Peppol Directory vs Lookup: Which to Use and When

If you need to find out whether a customer or supplier can accept Peppol e-invoices, the choice of tool depends on one thing: whether you already have a Peppol ID or not. Peppol Directory is a free, browseable search where you can search by company name, Peppol endpoint ID, country and document capacity. This is the right place if you only have the name, country or registry code. Peppol Lookup service launched on March 19, 2026 answers a narrower question: is this specific Peppol ID currently published online? Neither tool sends an invoice or confirms that your invoice has arrived.

In short: you can find it in the catalog, check it with Lookup

Your situation	Use
You only know the customer's name or country	Peppoli catalog
You want to see if the client has indicated the ability to accept invoices	Peppoli catalog
Peppol ID is here and the question is whether it is currently published	Lookup service
You just registered as a recipient and want to check if the listing is online	Lookup service
You changed your operator and your bills aren't coming in.	Lookup service, then operator
You want a guarantee that this one bill will arrive.	Neither gives, see below

These are two different tools, not two billing channels.

The first misunderstanding that should be cleared up right away: neither the catalog nor Lookup is an invoice channel. They don't send anything - they just answer questions.

The catalog is a consolidated view. Peppoli Catalog Specification v1.1.1 describes it as a aggregator of business cards stored in existing SMPs, not as a replacement for parts of the network. An SMP, or Service Metadata Publisher, is a registry where your operator stores your company's network records. The directory pulls the data from there so that a person can search for it in a browser.

Lookup looks at one narrow thing: whether the participant is currently published online. OpenPeppol directly says that the service was born because of the asynchrony of the directory. Catalog updates don't arrive instantly, which is why situations arise where it is not clear whether the participant's publication was successful.

When is it worth starting with a catalog?

If you only have the client's name, start with the directory. It's a free, open-source, searchable service. by company name, Peppol endpoint ID, country and Peppol document capability, either as a single condition or a combination of them. If data exists, the searcher will also see additional identifiers, contact details, registration date, website and free text.

In practice, you do two things at once in the catalog. You find the customer's probable Peppoli identifier, which you can save on the customer card in your software. And you look at what document capabilities are listed. Is the recipient published for invoices at all or does he deal with orders, for example?

One caveat: the age of an entry found in the directory is not the same as the accuracy of the entry. If the customer changed carriers last year, the directory may contain old information. Then the next step is to lookup, not guess.

Why doesn't an empty search result mean "no"?

This is the most expensive mistake a small business in the Baltics can make here. Not being listed in the catalog does not mean that the customer cannot accept the e-invoice.

OpenPeppol says it itself: Updating the catalog is the responsibility of Peppoli SMP service providers and is not currently mandatory., which is why not every registered Peppol receiver can be found in the directory. So, publication is a voluntary step taken by the operator, not the network itself.

Imagine an invoice for 1200 euros to an Estonian client. You search for the client’s name in the catalog, no results come up, and you send a PDF invoice via email. The client replies that they only accept machine-readable e-invoices, and the invoice goes round in circles. Technically, the channel was intact the whole time – only the catalog entry was missing. So a week of the payment deadline is lost without any actual error.

Therefore, an empty search result should never be considered a final answer. Ask the customer or have your operator make the request.

When to use the new Lookup service?

The Lookup service will be available from March 19, 2026. and aims to provide an easy way to check whether a participant is currently published on the network. OpenPeppol calls it the first version that solves a practical everyday concern for service providers and developers. The tool itself is public and can be found at lookup.peppol.org.

Three situations where this is actually beneficial:

• At the time of joining: You registered as an e-invoice recipient and want to see if the item actually exists online before you make a promise to the customer.
• After the change: changed operator or identifier and check whether the new status has been published.
• When troubleshooting: Invoices are not arriving and you want to distinguish with one query whether the problem is with the publication or elsewhere.

The service is still evolving. OpenPeppol has said that future versions will support simultaneous SML and SMK queries. SML, or Service Metadata Locator, is the network's central address register. No date has been announced for this, so don't plan on scheduling this feature.

What actually happens before the invoice is sent?

Public searches are preliminary work. The actual verification takes place at the time of sending and is done by your operator, not you in the browser.

The sender's Access Point first asks the SML where the recipient's SMP is located, and then asks that SMP whether the recipient is able to receive the requested document. Only then does the invoice proceed. Both the SML and the SMP are mandatory parts of the Peppoli network and have their own valid specifications. SMP version v1.4.0 is valid from November 1, 2025.

Here is the answer to the question of whether any tool guarantees delivery. No. A positive Lookup result means that the participant has been published. It is not proof that your specific invoice was received. If confirmation is needed for a specific invoice, it will come from your carrier's shipping log, not from a public search.

What should the Estonian seller do now?

In Estonia, from 1 July 2025, it will be possible to register as an e-invoice recipient in the commercial register, along with the details of the receiving channel, and such a company can request an e-invoice from the seller. An invoice that complies with the European e-invoice standard EN 16931-1 is considered to be compliant, unless the parties have agreed on another relevant standard.

Important nuance: this rule does not say that the channel must be Peppol. Therefore, the e-invoice recipient indication in the commercial register and the public Peppol directory entry are not the same thing, and their absence or presence cannot be inferred from each other.

The practical procedure for a new customer is simple. Search the directory for the name and see if the identifier and document capability are available. Once you have the ID, check with Lookup whether it is currently published. If nothing is found, ask the customer in one sentence what channel and format they are expecting. Your operator will perform the final capability check upon dispatch.

And if the situation is the opposite, for example, your company accepts e-invoices, but you cannot be found in the directory, then the action is one and specific. In such a case, OpenPeppol recommends contact your Peppoli service provider and ask them to upload your data to the directory. Specifically ask for a business card to be published and check the results yourself with Lookup. A client who can't find you in the directory will send a PDF invoice, and that means manual work for both parties again.

Read also: English · Latvian · Lithuanian

Last checked: September 21, 2026

FAQ

Does an empty search result in the Peppoli catalog mean that the customer cannot receive an e-invoice?

No, absence from the directory does not mean lack of reception capability. Loading the data directory is a voluntary step for Peppoli service providers and does not occur automatically online. If the search does not yield results, the customer must be asked directly about the reception channel or a request must be made through the operator.

What is the Peppol Lookup service, which has been open since March 19, 2026, used for?

The lookup service allows you to check in real time whether a specific Peppol ID is currently published online. The tool solves delays caused by directory asynchrony when checking subscriptions, changing operators, and analyzing sending errors.

Does Peppol Directory or Lookup guarantee invoice delivery?

Neither tool sends invoices or guarantees the delivery of the document. A positive search result only indicates that the participant has been published online. Confirmation of the successful delivery of a specific invoice can only be obtained from your carrier's shipping log.