Best grant finders for tourism and hospitality owners in 2026

Q: Does Instrumentl have a free trial for grant searching?

Instrumentl says it offers a 14-day free trial . The facts used here do not say which features the trial includes, so check the trial terms on the company's website before you start. Instrumentl says its database includes 450,000+ funder profiles and 37,000+ active requests for proposals .

Compare grant finders for tourism and hospitality owners on price, free access, data scope and application tracking, using each tool's own published facts.

By CDings · 2026-10-30

CDings is published by the makers of Raise Buddy and ProductCost, which are compared here alongside other tools.

Tourism and hospitality owners can compare grant finders on what each one covers, what it costs, whether it shows eligibility before an application, and whether it tracks applications. The sections below show what each option publishes, and where a fact is not published, they say what to check instead.

Option	Starting price	Free access	Key data scope	Application tracking
Raise Buddy	Free plan, Plus $14.99 a month, Pro $199 a month ^[1]	Raise Buddy's Free plan opens programs up to $1,000, and a guest sees only the first 5 results in each search list ^[1]^[1]	Grants, loans, credits, prizes; private foundations; sources in the UK, Australia, France, Japan, Spain and Austria ^[1]^[1]^[1]	Tracks status; you apply on the funder's site ^[1]
Instrumentl	Not published	14-day free trial ^[2]	450,000+ funder profiles, 37,000+ active RFPs ^[2]	Deadlines and milestones created from the award letter ^[2]
GrantStation	41 cents a day for GS Membership ^[3]	Free weekly funding updates by sign-up ^[3]	150,000+ funder records, 15,000+ curated funding opportunities ^[3]	Not published
GrantWatch	Not published	Not published	13,781 Human Verified grants, 374,397 funder profiles ^[4]^[4]	12-stage pipelines, pre-populated CRM ^[4]^[4]
Hello Alice	Not published	Hello Alice says its free tier is available and that you can start without setup or a credit card ^[5]^[5]	Not published	Not published
Candid Foundation Directory	Premium monthly plan $219 per month, billed monthly ^[6]	Free registration ^[7]	1.9 million organizations, 3 million annual grant transactions ^[7]^[7]	Not published

What tourism and hospitality owners need from grant finders

Tourism and hospitality owners run businesses where income often rises and falls with the season, so the timing of a grant or loan can matter as much as its size. Many run with small teams, which leaves little time to read long eligibility rules or track several deadlines at once. Money that suits a hotel, restaurant, tour operator or event venue can come from local and regional economic programs, business loans, recovery funds, workforce training grants and sustainability programs. Each one has its own rules about business type, location and what the money may pay for. Owners usually need to know early whether they can apply at all, so an eligibility check should come before a full application. Some also work across more than one country or with regional tourism bodies, which makes the sources a tool covers matter. Before you commit, check what a grant finder costs to start, what a free plan or trial includes, and whether it can use the tax forms or business details you already have.

Raise Buddy for tourism and hospitality owners

Raise Buddy is made by the team that publishes this site. You paste your website or describe what you do, and it lists grants, loans, credits, prizes and other funding you may be able to apply for ^[1]. It can read a Schedule C, Form 1120, 1065 or 990, or an IRS letter, from a photo or PDF into a draft profile you confirm, and it does not keep the EIN or the papers ^[1]. Its program list includes the UK's Find a Grant, Australia's GrantConnect, France's Aides-territoires, Japan's jGrants, Spain's BDNS and Austria's Transparenzportal ^[1]. Each match says whether you can apply, what one step stands in the way, or what is unclear, with the funder's own words ^[1]. It includes private foundations that take applications, read from their own Form 990-PF tax returns ^[1]. It covers 25 ways to raise money, such as angel investors, SBA loans and equity crowdfunding, each with its official rules and a first step ^[1]. On the Pro plan, ten AI personas read your organisation and matches and write what to do first; none of them is a real person ^[1]. It keeps track of where each of your applications stands, but you apply on the funder's own site ^[1]. On the Pro plan, you can connect an AI assistant such as Claude so it can search Raise Buddy, with ten tools to use ^[1]. The Free plan opens programs up to $1,000, Plus is $14.99 a month for programs up to $5,000, and Pro is $199 a month for every program, advisors' review and the AI connection ^[1]. The first three matches in each section open on every plan ^[1]. For a guest, each search list stops after the first 5 ^[1]. The app works on the web and on phones ^[1]. The web app needs nothing installed, and you connect an AI assistant by adding Raise Buddy's address to it ^[1]. Only English is shown for now, even though five more languages are planned ^[1].

