TL;DR: what's the best grant finder in Europe?
Use the free official ones. For EU grants, the EU Funding & Tenders Portal lists every call (533 open or upcoming on 13 October 2026, including 106 smaller cascade calls), with alerts and a partner search. For EU-backed loans and venture capital, use the Your Europe finder. For national grants, every EU country has an official database, such as Germany's Förderdatenbank, Spain's BDNS, Italy's incentivi.gov.it and Ireland's National Enterprise Hub. Private and AI finders can save time but many are paid, and none is more complete than the official sources. Below: every tool, country by country, and a five-step search method.
👉 See the next deadlines in our grant calendar
Finding the right grant is often harder than writing the application. Grants are spread across EU portals, national agencies, regional governments and EU-funded projects, each with its own website. The good news: official, free search tools exist for all of them, and most offer filters and alerts.
This guide lists the best free grant finders in Europe, from EU-level portals to an official database for each country, and shows how to search efficiently. For AI tools that speed up the search, see using AI tools for grant discovery.
EU-level grant finders
EU Funding & Tenders Portal
The official home of every directly managed EU grant, from Horizon Europe and the EIC to Digital Europe, LIFE and Creative Europe. On 13 October 2026 it listed 533 calls open or forthcoming, according to the EU Funding & Tenders Portal: 233 open for submission and 300 forthcoming.
- Filters: programme, call, status, dates and type of action.
- Cascade calls: 106 calls in which EU-funded projects pass grants on to startups and SMEs, often small and quick; see cascade funding and sub-grants.
- Alerts: an RSS feed, and personalised recommendations once you create a profile.
- Partner search: 12,679 organisations have published partner search requests, useful for consortium calls; see consortium requirements.
- Free advice: a list of 696 National Contact Points in EU countries who help applicants for free.
Your Europe finance finder
For EU-backed loans, microfinance and venture capital rather than grants, the Your Europe finance finder lets you pick your country and see the banks and funds using EU guarantees, more than 1,000 institutions in total. See European funding beyond grants.
Enterprise Europe Network
The EEN's 569 member organisations in 56 countries give free advice on funding and run a partnering opportunities database for finding business and research partners. Your local EEN office is often the best first call.
CORDIS, Kohesio and keep.eu: learn from past winners
CORDIS lists every project funded under Horizon Europe and its predecessors, so you can see who won in your field, what they proposed and who their partners were. Kohesio does the same for EU cohesion-funded projects, and keep.eu for over 32,000 Interreg projects. Studying past winners is one of the best ways to understand what evaluators fund. The EIC Community platform adds a network of more than 18,000 members and open calls from the EIC ecosystem.
Official national grant databases, country by country
Three standouts: Germany's Förderdatenbank covers federal, state and EU programmes in one place; Spain's BDNS publishes every public grant call from EU to municipal level, exportable as data; and Italy's incentivi.gov.it lets you compare incentives and set alerts. Ireland's National Enterprise Hub lists over 250 government supports and offers free advisers. For the main startup grant in each country, see our startup grants hub.
Private and AI grant finders: free or paid?
- FundingBox: a platform for cascade calls and open innovation programmes; free to sign up.
- EuroAccess: a database of EU calls run by a consultancy; free registration and a newsletter.
- EUFundingPortal.eu: an independent call database; full access needs a subscription.
- Granter.ai: an AI grant assistant; paid.
- Instrumentl and GrantFinder: US- and UK-focused databases; paid.
Private tools can save time with better search and summaries, but they all draw on the official sources above, so check every call on the official page before you apply. Beware of sites asking for a fee to "unlock" grants: official grant finders are always free.
How to search for grants efficiently
- Define your profile: country, company age and size, sector, technology readiness level and how much you need.
- Search your national database first: national grants are smaller but usually easier to win; see which European grants are worth applying for.
- Search the EU portal with filters, then save searches and set alerts so new calls come to you.
- Check past winners on CORDIS to judge your fit and find potential partners.
- Ask for free advice from your National Contact Point or EEN office before you write; see networking for grant opportunities.
Once you've found a call, put its deadline in your calendar and check the registrations you'll need; see required registrations for EU grants and what's new in grants in 2026.
Prepare before you find the perfect call
The Fe/male Switch startup game helps you build the business plan, market analysis and pitch that most grant applications ask for.
👉 Start the game
Conclusion: the best grant finders are free and official
You don't need to pay for a grant database to find European funding. The EU Funding & Tenders Portal covers every EU call, the Your Europe finder covers EU-backed loans and investors, CORDIS shows past winners, and every EU country has an official national database. Set up alerts on the EU portal and your national database today, ask your National Contact Point or EEN office for advice, and check our deadline calendar each month.
FAQ: grant finders
What is the best grant finder in Europe?
For EU grants, the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; for EU-backed loans and investment, the Your Europe finance finder; for national grants, your country's official database, such as the Förderdatenbank in Germany or incentivi.gov.it in Italy.
Are grant finders free?
The official ones are. Some private and AI tools are free to start, others need a subscription, but none has more calls than the official sources.
How do I find EU grants for my startup?
Search the EU Funding & Tenders Portal with filters for your sector and stage, save alerts, look at cascade calls for smaller grants, and ask your National Contact Point for advice.
What is cascade funding?
Funding that EU-funded projects pass on to third parties such as startups and SMEs through their own open calls; 106 such calls were listed on the EU portal in October 2026.
How do I find partners for an EU grant?
Use the partner search on the Funding & Tenders Portal, the Enterprise Europe Network's partnering database, and CORDIS to see who has worked on similar projects.
Is there one database for all national grants?
No single EU database covers national grants; each country has its own official finder, listed in the table above.
Can AI find grants for me?
AI tools can speed up searching and summarising, but always check eligibility and deadlines on the official call page.
Should I pay someone to find grants?
Usually not for finding them: official finders and advice from National Contact Points and EEN offices are free. Never pay a fee to access a grant.
