Updated November 5, 2026 · Pricing checked on our site; competitor prices are approximate from public pages
Free vs paid ways to track open federal contracts
You do not need a five-figure GovCon seat to watch SAM.gov. Here is an honest comparison of free government tools, a low-cost trade digest, and enterprise platforms — so you can pick the right level of noise and cost.
1. SAM.gov itself (free)
Contract Opportunities on SAM.gov is the official source. You can search, filter, and save searches or alerts. Strengths: complete, authoritative, $0. Weaknesses: raw volume, duplicate/amended postings, and alerts that are not organized by trade language or days-left triage. Searching and bidding on federal contracts on SAM.gov is always free.
2. Solicitation Daily (free weekly + Pro daily)
Solicitation Daily is an independent filter on the public SAM.gov feed — not a government site.
- Free: Top 5 matching bids every Monday. No credit card.
- Pro: Every match each weekday by 7 AM Central — $19/month (14-day free trial) or $190/year. Founding members: $15/month while subscribed (first 100).
You pick trades (or exact NAICS), states, and set-asides (SB, SDVOSB, VOSB, WOSB, 8(a), HUBZone, ISBEE). Notices are collapsed when duplicates/amendments stack up; deadlines and days left sit up front; summaries quote the agency text when available. Each item links back to the original SAM.gov notice.
3. Enterprise GovCon platforms (paid, much higher)
Tools such as HigherGov and GovTribe add deep analytics, team workflows, and broader data. Public list prices often start in the hundreds to thousands of dollars per year per seat. They make sense for capture teams that live in federal sales full time. For a small shop that mainly needs “show me new electrical set-asides in my states,” they are usually overkill.
Quick comparison
| Option | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| SAM.gov search & saved alerts | $0 | Anyone who will babysit filters and read raw notices |
| Solicitation Daily Free | $0 | Weekly sample of matches by trade / set-aside |
| Solicitation Daily Pro | $19/mo or $190/yr | Weekday brief of every match, deadlines first |
| Enterprise GovCon suites | Typically $500+/yr and up | Full-time capture, teams, heavy analytics |
What “tracking” should include
- New solicitations and combined synopsis/solicitations in your NAICS
- Set-aside codes you can actually chase
- Due dates with enough lead time
- A habit of opening the official notice and amendments before you price anything
See also: how to read a SAM.gov notice and bids by trade.
Solicitation Daily is a private service, not affiliated with any government agency. Competitor pricing changes; verify on their sites. We may miss notices; treat any digest as a helper, not a guarantee.