Find a Tender Service (FTS) vs Tussell
A side-by-side comparison of FTS and Tussell for UK suppliers — features, pricing, and who each tool best suits. Honest about where each is genuinely stronger.
TL;DR
Find a Tender Service (FTS): Find a Tender Service is the UK government's official portal for higher-value public sector contracts (above the procurement thresholds). It publishes tender notices, contract notices and award notices. Free for any supplier to use.
Tussell: Tussell is a UK public sector spend and contract data platform aimed at vendors, consultancies and investors who need market-intelligence on government spend, supplier landscape and contract pipelines.
FTS vs Tussell: side-by-side
| Feature | Find a Tender Service (FTS) | Tussell |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Government portal | Tender intelligence |
| Origin | UK · gov.uk (replaced OJEU post-Brexit) | UK · founded 2015 |
| Primary audience | Any UK supplier — free public service | UK public sector market-intelligence buyers |
| Pricing model | Free (taxpayer-funded UK government service) | Annual enterprise subscriptions, custom-quoted; positioned as a premium market-intelligence product |
| 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 FTS is stronger
- Free, official, authoritative source of UK above-threshold tender notices
- Direct from the buyer (no aggregator delay)
Where Tussell is stronger
- Industry-leading granular public sector spend data and supplier-mapping
- Strong analytics, dashboards and exports for market-intelligence research
Best for FTS
Anyone who only needs to view UK above-threshold notices and click through to the buyer's portal.
Best for Tussell
Vendors, consultancies and investors who need deep market-intelligence on UK government spend.
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 Find a Tender Service (FTS) and Tussell?
FTS is government portal for any uk supplier — free public service. Tussell is tender intelligence for uk public sector market-intelligence buyers. The full feature-by-feature breakdown is in the table on this page.
Which is better for UK public sector — Find a Tender Service (FTS) or Tussell?
FTS has a specialist UK public sector focus; Tussell 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 Find a Tender Service (FTS) cheaper than Tussell?
FTS's pricing: Free (taxpayer-funded UK government service). Tussell's pricing: Annual enterprise subscriptions, custom-quoted; positioned as a premium market-intelligence product. 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 Find a Tender Service (FTS)?
Anyone who only needs to view UK above-threshold notices and click through to the buyer's portal.
Who should pick Tussell?
Vendors, consultancies and investors who need deep market-intelligence on UK government spend.
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