Instrumentl for tourism and hospitality owners

Instrumentl says it offers a 14-day free trial ^[2]. Instrumentl says its database includes 450,000+ funder profiles and 37,000+ active requests for proposals, and that its team updates them daily ^[2]. After an award, it says it creates deadlines and milestones from the award letter, so you do not enter them by hand ^[2]. The facts used here do not give Instrumentl's starting price, so check its pricing page before the trial ends, and check whether its funder profiles cover the places where your business operates.

GrantStation for tourism and hospitality owners

GrantStation advertises its GS Membership at 41 cents a day ^[3]. It offers free weekly funding updates and expert insights by sign-up ^[3]. Its database holds more than 150,000 funder records and more than 15,000 curated funding opportunities ^[3]. Confirm on the company's site what the membership includes before you pay.

GrantWatch for tourism and hospitality owners

GrantWatch says it has 13,781 Human Verified grants, including 9,877 nonprofit grants ^[4]. It says its database includes 374,397 funder profiles ^[4]. It also says it has 4.69 million IRS 990 records ^[4]. Check whether a listed grant is open to for-profit businesses such as hotels and tour operators, because the nonprofit grant count is reported separately.

Hello Alice for tourism and hospitality owners

Hello Alice says it offers a free tier ^[5]. It says users can start without setup or a credit card ^[5]. Its board has six advisors ^[5]. Check on its site which funding sources Hello Alice searches before you sign up.

Matching the tool to the job

Raise Buddy lists funding from your website or a description of your business, and it can read a Schedule C into a draft profile that you confirm ^[1]^[1]. If you want to know whether you can apply before writing, each match says whether you can apply, what one step stands in the way, or what is unclear ^[1]. If your business works in one of the countries on its source list, that list includes sources from the UK, Australia, France, Japan, Spain and Austria ^[1]. If you want to start without paying, Hello Alice says its free tier is available and that users can start without setup or a credit card ^[5]^[5]. Raise Buddy's Free plan opens programs up to $1,000 ^[1]. Instrumentl says it offers a 14-day free trial, and its database includes 450,000+ funder profiles ^[2]^[2]. Candid says its Premium monthly plan starts at $219 per month, billed monthly ^[6]. Candid says registration is free ^[7]. If you are looking for federal programs for your business, check Grants.gov, which says federal agencies do not publish personal financial assistance opportunities on it ^[8]. If you need deadlines tracked across several applications, Raise Buddy keeps track of where each application stands, but you apply on the funder's own site ^[1].

Questions to ask before you choose

Does the tool list programs for tourism, food service, lodging or events, or only general business funding? Does it cover the country or region where your business operates? Can it show whether you can apply before you start a full application? Can it read the tax form your business already files, or does it need manual entry? Does it track the status of each application, or only list funders? Does its free plan or trial include the search features you need, and what does the paid plan cost after that? Does it send alerts when new deadlines appear? Is the interface in the language your team reads?

Frequently asked questions

Is Raise Buddy free for tourism and hospitality owners?

Raise Buddy has a Free plan that opens programs up to $1,000 ^[1]. The first three matches in each section open on every plan ^[1]. For a guest, each search list stops after the first 5 ^[1]. The Plus plan is $14.99 a month for programs up to $5,000, and the Pro plan is $199 a month for every program, advisors' review and the AI connection ^[1].

Does Instrumentl have a free trial for grant searching?

Instrumentl says it offers a 14-day free trial ^[2]. The facts used here do not say which features the trial includes, so check the trial terms on the company's website before you start. Instrumentl says its database includes 450,000+ funder profiles and 37,000+ active requests for proposals ^[2].

What does GrantStation's membership cost?

GrantStation advertises its GS Membership at 41 cents a day ^[3]. The facts used here give no monthly or annual total, so check the current price on GrantStation's website before you decide. GrantStation also offers free weekly funding updates and expert insights by sign-up ^[3].

Does GrantWatch verify the grants it lists?

GrantWatch says it has 13,781 Human Verified grants, including 9,877 nonprofit grants ^[4]. It says its database includes 374,397 funder profiles ^[4]. Check whether a listed grant is open to for-profit businesses such as hotels and tour operators before you start an application.

Can Raise Buddy read a tax return to build a profile?

Raise Buddy can read a Schedule C, Form 1120, 1065 or 990, or an IRS letter, from a photo or PDF into a draft profile that you confirm ^[1]. It does not keep the EIN or the papers ^[1]. The draft is a starting point, so review it against your own records before you rely on it.

Free plan opens programs up to $1,000; Plus is $14.99 a month (up to $5,000); Pro is $199 a month (every program, advisors' review, AI connection). The first three matches in each section open on every plan. ^[1]

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