Nonprofits · alternatives
Alternatives to OpenGrants
20 nonprofits tools sit alongside OpenGrants in this directory. Below is what separates each from OpenGrants on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 20
- With a free tier
- 4
- Cheaper to start
- 0
- OpenGrants starts at
- Free, then $9/month
Why people look past OpenGrants
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. OpenGrants has a free tier, and starts at $9/month against a category median of $209/month. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
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.
Nonprofit profile and intelligence platform
- Sold on a subscription model rather than Per user per month.
Fundraising software given free to nonprofits, funded by its founders rather than by fees
- Sold on a Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor model rather than Per user per month.
- 1 tier to OpenGrants's 2.
Open-source association management system for nonprofits
- Sold on a Open source, with paid hosting available model rather than Per user per month.
Open source constituent relationship management for nonprofits, with no per contact or per donation fee
- Sold on a Open source, no licence fee model rather than Per user per month.
- 1 tier to OpenGrants's 2.
Offline-first case management and mobile data collection for frontline health and development programmes
- No free tier, where OpenGrants has one.
- Starts $91 a month dearer, at $100/month.
- Sold on a Per month by mobile user count model rather than Per user per month.
- 4 tiers to OpenGrants's 2.
Grant lifecycle management for foundations, with public subscription bands and a two-year term
- No free tier, where OpenGrants has one.
- Sold on a quote model rather than Per user per month.
- 3 tiers to OpenGrants's 2.
Every OpenGrants 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenGrants (this page) | Free, then $9/month | Per user per month | 2 | |
| GuideStarFor verified nonprofit organisation data rather than open opportunity search | Free | Subscription | 2 | vs OpenGrants |
| Give Lively | Free | Free to nonprofits, card processing charged by the processor | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| Tendenci | Free | Open source, with paid hosting available | 2 | vs OpenGrants |
| CiviCRM | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| CommCare | $100/month | Per month by mobile user count | 4 | vs OpenGrants |
| Foundant Technologies | On request | Quote | 3 | vs OpenGrants |
| CharityEngine | On request | Quote | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| Instrumentl | $299/month | Per organisation per month by seat band | 4 | vs OpenGrants |
| Fluxx | On request | Quote | 2 | vs OpenGrants |
| Sumac | On request | Quote | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| Bonterra | On request | Quote | 3 | vs OpenGrants |
| Blackbaud Grantmaking | On request | Quote | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| SmartSimple Cloud | On request | Quote | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| Submittable | On request | Quote | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| GrantStation | $199/year | Per organisation per year | 2 | vs OpenGrants |
| Keela | On request | Per month by contact count | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| MemberClicks | On request | Quote | 2 | vs OpenGrants |
| Fundraise Up | On request | Percentage of each donation | 1 | vs OpenGrants |
| Candid | $219/month | Per user per month by tier | 3 | vs OpenGrants |
| Glue Up | On request | Quote | 3 | vs OpenGrants |
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 OpenGrants badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (4)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- GuideStar , Free
- Give Lively , Free
- Tendenci , Free
- CiviCRM , Free
What you would be giving up
OpenGrants is most often brought in for a small nonprofit with no research budget that needs to know whether relevant grants exist before hiring anyone, a startup hunting sbir, state innovation and economic development funding across multiple agencies, a freelance grant writer covering several clients who cannot pass on a several-hundred-dollar monthly database cost, an organisation wanting to hire a grant writer for one application without running a procurement. 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 OpenGrants is broadly right and the question is cost, the OpenGrants pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Nonprofits category lists everything the directory holds, and best nonprofits tools ranks them.
OpenGrants 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 OpenGrants alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to OpenGrants?
- 20 other nonprofits tools are listed in this directory, led by GuideStar, Give Lively, Tendenci, CiviCRM. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to OpenGrants?
- 4 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: GuideStar, Give Lively, Tendenci, CiviCRM.
- Is there a reason to switch away from OpenGrants?
- Nothing in the data flags one. OpenGrants has a free tier, and starts at $9/month against a category median of $209/month. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from OpenGrants?
- OpenGrants is most often brought in for a small nonprofit with no research budget that needs to know whether relevant grants exist before hiring anyone, a startup hunting sbir, state innovation and economic development funding across multiple agencies, a freelance grant writer covering several clients who cannot pass on a several-hundred-dollar monthly database cost, an organisation wanting to hire a grant writer for one application without running a procurement. 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 OpenGrants?
- None of the nonprofits 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 OpenGrants alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Nonprofits, 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 OpenGrants against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against OpenGrants 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 nonprofits tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Nonprofits category, 20 tools beside OpenGrants. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.