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Government · head to head

Bidnet Direct vs Ping Identity

Bidnet Direct logo

Bidnet Direct

Government

Regional bid notification network where agencies post free and suppliers pay for alerts

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Ping Identity logo

Ping Identity

Cybersecurity

Enterprise identity for workforce and customers, with a 5,000 user floor

From
$3/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Bidnet Direct suppliers pay for aggregation, not access: the same solicitations are generally published free on individual agency and state portals, so the subscription is only worth it if searching manually costs more than the fee.; Ping Identity workforce pricing carries a 5,000 user annual minimum, so an organisation with 800 staff pays for 5,000 and the effective per user cost is over six times the list rate.
  • They diverge on capability: Bidnet Direct covers Regional purchasing groups, Ping Identity covers Single sign-on.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Bidnet Direct and Ping Identity actually diverge.

Attributes where Bidnet Direct and Ping Identity differ
AttributeBidnet DirectPing Identity
Starting priceOn request$3/month
Pricing modelquotePer user per month
PlatformsWebWeb, Linux, Windows
CategoryGovernmentCybersecurity

Identical on both: free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Bidnet Direct

  • Regional purchasing groups
  • Free agency publication
  • Supplier notification
  • Vendor registration
  • Bid document distribution
  • Award postings
  • Supplier diversity reporting

Only in Ping Identity

  • Single sign-on
  • Adaptive MFA
  • Identity orchestration
  • API access management
  • Directory services
  • Flexible deployment
  • ForgeRock capabilities

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Bidnet Direct

  • A small municipal purchasing department that needs competitive responses without building or paying for its own bid portalnot Ping Identity
  • A contractor that wants notification of every relevant solicitation across a state rather than checking dozens of agency websitesnot Ping Identity
  • A state cooperative wanting a single regional portal so suppliers register once for many agenciesnot Ping Identity
  • An agency required to demonstrate outreach to certified diverse suppliers on every solicitationnot Ping Identity

Ping Identity

  • A bank that must keep identity data on premises in one country while running SaaS identity elsewherenot Bidnet Direct
  • An airline or telco with tens of millions of customer identities needing a directory that holds that scalenot Bidnet Direct
  • An enterprise assembling authentication journeys that call several external verification and risk vendorsnot Bidnet Direct
  • An existing ForgeRock customer deciding what its upgrade path looks like under Ping ownershipnot Bidnet Direct

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Bidnet Direct

  • Suppliers pay for aggregation, not access: the same solicitations are generally published free on individual agency and state portals, so the subscription is only worth it if searching manually costs more than the fee.
  • Supplier pricing is not published and varies by geography and category breadth, which makes it difficult for a small contractor to judge value before a sales conversation.
  • Category matching produces a high volume of irrelevant alerts for suppliers whose work does not map neatly onto procurement commodity codes, so the notification stream needs constant tuning.
  • Bidnet is now one brand inside SOVRA, which divested six business units in 2025 under new private equity ownership, so portfolio priorities can change independently of any individual product's customers.
  • For agencies it is a publication and notification network rather than a sourcing system: bid evaluation, scoring and contract management need a separate tool.

Ping Identity

  • Workforce pricing carries a 5,000 user annual minimum, so an organisation with 800 staff pays for 5,000 and the effective per user cost is over six times the list rate.
  • Adaptive multi-factor authentication is in the Plus tier only, doubling the per user price for a capability many buyers assume is standard in a modern identity platform.
  • ForgeRock no longer exists as an independent product, so customers who chose it specifically to avoid Ping now face a roadmap set by the vendor they did not pick.
  • Thoma Bravo ownership across both merged companies means the commercial priority is margin, and buyers report firmer renewal negotiations than they saw before 2022.
  • The portfolio has overlapping components from three product lineages, so scoping a deployment requires vendor architects and the licensing conversation is more complicated than the price list implies.

Pricing, plan by plan

Bidnet Direct

On request
  • Supplier subscription$undefined/year
    • Matched opportunity notifications
    • Access to regional purchasing group solicitations
    • Priced by geographic and category coverage
  • Agency participation$undefined/year
    • Solicitation publication and vendor registry
    • Free or low cost to participating public agencies
    • Supplier diversity reporting

Ping Identity

$3/month
  • PingOne for Workforce Essential$3/month
    • Minimum 5,000 users billed annually
    • Single sign-on and directory services
    • OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML and SCIM
  • PingOne for Workforce Plus$6/month
    • Minimum 5,000 users billed annually
    • Everything in Essential
    • Adaptive multi-factor authentication
  • PingOne for Customers Essential$35000/year
    • Flat annual fee
    • No-code identity orchestration
    • Unified customer profiles
  • PingOne for Customers Plus$50000/year
    • Flat annual fee
    • Everything in Essential
    • Adaptive MFA and device management

Which should you pick?

Choose Bidnet Direct if

  • You need regional purchasing groups.
  • You also want free agency publication.
Bidnet Direct review

Choose Ping Identity if

  • You need single sign-on.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
  • You also want adaptive mfa.
Ping Identity review

Questions people ask

Is Bidnet Direct or Ping Identity better?
Neither clearly leads. Bidnet Direct starts at On request and Ping Identity at $3/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Bidnet Direct or Ping Identity?
Bidnet Direct starts at On request and Ping Identity at $3/month.
Does Bidnet Direct or Ping Identity run on more platforms?
Bidnet Direct runs on Web. Ping Identity runs on Web, Linux, Windows.
What is Bidnet Direct best used for?
Bidnet Direct is most often used for a small municipal purchasing department that needs competitive responses without building or paying for its own bid portal, a contractor that wants notification of every relevant solicitation across a state rather than checking dozens of agency websites, a state cooperative wanting a single regional portal so suppliers register once for many agencies, an agency required to demonstrate outreach to certified diverse suppliers on every solicitation. Of those, a small municipal purchasing department that needs competitive responses without building or paying for its own bid portal and a contractor that wants notification of every relevant solicitation across a state rather than checking dozens of agency websites are not what Ping Identity is typically brought in for.
What can Bidnet Direct do that Ping Identity cannot?
Bidnet Direct covers Regional purchasing groups, Free agency publication, Supplier notification, Vendor registration. Ping Identity covers Single sign-on, Adaptive MFA, Identity orchestration, API access management.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Bidnet Direct: Do government agencies pay?

Generally not, or very little. The network is funded by supplier subscriptions, which is why agencies get an existing supplier pool without paying for it.

Ping Identity: Can I still buy ForgeRock?

Not as a separate product. Ping acquired ForgeRock in 2023 and the capabilities are sold within the Ping portfolio. Existing customers should ask about the specific migration path for their components.

Bidnet Direct: Is it worth it for a supplier?

Only if aggregation saves you more than it costs. The solicitations are public and available free elsewhere; you are buying alerting and search across many agencies at once.

Ping Identity: What is the real minimum spend?

PingOne for Workforce Essential is 3 USD per user per month with a 5,000 user annual minimum, so roughly 180,000 USD a year before anything else.

Bidnet Direct: Who owns it now?

SOVRA, the rebranded procurement business of mdf commerce, which was acquired by KKR. Bidnet Direct remains a named product within that portfolio.

Ping Identity: Is MFA included?

Basic authentication policies are in Essential. Adaptive MFA and passwordless require the Plus tier at 6 USD per user per month.

Bidnet Direct: Does it evaluate bids?

No. It publishes and distributes. Scoring, evaluation and contract management require a sourcing platform.

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