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Honest comparison
Velstrian Bid vs SwiftBid
Pay per bid, or subscribe. Which model fits depends on how often you bid. Every competitor figure is sourced and dated.
Your first 7 days are free. A card is needed to start.Updated 26 July 2026
Velstrian Bid is a subscription that helps small and mid size firms find and answer tenders, for public and private work, from £49 per month. SwiftBid is a per-bid AI writing service, charged at £149 to £749 a bid with no subscription. They price in completely different ways, so the honest comparison is about how often you bid and what you need around the draft. This page sets out both, states Velstrian Bid's prices, and dates every source.
Which should you choose?
Choose SwiftBid if
- You bid only once or twice a year and do not want a subscription.
- You want the option of a human expert reviewing a one-off, high-stakes bid.
- You already know which tender you are bidding and just need the draft written.
- A fixed price per bid is easier for you to approve than a monthly plan.
Choose Velstrian (Velstrian Bid) if
- You bid for public and private work: public contracts arrive each morning, and a private client's tender you upload.
- You bid regularly and want continuous access rather than paying per bid.
- You need Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland and EU TED discovery refreshed daily.
- You want the AI blocked from inventing a figure, with a note on every draft saying AI helped (PPN 017).
- You need social value added up in code and proof of delivery after you win.
At a glance
Scroll the table sideways
| Feature | Velstrian Bid | SwiftBid |
|---|---|---|
| Category | UK bid and tender management suite (subscription) | Per-bid AI bid-writing service |
| Pricing model | Subscription from £49/month | Per bid: £149 / £349 / £749 |
| Finds public contracts for you (Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland, EU TED) | Yes, refreshed daily at 06:00 UTC | None. You upload contract packs |
| Drafting grounded in your own past bids | Yes | Per-bid AI drafting from documents you supply |
| Human expert review | Software only. Your own reviewer approves each draft | Optional at Premium tier |
| Figure-grounding (AI blocked from inventing a number) | Yes, a fixed check in code | Not stated publicly |
| A note on every draft saying AI helped write it (the PPN 017 disclosure public buyers expect) | Yes | Not stated publicly |
| Social value (the local good you do) added up in code | Yes, worked out in code | Not stated as a dedicated calculation |
| Proof of delivery after you win (Procurement Act 2023 s.52 / s.71) | Yes | Not stated |
| Fastest turnaround | Continuous access, draft any time | As fast as 6 hours (Premium) |
| Best for | Small and mid size firms bidding regularly, public and private, in any sector | Firms doing 1 to 4 bids a year, no subscription |
What buyers check first
Traceability
Can every figure in a draft be traced back to your own records?
Read in full: Traceability
- Every £ and % in a draft is checked against a set of allowed figures computed from your own data, and the draft is rejected if a figure is not in that set. Every AI-assisted draft carries a PPN 017 AI-use disclosure and waits for a named person to approve it before you submit.
- Not stated publicly. The sources at the foot of this page describe per-bid AI drafting from documents you supply, with optional human expert review at the Premium tier. They document no check of this kind.
Data governance
Where your data is kept, and how it is protected.
Read in full: Data governance
- AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, customer data stored in the EU (Ireland), UK GDPR compliant, ICO registered, and follows ISO/IEC 27001. Security sets out each control.
- Not documented in the sources at the foot of this page. This page states nothing about it.
UK regulatory alignment
How each tool handles the UK rules a public buyer checks.
Read in full: UK regulatory alignment
- A PPN 017 AI-use disclosure on every AI-assisted draft, social value calculated in code against the weighting the buyer published rather than by the AI, and post-award delivery evidence against Procurement Act 2023 sections 52 and 71.
- The sources at the foot of this page state no position on PPN 017 disclosure, social value calculation or the Procurement Act 2023 post-award duties.
Velstrian Bid's lines are first party and checkable against the product. The SwiftBid lines repeat only what the third-party sources at the foot of this page actually state, and those sources note that SwiftBid publishes no equivalent primary page we could verify directly. Where something is not published, this page says so rather than inferring it. The full table is above.
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Where Velstrian Bid loses honestly
For genuinely occasional bidders, SwiftBid's per-bid model is the more sensible spend: no subscription, a fixed cost per bid, and at Premium the option of a human expert on the draft, which Velstrian Bid's self-serve software does not provide. If you write one bid this year and none next year, a monthly subscription is poor value and SwiftBid is the honest recommendation. Velstrian Bid earns its keep when bidding is a regular activity, and when tender discovery, social value maths done in code and post-award delivery evidence are worth having in one place. The two can also be combined: subscribe to Velstrian Bid for the ongoing work and commission SwiftBid for a single high-stakes bid.
The longer read
Each product in full, and the prices side by side. Open a line when you want the detail.
What is SwiftBid?
SwiftBid is a per-bid AI bid-writing service. Rather than a subscription, you pay for each bid at one of three fixed prices: £149 for Basic, £349 for Standard and £749 for Premium. The Premium tier adds optional human expert review, a compliance audit, multi-document analysis and turnarounds as fast as six hours. It is sector-agnostic and has no built-in tender discovery feed. You upload the contract pack you want written against.
