🎓 US Grants.gov Opportunity Documents Scraper

Scrape US Grants.gov opportunity documents and attachments: opportunity, file, version and update date. Run it once and you get the current records as a dataset — that is the default. Turn on watch mode and a scheduled run returns only what changed since the last run (see Optional: run it on a schedule).

New or replaced attachments on a posted federal funding opportunity.

Output is one grant_opportunity_record row per result; billing is pay-per-event, the value event being one grant opportunity delta (a $0.02 start fee per run, then $0.30 per grant opportunity delta plus one $0.10 source check per run that reads the source). Source: api.grants.gov.

Who buys this

Buyers usually search for grants.gov documents or NOFO documents.

• Grant consultants and research-development offices tracking grants.gov documents.
• Universities, nonprofits and companies watching NOFO documents relevant to their field.
• Analysts and journalists following where public funding goes.

📊 Sample Output

Real rows from run PL7mu5wdLEZbFHeni on build 0.1.22 (2026-09-28), the same input as the Quick start below — every value is as the source published it (emails masked, long text shortened):

opportunity_number	agency	agency_code	cfda_list	open_date	close_date
PAR-25-221	National Institutes of Health	HHS-NIH11	["93.273", "93.396"]	11/06/2024	01/07/2027

The run finished with the status message: NORMAL: emitted 1 item(s)

✅ What you get

Each row is flat JSON with these fields (from the dataset schema and the sample run; a field the source does not publish for a given row is null):

• record_key (string/null) — e.g. grants:357021
• opportunity_id — e.g. 357021
• opportunity_number — e.g. PAR-25-221
• title — e.g. Population Approaches to Reducing Alcohol-related Cancer Risk (R01 Clinical Tria
• agency — e.g. National Institutes of Health
• agency_code — e.g. HHS-NIH11
• cfda_list — e.g. ["93.273", "93.396"]
• open_date — e.g. 11/06/2024
• close_date — e.g. 01/07/2027
• opp_status — e.g. posted
• doc_type — e.g. synopsis
• detail_read — e.g. True
• opportunity_url — e.g. https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/357021
• award_ceiling — e.g. none
• award_floor — e.g. none
• estimated_funding — null in every sample row
• number_of_awards — null in every sample row
• cost_sharing — e.g. False
• applicant_types — e.g. ["00", "01", "02", "04", "05", "06", "07", "08", "11", "12", "13", "20", "22", "
• response_date — e.g. 2027-01-07-00-00-00
• posting_date — e.g. 2024-11-06-00-00-00
• attachment_count — e.g. 1
• document_urls — null in every sample row
• synopsis_version — e.g. 2
• modified_fields — e.g. ["agencyContactDesc", "applicantEligibilityDesc", "createTimeStamp", "revision",
• opportunity_category — e.g. Discretionary
• record_type (string) — e.g. grant_opportunity_record
• delta_type (string/null) — null in every sample row
• delta_kinds (array/null) — null in every sample row

✅ What you get

✅ What you get

Every run also writes a RUN_RECEIPT record to its key-value store with the source checks it made and the counts it charged — diagnostics never land in the paid dataset.

⚙️ Sample inputs

1. Quick start — the Store example (this is what the sample above came from)

{
  "opportunity_numbers": [
    "PAR-25-221"
  ],
  "opp_statuses": "forecasted|posted",
  "max_items": 10,
  "watch_mode": false,
  "baseline_id": "default"
}

The sample run charged exactly: 1 × $0.02 apify-actor-start + 1 × $0.10 source-check + 0 × $0.30 grant-opportunity-delta = $0.12 on the Free tier — snapshot preview rows are delivered unbilled; only the source check and the start fee were charged.

2. A smaller, narrowed run

{
  "opportunity_numbers": [
    "PAR-25-221"
  ],
  "opp_statuses": "forecasted|posted",
  "max_items": 5,
  "watch_mode": false,
  "baseline_id": "default"
}

Caps the run at 5 rows; same billing shape as the sample run above. opp_statuses narrows what the source is asked for.

3. Optional watch mode (changes only, for a schedule)

{
  "opportunity_numbers": [
    "PAR-25-221"
  ],
  "opp_statuses": "forecasted|posted",
  "max_items": 10,
  "watch_mode": true,
  "baseline_id": "default"
}

The first run seeds a private baseline and emits zero deltas; every later run emits one row per change, billed at $0.30 each plus the $0.10 source check; billed deltas are capped at 500 per run.

