Grant Management Software Pricing: Get The Most Bang Or Your Buck

Navigating the world of grant management software can be overwhelming, but choosing the right tool can save your nonprofit time and money. 

To help you make the right choice for your organization, we have broken down the top grant management solutions on the market by their pricing, features, pros and cons, and overall thoughts:

• Instrumentl
• GrantSeeker by Fluxx
• GrantHub Pro
• GEMs

Let’s see which tool will provide your organization the most bang for its buck.

First things first: why do you even need grant management software? 

The lifecycle of grant funding can be daunting. There’s a lot that goes into the process, including: 

• Identifying available opportunities and keeping track of potential prospects
• Researching funders to evaluate fit and determine if a grant is worth pursuing 
• Developing proposals and compiling all the necessary documentation 
• Keeping track of deadlines and applications 
• Managing awarded funds and spending allocation 
• Keeping track of reporting deadlines 
• Maintaining funder communications and relationships

Trying to manage all of these moving pieces with spreadsheets and manual data entry not only takes considerable time and effort, but also creates a giant headache for your team. 

But with the right grant management software—at the right price—the grant process becomes so much more streamlined. 

The best grant management software are designed to help you: 

• Save time on grant research, identification, and management. Automating administrative tasks allows you to spend more time developing stronger proposals and cultivating deeper relationships with funders.
• Stay organized with competing deadlines and tasks so that you can apply for and win more funding. 
• Collaborate with your team so that everyone is on the same page throughout the entire grant lifecycle. With all of your information stored and available in a single platform, it’s easy to keep your team and stakeholders in the loop and on task. 

Here’s some advice from Sarah Lange, CEO and founder, who’s helped more than 200 nonprofits raise nearly $80M across the US: 

“If you don't already have systems in place to keep you organized, invest the time and energy (and money!) to set them up. This will make your grant writing efforts infinitely more efficient!” –Sarah Lange

A high-quality grant management system can save hours on your search, application, and submission time. Let’s explore some of the top solutions on the market so you can find the right grant management software for your needs.

Instrumentl makes it easy to find, track, and manage grants all within its intuitive and collaborative platform. Its grant management software streamlines the entire grant lifecycle from start to finish by helping users identify good-fit funding, track their applications, manage their awards, and more. 

Pricing Plans

Instrumentl is a premium software that provides a high ROI for its users by helping them win more grants. There are three different pricing plans to choose from to meet the needs of nonprofits and individual consultants alike: 

• Basic: This tier costs $179 per month and allows users to work on 5 projects at a time and provides access to Instrumentl’s comprehensive database of active grants, automatic deadline reminders, and the option to get matched with relevant grants. This option is great for organizations just getting started with their grants strategy. 
• Standard: With the Standard tier, you get all of the features of the Basic tier as well as 10 projects, access to 390,000 funders, reverse searching, and helpful management features such as a shared Calendar, Tasks, and Awards view to centralize your team’s grant work. 
• Pro: The last tier is perfect for streamlined end-to-end grant management. With this option users get everything with the Standard plan plus they can manage up to 20 projects at a time, there is a personalized onboarding and training option, seamless integrations with customer relationship management (CRM) software to keep grant info in sync, and a finance tracking system that is customizable.

Instrumentl also offers a 14-day free trial to try out the platform completely free—no credit card required! 

Features 

Instrumentl’s top features include: 

• An extensive grants database with access to more than 400,000 detailed funder profiles and 15,000+ active RFPs.
• A Smart Matching system that curates a list of good-fit grants for you based on your mission, location, funding needs, and more, saving you countless manual research hours. 

• Advanced Funder Insights that distill information from thousands of grant funders’ Form 990s into easy-to-read charts and graphs, including information on funders’ previous grantees, key personnel, openness to new vs. repeat grantees, and award size and type. These vital insights make it easy to strengthen your proposals and submit winning applications.

• A dedicated Grant Tracker where you can manage and visualize all of your active grants in one place from start to finish. 

• A Grants Calendar so you never have to worry about missing a deadline or losing track of important documents. They’re all easily accessible in one place for your whole team to see.
• An Awards Tracker where you can catalog payments from different funders and stay on top of critical fiscal responsibilities related to your grants.

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Pros and Cons

Pros

Instrumentl is the most comprehensive grant management solution on the market with features that streamline every aspect of the grant lifecycle. With Instrumentl, it’s easy to collaborate with your whole team to find, apply for, and win more funding faster and more efficiently.

Cons

While Instrumentl does not currently offer any AI integrations, they are in the pipeline. Also, like we mentioned before, Instrumentl is a premium tool, meaning its cost is higher than some other grant management software. However, its robust features and advanced capabilities end up saving users time (and money!) and help them win more funding. 

Final Thoughts

Instrumentl is the perfect option for nonprofits and consultants looking to streamline and maximize their grant management efforts. Whether you are just getting started with your grants journey or need help managing a vast portfolio of funding, Instrumentl has solutions and different pricing tiers to meet your needs. Don’t forget that you can try the platform out for free with a 14-day free trial.

Grantseeker, a grant management software by Fluxx, is a data-driven grant management solution that allows users to organize funding opportunities and track grant progress. Fluxx was originally created for grantmakers until they added Grantseeker to their arsenal to serve nonprofits looking for grants. 

