Public tenders are public, and the official portals are free: SAM.gov for US federal opportunities with an open API, USAspending for award history, TED for EU above-threshold tenders with an anonymous API, Find a Tender and Contracts Finder for the UK with email alerts and OCDS data, UNGM for the UN system, the World Bank and ADB for development contracts, AusTender, eTenders Ireland and GeBIZ nationally. The aggregators that charge — GovWin, BidPrime, Tenders Direct from £1,359, HigherGov from $500 — sell convenience over the same notices, and some give a sliver free: DemandStar’s alerts for one agency, Periscope S2G’s 2% of bids. GovTribe is a 7-day trial. Prices are USD and were checked on 29 October 2026. How we score · All Kurums Free lists
TL;DR — the free tender portal that fits
- US federal contracts: SAM.gov — search without an account, save searches with one, and a public Get Opportunities API.
- EU tenders above threshold: TED — browse and search free, with an API that allows anonymous access to published notices.
- UK public contracts: Find a Tender for above-threshold and Contracts Finder for the rest, both with email alerts and open data.
- UN and development banks: UNGM (free registration), World Bank and ADB procurement notices with email alerts.
- US state and local bids: DemandStar Basic — free search of all bids with alerts from one agency; Periscope S2G Limited for its network.
Which tender, rfp & government contract search tools have a free plan in 2026?
Every portal below gives free search of public tenders with no end date; most add free alerts, and the national ones publish APIs. The conditions are coverage (each covers its own jurisdiction or institution), registration (SAM.gov needs an entity registration to bid, UNGM a free account, AusTender a registration for alerts) and, for the commercial aggregators, how little of their database is free: DemandStar’s free alerts cover one agency, Periscope S2G Limited about 2% of bids, TendersInfo four samples.
What to know: several official pages do not use the word ‘free’ — SAM.gov, TED, Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, World Bank — and are scored on the absence of any fee; HigherGov’s page shows only a trial and prices from $500 although a free tier is widely described; GovTribe’s prices could not be confirmed; UNGM’s paid alert price could not be confirmed; OpenTender.eu’s page appears unchanged since 2018; GovWin, BidPrime, FindRFP and BidNet Direct are unverified.
The table shows coverage, what is free and the Free Score; Core job weights search, alerts and bid documents for a business. Open a row for registration, API, the paid step and the page we checked.
| Company | Free as | Key limit | Card | Free Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S |
Free forever | US federal · search without account · saved searches · public API | No | 92 | Scorecard ↓ |
| T |
Free forever | EU above-threshold · search & browse · anonymous API | No | 90 | Scorecard ↓ |
| C |
Free forever | UK public-sector contracts · search · OCDS API & CSV | No | 86 | Scorecard ↓ |
| F |
Free forever | UK above-threshold · notice search · email alerts · data & API | No | 84 | Scorecard ↓ |
| U |
Free forever | US award history · public API · no key stated | No | 78 | Scorecard ↓ |
| U |
Startup program | UN system tenders · free registration · daily alerts paid (UNGM Pro) | No | 76 | Scorecard ↓ |
| W |
Free forever | Procurement notices · email alerts | No | 72 | Scorecard ↓ |
| A |
Free forever | Australian federal · free notification by business interest | No | 70 | Scorecard ↓ |
| D |
Free forever | US local government · search all bids · alerts for 1 agency · $5 downloads | No | 70 | Scorecard ↓ |
| A |
Free forever | Asia-Pacific development tenders · search · alerts & RSS | No | 66 | Scorecard ↓ |
| E |
Free forever | Irish public tenders · supplier registration | No | 64 | Scorecard ↓ |
| G |
Free forever | Singapore government · browse · Trading Partner sign-up | No | 62 | Scorecard ↓ |
| P |
Free forever | Free · 1,000+ agencies in its network · ~2% of all bids | No | 58 | Scorecard ↓ |
| O |
Open source | EU procurement open data · 35 jurisdictions · DIGIWHIST · page dated 2018 | No | 46 | Scorecard ↓ |
| H |
Trial d | Free trial · Starter $500/year · free tier not on page | No | 32 | Scorecard ↓ |
| G |
Trial d | 7-day trial · no card · prices not confirmed | No | 28 | Scorecard ↓ |
Free tiers verified 29 October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page (third-party sources named in the Scorecard where the vendor page was silent). Order is by Free Score only; sponsorship never changes it.
