# GrantFinder alternatives in 2026: paid, free and open-data options compared

GrantFinder costs £1,020 a year for one user. The alternatives range from free government and open-data tools to £29 a month, each with a different trade-off. Prices checked 26 October 2026.

- Author: OpenGrant
- Topic: [Grant databases compared](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/category/grant-databases-compared)
- Published: 2026-10-26
- Updated: 2026-10-26
- Source sites checked: 2026-10-26
- Canonical URL: https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/grantfinder-alternatives-uk

## Key facts

- GrantFinder VCSE Essentials costs £1,020 a year for one user; Growth costs £1,500 a year for up to three users; Enterprise is priced on enquiry (grantfinder.co.uk, 26 October 2026).
- My Funding Central, also from Idox, costs £100 to £750 plus VAT a year by income band, for organisations in England with income up to £1 million.
- Funds Online (Directory of Social Change) is open to existing subscribers only at £475 plus VAT a year, after DSC announced its closure in October 2026.
- Free options: GOV.UK Find a grant, the National Lottery Community Fund programme finder, GrantNav (1,565,468 published grants), Funding Scotland, Funding Wales and Charity Excellence.
- OpenGrant: every grant free with an account, research tools £29 a month per email, cancel any time; 1,021 open, rolling and forthcoming schemes listed on 26 October 2026.

GrantFinder is the longest-established UK grant database, and its editorial programme summaries are real value, but its single-user plan costs £1,020 a year and is restricted to UK VCSE organisations. The alternatives in 2026 fall into three groups: free tools from government, lottery distributors and the open-data community; cheaper editorial databases such as My Funding Central; and OpenGrant, built on open data at £29 a month with every grant free. Prices here were read from each provider's own site on 26 October 2026.

## What GrantFinder offers and costs

GrantFinder is published by Idox. On 26 October 2026 its subscriptions page listed three plans:

- **VCSE Essentials**: £1,020 a year, one user, "UK VCSE organisations only". Funding search, save, share and alerts.
- **Growth**: £1,500 a year, up to three users, for UK VCSE organisations and registered UK small businesses. Adds highlighting of individual funds, notifications and activity tracking.
- **Enterprise**: price on enquiry, unlimited users, for public sector, large VCSE and enterprise organisations. Adds a dedicated account manager, onboarding and training.

The page showed annual billing for the first two plans and did not state renewal terms or a free trial. OpenGrant's [comparison page](https://opengrant.co.uk/compare) recorded a 12-month auto-renewing agreement when it checked the same page on 19 October 2026. The product's strengths are an editorial team that researches and writes programme profiles daily, coverage across public and third sector including EU funding, and workflow features for teams. The case against it is price for a single seat, the annual commitment and the organisation-type restrictions on the cheaper plans.

## Free alternatives

Each free tool covers one slice of the market well. Used together they cover most of it.

- **[GOV.UK Find a grant](https://www.find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/)**: the Cabinet Office service for government grants, with eligibility and application details and a plan to add more grants over time. Government only.
- **National Lottery Community Fund programme finder**: every lottery community programme by nation, amount and status, with decision times. Lottery only, though that includes [Awards for All England](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/5bfc35a3-72d1-4843-ba3b-6d56df6ad7d7) and 16 other open schemes on 26 October 2026.
- **[GrantNav](https://grantnav.threesixtygiving.org/)**: 360Giving's explorer of grants already made, 1,565,468 of them from 355 funders on 26 October 2026, under a Creative Commons licence. It shows who funded whom, not what is open now. See [GrantNav versus OpenGrant](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/grantnav-vs-opengrant).
- **[Funding Scotland](https://funding.scot/)** (SCVO) and **[Funding Wales](https://funding.cymru/)** (WCVA): free national search engines, with registration required and extra features for SCVO members. NICVA's GrantTracker is the Northern Ireland equivalent.
- **[Charity Excellence Funding Finder](https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/free-grant-funding-finder-directory/)**: a free directory for registered users that links out to other funding lists; see [Charity Excellence versus OpenGrant](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/charity-excellence-vs-opengrant).
- **Community foundations**: each publishes its own live funds; [Somerset Community Foundation](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/somerset-community-foundation) alone listed 16 on 26 October 2026.

The full list, with what each one leaves out, is in [free UK grant finders for charities](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/free-grant-finders-uk).

## Cheaper editorial databases

**My Funding Central** is Idox's low-cost product built on the same editorial data. On 26 October 2026 its pricing page showed £100 plus VAT a year for organisations with annual turnover up to £30,000 (one user), rising through £200, £300 and £500 to £750 plus VAT for turnover between £500,000 and £1 million (five users). It is "only accessible for small local communities, small Town & Parish Councils, voluntary and charitable organisations and small business enterprises in England", fees are non-refundable, and organisations over £1 million are sent to GrantFinder. If you qualify, it is the cheapest editorial database by a wide margin; the limits are the subject of [My Funding Central alternative](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/my-funding-central-alternative).

**Funds Online**, from the Directory of Social Change, was the standard trusts directory, with editorial profiles of around 8,000 funders drawn from accounts and websites. DSC announced in October 2026 that it is closing, and Funds Online now serves existing subscribers only, at £475 plus VAT a year for one user and one dataset on the charity rate as recorded on 19 October 2026. OpenGrant's [Funds Online alternative page](https://opengrant.co.uk/compare/funds-online-alternative) explains how to move trust research out of it.

