Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the objectives, tenants, spaces and services of different business center concepts and test whether the existing classifications in literature and in the real estate market draw on significantly different concepts. Design/methodology/approach – After a literature review, data on business centers were collected with a questionnaire among owners/mangers of 139 business centers in the Netherlands. The existing business center concepts are examined whether these concepts are significantly different, using bivariate analyses. Findings – The findings of this study give insight into the business center market, the existing business center concepts and (dis)similarities between the concepts. Although many dissimilarities were found between the business center concepts, like offered services, social spaces and contractual agreements, findings show that the four business center concepts can be offered in similar objects. Originality/value – New ideas about working and the work environment have caused the business center market to become more differentiated. Some studies have attempted to classify the business center market into several categories or analyzed in detail one specific business center concept. However, these studies did not describe in detail the differences between the concepts. Also there is hardly any empirical research on this sector. This paper addresses gaps in previous research on business centers and demonstrates that there are significant (dis)similarities between the existing business center concepts.