What do the free tender portal plans actually include?
Open any row for the eight-field Scorecard. The “Why it ranks here” note under each row explains the score in plain terms.
1S
SAM.govUS · anyone may search contract opportunities without an account, an optional account saves searches, and the Get Opportunities public API needs a key with daily caps by role; entity registration is required to bidFree foreverUS federal · search without account · saved searches · public APINo card92⌄
- What’s free
- Search of all federal opportunities; saved searches; public API
- Hard limits
- API key and daily caps · registration to bid
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Any US business selling to the federal government
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · sam.gov and open.gsa.gov API documentation (the word ‘free’ not stated)
2T
TED — Tenders Electronic DailyEU · search and browse of all above-threshold notices, with an API allowing anonymous access to every service on published notices and an EU Login key only for unpublished ones; rate limits not listedFree foreverEU above-threshold · search & browse · anonymous APINo card90⌄
- What’s free
- All EU above-threshold tenders; search; developer API
- Hard limits
- Alerts via EU Login not described on the page
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Any company bidding across the EU
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · ted.europa.eu and docs.ted.europa.eu (the word ‘free’ not stated)
Why it ranks here. The single source for a continent’s public contracts, with an open API.
3C
Contracts Finder (UK)UK · search of public-sector contracts with an API publishing OCDS release and record packages and CSV, and organisation registration; notices before 26 February 2015 are not shownFree foreverUK public-sector contracts · search · OCDS API & CSVNo card86⌄
- What’s free
- Search; registration; OCDS API; CSV
- Hard limits
- Some API endpoints need a Sid4Gov login · nothing before 2015
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- UK SMEs chasing below-threshold council and NHS work
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · contractsfinder.service.gov.uk and its API documentation
Why it ranks here. Where the smaller UK contracts live, with open data to build alerts on.
4FFind a Tender (UK)UK · notice search, email notifications with a GOV.UK One Login account and developer data and API documentationFree foreverUK above-threshold · notice search · email alerts · data & APINo card84⌄
- What’s free
- Search; email notifications; API
- Hard limits
- Alerts need a One Login account
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- UK above-threshold procurement
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · find-tender.service.gov.uk
Why it ranks here. TED’s UK successor, with alerts built in.
5U
USAspending.govUS · an API giving the public access to comprehensive US government spending data, legally required to be public; no key requirement statedFree foreverUS award history · public API · no key statedNo card78⌄
- What’s free
- Award and spending data; API
- Hard limits
- History, not open opportunities
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Seeing who won what, before you bid
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · api.usaspending.gov
Why it ranks here. Competitor and incumbent research, free; pair it with SAM.gov.
6U
UN Global Marketplace (UNGM)Switzerland/Denmark · registration at no cost for UN system procurement, with the daily opportunity email requiring UNGM Pro at a price that could not be confirmedStartup programUN system tenders · free registration · daily alerts paid (UNGM Pro)No card76⌄
- What’s free
- Free registration; search of UN tenders
- Hard limits
- Daily alerts paid
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- Daily alerts
- Cheapest paid step
- UNGM Pro — not stated
- Best free for
- Suppliers to UN agencies
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · ungm.org
Why it ranks here. Free to register and search; the alert you actually want is the paid product.
7W
World Bank ProcurementUS · a listing of procurement notices with a subscription to email alerts for new notices; cost not stated and the page is script-heavyFree foreverProcurement notices · email alertsNo card72⌄
- What’s free
- Notices; email alerts
- Hard limits
- Not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Consultants and contractors on development projects
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · projects.worldbank.org (cost not stated)
Why it ranks here. Free notices and alerts from the largest development lender.
