Comparison
Creditsafe alternatives for a one-off UK company check
If you only need to check one UK company, an annual credit-reference subscription is usually the wrong shape of product. The realistic alternatives are the free Companies House register, free listing sites, analytics providers, and one-off paid reports such as CoreFi, which sells a single report per company from £39 with no contract.
| Option | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Companies House | Free | Identity, status and raw filings |
| Free listing sites | Free, paid extras | A quick look-up |
| Credit reference subscription | Annual contract | Scoring and monitoring many companies |
| Risk analytics subscription | Annual contract | Ranking a portfolio by modelled risk |
| CoreFi one-off report | From £39, per company | Checking one company properly, once |
The free option, which is often enough
The Companies House register is free and complete. It gives you status, filed accounts, charges, directors and persons of significant control. If your question is whether a company exists, is active and files on time, you do not need to pay anyone.
Its limits are that it presents raw filings rather than analysis, holds no information from other registers, and leaves you to check the arithmetic yourself.
Subscription providers
Credit reference agencies such as Creditsafe sell modelled scores and recommended limits on an annual subscription, and analytics providers such as Company Watch sell modelled financial risk. Both are built for teams checking many companies continuously.
For a single check, the subscription model is the friction: an annual commitment for one question.
One-off reports
A one-off report is bought per company with no contract. CoreFi's is compiled from Companies House and cross-checked against the accounting identities, then combined with HM Land Registry property, supplier-payment behaviour, operator licences and Gazette insolvency notices, and delivered as a PDF.
CoreFi is not a credit reference agency and does not issue a score. Where a figure does not reconcile, or was never filed, the report says so rather than estimating it.
Check any UK company now
Enter a company number to see the free snapshot, then get the full report. One-off, from £39.
Start typing a company name and pick the right one, or paste a company number.
Or see how CoreFi Company Reports work.
Frequently asked
What is the cheapest way to check a UK company?
The Companies House register, which is free. Pay only when you need the accounts cross-checked, the wider registers combined, or a document you can share as part of a decision.
Can I get a company credit report without a subscription?
Yes. One-off reports are sold per company with no contract. Note that a one-off report from CoreFi is a factual compilation of the public record, not a credit score, because CoreFi is not a credit reference agency.
Which alternative shows what property a company owns?
Registered property comes from HM Land Registry rather than Companies House, so most company-check products do not show it. CoreFi's Dossier lists the registered titles a company holds, and titles held by its subsidiaries where the group's accounts name them.
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