Five paid UK tender alert platforms send you the same notices the official portals are required by law to publish for free. The job they actually do is reduce five logins to one inbox. Whether that's worth £600 to £2,500 a year depends on which platform, which tier, and whether the alerts land in your sector or not.
This is the head-to-head review for UK cleaning and FM SMEs. Real pricing where the platforms publish it. Real Trustpilot patterns where they don't. Honest about which one earns its fee and which one doesn't.
- Every UK public-sector cleaning notice over £12,000 is required by law to be on Contracts Finder. Anything over £139,688 has to appear on Find a Tender Service. Both are free.
- Supply2Gov's free tier is locked to one local authority area. Trustpilot reviewers describe it as effectively useless. Documented auto-renewal trap on the paid "1 month's access" plan.
- Tenders Direct sells advance re-tender alerts (frameworks, DPS) months before publication. Mid-market subscription pricing.
- TenderLedger is FM-vertical with buyer and award intelligence on top of alerts. Closest direct competitor for cleaning + FM positioning.
- Tracker Intelligence is enterprise-tier with spend analytics and central-government pipeline. Built for big bid teams, priced for them.
- myTenders gives free supplier access to notices published via the platform by 4,300+ public buyers. No paid supplier tier.
- CleanTender does the alerts plus qualification scoring plus unlimited SQ drafts in one £99/mo subscription. Cleaning + FM only.
What's in this comparison¶
- How tender alert platforms actually work
- Supply2Gov
- Tenders Direct
- TenderLedger
- Tracker Intelligence
- myTenders
- Complete Tenders
- The free official portals
- CleanTender vs the alert-only category
- Verdict + what to do at next renewal
How tender alert platforms actually work¶
All paid UK tender alert platforms aggregate data from the same legally-required public sources. Contracts Finder for English central government and local authorities. Find a Tender Service for high-value UK-wide notices. Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI for the devolved nations. The platform's job is to consolidate those feeds into one inbox and apply some filtering on top.
What separates the platforms is what they add on top of the consolidation. Some sell early intelligence on contract expiry dates. Some sell incumbent-supplier and spend data. Some just sell the inbox. The cheapest tier of any of them is usually no better than running free saved-search alerts on the official portals.
If a paid platform claims to surface notices that aren't on the free official portals, ask which buyer is paying them to publish privately. The answer is usually none.
Pro tip
Supply2Gov¶
supply2govtenders.co.uk. UK and Republic of Ireland public-sector aggregator. Free tier locked to one local authority area. Paid tiers scale by geography.
Trustpilot patterns from early 2026: free tier described as effectively useless because alerts often don't surface even within the chosen local-authority area. Documented auto-renewal trap on the "1 month's access" plan with terms buried on a separate page and no renewal notification before each charge. Reviewers report alerts that have already closed still showing as open and irrelevant alerts (a software firm receiving roofing notices, for example).
Verdict: bottom of the paid market. Aggregation is real, but the alert quality and billing practices make it hard to recommend over free email alerts. See our deeper Supply2Gov breakdown.
Tenders Direct¶
tendersdirect.co.uk. Long-running UK alerts service covering UK, Republic of Ireland, and Find a Tender Service notices. Sells "Tender Alert Service" for live notices and "Advance Tender Alerts" that flag re-tenders months before publication, particularly for frameworks and Dynamic Purchasing Systems. Same group as myTenders.
Pricing varies by tier and is not published in full publicly. Mid-market subscription model, generally above Supply2Gov and below Tracker Intelligence.
Strong on the early-warning angle. If you bid for framework call-offs and want lead time on renewals, Tenders Direct's Advance Tender Alerts are the headline reason to pay. Less differentiated on standard live notices, where the free portals do the same job.
TenderLedger¶
tenderledger.co.uk. Newer UK platform with an FM focus. The live FM tenders feed pulls from Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Goes beyond alerts into buyer and award intelligence, pipeline views, and "who wins what" data so FM suppliers can prioritise bids and track competitor wins.
Closest direct competitor in the FM-vertical positioning space. If you want a paid platform that filters specifically for cleaning, security, maintenance, and estates, TenderLedger does that without you needing to build your own filter on top of a generalist tool.
