Dun & Bradstreet is the long-standing incumbent in business data, known for the D-U-N-S Number and global coverage. KnowFirm is a developer-first alternative focused on transparent, self-serve US business verification with usage-based pricing and an MCP server for AI agents. This comparison cites public sources and uses the Dun & Bradstreet name nominatively only.
| KnowFirm | Dun & Bradstreet | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Transparent & self-serve: Free (10 credits/mo), Starter $49/mo (1,500 credits), Growth $199/mo (8,000 credits). Hard quotas, no surprise overage. | Enterprise pricing; not published publicly. Annual contracts are typical. Some products available through marketplace partners. |
| Start without talking to sales | Yes — sign up and query live data on the Free plan, no credit card. | Developer sandbox available for some APIs; production access typically requires a sales engagement. |
| MCP server for AI agents | Yes — a published MCP server so AI agents (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, etc.) can call KYB tools directly. See /docs/mcp. | No MCP server documented at the time of writing. |
| Coverage focus | US business entities from public records (IRS, GLEIF, SEC EDGAR, FDIC, DOL, CMS, CFPB, CSL) with measured per-field fill rates on /coverage. | Global commercial database with over 500 million business records across 200+ countries. The D-U-N-S Number is the de facto standard for business identification in government and enterprise procurement. |
| Identifier system | Resolves on existing public identifiers — EIN, LEI, CIK, FDIC cert, ticker — no proprietary identifier required. | The D-U-N-S Number is a proprietary 9-digit identifier assigned and maintained by D&B. Widely required for US government contracting (SAM.gov). |
| Data posture | Public-record & firmographic data with per-field provenance and confidence scores; documented opt-out and data-sources attribution. | Proprietary commercial data combining public records, trade credit data, and business self-reported information. Global coverage with depth in credit and risk scoring. |
| FCRA boundary | KYB only — explicitly not a consumer report (FCRA); not for credit, employment, insurance, or housing eligibility. | D&B offers both FCRA and non-FCRA products. Some products (e.g. credit reports) are consumer reports under FCRA. Confirm permitted use for your specific product. |
KnowFirm returns KYB & firmographic data only — it is not a consumer report (FCRA) and must not be used for credit, employment, insurance, or housing eligibility decisions.
Dun & Bradstreet is a trademark of its respective owner and is referenced here nominatively for comparison only. Claims about Dun & Bradstreet are drawn from the public sources below; figures are estimates where the vendor does not publish them and may change.