8A
AusTenderAustralia · free notifications by including your area of business interest in your AusTender registration; API not mentionedFree foreverAustralian federal · free notification by business interestNo card70⌄
- What’s free
- Search; free notifications
- Hard limits
- Registration for alerts · no API mentioned
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Australian federal tenders
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · tenders.gov.au
Why it ranks here. The national portal with alerts; it says ‘free’ on the page.
9D
DemandStar BasicUS · Basic is free with search of the full database of active and completed bids and email notifications for a single agency; bid packages outside a subscription carry a $5 service fee; County subscriptions from $60 a yearFree foreverUS local government · search all bids · alerts for 1 agency · $5 downloadsNo card70⌄
- What’s free
- Full search; alerts from one agency
- Hard limits
- One agency for alerts · $5 a bid package download
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- Alerts from a second agency
- Cheapest paid step
- County from $60/year; State $100–1,499; National $2,699
- Best free for
- A local supplier watching its own city or county
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · network.demandstar.com/pricing-suppliers
Why it ranks here. Local government bids the federal portals do not carry; free for one agency is enough for a local firm.
10A
ADB tendersPhilippines · general search of tenders with newsletters, alerts and RSS feeds; cost not statedFree foreverAsia-Pacific development tenders · search · alerts & RSSNo card66⌄
- What’s free
- Search; alerts; RSS
- Hard limits
- Not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Contractors in the Asian Development Bank’s region
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · adb.org
Why it ranks here. Free, with RSS, for one bank’s projects.
11E
eTenders IrelandIreland · the national portal with supplier registration to respond to tenders; fees not stated on the page and free status is general knowledgeFree foreverIrish public tenders · supplier registrationNo card64⌄
- What’s free
- Search; supplier registration
- Hard limits
- Not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Irish public procurement
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · etenders.gov.ie (fees not stated)
Why it ranks here. The national portal; its page does not discuss cost.
12G
GeBIZ (Singapore)Singapore · browse opportunities and sign up as a GeBIZ Trading Partner to bid; the partner fee is not on the pageFree foreverSingapore government · browse · Trading Partner sign-upNo card62⌄
- What’s free
- Browse opportunities; sign up to bid
- Hard limits
- Trading Partner fee not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- Trading Partner registration
- Cheapest paid step
- Not stated
- Best free for
- Singapore government suppliers
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · gebiz.gov.sg (fees not stated)
Why it ranks here. Free to browse; bidding has a registration whose cost the page omits.
13P
Periscope S2G LimitedUS · S2G Limited is free to view and respond to bids from the 1,000-plus agencies in Periscope’s own network with daily emails and an app, representing about 2% of the bids S2G Premium covers; State is $779 a month annualFree foreverFree · 1,000+ agencies in its network · ~2% of all bidsNo card58⌄
- What’s free
- Bids from Periscope-network agencies; daily emails; app
- Hard limits
- About 2% of available bids
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- Coverage
- Cheapest paid step
- State $779/month annual
- Best free for
- A supplier whose agencies happen to use Periscope
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · periscopeholdings.com/s2g/pricing
Why it ranks here. Free for the agencies on its platform, which the vendor itself says is 2% of the market.
14O
OpenTender.euEU · national procurement data portals for 35 jurisdictions from the DIGIWHIST project; the page shows 2018 launch text and password-protected previews, and says nothing about licence or APIOpen sourceEU procurement open data · 35 jurisdictions · DIGIWHIST · page dated 2018No card46⌄
- What’s free
- Open procurement data and analytics
- Hard limits
- Appears unmaintained · licence and API not stated
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- None
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- Researchers analysing EU procurement history
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · opentender.eu (appears stale)
Why it ranks here. Valuable data from a project whose website stopped in 2018; verify before relying on it.
15H
HigherGovUS · a free-trial button of unstated length and no free plan on the pricing page, although a free basic-search tier is widely described; Starter is $500 a year for one userTrialdFree trial · Starter $500/year · free tier not on pageNo card32⌄
- What’s free
- Trial
- Hard limits
- Free tier not on the page
- Time limit
- Not stated
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- The trial’s end
- Cheapest paid step
- Starter $500/year; Standard $2,500
- Best free for
- Evaluating a US aggregator with award and contact data
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · highergov.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Possibly free for search; its own page will not say so.
