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ContractRadar vs HigherGov
Both tools surface federal, state, and local government contracts. They’re built for different buyers and priced very differently. Here’s a side-by-side look at pricing, coverage, AI features, and which tool fits your business.
Last updated 2026-05-03. Pricing reflects publicly listed information at the time of writing — verify current pricing on highergov.com/pricing and contractradar.io/pricing before purchasing.
At a glance
| ContractRadar | HigherGov | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $30/month ($360/year) | $500/year (Starter, 1 user); $2,500/year Standard; $5,000/year Leader |
| Free tier | Yes — permanent free tier, 5 searches/day, no credit card | No |
| Federal coverage | SAM.gov + SBA SubNet | Federal opportunities + forecasts |
| State & local coverage | 40 states + 7 cities (Boston, Houston, LA, LA County, NYC, Philadelphia, SF) | Included on all tiers |
| AI matching | Semantic embedding search + AI scoring on every match | AI-powered tools layered on keyword/filter search |
| Set-aside filtering | 8(a), HUBZone, WOSB, SDVOSB, SDB filters | Set-aside filters supported |
| Contract data exports | Export matched opportunities | 1,000 / 20,000 / 100,000 records per search by tier |
| Audience | 1- to 10-person small businesses | Contractors, consultants, investors, agencies — solo to enterprise |
| Best for | A single daily digest of matched federal, state, and local work without enterprise spend | Teams that need vendor intelligence, M&A data, and integrations alongside opportunity search |
Pricing compared
On a single-user basis, ContractRadar is cheaper: $30/month works out to $360/year, versus HigherGov’s Starter plan at $500/year for one user. The bigger gap is at the team level — HigherGov scales by user count, while ContractRadar is flat.
ContractRadar
$30/month
- Free tier: 5 searches/day, permanent
- Pro: $30/month, daily digest
- Month-to-month, no per-seat pricing
- No annual contract required
HigherGov
$500/year
- No free tier
- Starter: $500/year (1 user)
- Standard: $2,500/year (up to 10)
- Leader: $5,000/year (up to 50)
ContractRadar pricing is published on the pricing page. HigherGov pricing is published on highergov.com/pricing.
Coverage compared
Both tools cover federal, state, and local opportunities. The differences are in breadth, transparency, and how each tool surfaces local data.
ContractRadar
- Federal: SAM.gov contract opportunities and SBA SubNet subcontracting.
- State: 40 US states sourced from each state’s official procurement portal.
- Local: 7 cities — Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, LA County, NYC, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
- Past-award context: federal matches include historical USAspending.gov awards when available, so you can size up the going rate before you bid.
- Full coverage list is published on the coverage page.
HigherGov
- Federal: opportunities plus forecasts (pre-solicitation pipeline).
- State and local: included on every tier — HigherGov doesn’t publish a state-by-state coverage list publicly, so verify the jurisdictions you bid in before subscribing.
- Vendor and award data: deeper vendor intelligence and an M&A / investor database that ContractRadar doesn’t offer.
Who each tool is for
ContractRadar is built for
- Small businesses (typically 1–10 people) pursuing federal, state, or local work without an enterprise BD budget.
- Operators who want a single daily digest, not five different portal alerts to triage.
- People who want to evaluate matching quality for free first, then upgrade only if it’s working.
HigherGov is built for
- Mid-market and enterprise contractors with multi-person business development teams.
- Consultants, investors, and agencies who need vendor intelligence and M&A data alongside opportunity search.
- Buyers who want native API access and Zapier-style integrations to push contract data into other systems.
