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OpenGrants
Low-cost grant search across federal, state and private funders, with a paid consultant marketplace alongside
As of 31 August 2026, OpenGrants has a free plan and paid plans start at $9/month. A grant search engine priced at a few dollars a month rather than the few hundred that legacy grant databases charge, with a marketplace of freelance grant writers attached. Softwr lists it under Nonprofits. OpenGrants is available on Web.
Overview
What OpenGrants does
OpenGrants aggregates open funding opportunities from federal, state and private sources into a single searchable index with saved searches, alerts and a tracking board. Alongside the search product it runs a marketplace connecting applicants with grant writers and consultants, taking a cut of engagements, and sells services to funders and economic development agencies. The commercially interesting fact is the price. Established grant research subscriptions run into the hundreds of dollars a month; OpenGrants is priced in single digits monthly with an annual option, and keeps a free tier of core search. That is affordable because it leans on public and semi-public opportunity feeds and automation rather than a large research staff hand-coding foundation records, which is the trade-off buyers need to understand. Buyers are small nonprofits, startups chasing SBIR and state innovation funds, and consultants who need a wide net cheaply. It suits organisations that would otherwise use nothing, and organisations testing whether grant funding is viable before committing to a research budget. Institutions with a professional grants office generally end up back on Candid or Instrumentl for depth of foundation intelligence.
What people use it 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
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about OpenGrants.
- Coverage of private foundations is thinner and less curated than Candid or Instrumentl, so a prospect list built solely from OpenGrants will miss foundations that never post public opportunity notices.
- The index leans on public opportunity feeds, which means it is strongest on government funding and weakest on the relationship-driven private philanthropy that most nonprofits actually rely on.
- Matching is keyword driven rather than fit-scored, so users receive alerts for opportunities they are ineligible for and must qualify each one by hand.
- The consultant marketplace is a directory with variable quality rather than a vetted panel, so buyers carry the risk of choosing a weak grant writer themselves.
- It is a US-focused index, offering little to organisations seeking UK, EU or Canadian funding.
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of OpenGrants
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
Pricing
What OpenGrants costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- Core grant search
- Limited results and saved searches
- No card required
Subscription
$9 /mo
- Full search access
- Saved searches and alerts
- Funder profiles
- Opportunity tracking
- Seven day trial, annual option at $99
Capabilities
Features
Grant search
Federal, state and private opportunities in one index with keyword and filter search
Saved searches and alerts
Email notification when matching opportunities are posted
Funder profiles
Background records on funders drawn from public sources
Opportunity tracking
Simple board for shortlisting and tracking applications
Consultant marketplace
Directory of freelance grant writers and consultants with engagement handling
Free tier
Core search available without a subscription
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
How much does it cost?
$9 a month or $99 a year after a seven day trial, with a free tier of core search retained.
Why is it so much cheaper than Candid?
Because it indexes public and semi-public opportunity feeds with automation rather than employing researchers to code foundation records from tax filings. You trade depth of private foundation intelligence for price.
Does it cover private foundations?
Partially. It is strongest on federal and state programmes. For systematic private foundation research, Candid remains the reference source.
Is the consultant marketplace vetted?
It is a directory, not a vetted panel. Check references and past awards yourself.
Keep looking
Where to go from OpenGrants
- OpenGrants alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- OpenGrants pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- OpenGrants badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Nonprofits softwareThe full category
- Best Nonprofits softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Nonprofits software for
Compare OpenGrants with
- GuideStar
- GrantStation
- Instrumentl
- Candid
- Submittable
- CharityEngine
- CommCare
- Aplos
- Blackbaud Grantmaking
- Fluxx
- Foundant Technologies
- Classy
- Apptio Monetize
- Bloomerang Volunteer
- Bonterra
- Candid
- Aplos
- Blackbaud Grantmaking
Other Nonprofits software
A low-cost grant opportunity database sold on annual membership, usually at a heavy standing discount
From $199/yr11 researched notesGrant prospecting and pipeline tracking for nonprofits, priced per organisation with published tiers
From $299/mo12 researched notesFunder and nonprofit data subscriptions from the organisation formed by Foundation Center and GuideStar
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Pricing on request12 researched notesNonprofit CRM with its own in-house payment processing rather than a third-party gateway
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From $100/mo13 researched notesFund accounting for nonprofits and churches, with donor management and online giving attached
12 researched notesGrants management for foundations and corporate givers inside the Blackbaud ecosystem
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Pricing on request13 researched notesFunder and nonprofit data subscriptions from the organisation formed by Foundation Center and GuideStar
From $219/mo10 researched notesFund accounting for nonprofits and churches, with donor management and online giving attached
12 researched notesGrants management for foundations and corporate givers inside the Blackbaud ecosystem
Pricing on request12 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for OpenGrants, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on OpenGrants
OpenGrants alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
OpenGrants pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare OpenGrants
Put it head to head with anything we hold
OpenGrants badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Nonprofits software alternatives
Offline-first case management and mobile data collection for frontline health and development programmes
Per month by mobile user countThe rolled-up parent of EveryAction, Apricot, CyberGrants and Network for Good, sold as three product lines
quoteGrants management for foundations and corporate givers inside the Blackbaud ecosystem
quote
Open-source association management system for nonprofits
Open source, with paid hosting available
Nonprofit CRM with its own in-house payment processing rather than a third-party gateway
quoteFunder and nonprofit data subscriptions from the organisation formed by Foundation Center and GuideStar
Per user per month by tier