The free grant finders are good. Start with them.
The honest verdict: for most small UK charities the right setup is a free finder for breadth plus GrantNest's £24/month matching for fit — the free tools to see what exists, GrantNest so the sifting and eligibility-checking don't eat your week. If your time is genuinely free and abundant, the free tools alone may be all you need. That's not a line you expect from a paid tool's website, but it's true and you'll find it out anyway. If your charity has never used a funding tool, try these first:
- Charity Excellence Funding Finder: free, broad, run as a genuine service to the sector (free registration required).
- 360Giving GrantNav: free, open data on grants that have already been made: superb for researching which funders back charities like yours. It's historical awards data, not a list of open opportunities.
- GOV.UK Find a Grant: free, official, covers government grants only.
We use the same open-data foundations they champion (OCDS, 360Giving). The sector is better for these tools existing.
So what are you paying us for?
The free tools answer "what funding exists?" GrantNest answers a harder question: "which of it can my charity actually win, and is it worth our only spare afternoon?"
In one line: GrantNest is the paid layer on top of the free finders — it matches live UK grants and tenders to your charity's profile, checks eligibility before you invest time, and gives you a per-opportunity application checklist and a starting draft, for £24/month (billed annually).
| The job | GrantNest | Free tools |
|---|---|---|
| Browse what exists | ✓ | ✓ Excellent |
| Match to your cause, region, size and income band | ✓ Automatic, from your profile | Mostly manual: you filter, you judge |
| Eligibility checked before you read it | ✓ Up front | ✗ the small print is your job |
| Live tenders alongside grants | ✓ Find a Tender feed, matched (beta) | Partial (GOV.UK = government grants only) |
| Tells you what not to pursue | ✓ The whole point: fewer, better | ✗ |
| Help with the application | Checklist + editable opening draft per match | Charity Excellence has a free AI bid-writer; GrantNav and GOV.UK don't |
| Cost | £24/mo (annual) · £29/mo monthly | Free |
The honest economics: if your time is free and abundant, use the free tools and the legwork. If an afternoon of a capable person's time is worth more than ~£6, and a single false-positive application costs you days, the maths changes. One won grant or tender pays for years of GrantNest.
A fair way to decide
Spend one week finding opportunities with the free tools. Count the hours, count the matches you were actually eligible for. Then take GrantNest's free tier (a weekly matched email, genuinely free, no card) and compare what lands. Keep whichever respects your time more. We're comfortable with that test; it's how we'd choose.
Comparing paid options instead? Read GrantNest vs GrantFinder, or see all six tools compared. Need help writing the bid? See grant application drafting help. Chasing public-sector work? See tender & contract alerts.
Published 11 June 2026. Competitor and source information verified on each provider's own website on 11 June 2026 (drafting capabilities re-checked 6 July 2026); tell us if anything is out of date and we'll fix it.