# Grants.gov Opportunity Search: Federal Grants API (`swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search`) Actor Search open and forecasted US federal grants on Grants.gov (official API) by keyword, agency, eligibility (e.g. small businesses, nonprofits), category or ALN. Get deadlines, award ceiling/floor, total funding, eligibility and descriptions. Misses are free status rows. - **URL**: https://apify.com/swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search.md - **Developed by:** [William Jin](https://apify.com/swillz) (community) - **Categories:** Business, Lead generation, Automation - **Security:** Limited permissions - **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks - **User rating**: No ratings yet ## Pricing from $0.90 / 1,000 grant opportunity returneds This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events. Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have. Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event ## What's an Apify Actor? An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes. In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours, and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store. In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server. Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md. ## How to integrate an Actor? If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects. You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready. Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run. For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below. Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`). # README ## Grants.gov Opportunity Search: Federal Grants API Search **open and upcoming US federal grants** on **Grants.gov** with the official API. Filter by keyword, agency, eligible applicant type (small businesses, nonprofits, universities, tribes, local governments), funding category or Assistance Listing (ALN/CFDA). For each opportunity you get the **deadline**, **award floor and ceiling**, **total program funding**, **expected number of awards**, **eligibility**, **cost sharing**, a plain-text **description** and the Grants.gov link. Built for grant writers and consultants, nonprofits, universities and research offices, startups chasing non-dilutive funding (SBIR/STTR, DOE, NSF, NIH), and AI agents that need to answer "which federal grants can we apply for this month?" ### What can it do? - **Keyword search across all federal agencies.** `"artificial intelligence"`, `"rural broadband"` or `"opioid"` searches titles and descriptions, the same as the Grants.gov site. - **Eligibility filters that make sense.** Use codes or labels: `["Small businesses"]`, `["23"]` or `["Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3)"] (a label prefix works)`. - **Department-level agency filter.** `"HHS"`, `"DOE"` or `"USDA"` automatically includes every sub-agency (NIH, CDC, NIFA and so on). Grants.gov's own API returns nothing for these codes. - **Deadline and size filters.** `closingWithinDays: 30` returns calls due in the next month. `minAwardCeiling: 500000` returns only big awards. `postedWithinDays: 1` gives a daily new-grants alert. - **Forecasts as well as open calls.** Forecasted opportunities include the fiscal year and the estimated post, deadline and award dates when the agency publishes them. - **Exact lookups.** Pass `opportunityNumbers` such as `"DE-FOA-0003631"` to refresh specific calls. - **No duplicates.** An opportunity matched by several keywords is returned, and charged, once. - **Misses are free.** Searches with no matches come back as a free `no_results` or `not_found` row that says why. ### What data does it return? | Field | Example | |---|---| | `type`, `query`, `status`, `rank` | `opportunity`, `artificial intelligence`, `found`, `1` | | `opportunityNumber`, `opportunityId`, `title` | `DE-FOA-0003631`, `364135`, `Unlocking New Levels of Output and Capacity... SBIR/STTR` | | `agencyCode`, `agencyName`, `topAgencyCode` | `DOE-ARPAE`, `Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy`, `DOE` | | `opportunityStatus`, `docType` | `posted`, `synopsis` | | `postedDate`, `closeDate`, `daysUntilClose`, `archiveDate` | `2026-10-21`, `2026-11-20`, `18`, `2027-05-20` | | `awardFloor`, `awardCeiling`, `estimatedTotalFunding`, `expectedAwards` | `323090`, `4630944`, `45000000`, `12` | | `eligibleApplicants`, `eligibilityText`, `costSharingRequired` | `["Small businesses"]`, `...`, `false` | | `fundingInstruments`, `fundingCategories`, `assistanceListings` | `["Cooperative Agreement","Grant"]`, `["Science and Technology and other Research and Development"]`, `[{"number":"81.135","title":"Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy"}]` | | `fiscalYear`, `estimatedPostDate`, `estimatedCloseDate`, `estimatedAwardDate` (forecasts) | `2027`, `2026-07-01`, `2026-09-29`, `2027-07-01` | | `descriptionText`, `additionalInfoUrl`, `grantsGovUrl`, `lastUpdated` | `...