Free ways to get government bid alerts (read 12 Nov 2026)
As of 12 November 2026 the free ways to get government bid alerts read here are SAM.gov saved searches (with an account), free weekday digests (SetAside Signal, AwardWatchdog), a free weekly email (SpendQuery), free basic plans (BidNet Direct, DemandStar for one agency) and Bid Watch US, free with no account.
Prices as shown on each tool's own page, read . Prices change; check the tool's page before you buy. Bid Watch US is run by Bikoosh and is one of the tools listed.
The tools, side by side
| Tool | What it covers (as read) | Free option | Paid price as shown |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAM.gov | The official source of federal contract opportunities. | Free. "Anyone may search contract opportunities without an account. A user account lets you save searches, follow changes to opportunities, and join interested vendor lists." | No paid plan. |
| SetAside Signal | Pages by state, agency, NAICS code and set-aside. | A free weekday digest at 7:00 AM Central, no account. | No paid plan seen on the home page. |
| AwardWatchdog | Recompetes and winners from USAspending, by NAICS code and state. | A free weekday digest by NAICS code and state; a free CSV. | No paid plan seen on the home page. |
| SpendQuery | Federal plus state and local bids, by ZIP code and distance. | A free weekly email. | No paid plan seen on the home page. |
| BidNet Direct | Bids by area (one state, three states, national); federal bids are sold as an add-on. governmentbids.com redirects here. | Basic plan $0. | Local $599 a year (1 state); Regional $1,199 a year (3 states); National $1,999 a year; add-ons Federal Bids $149 a year and Advertising $249 a year. |
| DemandStar | Bids from public agencies, by agency, county, state or national plan. | Basic plan free (1 agency). | County from $60 a year; State $100 to $1,499 a year; National $2,699 a year; a bid package $5. |
| ContractRadar | SAM.gov plus 663 state and local sources. | 5 searches a day free. | Pro $30 a month. |
| GovTribe | Federal contracting data and search. | The plans page shows a "Start for Free" button; what the free plan includes was not read. | $1,900 a year, billed annually. |
| Bid Watch US (this site) | Federal contract opportunities from SAM.gov public data, read daily, by trade and state. | Free, no account: search by trade and state, the list by email at once, the week's new ones every Monday, and for a state you ask about an email the morning after a new one opens there. | Pro $29 a month or $249 a year: every new match by email daily and a closing-soon digest on Mondays. |
Where other tools do more than Bid Watch US
- A free email every weekday: SetAside Signal, AwardWatchdog. Bid Watch US sends its free list on Mondays, plus an email the morning after a new notice opens in a state you asked about; every new match daily is Pro.
- State and local bids: SpendQuery, BidNet Direct, DemandStar, ContractRadar. Bid Watch US covers federal notices from SAM.gov only.
- Award history and recompetes: AwardWatchdog. Bid Watch US shows last fiscal year's federal spending and the contracts ending within 12 months on some trade-by-state pages only.
How these were read
Each tool's own pricing or home page was opened in a browser on 12 November 2026, without signing in or filling any form, and the plan names and prices were copied as shown. A tool that publishes no price is listed as "price not published". Coverage notes repeat only what those pages said.
Search open federal contracts
Bid Watch US searches the open notices read every day from SAM.gov public data by trade and state, free with no account.