🧾 JSON sample record

One real record from run PL7mu5wdLEZbFHeni, exactly as it lands in the dataset (emails masked, long text shortened):

{
  "record_key": "grants:357021",
  "opportunity_id": "357021",
  "opportunity_number": "PAR-25-221",
  "title": "Population Approaches to Reducing Alcohol-related Cancer Risk (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)",
  "agency": "National Institutes of Health",
  "agency_code": "HHS-NIH11",
  "cfda_list": [
    "93.273",
    "93.396"
  ],
  "open_date": "11/06/2024",
  "close_date": "01/07/2027",
  "opp_status": "posted",
  "doc_type": "synopsis",
  "detail_read": true,
  "opportunity_url": "https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/357021",
  "award_ceiling": "none",
  "award_floor": "none",
  "estimated_funding": null,
  "number_of_awards": null,
  "cost_sharing": false,
  "applicant_types": [
    "00",
    "01",
    "02",
    "04",
    "05",
    "06",
    "07",
    "08",
    "11",
    "12",
    "13",
    "20",
    "22",
    "23",
    "25"
  ],
  "response_date": "2027-01-07-00-00-00",
  "posting_date": "2024-11-06-00-00-00",
  "attachment_count": 1,
  "document_urls": [],
  "synopsis_version": 2,
  "modified_fields": [
    "agencyContactDesc",
    "applicantEligibilityDesc",
    "createTimeStamp",
    "revision",
    "synopsisDesc",
    "version"
  ],
  "opportunity_category": "Discretionary",
  "record_type": "grant_opportunity_record",
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "output_mode": "preview",
  "preview_cap": 25,
  "preview_truncated": 0
}

🔧 How it works

Source. The actor reads api.grants.gov — endpoints: https://api.grants.gov/v1/api/fetchOpportunity, https://api.grants.gov/v1/api/search2. Public pages and feeds only; nothing behind a login.

Transport. Plain HTTPS from the Apify platform, no proxy. robots.txt is read first and a disallowed path is never fetched. Every request carries an identified contact User-Agent.

Watch semantics. Snapshot mode (watch_mode: false) returns a preview capped at 25 records. Watch mode keys every record on a source-native id, stores a private baseline in a named key-value store, and on each later run emits one delta row per change (new / changed / removed). A blocked fetch is never diffed, so a source outage cannot show up as a mass removal.

Terminal states. A run ends NORMAL, CAPPED (your cap was reached), PARTIAL (something was withheld and the message says what), GENUINE_EMPTY (the source was read and truly had nothing in scope) or BLOCKED (the source refused or changed shape — the run FAILS loud and bills nothing). A zero-row run is never reported as a silent success.

Charging. Each grant opportunity delta is charged at the moment it is pushed (grant-opportunity-delta); a row that fails to charge is not delivered, so the dataset count always equals the charged count. One source-check is charged per run that actually read the source.

🔧 How it works

🔧 How it works

You name what this Actor watches

This Actor reads fields that only exist on the per-opportunity detail record, so it must issue one request per opportunity. It will not do that across the whole live set — instead it watches exactly what you name:

• opportunity_numbers — e.g. PAR-25-221. One bounded lookup each, exact-number match.
• agency_codes — e.g. DOI-NPS. Every live opportunity for that agency.

At least one is required. A run with neither fails immediately and says why, rather than quietly watching an arbitrary slice of the corpus and looking healthy.

Both bounds were proven to actually filter, control-vs-test on 2026-07-27 — oppNum takes 1,224 live opportunities to 1, agencies=DOI-NPS takes it to 16. A named opportunity that resolves to nothing is reported as NOT FOUND, never dropped in silence.

Why this matters for what you pay. Pool-wide, this field family changes on the order of a dozen times a year across all 1,224 live opportunities. Watching 40 opportunities you actually care about turns that into a signal; watching 150 arbitrary ones turns it into nothing.

One delta type per Actor

This Actor watches opportunity-document-change and nothing else. The other delta types in this family are separate Actors, each with its own price and its own baseline — so you pay for the feed you want and no other.

Run it WEEKLY, not daily

Schedule this Actor once a week. That is a recommendation about your bill, not about coverage — a weekly run reads the same opportunities and misses nothing.

This is a bounded, low-frequency feed by construction. Measured on 2026-07-27 across 200 of the 1,234 live posted opportunities, through this Actor's own classifier: 8.00 (a ceiling — see below) of this Actor's events per 100 watched opportunities per year. At the maximum bound this Actor accepts — 300 opportunities — that is about 24 deltas a year, or 0.46 a week.

A daily schedule pays seven source-check events a week to re-read a set that changes a few times a year: the check would be roughly 90% of your bill and buy no extra signal. On a weekly schedule the per-delta event carries about 54% of the bill and you see exactly the same changes. Override the cadence if you have a reason to.

What is not done. No login, no cookie or CAPTCHA bypass, no private or personal-account data, no browser automation.

⏰ Optional: run it on a schedule

A single run returns the current records. If you also want to be told what changed over time, open the actor in Apify Console → Schedules → Create new, add this actor with the watch-mode input above (watch_mode: true) so each run returns only the changes, and pick a cadence:

• Daily — 0 7 * * * (07:00 UTC): catch changes within a day.
• Weekly — 0 7 * * 1: a Monday digest.