`, `https://exchange.energy.gov/`, `https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/364135`, `2026-10-21` | No personal data: agency contact names, emails and phone numbers are left out. **Statuses:** - Charged: `found`. - Free: `no_results`, `not_found`, `invalid_input`, `service_unavailable` and `skipped_charge_limit`. ### How much does it cost? You pay per opportunity returned: | Plan | Per 1,000 opportunities | |---|---| | Free | $1.20 | | Bronze | $1.20 | | Silver | $1.00 | | Gold | $0.90 | A daily alert that finds 20 new grants costs about $0.024. Searches with no matches are **free**. There is also a tiny Apify start fee of $0.00005 per run. ### Input example ```json { "keywords": ["artificial intelligence", "cybersecurity"], "statuses": ["posted", "forecasted"], "eligibilities": ["Small businesses"], "closingWithinDays": 60, "maxResults": 50 } ``` Daily alert for one department, filters only: ```json {"agencies": ["DOE"], "postedWithinDays": 1, "sortBy": "newest"} ``` ### Output example ```json {"type": "opportunity", "query": "artificial intelligence", "status": "found", "rank": 3, "opportunityNumber": "DE-FOA-0003631", "title": "Unlocking New Levels of Output and Capacity for Key Subsurface Resources SBIR/STTR (UNLOCK SBIR/STTR)", "agencyCode": "DOE-ARPAE", "topAgencyCode": "DOE", "opportunityStatus": "posted", "postedDate": "2026-10-21", "closeDate": "2026-11-20", "daysUntilClose": 18, "awardFloor": 323090, "awardCeiling": 4630944, "estimatedTotalFunding": 45000000, "expectedAwards": 12, "costSharingRequired": false, "fundingInstruments": ["Cooperative Agreement", "Grant"], "eligibleApplicants": ["Small businesses"], "assistanceListings": [{"number": "81.135", "title": "Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy"}], "additionalInfoUrl": "https://exchange.energy.gov/", "grantsGovUrl": "https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/364135"} ``` A search with no matches: ```json {"type": "status", "query": "NOPE-123", "status": "not_found", "error": "Opportunity number \"NOPE-123\" not found with statuses posted/forecasted. Try fewer filters, add \"closed\" or \"archived\" to statuses, or a broader keyword. Not charged."} ``` ### Use cases - **Grant prospecting:** a weekly list of open calls that match your mission, eligibility and minimum award size. - **New-grant alerts:** schedule `postedWithinDays: 1` and send new rows to Google Sheets, Slack or email through Make, Zapier or n8n. - **Deadline calendar:** `closingWithinDays: 30` with `sortBy: "closingSoonest"` for a submission pipeline. - **Non-dilutive funding for startups:** filter on `["Small businesses"]` plus a technology keyword. - **Research offices and consultants:** monitor NIH, NSF, DOE or USDA calls across many keywords in one run. - **Market and policy research:** track how much funding agencies put into a topic over time (add `closed` and `archived`). ### Use with AI agents (MCP, ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, n8n) AI agents can run this Actor through the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com): ```json {"mcpServers":{"apify":{"url":"https://mcp.apify.com?tools=swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search"}}} ``` Or run it locally with `npx -y @apify/actors-mcp-server --tools swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search` and `APIFY_TOKEN` set. Example prompts: - "Find open federal grants for small businesses about artificial intelligence that close in the next 60 days." - "Which NIH funding opportunities were posted this week?" - "List DOE grants with an award ceiling over $1 million and summarize the eligibility." Minimal input: `{"keywords": ["climate resilience"], "maxResults": 20}`. To cap the cost, pass `maxTotalChargeUsd`. Searches left unrun come back as free `skipped_charge_limit` rows. ### Integrations and API Run it from the Apify API, the clients, Make, Zapier or n8n. Schedule it daily or weekly with `postedWithinDays` to get only new calls. The OUTPUT record holds a run summary (`byStatus`, `perSearch`, `zeroResultsReason`, `nextSteps`). ### FAQ **Where does the data come from?** The public Grants.gov API (`api.grants.gov`, Search2 and fetchOpportunity), which is run by the US Department of Health and Human Services for all federal grant-making agencies. No login or API key is needed. **Is the data live?** Yes. Every run queries Grants.gov directly, so new and updated calls show up as soon as Grants.gov publishes them. Always confirm deadlines on the official page before you apply. **Why is `awardCeiling` empty for some calls?** Many agencies (NSF and NIH, for example) don't publish a ceiling in Grants.gov and put the budget in the full announcement instead. Follow `additionalInfoUrl`. **Why is `closeDate` empty?** Forecasts and rolling or continuous calls have no fixed deadline. Check `closeDateNote` and `estimatedCloseDate`. **Does it include SAM.gov contracts?