Candid vs GrantCue: what to use as FDO becomes Candid Search
Candid now sells its Foundation Directory data through Candid Search, and it is still the largest funder database. GrantCue is narrower and much cheaper: free funder pages built from IRS filings, and a funder's past grants in a table you can sort and download. Here is where each one wins.
The short answer
- Pick Candid if you need the widest funder database. Candid says it has profiles of more than 304,000 funders and 1.9 million nonprofits, with staff contacts. Premium is $219 a month billed monthly, or from $1,199 a year billed annually for verified nonprofits ($2,199 at the standard rate).
- Pick GrantCue if what you mostly need is one funder's past grants in a table you can sort, filter and download, who funds organizations like yours, and a place to track the grants you go after. Its funder pages are free to read, and the full grant lists and exports come with a free account.
- Use your library if you look up a few funders a year. Candid's partner locations, such as some public libraries, offer access for free.
GrantCue makes one of these products, so check the figures yourself: Candid's come from its own pages, read on October 24, 2026. Sources are at the bottom.
What happened to Foundation Directory Online
Candid now sells its funder research as Candid Search, which it says "combines decades of trusted data from both Foundation Directory and GuideStar". The old Foundation Directory site still offers a login for existing accounts, and points new visitors to Candid Search.
The move has not suited everyone. In public forums, long-time FDO users have said the new search makes it harder to see one funder's grants in a single table, sort them the way they want and download them. Candid has been answering some of that: on September 16, 2026 it announced grant downloads straight from organization profiles, and said downloads from its Landscapes tool would follow this fall.
Candid pricing (checked October 2026)
Candid's pricing page has two tabs. The one it opens on is a discounted rate that it says is open to all verified non-funding organizations; the Standard tab has higher annual prices. Both are below.
Source: candid.org/pricing, both tabs, read October 24, 2026. Annual plans are shown as "starting price"; Candid's page lists no seat count for them.
GrantCue for comparison, from our own plan table:
Enterprise is custom. Annual billing is 17% to 20% off the monthly price, depending on the plan. Nonprofits take a further 25% off with the code NONPROFIT at checkout. Full detail on the pricing page.
The funder research described below, including the grant lists and their exports, is on GrantCue's free plan. The paid plans add users, more tracked grants and AI tools.
What each one gives a funder researcher
Candid Search covers nonprofits and funders. Its page lists more than 304,000 funder profiles, 1.9 million nonprofit profiles and 29 million grants. Premium adds full profiles, grant histories with downloads, key staff contacts with LinkedIn profiles, financial data more recent than the IRS filings, a "funders of your peers" tool, and an AI fundraising assistant that suggests funders and drafts a letter of inquiry. Ultimate adds Landscapes, a chart tool for funding trends, and nonprofit compliance checks.
GrantCue builds its funder pages from the 990-PF returns private foundations file with the IRS. Anyone can read the free foundation directory without an account: 11,000+ foundations that paid at least $1 million and made at least 5 grants, each with its giving by year, median grant, the states it gives to most, its 25 largest grants and what its latest filing says about applying. The whole directory downloads as one CSV file under a CC BY 4.0 licence. GrantCue also lists community foundations, United Ways and other public charities whose grant programs it has checked, with their giving from Form 990 Schedule I where they file one.
With a free GrantCue account you also get:
- Every grant a funder reported, in one table: search it by recipient or purpose, filter it to a tax year or a state, sort it by amount or recipient, and export it to CSV or Excel (up to 1,000 rows a file, 10 files a day).
- Who funds an organization: type a name and see the funders that reported grants to it. The 990-PF has no recipient EIN, so this matches by name and place and shows the names it matched.
- Funders of your peers: name up to 30 organizations like yours and see who funds them.
- Foundations matched to your organization, with red flags such as invitation-only funders.
- The officers and trustees on each foundation's latest 990-PF.
- A tracker for what you decide to pursue: a pipeline, tasks, deadline reminders and a calendar feed, plus open grants from Grants.gov and state agencies.
Where Candid is stronger: almost everywhere on data. Its funder database is many times larger and goes back decades, it covers grants nonprofits received as well as grants funders made, it has nonprofit profiles and staff contacts, and its financial data can be newer than the IRS filings. GrantCue's public profiles cover only private foundations above its size threshold, its data comes from filings for recent tax years, and it has no staff directory: the contacts it shows are the application contact and the officers named in a foundation's own filing. If you research hundreds of funders a year, Candid will serve you better.
Doing your FDO jobs in GrantCue
Who should pick which
Many teams use both: Candid at the library or on one paid seat for deep research, and GrantCue to check funders quickly and run the grants they decide to pursue. More reading: Instrumentl vs GrantCue and what Foundation Directory Online costs now.
Sources and how this page was checked
GrantCue sells one of the products compared here, so every competitor figure below is tied to a public page and the date it was read. GrantCue figures come from our own plan table, which is also what checkout charges.
- Candid pricing, read October 24, 2026, both tabs of the rendered page. Used for: plan prices at the nonprofit discounted and standard rates, grant download limits, the free plan’s profile views, plan features, Enterprise.
- Candid Search, read October 24, 2026. Used for: that Candid Search combines Foundation Directory and GuideStar data; 304,000+ funder profiles, 1.9 million+ nonprofit profiles and 29 million+ grants; the standard annual prices.
- Candid, "The road from IRS offices to Candid search" (September 16, 2026), read October 24, 2026. Used for: grant downloads from organization profiles, and Landscapes downloads planned for this fall.
- Foundation Directory Online sign-in page, read October 24, 2026. Used for: that the FDO login is still offered and points to Candid Search.
- Candid near you, read October 24, 2026. Used for: free access at Candid partner locations.
- GrantCue pricing, read October 24, 2026. Used for: GrantCue plan prices, users and features.
Competitors change prices without notice. If you find a figure that is out of date, tell us at support@grantcue.com and we will correct it.
Look a funder up for free
Every foundation page in the directory is free to read. A free account adds each funder's full grant list, with sorting and exports, and 14 days of the Team plan.