Compare features, pricing, and coverage. See why small contractors choose GovContractScout for state and local government contract matching.
$588/year · Free tier available
Free
| Feature | GovContractScout | SAM.gov |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $49/mo | Free |
| Annual Cost | $588/yr | Free |
| State Coverage | All 50 states | Federal only — no state/local |
| AI Matching | 5-factor weighted scoring | Manual search |
| Free Tier | 5 matches/week | Fully free |
| Weekly Digest | Every Monday | Email alerts (manual setup) |
| Set-Aside Matching | 11 types (8a, WOSB, SDVOSB, HUBZone...) | Basic filters |
| AI Bid Builder | Included | Not available |
Need contract data inside your own product? Here is how the machine-readable options stack up for developers.
| API Angle | GovContractScout API | SAM.gov |
|---|---|---|
| Data coverage | 50 states + SAM.gov (federal) | Federal only — no state/local |
| Machine-readable access | JSON REST API + MCP server, self-serve keys | Official free REST API (api.sam.gov) |
| API pricing | $99/mo for 10k calls, $199/mo for 50k | Free |
| Free API tier | 100 calls/month, no credit card | Free official API |
| What it is for | Embeddable live data feed for products and agents | Federal government procurement (contract opportunities, entity registration) |
No. SAM.gov is exclusively for federal procurement opportunities. State and local contracts are posted on each state's individual procurement portal. GovContractScout aggregates all 50 state portals into one dashboard with AI matching.
SAM.gov covers federal opportunities only, which represents roughly 40% of total government spending. The other 60% is state and local procurement, spread across 50+ separate portals. GovContractScout fills this gap by aggregating state and local opportunities.
SAM.gov serves multiple functions (entity registration, contract opportunities, exclusions, wage determinations) in one system. The search interface is generic and not optimized for opportunity discovery. GovContractScout provides a purpose-built search and matching experience specifically for finding relevant contracts.
Yes. SAM.gov offers an official free REST API for federal contract opportunities, but it covers federal data only. The GovContractScout API adds all 50 state portals alongside federal data, with NAICS filtering, match scoring, and an MCP server.