** No. It covers grants and cooperative agreements listed on Grants.gov. For awards already made, use [Federal Contracts & Grants by Company](https://apify.com/swillz/federal-awards-by-company). ### Related tools More tools from the same developer, built to work together: - [Career Site Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/swillz/career-site-jobs-scraper): jobs from Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workable and Recruitee boards, with salary fields, as a jobs API or CSV. - [Workday Jobs Scraper](https://apify.com/swillz/workday-jobs-scraper): every job from any myworkdayjobs.com career site, past the 2,000-result cap. - [Company Website Enrichment](https://apify.com/swillz/company-website-enrichment): turn a list of domains into company name, emails, phones, social links and tech stack. - [AI Extract](https://apify.com/swillz/ai-extract): structured JSON from any web page with a plain-English prompt or a JSON schema. AI included. - [Google Sheets Import & Export](https://apify.com/swillz/google-sheets-import-export): send any Apify dataset to a Google Sheet (append, replace or dedupe) or read a sheet as JSON. - [XML Sitemap URL Extractor & Sitemap to CSV](https://apify.com/swillz/sitemap-url-extractor): every URL from a website's sitemap, with lastmod, HTTP status and new-page monitoring. - [AI Brand Visibility Tracker](https://apify.com/swillz/ai-brand-visibility-tracker): track whether ChatGPT mentions, ranks and cites your brand vs competitors (GEO). - [Email Provider Detector](https://apify.com/swillz/email-provider-detector): bulk check whether domains use Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Proofpoint or Mimecast, plus SPF, DMARC and DKIM. - [Hiring Signals by Company Domain](https://apify.com/swillz/hiring-signals-by-domain): from a list of company domains, find which ATS each uses and how many open roles, by department and location. - [EU VAT Number Validator (VIES)](https://apify.com/swillz/eu-vat-validator): bulk check EU VAT numbers against official VIES, with company name and address. - [EORI Number Validator](https://apify.com/swillz/eori-validator): bulk check EU and UK EORI numbers for customs, with trader name where published. - [LEI Lookup (GLEIF)](https://apify.com/swillz/lei-lookup): find a company's Legal Entity Identifier, legal name, address, status and parent from official GLEIF data. - [Sanctions Screener](https://apify.com/swillz/sanctions-screener): screen company and person names against official OFAC, UN, EU and UK sanctions lists with fuzzy matching. - [HTS Code Lookup (USITC)](https://apify.com/swillz/hts-code-lookup): US HTS codes and import duty rates from the official tariff schedule, by code or product description. - [Federal Contracts & Grants by Company](https://apify.com/swillz/federal-awards-by-company): federal contracts, grants and loans any US company won, from official USAspending.gov data. - [AI Crawler Access Checker](https://apify.com/swillz/ai-crawler-access-checker): which AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and more) any list of websites allows or blocks in robots.txt, plus llms.txt. **Popular workflows** - **Grant pipeline:** search open calls with this Actor, see who won similar awards before with [Federal Contracts & Grants by Company](https://apify.com/swillz/federal-awards-by-company), and track deadlines in a sheet with [Google Sheets Import & Export](https://apify.com/swillz/google-sheets-import-export). - **Partner research:** find open programs with this Actor, check partner organisations with [LEI Lookup (GLEIF)](https://apify.com/swillz/lei-lookup) and [Sanctions Screener](https://apify.com/swillz/sanctions-screener), and add contacts with [Company Website Enrichment](https://apify.com/swillz/company-website-enrichment). Source code: https://github.com/williamjin02/apify-actors/tree/main/actors/grants-gov-opportunity-search # Actor input Schema ## `keywords` (type: `array`): Each keyword is a separate Grants.gov full-text search (title, description, agency), e.g. \["artificial intelligence","rural broadband"]. Leave empty to search by filters only. Results are de-duplicated across keywords. ## `opportunityNumbers` (type: `array`): Exact funding opportunity numbers to look up, e.g. \["DE-FOA-0003631","RFA-AI-27-005"]. Misses come back as free not_found rows. ## `statuses` (type: `array`): Which opportunities to include. Default posted (open for applications) and forecasted (expected soon). Add closed or archived for past calls. ## `agencies` (type: `array`): Grants.gov agency codes, e.g. \["NSF","HHS-NIH11","DOE","USDA-NIFA"]. A top-level code ("HHS", "DOE", "USDA") includes all its sub-agencies. Leave empty for all agencies. ## `eligibilities` (type: `array`): Only opportunities open to these applicant types (codes or labels), e.g. \["23"] or \["Small businesses"]. Note: many calls are "Unrestricted" (99); add it to include them. Leave empty for any. ## `fundingCategories` (type: `array`): Only these funding activity categories, e.g. \["ST","HL"] (Science/R\&D, Health). Leave empty for any. ## `fundingInstruments` (type: `array`): Grant, Cooperative Agreement, Procurement Contract or Other. Leave empty for any. ## `assistanceListings` (type: `array`): Assistance Listing numbers, e.g. \["47.075","93.866"]. Leave empty for any. ## `postedWithinDays` (type: `integer`): Only opportunities posted in the last N days, e.g. 1 for a daily alert or 7 for a weekly digest. 