The baseline persists in a named key-value store between runs, so every scheduled run compares against the last one; use a different baseline_id for independent watches. Schedules can also POST results to a webhook (Console → Integrations).

💰 Pricing example

Event	Free	Bronze	Silver	Gold
Actor Start (apify-actor-start)	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02	$0.02
Source check (source-check)	$0.10	$0.09	$0.08	$0.067
Grant Opportunity Delta (grant-opportunity-delta)	$0.30	$0.27	$0.24	$0.201

Worked at the live Free-tier price (watch mode, one delta per change):

• 1 grant opportunity deltas: $0.02 start + $0.10 source check + 1 × $0.30 = $0.42
• 25 grant opportunity deltas: $0.02 start + $0.10 source check + 25 × $0.30 = $7.62
• 1000 grant opportunity deltas: $0.02 start + $0.10 source check + 1000 × $0.30 = $300.12

A run that delivers zero rows charges the $0.02 start fee plus the $0.10 source check (the source was read and reported empty). A BLOCKED run (source refused) fails loud and charges no value event. The start fee is charged once per GB of run memory; the default run memory is 1024 MB.

Yield on the sample run: NORMAL: emitted 1 item(s). max_items is a hard ceiling on what is delivered and billed, never a target. Snapshot output is capped at 25 records regardless of the cap you set; watch mode is the full feed.

⚖️ Legal & ToS

This actor reads public, logged-out pages and feeds published by api.grants.gov. It collects only what the source publishes to any visitor, keeps to the source's robots rules (checked on every run), identifies itself with a contact User-Agent, and does not access accounts, private data or anything behind authentication. Use the output in line with the source's terms and your local law; the intended use is B2B research and monitoring.

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need an API key or a login?
A: No. The source (api.grants.gov) is read logged-out; the input schema has no key field and the actor carries no secrets.

Q: Why did my run return 0 rows?
A: Read the run's status message. GENUINE_EMPTY means the source was read and had nothing in scope for your input (in watch mode the first run always seeds the baseline and returns zero deltas); BLOCKED means the source refused and the run failed without billing a value event — retry later or narrow the input. A zero-row run bills the start fee plus one source check.

Q: How many rows can one run return?
A: Up to max_items (default 1000); snapshot previews stop at 25. Raise the cap for a bigger run; you pay per delivered row.

Q: What does watch mode remember between runs?
A: A private baseline of source-native record ids in a named key-value store (baseline_id names it, so several independent watches can coexist). Each later run diffs the live source against it and emits only changes.

Q: How fresh is the data?
A: Every run reads the source live at run time; nothing is cached between runs except the watch baseline. Put it on a schedule for a continuous feed.

Q: What formats can I export?
A: The dataset downloads as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML or RSS from the run's Dataset tab or the Apify API, and any run can push to a webhook or integration.

Q: How is this different from the other grant and research-funding scrapers actors?
A: Same output shape and billing model; this one covers api.grants.gov. The siblings under Related Actors cover the other sources or slices — run several on one schedule for a combined feed.

🆘 Troubleshooting

• Run FAILED with BLOCKED → the source refused the request or changed its page shape → nothing was billed beyond the start fee; retry after a while, and if it persists open an Issue with the run id.
• Status says CAPPED → your cap (max_items) was reached → raise it for a bigger run.
• Input validation error on start → a field is outside the schema's allowed values → start from the Quick start block and change one field at a time.
• Run TIMED-OUT → a very wide request on a slow day → raise the run timeout in Run options or narrow the input; what was delivered before the timeout is still in the dataset.
• First watch run shows no deltas → expected: it seeds the baseline; changes appear from the second run.

🔗 Related Actors

• US Grants.gov New Funding Opportunities Scraper — Scrape new US Grants.gov funding opportunities: agency, title, category, award ceiling and close date. Every run returns the current records as a dat…
• US Grants.gov Cancelled Opportunities Scraper — Scrape cancelled US Grants.gov funding opportunities: opportunity, agency and cancellation date. Every run returns the current records as a dataset.…
• US Grants.gov Funding Opportunity Changes Scraper — Scrape US Grants.gov federal funding opportunity changes: field changed, old and new values, and date. Every run returns the current records as a dat…
• US NSF Award End Date Changes Scraper — Scrape US NSF award end date changes: award, PI, institution, old and new end date. Every run returns the current records as a dataset. Optional watc…
• US NSF Award Obligation Changes Scraper — Scrape US NSF award obligation changes: award, institution, old and new obligated amount. Every run returns the current records as a dataset. Optiona…
• US NSF Funding by State Scraper — Scrape US NSF funding totals by state: awards, amounts and period-over-period shift. Every run returns the current records as a dataset. Optional wat…
• 🏢 About NexGen Watch — NexGen Watch is a catalog of more than 300 public data actors built on official sources, pay-per-result. Browse the catalog at apify.com/nexgenwatch.

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