## OpenGrant

OpenGrant takes a different approach: it assembles open calls from published open data and funder pages, links every record to its source with a last-verified date, and adds funder research from the Charity Commission and OSCR registers and 360Giving. On 26 October 2026 it listed 1,021 open, rolling and forthcoming schemes, 396 of them open to [charities and community groups](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/charities) and 525 to [small businesses](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/businesses). Every grant with full criteria and a weekly alert is free with an account; funder research, exports and the peers lookup cost £29 a month per email after a three-day trial, cancelled from the account page at any time.

Where it is weaker, in the words of its own [comparison page](https://opengrant.co.uk/compare): the long tail of small grant-making trusts that publish little online, hand-written programme summaries (lottery and foundation records are facts-only), and multi-user administration and support contracts for large organisations. Many fundraisers will keep a trusts directory and add OpenGrant for open calls, funder evidence and alerts.

## Which alternative fits which job

- **A small charity in England under £1 million that only needs a search**: My Funding Central at £100 to £750 plus VAT, or OpenGrant's free tier.
- **A charity in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland**: the national free finder plus OpenGrant, since My Funding Central is England-only and GrantFinder's cheapest plan is VCSE-only.
- **A freelance fundraiser with several clients**: GrantFinder's per-organisation plans do not fit; OpenGrant's per-email pricing, 360Giving evidence and [peers lookup](https://opengrant.co.uk/peers) do. See the [complete guide to charity grants](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/charity-grants-uk) for the method.
- **A local authority or large VCSE with many users**: GrantFinder Enterprise or Growth remains the fit for team administration.
- **Anyone researching trusts that publish nothing**: a trusts directory, while Funds Online lasts, and the [Charity Commission register](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/a-z) for accounts.

Prices and terms are quoted from each provider's site on the date stated and may change. GrantFinder, My Funding Central and Funds Online are trademarks of their owners; OpenGrant is independent of them.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a free alternative to GrantFinder?

Yes, several, and they are good for different jobs. GOV.UK Find a grant covers government grants, the National Lottery Community Fund programme finder covers lottery funding, GrantNav covers grants funders have already made, and Funding Scotland and Funding Wales cover their nations. OpenGrant shows every open scheme with full criteria and a weekly alert free with an account. None of them has GrantFinder's editorial programme summaries.

### How much does GrantFinder cost in 2026?

On 26 October 2026 the GrantFinder subscriptions page listed three plans: VCSE Essentials at £1,020 a year for one user, for UK VCSE organisations only; Growth at £1,500 a year for up to three users, for VCSE organisations and registered UK small businesses; and Enterprise at a price on enquiry with unlimited users. The page did not state a free trial.

### What is the difference between GrantFinder and My Funding Central?

Both are Idox products built on the same editorial database. My Funding Central is the cut-down version for charities, voluntary organisations, small town and parish councils and small businesses in England with income up to £1 million, priced from £100 to £750 plus VAT a year by income band. GrantFinder is the full product for larger organisations, the public sector and anyone outside England.

### Is Funds Online still available?

Only to existing subscribers. The Directory of Social Change, which publishes Funds Online, announced in October 2026 that it is closing, and OpenGrant's comparison page recorded the charity rate as £475 plus VAT a year for one user and one dataset on 19 October 2026. A separate guide covers what to do with research held in Funds Online.

### Which GrantFinder alternative is best for a freelance fundraiser?

It depends on how many clients you serve and what you need. GrantFinder's single-user plan is restricted to UK VCSE organisations, and My Funding Central is restricted to organisations in England under £1 million. OpenGrant is priced per email with no organisation-type restriction and includes 360Giving funder evidence and a peers lookup, which suit multi-client prospect research. A trusts directory still wins for small trusts that publish nothing online.

## Find grants

- [Browse grants by place, organisation and cause](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/browse) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/browse.md)
- [Grants for charities and community groups](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/charities) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/charities.md)
- [Compare OpenGrant with GrantFinder](https://opengrant.co.uk/compare)

## Related guides

- [Free UK grant finders for charities: what each one covers and what it leaves out](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/free-grant-finders-uk): Eight free UK grant finders compared, plus Northern Ireland’s paid GrantTracker service: coverage, deadlines and registration. Checked 26 October 2026.
- [My Funding Central alternative: for charities over £1m, outside England, or wanting monthly terms](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/my-funding-central-alternative): My Funding Central is cheap and good for small English charities, but it stops at £1m income and at the English border. What to use if you fall outside its rules. Checked 26 October 2026.
- [GrantNav vs OpenGrant: the same 360Giving data, two different jobs](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/grantnav-vs-opengrant): GrantNav is the free, authoritative explorer of 1.5 million grants UK funders have already made. OpenGrant uses the same 360Giving data to answer a different question: what is open now, and who funds your peers.
- [Charity Excellence Funding Finder vs OpenGrant: what each one is for](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/charity-excellence-vs-opengrant): Charity Excellence's Funding Finder is free and worth keeping. OpenGrant adds source links, open-call ingest, 360Giving evidence, exports and an API. How the two differ, checked 26 October 2026.

## Sources and further reading

- [GrantFinder: Subscriptions](https://grantfinder.co.uk/subscriptions/)
- [My Funding Central: Subscription fees](https://www.myfundingcentral.co.uk/Default/ShowPage/Pricing)
- [GrantNav (360Giving)](https://grantnav.threesixtygiving.org/)
- [GOV.UK: Find a grant](https://www.find-government-grants.service.gov.uk/)
- [Charity Excellence Framework: Funding Finder](https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk/free-grant-funding-finder-directory/)
- [Funding Scotland (SCVO)](https://funding.scot/)
- [Funding Wales (WCVA)](https://funding.cymru/)

All guides: https://opengrant.co.uk/blog.md · Glossary: https://opengrant.co.uk/glossary.md · Agent index: https://opengrant.co.uk/llms-guides.txt