Government · alternatives
Alternatives to Bonfire
19 government tools sit alongside Bonfire in this directory. Below is what separates each from Bonfire on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 19
- With a free tier
- 1
- Cheaper to start
- -
- Bonfire starts at
- On request
Why people look past Bonfire
Only what the record supports. Each point below is a figure on the Bonfire entry measured against the tools listed beside it.
There is no free tier
The record for Bonfire carries no free tier, so evaluating it means paying first. 1 of the 19 alternatives below can be used without paying.
There is only one tier
Bonfire publishes a single plan, Bonfire at On request. There is no smaller tier to drop to if the fit is wrong or the budget moves.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Budgeting, procurement, grants and payments software for the public sector, formerly GTY Technology
Priced and rated the same as Bonfire on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Regional bid notification network where agencies post free and suppliers pay for alerts
- 2 tiers to Bonfire's 1.
Bid distribution network that is free for government agencies and charges the suppliers instead
- Can be used without paying; Bonfire cannot.
- Publishes an entry price of $60/year, where Bonfire does not.
- Sold on a Free for agencies, per year by geographic coverage for suppliers model rather than quote.
- 5 tiers to Bonfire's 1.
GIS-centric public asset and work management, the product formerly sold as Cityworks
Priced and rated the same as Bonfire on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Local government asset and work order software, the former Beehive Industries platform
Priced and rated the same as Bonfire on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Combined EAM and CMMS for utilities and municipalities with Esri GIS at the centre of the asset register
Priced and rated the same as Bonfire on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Every Bonfire alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonfire (this page) | On request | Quote | 1 | |
| Euna SolutionsThe parent portfolio, worth understanding before treating its products as independent options | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| Bidnet DirectStronger on solicitation distribution and supplier reach than on structured evaluation | On request | Quote | 2 | vs Bonfire |
| DemandStarCheaper option when the need is reaching bidders rather than defending a scored award | Free, then $60/year | Free for agencies, per year by geographic coverage for suppliers | 5 | vs Bonfire |
| Trimble Unity Maintain | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| CivicPlus Asset Management | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| NEXGEN Asset Management | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| CentralSquare Asset Management | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| VUEWorks | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| Periscope Holdings | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| Zencity | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| mySidewalk | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| GovPilot | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| Clariti | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| RecDesk | $3835/year | Per year, all inclusive with unlimited users | 4 | vs Bonfire |
| Springbrook Software | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| MyRec.com | On request | Per year by department annual revenue | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| ArchiveSocial | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| NEOGOV | On request | Quote | 1 | vs Bonfire |
| eCode360 | $175/month | Subscription | 1 | vs Bonfire |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the Bonfire badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (1)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- DemandStar , Free, then $60/year
What you would be giving up
Bonfire is most often brought in for an agency that has lost or nearly lost a bid protest and needs a defensible evaluation record, a procurement team running scoring committees currently held together by spreadsheets and email, a university or health system applying public procurement rules without a public procurement system, an agency wanting suppliers to self register and receive addenda automatically rather than by mailing list. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If Bonfire is broadly right and the question is cost, the Bonfire pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Government category lists everything the directory holds, and best government tools ranks them.
Bonfire runs on web. Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about Bonfire alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to Bonfire?
- 19 other government tools are listed in this directory, led by Euna Solutions, Bidnet Direct, DemandStar, Trimble Unity Maintain. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to Bonfire?
- 1 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: DemandStar.
- Why do people look for an alternative to Bonfire?
- On the figures on record, 2 things stand out: there is no free tier; there is only one tier. Each is set out with the numbers behind it above.
- What would I give up by switching from Bonfire?
- Bonfire is most often brought in for an agency that has lost or nearly lost a bid protest and needs a defensible evaluation record, a procurement team running scoring committees currently held together by spreadsheets and email, a university or health system applying public procurement rules without a public procurement system, an agency wanting suppliers to self register and receive addenda automatically rather than by mailing list. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to Bonfire?
- None of the government tools listed here are recorded as open source. That is what the licence field on each entry says, and the field is not always filled in, so it is worth checking directly for any tool you are serious about.
- How were these Bonfire alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Government, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare Bonfire against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against Bonfire covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every government tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Government category, 19 tools beside Bonfire. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.