Pricing is SaaS-tier and not published publicly. The award-intelligence angle is the headline differentiator vs Supply2Gov; the pricing premium reflects that.
Tracker Intelligence¶
trackerintelligence.com. Higher-end procurement intelligence platform. Combines live tenders, frameworks, award data, spend analytics, and buyer insights in one tool. Markets itself on publishing more central-government opportunities and award data than any other UK service.
Built for large bid teams running pipelines of 50+ active opportunities at any time. The early pipeline visibility, re-tender alerts, and spend analytics are genuinely useful at that scale, and the pricing reflects the audience. Enterprise SaaS tier.
For a UK cleaning SME with 4 to 12 bids a year, Tracker is overkill. The features only earn their fee at higher bid volumes than most cleaning firms run.
myTenders¶
mytenders.co.uk. eProcurement platform primarily for public buyers to publish notices directly to Find a Tender and Contracts Finder. Suppliers can access notices published via myTenders by 4,300+ UK public-sector bodies. Same group as Tenders Direct.
Free supplier access. No paid tier on the supplier side. Coverage is limited to buyers who publish through myTenders, which is a subset of all UK public buyers, but a meaningful one.
Worth registering as a supplier alongside the official portals. Costs nothing, and some council and NHS opportunities show up here that you'd otherwise miss if you only watch Contracts Finder.
Complete Tenders¶
completetenders.com. UK tender directory and email alerts service with a dedicated Facilities Management feed that includes soft FM, cleaning, security, and maintenance. Hourly updates. Also sells done-for-you bid management and tender writing on the services side, so it shows up in the bid-writing comparison too.
The hourly update cadence is a real differentiator if you're chasing time-sensitive notices. The dual platform-and-services model means you can theoretically pay one provider for both layers, though that locks you into Complete Tenders for a workflow other providers split.
The free official portals¶
These are not optional alternatives. They are the legal source of truth.
- Contracts Finder (gov.uk). Required by law to carry every English central-government contract over £12,000 and English local-authority contract over £25,000. Free saved-search email alerts.
- Find a Tender Service (gov.uk). All UK public-sector contracts over £139,688 incl. VAT. Replaced the old EU OJEU portal. Free.
- Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI. The devolved-nation portals. Each carries the public-sector notices for its nation. Free, separate logins.
Set up free saved-search email alerts on each. Five logins, daily glance. The whole legally-required notice set, no subscription cost, no auto-renewal trap.
CleanTender vs the alert-only category¶
CleanTender isn't an alert-only platform. It pulls cleaning + FM tenders from the official OCDS feed at contractsfinder.service.gov.uk, the same source the paid aggregators republish. The difference is what happens after the alert.
- Tender discovery. Live UK cleaning + FM tenders, CPV-code filtered (90910, 90911, 90919, 90921, 90923, 90924, 79993) with title-keyword fallback. Cleaning sector only at present.
- Qualification scan. Reads the contract pack and scores your stored 30+ field profile against it in under 30 seconds. Returns a 0-100 score, structured compliance gaps with severity and fix hints, and a submission checklist.
- Bid drafting. Generates a Selection Questionnaire response in the standard sections (Company Overview, Relevant Experience, Quality Assurance, Staff Training and BICSc, COSHH Management, Social Value and TOMs). Unlimited drafts on Pro.
Pricing: free to browse the contract directory. Pro at £99/mo or £990/yr unlocks the qualification scan, unlimited drafts, the Compliance Vault, and email alerts.
Side by side: every UK tender alert option¶
| Platform | Pricing model | What it adds vs free | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contracts Finder + FTS + devolved | Free | Nothing — these are the source | Every UK SME (legal source of truth) |
| myTenders (supplier side) | Free | Notices from 4,300+ public buyers using myTenders | Free supplemental coverage alongside the official portals |
| Supply2Gov | Recurring monthly subscription | Aggregation only, alert quality reported as poor | Hard to recommend over free alerts |
| Tenders Direct | Annual subscription, mid-market | Advance re-tender alerts on frameworks + DPS | Suppliers chasing framework call-offs |
| Complete Tenders | Annual subscription | FM-focused feed, hourly updates, bundled bid services | Suppliers wanting alerts + writing in one provider |
| TenderLedger | SaaS subscription | FM-vertical feed plus award + buyer intelligence | FM suppliers tracking competitor wins |
| Tracker Intelligence | Enterprise SaaS | Spend analytics + central-gov pipeline + buyer insights | Large bid teams running 50+ active opportunities |
| CleanTender | £99/mo or £990/yr | Cleaning + FM feed, qualification scoring, unlimited drafts | Cleaning + FM SMEs running 4 to 12 bids a year |
Pricing for paid platforms varies by tier and geography; check direct.
