Kodo Leads vs. Kompass:
Self-reported entry or researched list

Comparing Kodo with a database rather than a directory? Then Kodo vs. Dealfront (2026) fits your question better.

The difference in one sentence

Kompass is a directory: companies list themselves, describe themselves according to a product classification, and whoever searches finds the entries. Kodo Leads is a research service: you describe who you are looking for and receive the finished list, with decision-maker, documented trigger and the link to every source.

Both builds have their place, and the choice hinges on one question: who at your company does the hours that lie between the search and the first call?

What Kompass does well, stated honestly

Kompass International from Paris runs one of the oldest B2B company directories there is and lists companies from over 60 countries. There are two things Kompass can do that Kodo cannot. First, international breadth: if you are looking for customers or suppliers in France, Italy, Poland or overseas, you will find entries there that we do not have. Kodo is tailored to Germany, Austria and Switzerland and becomes thin beyond that. Second, the Kompass classification: a uniform grid by products and services that works the same way in every country. For buyers searching internationally for manufacturers of a particular product, that is a genuine advantage.

On top of that comes the EasyBusiness data product, which allows lists to be pulled at a breadth Kodo does not aim for. If you need thousands of addresses for a broad campaign and only qualify in the conversation, that is the cheaper tool.

Where a directory structurally ends

The point at which every directory hits a limit has nothing to do with the quality of the provider. It lies in the source. A directory entry is self-reported: the company writes what it offers, the way it wants to be seen, and updates the entry when it remembers to. For supplier search that is enough. For sales teams that qualify by technical characteristics, it is not.

An example that can be put in numbers. For the market overviews on this website we captured 2,276 manufacturing and trade businesses and deeply profiled 1,001 of them. 119 of these companies mention an ISO 9001 verbatim, 15 an ISO 14001, 5 an IATF 16949, and they do so on their website, not in a register. These statements sit in the footer, on a quality page or in a PDF, in other words where the company wrote them for its customers, not in a directory it maintains for buyers.

The same applies to the machine park, the manufacturing processes, the materials and above all to the trigger. A directory knows no events. The announcement of the new hall sits on the company's own news page, the open position on the shop floor in a job posting, the KfW grant in an official notice. What makes a buying signal reliable is explained in our glossary entry on buyer signals. Anyone searching for these things has to have the sources read. That is exactly our work.

And then there is the decision-maker. A directory entry lists the company and a central address. Kodo lists the managing director or authorised officer from the imprint and the team page, with role and with the source next to it. The difference between a company and a person who decides on your enquiry is, in sales, the difference between an address and a meeting.

German SMEs in the directory

An international directory lives from companies listing themselves. The machining shop with 80 employees in Baden-Württemberg rarely does, and if it does, only briefly. Its substance sits on its own website: machine park, materials, reference industries. That is exactly why Kompass has gaps in the German manufacturing SME sector, and exactly where Kodo starts. How directories and databases for Germany compare overall is shown in our overview of B2B databases in Germany.

The honest calculation

Per address, Kodo is more expensive than a directory. That is not a weakness but a consequence of the build: for every company we read the website, the imprint, job postings, the register and the news situation. Researched companies are available from 0.70 euros per company, as a single list without a subscription, and ten companies are free to start. The details are on our pricing page.

That is why the comparison is worthwhile not per address, but per meeting. Do the maths: how many hours per week does your team spend sifting through directory entries, opening websites and looking for contacts? Multiplied by your internal hourly rate, that is the price you are already paying today. If it is above the cost of the list, the question is answered. If it is below, or if your market lies outside DACH, Kompass is the right tool for you, and that sentence is here on purpose.