Feature-by-feature breakdown
| Feature | ContractRadar | HigherGov |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent free tier | Yes (5 searches/day) | No |
| Semantic / embedding match scoring | Yes | Partial |
| Daily AI-scored email digest | Yes (Pro) | Saved-search alerts |
| Past-award context (USAspending.gov) | Yes (federal matches) | Federal awards data |
| Vendor intelligence database | No | Yes |
| M&A and investor database | No | Yes |
| Labor pricing tool | No | Yes |
| Forecasts (federal pre-solicitation) | Limited | Yes |
| Public API | No | Yes |
| Zapier integration | No | Yes |
| eBuy / task order import | No | Yes |
| Per-seat pricing | Flat — single user, no per-seat | Tiered: 1 / 10 / 50 users |
| Annual contract required | No — month to month | Annual |
When to pick HigherGov instead
Comparison pages are only useful if they’re honest. HigherGov has clear advantages over ContractRadar in several scenarios — if any of these match your situation, it’s the right call:
- You need vendor intelligence and competitor research. HigherGov ships with a vendor database, M&A and investor data, and a labor pricing tool. ContractRadar focuses on opportunity discovery and AI matching — it doesn’t offer competitor profiling or capital-markets data. If “who has won similar work and who’s acquiring them” is a real question for your business, HigherGov answers it natively.
- You have a 5+ person BD team. HigherGov’s Standard tier covers up to 10 users for $2,500/year — about $250 per user per year. For a real BD team that needs shared pipelines, training, and a dedicated success manager (Standard and Leader tiers), the per-user math works out better than stacking multiple ContractRadar accounts.
- You need API access or Zapier integration. HigherGov exposes a public API, eBuy and task order import, and Zapier integration on every tier. ContractRadar doesn’t currently offer a public API. If you need contract data flowing into Salesforce, HubSpot, or an internal pipeline tool, HigherGov is the practical choice today.
- You bid in a jurisdiction ContractRadar doesn’t cover. ContractRadar covers 40 states and 7 cities. If your work concentrates in a state or city outside that list, HigherGov’s broader local sourcing may surface opportunities ContractRadar misses today. Check our coverage page first.
- You depend on federal forecasts (pre-solicitation pipeline). HigherGov’s federal forecast data is more developed than ContractRadar’s. If your capture process leans heavily on tracking opportunities 6–12 months before they hit SAM.gov, HigherGov is the better tool.
If none of those apply — and you primarily want a daily digest of relevant federal, state, and local opportunities scored by AI for a small business — ContractRadar is built for that exact case.
FAQ
Is HigherGov cheaper than ContractRadar?
On a single-user basis, ContractRadar is cheaper: $30/month ($360/year) vs HigherGov's Starter plan at $500/year for one user. ContractRadar also has a permanent free tier with 5 searches per day, while HigherGov has no free tier — the minimum cost to evaluate it is the Starter plan.
Does HigherGov cover state and local contracts?
Yes. HigherGov includes federal, state, and local opportunities on every tier. ContractRadar covers federal plus 40 states and 7 cities (Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, LA County, NYC, Philadelphia, San Francisco). Verify coverage for the specific jurisdictions you bid in before subscribing to either tool.
What does HigherGov offer that ContractRadar doesn't?
HigherGov includes vendor intelligence, an M&A and investor database, a labor pricing tool, deeper market intelligence, native API access, and Zapier integration. If you need to research competitors, source partners, or wire contract data into a CRM, those are real advantages over ContractRadar today.
Which is better for a 1- to 5-person small business?
ContractRadar is built specifically for small businesses pursuing federal, state, and local work without an enterprise budget. HigherGov's lower tier is workable for a solo operator, but its broader feature set (vendor intelligence, M&A data, capture tools) is mostly useful when you have a team to use it.
Does HigherGov have AI matching like ContractRadar?
HigherGov advertises AI-powered tools and insights, but its discovery model is primarily keyword and filter based with AI features layered on top. ContractRadar is built around semantic embedding search — you describe your business in plain language and the AI scores opportunities by meaning, not just NAICS or keyword overlap.
Can I export contract data from both tools?
Yes, both support exports. HigherGov has explicit export caps by tier (1,000 records per search on Starter, 20,000 on Standard, 100,000 on Leader). ContractRadar lets you export your matched opportunities — verify current limits on the pricing page.
How current is this comparison?
Last updated 2026-05-03. Pricing and feature details reflect publicly listed information at the time of writing. Vendors change tiers and pricing frequently, so confirm current pricing on highergov.com/pricing and contractradar.io/pricing before purchasing.
Try ContractRadar before you commit
The free tier doesn’t require a credit card and lets you run 5 searches a day across every source we cover — federal, state, and local. If the matching quality fits your business, upgrade to Pro for $30/month. If it doesn’t, you’ve lost nothing.