change)

• Automatic UBO cascade (3 levels, register comparison)

• Integrated Peppol verification

• 3 languages (FR/NL/EN)

• Free plan 5 req/day, transparent tiers

• Contractual SLA on paid plans

Honest limitations:

• More recent service than CBEAPI or historical competitors

• Enriched data = slightly higher pricing on high volumes

Ideal for: KYC, AML, electronic contracts, CRM, e-commerce, Peppol invoicing.

Decision matrix

How Company Belgium positions itself

Concretely, Company Belgium stands out on 5 axes that the others don't all have:

• Webhooks: be notified when a company changes, rather than polling hourly

• UBO cascade: automatically climb the beneficial owners chain and cross-check with the UBO register

• Peppol verification: know if a company is reachable via electronic invoicing

• Integrated AML compliance: KYC modules, archiving, goAML generation compliant with the Act of 18 September 2017

• Up-to-date OpenAPI doc + tutorials: see the Python integration or the endpoints reference

Our neutral advice

If you are testing: start with Company Belgium's free plan and CBEAPI in parallel. Compare data quality on your real use cases.

If you go to production: choose based on your enrichment need. If you only need identity + address, any solution will do. If you touch KYC, Peppol invoicing or monitoring, Company Belgium becomes competitive.

If your budget is zero: the official API remains the default choice, accepting the SOAP complexity.

Bottom line

The BCE/KBO API market has diversified: 5 serious players, each with its angle. The right choice depends on your functional depth (just identity vs. full KYC), your volume and your budget.

For a prototyping developer: CBEAPI or Company Belgium freemium.

For a fintech / fiduciary / insurtech: Company Belgium for the full stack (REST + UBO + Peppol + webhooks).

For an academic project: the official API.