5 Best GrantStation Alternatives & Competitors [2024]

Are you considering signing up for GrantStation but are curious if a better alternative exists? Or have you been using GrantStation but found that it's not meeting all of your funding needs? Discount is not enough? 

In this article, we will explain why grantseekers might look for GrantStation alternatives and some of the things you should consider when choosing a grant discovery platform. By the end of this post, you'll know what to look for in the best grant prospecting and management software so that you can make the right choice for your organization.

GrantStation is a popular grant research resource, but like any tool or service, there may be better options out there for some organizations.

If your nonprofit has specific needs that GrantStation does not fully meet, you may want to explore some alternatives. But before determining if an alternative platform is better suited for you and your organization, let’s go over some of the common reasons users might look for an alternative to GrantStation:

It Lacks Collaboration Tools

GrantStation’s lack of collaboration tools can be a major hindrance to fundraising success. Applying for grants involves many moving pieces, and collaboration is essential for developing the best possible proposals and staying organized throughout the entire grant lifecycle process.

Unfortunately, a GrantStation subscription limits you to a single user and it does not provide a place to help you organize your grant proposals. Additionally, there are limited options for sharing data with team members, making it hard to coordinate efforts and work together to submit the strongest proposals.

Unfriendly User-Interface

GrantStation’s user interface isn’t very intuitive and can be difficult to navigate—especially for first-time users. It may take you some time to learn how to make the most of its different features and tools.

GrantStation also does not let you generate PDF reports, just CSVs. This can make it challenging for those who need the convenience of having their information in an easily-distributed format.

There is No Smart Matching

While GrantStation does offer a grants database to help you locate funders, it does not provide any “smart matching” features to help you easily find good-fit funders that align with your mission or project. This can make the grant prospecting process more time-consuming compared to alternative platforms that use a matching algorithm to show users the best fit funders for their organization based on their mission and program needs.

Difficult to Keep Track of Deadlines

GrantStation cannot tell users when funders change priorities or submission requirements for opportunities they've saved. Unfortunately, this means that users are left in the dark if any changes occur and can miss out on key deadlines, as well as potential funding.

Additionally, GrantStation does not provide automatic deadline reminders for grants, leaving users responsible to track these important dates on their own.

If you’ve decided GrantStation isn’t meeting your fundraising and grant prospecting needs, we have a list of alternative platforms for you to explore. Below, we have broken down 5 of the best grant finder websites by the key features they offer, the types of funders they list, their user-friendliness, their popularity, and their pricing.

Let’s dive in.

Instrumentl
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First up is Instrumentl—a platform that combines grant prospecting, management, and tracking into one intuitive tool.

Features

Instrumentl is a comprehensive fundraising platform that has features to help users navigate the entire grants lifecycle from start to finish.

Some of Instrumentl’s top features include:

• Smart matching to RFPs and funders
• Searchable active RFPs and RFP profiles
• 990 snapshots and detailed funder insights
• Foundation profiles including past grantees, NTEE codes, recipients profiles, and more
• Automatic deadline updates and reminders
• A submission tracker and grants calendar
• Multi-user collaboration
• Easy-to-create CSV and PDF reports
• And more!

For a more detailed breakdown of Instrumentl’s features compared to GrantStation’s, check out this comparison page!

Types of Funders Listed

Instrumentl’s database includes corporate, private, family, and community foundations and government funding opportunities at the state, local, and federal levels.

User Friendliness

Instrumentl is incredibly easy to use; its intuitive features are designed to save time and streamline your organization's grant-seeking, management, and reporting functions. With cloud-based access, teams can collaborate seamlessly, easily pull reports, sync calendars, and track upcoming deadlines.

Popularity

‍Instrumentl is widely used and praised by grant writers, consultants, and nonprofits of all sizes. Reviews on popular websites cite its intuitiveness, user-friendliness, and management capabilities.
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Pricing

Instrumentl offers four different subscription options to meet the needs of different organizations.
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The Basic plan is the most affordable option, starting at $195 a month or $179 a month for an annual plan. This plan allows for up to three users and includes research and basic grant management capabilities with up to 10 projects.

The Standard plan is more expensive but provides additional capabilities such as up to 20 projects, advanced funder insights, and recipient profiles. The Professional plan offers even more features, including up to 100 projects, priority customer support, and Salesforce integration.

Finally, Instrumentl also offers customized plans for large nonprofits with many team members or multiple development offices, such as hospitals and universities. Every custom plan provides seats for unlimited users and the creation of unlimited projects, as well as all the features of the Professional plan.

GrantHub

Features

GrantHub is a platform that primarily focuses on grants management. Some of GrantHub’s top features include task tracking and reminders, a central repository for grant documents with a maximum file size of 100MB and total storage capacity of 20 GB, a dashboard and six pre-built reports, licenses for up to 35 users, onboarding services, and unlimited live and self-paced training.

Types of Funders Listed

GrantHub lists independent, family, community, and corporate foundations, faith-based grantmakers, corporate giving programs, and any other organization with a grantmaking program. Funders are located in the U.S., Canada, and around the world.

User Friendliness

GrantHub is well-regarded for its user-friendly interface. Users have praised the product for its easy setup and intuitive navigation which allows them to quickly find the elements they need.

Popularity

GrantHub enjoys a good reputation in the grant-seeking community, with user reviews ranging from 3 stars to 5 stars. Users have praised GrantHub for its grant tracking and management features, which help keep them on task. However, there are still some complaints about bugs and glitches within the program.
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Pricing

GrantHub offers two subscription plans: a monthly plan for $75/month and an annual plan for $795/year. If you choose to pay annually, your cost is equivalent to $66.25 per month. If you need more than 35 users, you can purchase an additional block of 10 users for $150/year. For larger organizations, an additional 20 MB of storage is available for $150/year.

