The short answer
- All five read the same public USAC data. The differences are price, seats, trial terms, refresh speed and what each does with a match.
- Cheapest to start: ERateSignal has a free plan and EduTek starts at $850 a year for one state. FRNHQ includes 3 seats in its entry plan. FRNHQ, EduTek and SkyRate AI offer 14-day trials with no card; Workbench's trial is 7 days and needs a card.
- Workbench is built around screening: distance from your offices, the services you sell, your no-bid rules, and the incumbent and remaining Category 2 budget on every match.
Side by side
| Tool | Starts at | Users included | Free trial | New 470s checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E-Rate Workbench | $1,200 a year or $109 a month; Pro $3,000 a year | 1 on Starter, 3 on Pro | 7 days of Pro, card required | Nightly |
| FRNHQ | $1,990 a year or $199 a month; Intelligence $3,990 a year | 3, 5 or 10, by plan | 14 days, no card | Daily |
| EduTek E-Rate Data Portal | $850 a year or $85 a month, for one state | Not stated | 14 days, no card | Every morning |
| ERateSignal | Free plan; Starter $49 a month; Pro $399 a month | Not stated | Free plan instead | Every 4 hours |
| SkyRate AI | $4,790 a year or $499 a month, for vendors | Not stated | 14 days, no card | Not stated |
"Not stated" means we didn't find it on the tool's public pages, not that it's missing from the product. Prices are as published on October 30, 2026 and change; check each site. Sources: E-Rate Workbench plans; FRNHQ pricing; EduTek; ERateSignal; SkyRate AI pricing.
What each one says it does
FRNHQ
A Form 470 lead feed synced daily from USAC, with filters by state, funding year, service, applicant and keyword, the allowable contract date on each filing, and CSV export. Its plans add an FRN and Form 471 tracker, incumbent checks, a re-bid radar, competitor profiles and pricing benchmarks. Every plan covers all 50 states and DC; extra seats are $49 a month, and Command starts at $799 a month. It also covers the Rural Health Care program. (FRNHQ, Form 470 alerts; FRNHQ pricing)
EduTek E-Rate Data Portal
Form 470 and 471 search, a SPIN directory, saved searches with daily email digests, a deals pipeline (communicate, deal register, quote, bid sent, won or lost), a five-year Category 2 budget planner and a bid evaluation matrix. It says it's built by an active E-Rate service provider. (EduTek)
ERateSignal
Form 470 alerts from USAC Open Data checked every four hours, a 0 to 100 relevance score on each filing, a Kanban pipeline, SPIN market share and territory analytics. Its free plan allows 3 alert rules and 10 pipeline items, and Enterprise is $699 a month. It's taking a founding group of 50 from a waitlist. (ERateSignal)
SkyRate AI
Aimed at consultants, vendors and schools. For vendors it lists Form 470 lead alerts and competitor SPIN intelligence; it also offers FRN tracking, AI-written appeals and denial analysis. (SkyRate AI pricing)
E-Rate Workbench
Screens each new Category 2 Form 470 nightly against your offices and travel distance, the services you sell and your no-bid rules, and shows what it dropped. Each match shows the incumbent and the district's remaining Category 2 budget. A pipeline counts down to the allowable contract date and builds quotes from your price book. Pro adds pricing research and a watch on the Form 471s that name your SPIN. Every plan covers every state, and extra users are $415 a year or $38 a month. (Form 470 alerts; plans)
Where the others are ahead
- Trials. FRNHQ, EduTek and SkyRate AI give 14 days with no card. Ours is 7 days and asks for one.
- Seats. FRNHQ's entry plan includes 3 users; our Starter includes 1.
- Price for one state. EduTek starts at $850 a year for a single state; ERateSignal has a free plan.
- Refresh speed. ERateSignal checks every four hours. We refresh nightly, which is plenty given the 28-day wait, but it is slower.
- Scope. FRNHQ also covers Rural Health Care, and SkyRate AI does appeals and denial analysis. Workbench does neither.
Where Workbench is different
These are the things we built Workbench around. Whichever tool you try, these are worth checking for:
- Distance, not just state. Screening by travel distance from each of your offices, so a 470 four hours away doesn't reach you.
- Your no-bid rules, and what they dropped. Equipment-only, portal-only, license renewals, consultants you skip, with the dropped list visible so you can trust the screen.
- Incumbent and budget on the match. Who holds the work today and how much Category 2 budget the district has left, before you open the 470. You can try the budget part free with our C2 budget lookup.
- Benchmarks from public data only. Our pricing research uses USAC's funded line items, never customers' quotes.
Other options
- USAC's free tools. The Form 470 Download Tool and the Open Data datasets cost nothing and need no login. See searching Form 470s.
- Funds For Learning, E-rate Manager. A long-standing service that delivers Form 470 leads by service, keyword, area and customer size, with competitor and funding data. Pricing is by demo. (Funds For Learning)
- E-Rate Connect. 470 matching, bid tracking and a provider directory. Pricing isn't published. (E-Rate Connect)
Which one fits
- You bid in one state and want the lowest cost: EduTek, or ERateSignal's free plan once it opens.
- A team of three wants lead search plus competitor data: FRNHQ's plans include more seats.
- You want fewer, better leads: Workbench, if what slows you down today is sorting 470s by distance and fit and looking up each district's incumbent and budget.
Use our checklist for questions to ask any of them, ours included.
Questions providers ask
What's the cheapest Form 470 monitoring tool?
USAC's own Form 470 Download Tool is free. Among paid tools, as of October 30, 2026, ERateSignal lists a free plan and a $49 a month Starter, and EduTek starts at $850 a year for one state.
Which Form 470 tools have a free trial without a credit card?
FRNHQ (14 days at its Intelligence level), EduTek (14 days) and SkyRate AI (14 days) say no card is needed. E-Rate Workbench's 7-day trial needs a card.
How often do these tools check for new Form 470s?
ERateSignal says every four hours, EduTek every morning, FRNHQ daily and Workbench nightly. All of them read USAC Open Data, which USAC itself refreshes.
Is this comparison neutral?
We make E-Rate Workbench, so no. We've limited it to what each company publishes, linked every source and dated it, and listed where the others are ahead of us. If something here is wrong, email support@erateworkbench.com and we'll fix it.