In brief
- A list starts with a definition: industry by SK NACE, region or district, legal form and the fields every row must have.
- The registers and their open data give you the identity of companies for free, but without phone numbers and email addresses.
- Every contact should come with a source and date; without them you cannot tell whether the business published it.
- The company ID (IČO) is the key: keep it as text in Excel and merge duplicates by it.
A list of companies in Excel is what a salesperson needs for calls, a marketer for a campaign and an analyst for sizing a market. Whether it will be usable is decided before you open the file: by how you define the companies and where the data comes from. This guide goes step by step from the target group to the finished file.
1. Define which companies you want
- Industry. The most precise criterion is the main activity code under SK NACE. A company has only one main activity in the register, so always ask which codes a selection covers. The article SK NACE industry codes explains how.
- Region. The region, district or municipality follows the registered address, not where the business works. Company counts by region are on the Slovak companies by region page.
- Legal form. Companies and sole traders are contacted in the same way, but the data of sole traders is personal data and the GDPR applies.
- Status. Dissolved companies and companies in liquidation do not belong in a sales list.
- Required fields. For a phone campaign you only need records with a phone number; for a mail campaign the address is enough.
An example of a well-defined list: electricians (SK NACE 43.21) registered in the Žilina Region, active only and only with a published phone number. A brief like this can be quoted and compared; “all construction companies” cannot. What construction covers is described on the construction firms and tradespeople page.
2. Four ways to get the list
| Route | What you get | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Searching the registers | the data of one company from the commercial register, the trade register or the RPO, free of charge | one company at a time, no phone or email |
| RPO open data | bulk files with company ID, name, address, legal form and SK NACE code (CC BY 4.0) | no contacts; the files have to be processed and cleaned |
| Directories and maps | phone numbers and websites of individual businesses | manual copying; terms of use and the database right |
| Ready-made export | identity from the register and contacts with their source in one file | you pay; check the source, date and coverage |
The registers are free and reliable for a company’s identity, but none of them is a contact list. What exactly they contain is covered in the article Slovak business registers. Directories and portals may be protected by the database right under Act No. 185/2015 Coll., so copying them in bulk is not a safe shortcut. For a ready-made export, ask for the counts for your selection in advance and ask where the contacts come from. The article Buying a company database lists what to ask.
3. What the list should contain
- Company name and legal form, so that you can tell a limited company from a sole trader.
- Company ID (IČO) as the unique key for matching with your CRM and checking duplicates.
- Tax ID (DIČ) and VAT ID (IČ DPH), if you will invoice the companies or check VAT payers.
- Registered address with postcode, municipality, district and region for regional sorting and route planning.
- SK NACE code, so that you know why a company is in the list.
- Phone, email and website, and for every contact its source and source date.
Our export has 17 columns in this structure; each one is described on the export and sample file page, where you can also download a sample with fictitious companies. Do not expect turnover, headcount or the names of directors in the list: the turnover of companies is in the register of financial statements, statutory bodies in the commercial register.
4. Three mistakes when opening the file in Excel
- Lost zeros. Excel reads the company ID, postcode and phone number as numbers and removes leading zeros. Import the file and set these columns to text.
- Broken diacritics. If you receive a CSV file, choose UTF-8 encoding when importing; a double-click may open it in another encoding.
- Duplicates by name. Companies with similar names may be different entities. Merge records by company ID.
5. Before the campaign
You may send an offer without consent to the published email addresses of businesses if the message identifies the sender and offers a simple, free way to opt out (§ 116(15) of Act No. 452/2021 Coll.). Before a phone campaign, check that the numbers are not on the do-not-call list. For sole traders, the information duty under Art. 14 GDPR and the right to object under Art. 21 also apply. Details in the article B2B email and phone outreach in Slovakia.
If you would rather not build the list yourself, look at the 21 industries with prices or tell us the industry, region and fields in the request form. We confirm the scope, data status and price before you order.
Frequently asked questions
Can I download a list of Slovak companies for free?
The identity of companies, yes: the Register of Legal Entities publishes open data with the company ID (IČO), name, address, legal form and SK NACE code under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Phone numbers and email addresses are not in the registers; businesses publish them on their websites, in directories and in chamber lists.
How much does a list of companies from one industry cost?
With us, an export of a whole industry costs €229 to €449 as a final price, with no subscription; the prices of all industries are in the price list. Selections by region or district are quoted on request.
How do I open a company list in Excel without errors?
Do not open the file by double-clicking; import it (Data › From Text/CSV) and set the company ID, postcode and phone columns to text. Otherwise Excel removes leading zeros. The step-by-step guide is on the export and sample file page.
As of 8 November 2026. This article is general information and does not replace legal advice in a specific case.