Verdict: what to actually do¶
Three honest answers, depending on your bid volume.
- Under 4 bids a year. Free portals plus saved-search email alerts. Skip the paid aggregator entirely. Add free myTenders supplier registration for the extra coverage.
- 4 to 12 bids a year. Free portals plus CleanTender at £99/mo. The qualification scan and unlimited drafts replace both an aggregator subscription and a per-bid bid writer.
- 12+ bids a year with a dedicated bid manager. TenderLedger (FM specialism) or Tracker Intelligence (enterprise pipeline + spend) earn their fee. Pair with CleanTender if you want the qualification scoring layer.
Cancel any paid aggregator within the cancellation window before next renewal. Document the cancellation in writing and keep a screenshot. Watch the next bank statement for a payment that shouldn't be there.
Pro tip
If you're new to UK public-sector tendering and want the foundational vocabulary first, our primer on what a tender actually is is a faster read. For the bid-writing side of the stack, see bid writer vs AI bid tool.
Sources
- Contracts Finder · Free portal: English public-sector tenders over £12,000
- Find a Tender Service · Free portal: UK tenders over £139,688 incl. VAT
- Public Contracts Scotland · Scottish public bodies + NHS Scotland
- Sell2Wales · Welsh public-sector procurement
- eTendersNI · Northern Ireland public-sector procurement
- Trustpilot reviews of Supply2Gov · Auto-renewal trap, alert relevance, free-tier issues
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
- Free saved-search email alerts on Contracts Finder, Find a Tender Service, and the devolved portals (Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales, eTendersNI). Cost £0. Coverage is the full legally-required notice set for UK public-sector procurement. Add free myTenders supplier registration for notices published by the 4,300+ public buyers using that platform.
- Probably not for a UK cleaning SME. The free portals carry the same notices, and Trustpilot reviewers from early 2026 report a documented auto-renewal trap on the "1 month's access" plan, alert quality complaints, and a free tier described as effectively useless. If you need re-tender intelligence, Tenders Direct or TenderLedger sit at a higher tier with that feature. If you don't need it, the free portals do the job.
- Both aggregate UK public-sector notices and add intelligence layers, but at different scales. Tenders Direct sits in the mid-market and sells advance re-tender alerts on frameworks and DPS as the headline differentiator. Tracker Intelligence is enterprise-tier with spend analytics, central-government pipeline visibility, and buyer insights aimed at large bid teams. Tracker is overkill for a 4-to-12-bids-a-year cleaning SME; Tenders Direct fits suppliers chasing framework call-offs.
- TenderLedger covers Layer 1 (tender discovery + FM-specific intelligence) but doesn't do Layer 3 (qualification scoring + Selection Questionnaire drafting). They're not direct substitutes. Most cleaning SMEs paying TenderLedger then either spend weekends writing every bid by hand or pay a bid writer £500 to £2,000 per submission on top. CleanTender bundles the discovery, qualification, and drafting layers into one £99/mo subscription.
- No. Supplier access to notices published via myTenders is free. The platform charges public buyers to publish notices through it; suppliers register for free and see those notices in their own dashboard. Worth registering alongside the official portals because some council and NHS opportunities are published through myTenders that you'd otherwise miss.
- Read the T&Cs first because the auto-renewal terms are documented as buried in lengthy conditions on a separate page. Cancel through the platform's interface AND email customer service. Take screenshots of the confirmation. Watch your next bank statement for an unexpected charge. Trustpilot reviewers have managed partial refunds with persistence; cite the lack of renewal notification and the buried auto-enrolment terms when you write to them.