Alternatives to Instrumentl
Quillify is the alternative that writes the proposal too. It finds what you qualify for, drafts from your own documents, and keeps every deadline after you win.
Prices checked August 6, 2026.
Switching to Quillify
Choose Quillify if you could pursue contracts as well as grants, you want requirements extracted before you commit, you want post-award dates tracked from the award letter, you want to revise a draft instead of regenerating it, or you would rather start at zero.
Our customers have won $6.6M+. Read their stories. Browsing and keyword search are free, so you can see what you qualify for before you pay anything.
“AI drafts all sound the same.”
Quillify writes from your own documents: past proposals, budgets, bios, and results. The draft carries your facts and your voice.
“I’ll spend longer fixing it than writing it.”
Our customers used to spend 200 to 250 hours on an SBIR. With Quillify it takes about 5, from go decision to submission. Read their stories.
“My documents will end up training someone’s model.”
Your content is never used to train foundation models. See the security model.
“I don’t know what it will cost me.”
Searching is free. You only pay for the credits you buy. See pricing.
The real choice is doing it yourself
Here is the work, step by step, by hand and with Quillify.
| By hand | With Quillify | |
|---|---|---|
| Finding what fits | Hours across funder sites, portals, and newsletters | One search across grants, federal and state contracts, and community lenders |
| Reading the requirements | You read the announcement and hope nothing gets missed | Every requirement pulled into a checklist before you commit |
| Writing the proposal | 50 to 400 hours, by our founder’s count from customer interviews | A draft from documents you already have, the same day |
| After you win | Reporting dates kept in a spreadsheet | Your award letter read into a calendar of every obligation |
| What it costs | Staff time, or a hired writer | $0 to start, plans from $99 a month |
Monday by hand
You end the day with a list of opportunities and a blank page for each one.
Monday with Quillify
You end the day with a checked draft ready for review and its deadlines on your calendar.
What Quillify fixes
If the gap is that you are doing the work yourself, that is the one Quillify was built for. Lil’ Q holds what you are pursuing, what is due, and what each funder wants, and drafts against all of it. Most tools on the list below are a database with a writer attached, which leaves the assembling to you. Our head-to-head with Instrumentl has the detail.
If the gap is coverage, note that almost everything here is built around nonprofits. Quillify does not ask what kind of entity you are, and federal and state contracts and community lenders sit in the same search as grants.
The realistic options
Quillify
Starts at $0. Finds grants, federal and state contracts, and community lenders in one search. Extracts requirements into a checklist, drafts from your own documents, and revises in place. After a win, it reads the award letter into a reporting and closeout schedule.
Grantable
AI discovery and writing for nonprofits, with a free tier. Grants only, with no contracts or lenders.
Candid
A funder research database. Its AI writer covers letters of inquiry only.
GrantWatch
$249 a year for human-verified listings, a foundation directory, and a token-metered AI writer. No government contracts.
Or decide by looking instead of reading.
Browsing and keyword search are free, and there is no card required.