For a firm that bids only once or twice a year, that model has a real advantage: no ongoing commitment, and at Premium the option of a human reviewer on the draft. Velstrian Bid does not offer either of those. If your bidding is genuinely occasional, paying per bid can be the cheaper and simpler choice, and SwiftBid is built around exactly that.
What is Velstrian Bid?
Velstrian Bid is Velstrian's UK bid and tender management suite, live and ready to use today. It is built for small and mid size firms that write their own bids, for public and private work. It is a subscription, which gives you continuous access to tender discovery, drafting, social-value scoring and delivery evidence rather than a per-bid transaction. It tracks Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland and EU TED, refreshed every morning at 06:00 UTC, and drafts answers grounded in the supplier's own submitted bids. Its defining rule is figure-grounding: before a draft is shown, every £ and % is checked against a set of allowed figures computed from your own data, and if a number is not in that set the draft is rejected. Every AI-assisted draft carries a PPN 017 AI-use disclosure and waits for a person to approve it.
Velstrian Bid also calculates social value in code against the weighting the buyer published, and after award it tracks each commitment to a delivery percentage with a RAG status, captures evidence, issues monthly reports and checks the Procurement Act 2023 KPI duties in sections 52 and 71. It does not supply an external bid writer. The reviewer who approves each draft is your own.
Velstrian Bid publishes its pricing. Starter is £49 per month for 1 user, Pro is £149 per month for 5 users with post-award delivery tracking, and Portfolio is £549 per month for 10 users. Once your account is open you set it up and run it yourself, with no consultant needed, and you pay by card, held securely by Stripe and never stored by us.
Pricing compared
The maths comes down to volume. SwiftBid Standard at £349 a bid costs about £1,047 for three bids in a year. A Velstrian Bid Starter subscription is £49 per month, or £529 for a year on annual billing, which covers as many bids as you want to write in that time. So for one or two bids a year SwiftBid can be cheaper, and from roughly the third bid of the year a Velstrian Bid subscription tends to win on cost, before you even count the tender discovery, social-value maths and delivery evidence that come with it.
Frequently asked questions
Is Velstrian Bid or SwiftBid cheaper?
It depends on how many bids you write. SwiftBid charges per bid at £149 (Basic), £349 (Standard) and £749 (Premium). Velstrian Bid is a subscription from £49 per month. For one or two bids a year SwiftBid can be cheaper. From around the third bid a year a Velstrian Bid subscription tends to cost less overall.
Does SwiftBid have a subscription?
No. SwiftBid is a per-bid service with no subscription, which is the point of it. You pay for each bid you want written. Velstrian Bid is a monthly subscription with continuous access to every feature on your plan.
Does SwiftBid find tenders for me?
No. SwiftBid has no built-in tender discovery feed. You upload the contract pack you want a bid written against. Velstrian Bid tracks Find a Tender, Contracts Finder, Public Contracts Scotland and EU TED and refreshes the feed every morning at 06:00 UTC.
Does SwiftBid include a human bid writer?
Its Premium tier adds optional human expert review alongside the AI draft. Velstrian Bid is self-serve software: it drafts and your own reviewer approves each answer before submission, but it does not supply an external bid writer.
How fast is each one?
SwiftBid quotes turnarounds as fast as 6 hours on its Premium tier. Velstrian Bid gives you continuous access to draft, score and revise whenever you like, rather than a per-bid turnaround window.
Which handles social value and post-award delivery?
Velstrian Bid calculates social value in code against the weighting the buyer published and tracks post-award delivery under the Procurement Act 2023 sections 52 and 71. SwiftBid does not state a social-value calculator or a post-award delivery feature.
I only bid once or twice a year, which is better?
If you bid very occasionally and do not want a subscription, SwiftBid's per-bid model may suit you, and its Premium tier can add a human reviewer. If you bid more often, or you want tender discovery, social value maths and delivery evidence, a Velstrian Bid subscription is likely the better value.
Can I use both Velstrian Bid and SwiftBid?
Yes. You could run a Velstrian Bid subscription for discovery, social value and delivery evidence, and commission SwiftBid for a one-off high-stakes bid where you want an external expert review.
Sources
Read the 4 sources, each dated and linked
- SwiftBid per-bid pricing (£149 Basic, £349 Standard, £749 Premium), no tender discovery feed, optional human expert review and 6-hour turnaround at Premium, and target of 1 to 4 bids a year. These figures are reported by a dated third-party comparison. SwiftBid does not publish an equivalent primary pricing page we could verify directly. CleanTender, "7 Best AI Tender Software for UK Contracts (2026)", 29 April 2026. cleantender.co.uk/resources/comparisons/ai-tender-software
- Per-bid versus subscription break-even (three SwiftBid Standard bids at roughly £1,047). CleanTender, "Bid writer vs AI bid tool: which wins for UK SMEs", 29 April 2026. cleantender.co.uk/resources/comparisons/bid-writer-vs-ai-bid-tool
- Velstrian Bid capabilities, figure-grounding, PPN 017, PPN 026 and Procurement Act 2023 s.52 / s.71 (first party). Velstrian, Velstrian Bid product page.
- Velstrian Bid pricing: Starter £49/month (£529/year), Pro £149/month, Portfolio £549/month (first party). Velstrian, Pricing.
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