Fluxx Grantseeker

Features

Fluxx Grantseeker provides users with a suite of features to help streamline the grantseeking process. Some of these features include foundation profiles, recipient profiles, submission tracking, and grants calendering capabilities.

Fluxx Grantseeker also provides multi-user collaboration and reports can be easily downloaded into CSV and PDF formats. However, Fluxx Grantseeker doesn’t list any active grants or RFPs, meaning users may have to do additional research to locate current funding opportunities.

Types of Funders Listed

Fluxx Grantseeker provides comprehensive coverage of family foundations, charitable foundations, and corporate funders. However, it does not provide information on governmental funders.

User Friendliness

Fluxx Grantseeker has a user-friendly interface that allows users to organize and monitor grantseeking activities easily. The clean interface makes it easy to find and access all the relevant information in one place.

Popularity

Fluxx Grantseeker is popular among smaller nonprofits due to its low price point and the range of features it offers. However, some users have pointed out that the prospecting tool isn’t as reliable as that of other providers. Despite this issue, many organizations find Fluxx Grantseeker to be a valuable resource for collecting and organizing research and tracking progress.

Pricing

Fluxx Grantseeker offers a range of pricing tiers.

Flux Grantseeker starts with a limited free plan that provides basic tracking and grant management features. The Premium plan ($14.99/month, or $179.88 annually) provides users with the ability to search and track grants and store research documents. For prospecting new funders, users must sign up for the top tier, which is $39.99 per month ($479.88 annually). This plan provides access to the full suite of features, including the ability to generate custom reports and export data into PDF and CSV formats.

FoundationSearch

Features

FoundationSearch offers a comprehensive funder database with U.S. and Canadian funders, recipient profiles, and limited multi-user collaboration capabilities. However, FoundationSearch doesn’t list any active RFPs and or provide many grant management tools compared to its competitors.

Types of Funders Listed

FoundationSearch includes government, corporate, private, and international funders in their database. The database also features foundation grantors, individual donors, and other funding opportunities from North America.

User Friendliness

Unfortunately, FoundationSearch isn’t as user-friendly as the other softwares listed here. It lacks a modern interface overall.

Popularity

FoundationSearch is not as well-known in the nonprofit world. The only reviews we could find were those on its own website.

Pricing

FoundationSearch’s pricing is undisclosed, but rumors suggest a subscription can cost upwards of a few thousand dollars annually. However, there’s no way to compare the services accurately without knowing the exact cost. Therefore, it’s best to contact FoundationSearch for a quote if you’re interested in signing up.

GrantScape

Features

GrantScape is an online search platform that makes grantseeking easier and more efficient. It provides a comprehensive database of government, corporate, and philanthropic funders, allowing users to quickly search by funder name, issue or topic, geographic area, and funder type.

GrantScape also offers automatic reminders, a personalized exportable calendar, collaboration features so teams can work together, and custom alerts for specific search criteria to stay up-to-date on the latest funding opportunities.

Types of Funders Listed

GrantScape is unique in that it provides access to nearly 180,000 funding opportunities from both public and private sources. This includes municipal, state, and federal grants, as well as corporate and foundation grants. GrantScape puts a special emphasis on government grants available at the federal level and provides helpful compliance information for applying organizations.

User Friendliness

GrantScape's user-friendly interface makes it easy for users to navigate and find the information they're looking for quickly.

Popularity

As GrantScape is a newer platform, there aren't a lot of reviews out there yet. However, the ones we were able to find were generally positive about the platform, citing an appreciation for its focus on government grants and its easy-to-use interface.

Pricing

GrantScape offers a range of pricing plans tailored to the needs of individuals and businesses. For example, individuals can choose the $29 per month plan or the annual plan for $348, while companies may opt for the "Pro" version, which is offered at $99 per month ($1,188 per year). Enterprise pricing plans are also available, depending on the number of licenses or seats needed.

With Instrumentl's comprehensive grant prospecting, tracking, and management tools, securing funding for your nonprofit has never been easier.

Instrumentl's unique and smart matching algorithm helps you quickly and accurately identify funders who are most likely to fund your organization.
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Plus, Instrumentl’s foundation discovery feature gives you access to those private and invite-only foundations that aren't listed on GrantStation.

Secondly, a subscription to Instrumentl means you'll have access to complete grant tracking and management tools. With Instrumentl, you can easily see your entire grant pipeline by year, application stage, and project. Plus, you'll get real-time notifications whenever funders change priority or submission requirements for the opportunities you've saved. With the predicted deadlines feature, you'll never miss an important deadline again!

Finally, collaborating with other users is a breeze. Instrumentl makes it easy to invite multiple team members, store documents in the same place, and generate polished reports in just seconds. Unfortunately, GrantStation limits you to a single user and doesn't provide any support for grant proposal organization or report generation.

Instrumentl is undoubtedly the best GrantStation alternative out there. Whether you're looking for an easier way to identify funders, track and manage your grant pipeline, or increase collaboration within a team, Instrumentl is the solution for you. Sign up for our 14-day free trial today and see what Instrumentl can do for you!

There are many great GrantStation alternatives that offer comprehensive data-driven resources. Our favorite, of course, is Instrumentl. It allows users to quickly and accurately identify funders most likely to fund their organization, access complete grant tracking and management tools, and easily collaborate with team members.

Plus, Instrumentl offers a 14-day free trial to get started. Whichever grant discovery platform you choose, we hope the information in this GrantStation comparison has helped you find the best solution for your organization. Good luck with your grant search!