Contracts Finder alternative
Every GB tender in one place, scored to your business
Contracts Finder is the government's free service for lower-value and legacy public contracts, and it is excellent as the source of record. But searching it yourself, alongside Find a Tender and every regional and council system, is slow, and it cannot tell you what is worth bidding for. BidSquirrel is the intelligence layer on top.
Who it is for
SMEs and growing suppliers who already check Contracts Finder, value it as the official source, but want the noise filtered, the right tenders surfaced and scored, and real help to qualify and win - without trawling four portals every morning.
Why the portal alone is hard work for an SME
Contracts Finder is only part of the picture
Contracts Finder remains live for procurements begun under the previous rules, including awards and call-offs under pre-2025 frameworks, so it still publishes thousands of notices. But since the Procurement Act 2023 went live in February 2025, new procurements publish on Find a Tender through the Central Digital Platform, and Scotland, Wales and individual councils run their own systems. To see everything relevant you still have to check several sites, repeatedly.
You search, it does not match
Contracts Finder returns keyword results. It does not know your capabilities, scale, location or growth goals, so it cannot tell you which tenders are a strong fit, which are a stretch, or which you are not eligible for.
No help to actually win
It lists the notice and the documents. There is no eligibility check, no read of the scoresheet, no guidance on what the evaluator rewards, and no way to pressure-test your draft before you submit.
The sub-£30k council work is hard to see
A lot of winnable, lower-competition council work sits below the publication threshold on local quote portals that never reach the headline feeds.
Contracts Finder vs BidSquirrel
| Capability | Contracts Finder | BidSquirrel |
|---|---|---|
| Free to use | 7-day free trial, then £49.99/mo | |
| Every major GB source in one place | ||
| Sub-£30k council quotes (ProContract) | ||
| AI fit-scoring to your business | ||
| Pass/fail eligibility check | ||
| Procurement-regime classification | ||
| "How to win" guidance | ||
| Guided bid writing + panel-style scoring | ||
| Trained procurement expert AI (regime-aware, evaluator-calibrated) | ||
| Daily alerts ranked to you | Keyword only |
The official portals remain free and authoritative. Always verify an opportunity against its official notice before bidding.
Questions, answered
Is Contracts Finder free?
Yes. Contracts Finder is an official UK government service and is free to search. BidSquirrel does not replace it as the source of record, it sits on top: it pulls every major GB source into one place, scores each tender to your business, and adds the eligibility checks and guidance the portal does not provide.
What is Contracts Finder used for now?
Its role has changed since the Procurement Act 2023 went live in February 2025. New procurements now publish on the enhanced Find a Tender service, the public face of the government's Central Digital Platform, rather than on Contracts Finder. Contracts Finder still carries the long tail of procurements run under the old rules, including awards and call-offs under pre-2025 frameworks, and it continues to publish thousands of notices. BidSquirrel ingests both, alongside the Scottish, Welsh and council portals, so nothing slips through while the two systems run side by side.
What is the difference between Contracts Finder and Find a Tender?
Find a Tender is now the central service: since February 2025, new public contracts above and below threshold are published there through the Central Digital Platform. Contracts Finder remains live for procurements begun under the previous rules. Scotland uses Public Contracts Scotland, and Welsh above-threshold notices flow through Find a Tender. BidSquirrel scans Find a Tender, Contracts Finder and Public Contracts Scotland, plus the council quote portals, together.
Do I still need Contracts Finder if I use BidSquirrel?
You can keep using the free portals as much as you like, and you should always verify an opportunity against its official notice before bidding. BidSquirrel is the intelligence layer that saves you trawling them: it finds the right tenders for you, tells you whether you qualify, and helps you win them.
What is the best tender alert service for a small business?
For SMEs the deciding factors are coverage (every major GB source, including sub-£30k council work), relevance (tenders scored to your business, not keyword noise), and help to win (eligibility and bid guidance), at a price a small business can pay. That combination is exactly what BidSquirrel is built for, from £49.99/mo.
Stop trawling portals. Start winning.
Every major GB source, scored to your business, with eligibility checks and how-to-win guidance. From £49.99/mo.
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