Recent studies on ASDEX Upgrade have revealed dierences between the empirical H-mode density limit scaling and the widely used Greenwald scaling, particularly as regards the Bt and qy dependences. Dedicated low Bt and high qy gas scans have been performed at JET to address this issue. A combined JET and ASDEX Upgrade database is analyzed and is found to be described by a common scaling which conrms the expected deviations from the Greenwald scaling. A comparison of the empirical scaling with model predictions is made and its implications for the critical density of ITER are discussed. The paper also includes a discussion of the JET density limit signatures with a view to resolving apparent dierences between JET and smaller tokamaks. A coherent inter machine picture, underlying the present paper, is obtained if the density limit is conceived as a limit of the pedestal density that is reached at the H-L transition boundary.