SAM.gov is free — so why pay for contract alerts?
It's a fair question. SAM.gov is the official, free source for federal contract opportunities. So why do thousands of businesses pay for tools like BidRadar?
Because free and usable are not the same thing. SAM.gov posts over 24,000 notices a month across every industry. Finding the few that fit your business means logging in, running searches, and scrolling — every single day, or you miss deadlines.
What you're actually paying for
- Time — hours back every week that you'd otherwise spend searching.
- Never missing a match — new opportunities land in your inbox the day they post.
- Focus — only the notices matching your NAICS codes, keywords, and set-asides, not the firehose.
The enterprise tools (GovTribe, GovWin, and others) charge $100–$400 a month for exactly this. BidRadar does it for small businesses starting at $29/month, with no 60-day lockouts and no surprise fees.
BidRadar is an independent service and is not affiliated with SAM.gov or any government agency. Always confirm details and deadlines on the official notice.