After 20 years of labeling with a strong increase of certified surfaces all around the world, real advantages and inconveniences of a company certified with regard to a normal company are not well known. To make a correct assessment of the ecological, social and economic impacts of tropical forest certification, it is first essential to compare companies with similar profiles. This study focused in the Brazilian Amazonia, aimed to identify the different profiles of harvesting companies by the construction of a typology. We used the data collected by Imazon during a extensive assessment of the Brazilian amazon forest sector which main results were publishaed in 2010. From the analysis of this data base, we compared the main characteristics of the uncertified forest companies with the 13 certified companies.