16G
GovTribeUS · a seven-day trial with no card; prices could not be confirmedTriald7-day trial · no card · prices not confirmedNo card28⌄
- What’s free
- Trial
- Hard limits
- Prices unverified
- Time limit
- 7 days
- Card required
- No.
- Upgrade trigger
- The trial’s end
- Cheapest paid step
- Not shown
- Best free for
- A week of US federal pipeline tracking
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · govtribe.com/plans
Why it ranks here. A trial of a paid aggregator.
Which free tender portal has no credit-card requirement?
The official portals take no card; UNGM, AusTender and SAM.gov need a free registration for alerts or bidding. DemandStar charges $5 a document outside a subscription. Nothing converts on its own.
The paid aggregators: Tenders Direct from £1,359 a year, HigherGov from $500, Periscope S2G State $779 a month, DemandStar National $2,699; GovWin, BidPrime and FindRFP are unverified paid products; BidNet Direct is unverified; RFPMart gives only expired sample RFPs free; TendersInfo four samples and an unpriced trial.
When does the free plan stop being enough?
Kurums Match: which free tender portal fits your situation?
US federal
SAM.gov plus USAspending.
EU
TED.
UK
Find a Tender and Contracts Finder.
UN agencies
UNGM.
Development projects
World Bank and ADB.
US city or county
DemandStar Basic.
Australia
AusTender.
How we score free tiers
Duration (30): free forever scores 30, a 30-day-plus trial 15, a trial of 14 days or less 8, credit-based tiers 12. Capacity (30): whether the limits carry a team of three for twelve months. Core job (25): whether the free tier does the category’s main work — here, finding public tenders and RFPs you can bid on, with alerts, without a paid aggregator. Friction (15): no card 15; card but no auto-charge 8; auto-charge 0; self-hosting deducts for setup and maintenance.
Each free tier was checked on the vendor’s pricing page on 29 October 2026; where the vendor page was silent, the Scorecard names the third-party source used. Free tiers change, so this list is re-verified every quarter and a discontinued free plan stays listed for one month with a notice. Order is by Free Score only. Kurums Free sells no placement; sponsorship, affiliate links and vendor requests never change a score, a rank or a label. Vendors can submit corrections to the Kurums editorial team.
How did we verify these free tiers?
We opened each portal’s search, registration or pricing page and recorded what is free, registration and API terms and the paid step. SAM.gov, TED, Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, World Bank and ADB do not use the word ‘free’ and are scored on the absence of any stated fee; GovTribe’s prices could not be confirmed; USAspending’s row uses its API page; eTenders Ireland’s and GeBIZ’s pages do not state fees. GovWin, BidPrime, FindRFP and BidNet Direct were not reviewed; Tenders Direct, RFPMart and TendersInfo were verified as paid, sample-only or trial.
Prices are USD and GBP as stated.
Frequently asked questions
Is SAM.gov free?
Yes — anyone may search contract opportunities without an account, and the Get Opportunities public API is available with a key. Entity registration, required to bid, is free; the page does not state a fee.
Where can I search EU tenders for free?
TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) publishes all above-threshold EU notices with free search and an API allowing anonymous access to published notices.
What is the free UK tender search?
Find a Tender for above-threshold procurement and Contracts Finder for the rest, both with free search, email alerts via GOV.UK One Login and open OCDS data.
Is HigherGov free?
HigherGov’s pricing page shows a free trial and Starter at $500 a year; a free basic tier is widely described but does not appear on the page.
Is DemandStar free?
DemandStar Basic is free with search of all active and completed bids and email alerts from one agency; bid packages cost $5 outside a subscription, and County plans start at $60 a year.
Can I bid on UN contracts for free?
Registration on the UN Global Marketplace is free and search is free; the daily opportunity email requires UNGM Pro, whose price could not be confirmed.
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