Compare
How Helm compares, honestly.
Three ways to watch government work: a portal's own free alerts, a typical paid aggregator, and Helm. The questions below are the ones a careful buyer asks. Where the honest answer is that a free alert is enough for you, this page says so.
The questions that matter
| Question | Portal alerts (free) | Typical paid aggregator | Helm |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where does the data come from? | The portal's own listings, one portal at a time. | Often undisclosed. Ask which portals permit the provider's model and whether they can show you. | Named portals under their published licences or written permission, each shown on the Coverage page with its status. Where a portal has said no, Helm says so and links out instead. |
| Is it live or an archive? | Live, for that portal. | Varies. Ask whether counts are live or historical and whether samples are labelled. | Live feeds refreshed daily or two-hourly, with the last fetch time on every source and a stale flag when a feed stops. |
| How is relevance decided? | Keyword and category filters you set yourself. | Commonly a keyword match or an opaque rating. | An itemised score computed against your own capability statement and evidence, every part visible on the tender page. Never a win probability. |
| What does the AI actually do? | None. | Varies widely. Ask what is sent where, under which terms, and whether drafts cite sources. | Reads the tender pack you upload, builds a compliance matrix quoting your documents with page references, and drafts sections that must trace to your profile or stay behind a visible confirm marker. Providers named on the security page; your data trains nothing. |
| What does it cost? | Free. | Often a quote after a sales conversation. | A published ladder from free to Bid Desk, AUD ex GST with the GST-inclusive total beside it, cancel any time. Founding pricing terms are on the pricing page. |
| Where does my data live? | With the portal operator. | Ask. Check that the security page and the privacy policy say the same thing. | Australia (Sydney). The three categories that leave in transit, and to whom, are listed plainly on the security page. |
| Can it submit for me? | No. | Some offer it. Decide whether you want a third party lodging in your name. | No, by design. Helm prepares; you submit on the portal. It never asserts eligibility and never predicts an outcome. |
| Who wins this kind of work? | Some portals publish awards; you search them yourself. | Sometimes, from undisclosed sources. | Published award records from licensed sources, shown on the tender page with the licence line, stored exactly as published. |
No competitor is named on this page and none is pictured. The middle column describes a category, not a company; if a provider you are considering answers those questions well, take the answers at face value.
When free alerts are enough
- You bid on one portal, in one category, a few times a year. Register there, set the alert, and keep the money.
- You already have a bid writer who reads every pack. Helm's compliance matrix and drafting help most where that person is you.
- You want to see the market before deciding. Helm's free rung and the public tender pages exist for exactly that.
What Helm will never do
- Predict a win, a shortlist or an invitation. Scores are relevance evidence, itemised.
- Assert that you are eligible. It surfaces the buyer's own conditions for you to confirm.
- Submit a response or an expression of interest. Every draft is yours to review, own and lodge.
- Fetch from a portal that has declined, or train any model on your data.
The detail behind every line here is on the security page, how the AI works and the pricing page.