0 = any date. ## `closingWithinDays` (type: `integer`): Only opportunities whose application deadline is today or within the next N days, e.g. 30. Opportunities without a deadline are excluded when set. 0 = any. ## `minAwardCeiling` (type: `integer`): Only opportunities whose maximum award per recipient is at least this amount, e.g. 500000. Opportunities that publish no ceiling are excluded when set. 0 = any. ## `sortBy` (type: `string`): closingSoonest (nearest deadline first, default), newest (most recently posted first) or relevance (Grants.gov keyword relevance). ## `maxResults` (type: `integer`): Maximum opportunities returned per keyword or filter search (1-5000). Default 100. ## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`): Fetch each opportunity's full record: award floor/ceiling, total funding, expected awards, eligible applicants, eligibility text, cost sharing and description. Turn off for faster title/deadline-only lists (same price). ## `includeDescription` (type: `boolean`): Add the plain-text synopsis (descriptionText). Turn off for smaller rows. ## `maxDescriptionChars` (type: `integer`): Truncate descriptionText to this many characters (200-20000). Default 4000. ## `dedupe` (type: `boolean`): Return each opportunity once even if several keywords match it (charged once). Default on. ## `includeStatusRows` (type: `boolean`): Add one free row (status no_results, not_found, invalid_input, service_unavailable or skipped_charge_limit, with a reason) for each search that returned nothing. Not charged. Turn off for opportunities only. ## Actor input object example ```json { "keywords": [ "artificial intelligence", "cybersecurity" ], "statuses": [ "posted", "forecasted" ], "postedWithinDays": 0, "closingWithinDays": 0, "minAwardCeiling": 0, "sortBy": "closingSoonest", "maxResults": 100, "includeDetails": true, "includeDescription": true, "maxDescriptionChars": 4000, "dedupe": true, "includeStatusRows": true } ``` # Actor output Schema ## `results` (type: `string`): Example: {"type":"opportunity","status":"found","opportunityNumber":"DE-FOA-0003631","title":"Unlocking New Levels of Output... SBIR/STTR","agencyCode":"DOE-ARPAE","closeDate":"2026-11-20","awardCeiling":4630944,"grantsGovUrl":"https://www.grants.gov/search-results-detail/364135"}. Miss: {"type":"status","status":"no_results","error":"..."}. ## `summary` (type: `string`): JSON: searches, opportunitiesReturned, byStatus, perSearch, statuses, sortBy, chargeLimitReached, zeroResultsReason, nextSteps. # API You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup. ## JavaScript example ```javascript import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client'; // Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token // Replace the '' with your token const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '', }); // Prepare Actor input const input = { "keywords": [ "artificial intelligence", "cybersecurity" ] }; // Run the Actor and wait for it to finish const run = await client.actor("swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search").call(input); // Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any) console.log('Results from dataset'); console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`); const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems(); items.forEach((item) => { console.dir(item); }); // 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs ``` ## Python example ```python from apify_client import ApifyClient # Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token # Replace '' with your token. client = ApifyClient("") # Prepare the Actor input run_input = { "keywords": [ "artificial intelligence", "cybersecurity", ] } # Run the Actor and wait for it to finish run = client.actor("swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search").call(run_input=run_input) # Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any) print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}") for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items(): print(item) # 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start ``` ## CLI example ```bash echo '{ "keywords": [ "artificial intelligence", "cybersecurity" ] }' | apify call swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search --silent --output-dataset ``` ## MCP server setup ```json { "mcpServers": { "apify": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,swillz/grants-gov-opportunity-search" } } } ``` The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer ` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations). ## OpenAPI specification Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/AdxL64odZhKMHugLd/builds/vhtEvCRcaEVc66gCC/openapi.json