EIN vs DUNS: What Your Business Actually Needs (Both, and Both Are Free)
McKenzie Adams editorial team · Last updated
The two identifiers behind business credit — what each does, where each is required, how to get both free, and what you're really paying for when you pay.
What an EIN does
An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is your business's tax ID, issued free by the IRS in minutes at irs.gov. Banks require it to open business accounts, payroll runs on it, and business credit applications ask for it. Anyone charging for 'EIN filing services' is charging for a form that takes ten minutes.
What a DUNS number does
A DUNS number is Dun & Bradstreet's identifier for your company, and it anchors your D&B business credit file — home of the PAYDEX score many vendors and lenders check. It's required for US federal contracting and many corporate vendor programmes. D&B issues it free directly; paid 'expedited' offers exist but the number itself never requires payment.
So what are credit-building services charging for?
Not the identifiers — the file-building around them: registering the DUNS correctly, building complete profiles at D&B, Experian Business and Equifax Business, and making every data point (name, address, phone, NAICS, EIN) agree across bureaus, bank and state records. That consistency work is what stops applications from dying in automated checks, and it's the honest version of what this industry sells.
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