Pricing Plans

Grantseeker offers three tiers as well as a free version. All of Grantseeker’s tiers are available for a 14-day free trial to test-drive the software and make an informed decision. 

• Free: Grantseeker's free version promises core functionality by providing the ability to manage grants, requests, and payments in addition to assigning tasks and tracking funders. This free version is similar to a standard project management tool. 

• Premium: At $15 per month, Premium increases productivity and grant volume by providing Google Drive integration, interactive grant timelines, and advanced data visualization.
• Prospecting: Prospecting allows users to manage their growing funding portfolio and find new funders with advanced search options, contribution reports, and bookmarking to keep track of where you last left off in the grant process. At $39 a month, this is Grantseeker's most popular option as a nonprofit grant tool.
• Enterprise: The most expensive option is Enterprise at $209 per month. This top-tier option gives users access to developer API, SSO authentication, and other grant tools.

Features

• Track Funders and Grants: Once found, users can save notes about each funder to streamline the search process.
• Invite collaborators: Allow everyone in your organization to be on the same page in terms of grant status.
• Time management: Track tasks and deadlines so you can stay organized. 
• Transparency: Develop reports to improve transparency. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

Grantseeker is a good option for organizations who have limited resources; they offer collaboration tools for grants teams, tracking features, and customization options.  

Cons

Grantseeker is primarily a project management tool and doesn’t have robust features for identifying active grants. You have to manually search for funders which can take considerable time. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, Grantseeker is a good option for organizations who are just getting to know nonprofit grant tools and need something to help them manage their funding. However, it’s not easy to find active grants with the platform, meaning users will probably have to invest in separate grants databases to locate open funding opportunities.

GrantHub is a cloud-based grant management software that offers post-award management services in addition to research and pre-award nonprofit grant tools.

Pricing Plans

GrantHub offers two different pricing plans: 

• GrantHub: The first tier offers pre-award grant management at $95 per month or $995 per year. At this price users get access to the funder database for manual grant searching, funder profiles, and task management.
• GrantHub Pro: The second option, GrantHub Pro, is catered toward both pre- and post-award grant management at $349 per month. Users get funder relationship management tools, grant management capabilities, post-award features, and reporting and analytics. 

Features

• Research funders and grants through integrations with FDO and GrantStation.  
• A grant calendar to manage tasks and deadlines
• Cloud-based storage for organizing and accessing grant-related documents
• Automated reminders to ensure no deadlines are missed
• Collaboration tools to allow team members to work together efficiently
• Reporting tools to track grant performance and outcomes

Pros and Cons 

Pros

GrantHub Pro offers pre- and post-award grant management tools with customizable workflows and task management. They also integrate with AI to help increase productivity and save time. 

Cons

GrantHub relies solely on their integrations with Foundation Directory Online and GrantStation for their grant information, meaning you have to search manually to find relevant grants. GrantHub also does not integrate with third-party systems to help seamlessly transfer data. 

Final Thoughts

Granthub has many attractive features, especially when it comes to the post-award phase of the grant management process. However, they lack advanced grant prospecting features, making it more challenging and time-intensive to actually locate good-fit funding opportunities.

GEMS is a grant management software that is intended for small organizations that need help with application tracking, reporting, and compliance management. Its simplicity and affordability make it a good choice for those just breaking into the world of nonprofit grant tools. 

Pricing Plans

GEMs offers three different pricing tiers: Pro, Premium, and Premium Plus.

• Pro: Pro is best for small organizations and only costs $59 per month or $590 per year. The features in the Pro package are comparable to the price; users get to invite 5 team members and 250 MB of storage.
• Premium: Premium is ideal for consultants handling many clients and is priced at $79 per month or $790 per year. With premium, users get 10 team members’ profiles plus 10 external users or clients and 500 MB of storage.
• Premium Plus: Premium Plus is similar to Premium but with 1 GB of storage and a time tracker to record the amount of time spent on each project.  

Features

• File Management: Centralized file storage with secure access and efficient organization.
• Team Management: Assign and manage tasks, communicate with your team, leave comments to keep everyone updated, track each team member's time, and review performance. 
• Funder Management: Organize submissions, reports, grant terms, request and award amounts, funder contact information, websites, application portals, communication logs, and more.

Pros and Cons

Pros

GEM’s simplicity and affordability make grant management accessible to organizations with limited resources and who are just getting started with nonprofit grant tools. It offers essential functions such as application tracking, reporting, and compliance management.

Cons

From what we could tell, GEMS lacks any features for actually researching and identifying grants. It’s just a management software and doesn’t include a searchable grants or funder database. Users will have to use separate tools to identify grants and research funders. 

Final Thoughts

Overall, GEMs is a basic nonprofit grant management tool. It lacks prospecting capabilities and robust functionality needed for the entire grant lifecycle.

Before purchasing a grant management system, it’s important to evaluate its pricing, key features, and overall pros and cons. We hope that our breakdowns have given you the confidence to make an informed decision for your organization. 

And don’t forget—if you’re ready to start streamlining your grants management and win more funding for your nonprofit, try Instrumentl free for 14 days starting today.