Contracts Finder vs Stotles
A side-by-side comparison of Contracts Finder and Stotles for UK suppliers — features, pricing, and who each tool best suits. Honest about where each is genuinely stronger.
TL;DR
Contracts Finder: Contracts Finder is the UK government's free portal for below-threshold public sector contracts (typically £12k–£138k for central government, higher for sub-central). Publishes contract opportunities and awards.
Stotles: Stotles is a UK public sector intelligence platform that combines live opportunities, buyer profiles, contract notices and signal-tracking. Targets sales teams selling into UK public sector.
Contracts Finder vs Stotles: side-by-side
| Feature | Contracts Finder | Stotles |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Government portal | Tender intelligence |
| Origin | UK · gov.uk | UK · founded 2018 |
| Primary audience | Any UK supplier — free public service | Public sector sales and bid teams |
| Pricing model | Free (taxpayer-funded UK government service) | Annual subscriptions, custom-quoted |
| UK public sector focus | Yes — specialist | Yes — specialist |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Live UK tender feed | Yes | Yes |
| Bid library | No | No |
| Tender-pack parser | No | No |
| AI bid drafting | No | No |
Where Contracts Finder is stronger
- Free, official, authoritative source of UK below-threshold notices
- Required publication for many UK public sector opportunities
Where Stotles is stronger
- Polished buyer-profile pages and signal-tracking workflow
- Strong CRM-style pipeline view for public sector business development
Best for Contracts Finder
Anyone who only needs to view UK below-threshold notices and submit through the buyer's portal.
Best for Stotles
Business-development teams running structured public-sector pipelines with signal-based outreach.
There's also a third option
BidWriter — AI bid writing built for UK SMEs
If you're a UK supplier bidding into public sector contracts, BidWriter is purpose-built for the job — UK public sector specialism, AI drafting, integrated live tender feed, free plan, and per-seat pricing from £49/mo. No annual enterprise contract required.
FAQs
What's the difference between Contracts Finder and Stotles?
Contracts Finder is government portal for any uk supplier — free public service. Stotles is tender intelligence for public sector sales and bid teams. The full feature-by-feature breakdown is in the table on this page.
Which is better for UK public sector — Contracts Finder or Stotles?
Contracts Finder has a specialist UK public sector focus; Stotles is a UK public sector specialist. For UK suppliers bidding into government, framework agreements and NHS, the more specialist option is usually the better starting point — but worth weighing against the rest of the comparison table.
Is Contracts Finder cheaper than Stotles?
Contracts Finder's pricing: Free (taxpayer-funded UK government service). Stotles's pricing: Annual subscriptions, custom-quoted. Whichever fits your team's size, contract length, and per-bid economics best is the right answer — both can work out cheaper depending on your situation.
Who should pick Contracts Finder?
Anyone who only needs to view UK below-threshold notices and submit through the buyer's portal.
Who should pick Stotles?
Business-development teams running structured public-sector pipelines with signal-based outreach.
Related comparisons
See all BidWriter comparisons.