# API Sirene: what the free government API gives you, and what it does not

Source: https://veriport.io/guides/api-sirene-what-the-free-government-api-gives-you (published 2026-10-24)

Yes, the French company register can be queried for free: INSEE’s Sirene API (a free key, 30 requests a minute) and DINUM’s Recherche d’entreprises API (no key, 7 requests a second, Sirene plus INPI data) return identity, legal form, NAF code, address, headcount band and establishments (INSEE; api.gouv.fr). Neither tells you whether the VAT number is active, issues a Kbis-equivalent proof, or opens published accounts and beneficial owners. For most invoicing and supplier checks they are enough; this page is about where they stop.

- INSEE API Sirene 3.11: `/siren/{siren}` for the legal unit (unité légale), `/siret/{siret}` for an establishment, with their history periods. Free, with a key from the INSEE API portal sent in `X-INSEE-Api-Key-Integration`; 30 requests a minute.
- Recherche d’entreprises (DINUM): `/search?q=` by name, SIREN or SIRET; no key; 7 requests a second shared by everyone; adds officers from the INPI register (RNE) and labels.
- Both give: identity, legal form code, NAF code, status, dates, address, headcount band, company category, establishments. Neither gives: the VAT number’s registration status, financial statements, beneficial owners, or a legal proof of registration.
- Partial diffusion: individuals who opposed publication have parts of their record withheld; some units are not published at all.

## What does each free API return?

|  | INSEE API Sirene | Recherche d’entreprises | Veriport /fr/company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key | Yes (free, INSEE portal) | No | Our key; INSEE key on our side |
| Rate | 30 / minute | 7 / second, shared | Your tier’s rate; we pace upstream and cache |
| Legal form, NAF, status, address, headcount band | Codes | Codes | Codes + labels + NAF section |
| Establishments | Per SIRET, with history | Head office + matches | Head office + the SIRET asked |
| Officers (dirigeants) | No | Yes (INPI RNE) | Yes, where the RNE data lists them |
| VAT number | No | Not reliably | Computed, plus `/vat/validate` on VIES |
| When the source is down | Error | Error | Cached answer marked stale, or 503 with Retry-After |
| Answer shape | INSEE nested periods | Search result | One flat, documented record with `source` and `fetchedOn` |

## What does neither free API give you?

- **Whether the VAT number is active.** The French VAT number can be computed from the SIREN, but only VIES says whether it is registered for intra-EU transactions today.
- **A legal proof.** A Kbis extract (or the INPI register extract) is the document a court or a bank accepts; an API answer is information.
- **Financial statements and beneficial owners.** Published accounts are a separate INPI dataset with its own access rules; the beneficial-owner register is not open to the public.
- **Everything about restricted units.** Some units are excluded from publication, and individuals may oppose the publication of their address.

## When should you call INSEE directly?

If you need establishment history, the full period-by-period record, or bulk extraction (the monthly Sirene stock files are free downloads), go to INSEE: the API and the stock files are the source. If you need one clean record per identifier inside an invoicing or onboarding flow, with officers and a fallback when the source is down, a wrapper saves the mapping work.

## Questions

### Is the Sirene API really free?

Yes: INSEE publishes the register as open data; the API needs a free key from its portal and is limited per application.

### Why does a company show no address?

Because its record is in partial diffusion: individuals may oppose the publication of some data, and the sources then withhold it. The `diffusion` field says `P`.

## Read next

- [French company data from a SIREN or SIRET](https://veriport.io/docs/french-company-data)
- [Reference: French company registry](https://veriport.io/docs/fr-company)
- [En français : API Sirene](https://veriport.io/fr/api-sirene)
- [Quick start](https://veriport.io/docs/quickstart)

## Sources

- INSEE — API Sirene 3.11 (siren/{siren}, siret/{siret}), key-based through the INSEE API portal, 30 requests a minute — https://portail-api.insee.fr/ (2026-10-24)
- API Recherche d’entreprises — open search API over INSEE Sirene and INPI RNE data (no key, 7 requests a second), OpenAPI document — https://recherche-entreprises.api.gouv.fr/docs/ (2026-10-24)
- INPI — Registre national des entreprises (RNE), open data on company officers (dirigeants) re-served by the Recherche d’entreprises API — https://www.inpi.fr/le-registre-national-des-entreprises (2026-10-24)
- INSEE — Nomenclature d’activités française (NAF rév. 2) and the legal-category (catégorie juridique) and headcount-band code lists — https://www.insee.fr/fr/information/2406147 (2026-10-24)
- VIES REST API — check-vat-number, check-status (technical information) — https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/technical-information (2026-10-24)