Free Grant Finder UK: Search 936 Live Grants, No Signup
Subvention is a free UK grant finder with no signup wall, built for businesses. Start from your company name and we match you against 936 live grants using your real Companies House profile — your sector, region, size and status — then explain every result with a link to the official source. Most free grant finders are built for charities; this one starts with your company. CICs, charities and community groups are covered by the same search.
Written and reviewed by Simon Bumford, Founder, Subvention · last reviewed
Free to use · no signup wall · matched on Companies House data
Grants change frequently — always confirm eligibility, amounts and deadlines with the funder via the linked source. Subvention does not guarantee funding.
Subvention vs a charity-focused grant finder
| Feature | Subvention | Charity-focused finder |
|---|---|---|
| Free to search | Yes — no time limit, no signup wall | Commonly yes, often with registration |
| Starts from your company | Yes — Companies House profile: SIC codes, region, size, status | No — built around charitable objects and structure |
| Business & innovation funding | Yes — Innovate UK, British Business Bank, growth hubs, departments | Limited — charitable trusts and community funds are the focus |
| Charity & community funding | Yes — National Lottery, foundations, local funds | Yes — this is the core strength |
| Sole traders and startups | Yes — including pre-revenue companies | Usually out of scope |
| CICs | Yes — flagged where funders accept them | Varies by provider |
| Source link for every grant | Yes — with the date last checked | Varies by provider |
| How results are produced | Deterministic matching, with the signals shown | Varies by provider — some use an AI chat interface |
“Charity-focused finder” describes the category of UK grant tools built for charities and community groups, not any one named product. The right-hand column reflects what that design implies rather than any specific provider's current features — always check features on the provider's own site. Where a genuine strength is theirs, we say so.
Built for businesses, not only charities
Search for a free UK grant finder and most of what comes back is built for the charity sector — designed around charitable objects, trustee structures and grant-making trusts. They're good tools, but if you run a limited company they ask the wrong questions: a company doesn't have charitable objects, and the funding it qualifies for sits with Innovate UK, the British Business Bank, growth hubs and departmental schemes rather than with charitable trusts.
Subvention starts from the other end. It identifies you as a company — via Companies House, not a form you fill in — and matches against business funding first, while still covering charity, CIC and community grants in the same search. If you're a sole trader, a startup pre-revenue, a growing SME or a CIC that sits awkwardly between the two, you get one search instead of picking the wrong tool.
Why a finder beats a list
Most "grant lists" are static pages you have to read end to end, working out eligibility yourself. Subvention flips that: you tell us who you are, and we surface only the grants that fit your sector, region and size — ranked, scored and explained. It covers 936 live grants across 49 official sources, refreshed daily, so you're searching current funding, not last year's.
How it works
Type your company name and we pull your profile straight from Companies House — name, registered address, SIC codes, status. Confirm a few details and tick what you want to fund, and we return a ranked shortlist where every match has a score, a plain-English reason, eligibility ticks for sector, region and size, any risk flags, and a link to the source page with the date we last checked it. If you'd rather, you can start an optional AI-assisted draft application from your profile — which you always review and approve before anything happens.
What it covers
UK government (Find a Grant, Innovate UK, UKRI, British Business Bank), departments (DEFRA, Arts Council, NIHR, VisitBritain), National Lottery funds, European schemes (Horizon Europe, EIC, the EU Funding Portal), the devolved agencies (Scottish Enterprise, Business Wales, Invest Northern Ireland) and regional Growth Hubs, LEPs, combined authorities and councils — all colour-coded by the region each grant applies to.
Traceable by design
Every grant card links to the original page on the funder's website, with the date we last fetched it. Matching and scoring are deterministic — we show you exactly which signals drove the match — and AI is only ever used to enrich descriptions and draft application text, never to find or invent grants.
Free, with no signup wall
The grant finder is free to use, with no time limit and no signup wall — you can search and check eligibility before creating any account. Results are matched using your real Companies House data, every grant links back to its official source, and the same free search helps UK businesses, CICs, startups and charities find relevant funding. Optional one-off passes (30 or 90 days, no auto-renew) add saved grants, alerts, deadline reminders and application tools for when you're actively applying.
What it can't do
It won't tell you that you'll win. Matching narrows a few hundred live schemes down to the handful you're plausibly eligible for and shows the reasoning, but every award decision rests with the funder, and eligibility text is written by humans and occasionally ambiguous — which is why every card links to the source. It also isn't a replacement for reading the scope document before you commit weeks to an application.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a free grant finder for the UK?
- Yes. Subvention is a free UK grant finder — searching for grants and checking eligibility are completely free with no time limit. Optional one-off passes only add application tools for when you're actively applying.
- What is the best free UK grant finder?
- The best free finder is the one that tells you which grants you can actually get. If you're a charity, tools built for the charity sector are strong. If you run a company, pick one that starts from your company: Subvention matches you using real Companies House data, explains every result, and links each grant to its official source — with no signup wall.
- Is there a free grant finder for small businesses?
- Yes — that's what this page is. Most free UK grant finders are built for charities and community groups. Subvention starts from your Companies House profile instead, so a limited company, sole trader or startup sees business and innovation funding it can actually apply for, matched against 936 live grants.
- Do I have to be a charity to use a grant finder?
- No. Charity status is a common assumption in free grant tools, not a requirement of grant funding itself. A large share of UK grant funding — innovation competitions, growth and capital schemes, regional business support — is open only to businesses, and Subvention matches you to it whether you're a company, a sole trader, a CIC or a charity.
- Can I find UK business grants without signing up?
- Yes. You can search and see matched grants without creating an account or hitting a signup wall. You only sign in if you choose to save grants or use the optional application tools.
- How does Subvention match my business to grants?
- Enter your company name and Subvention pulls your Companies House profile — sector, region, size and status — then matches it against 936 live grants across 49 official sources. Matching is deterministic, so every result shows the signals behind it.
- Do I need my company number or accounts to search?
- No. Your company name is enough — Subvention looks the rest up from Companies House. You can adjust sector, region and size by hand if the registered details don't reflect what the business actually does, and nothing you enter is required to see results.
- Is it really free, or free until the results appear?
- Genuinely free. Searching, matching and seeing your full ranked shortlist with source links cost nothing and have no time limit — there's no blurred result list or email gate. Optional one-off passes (30 or 90 days, no auto-renew) add saved grants, alerts, deadline reminders and application tools for when you're actively applying.
- Can CICs and charities use the free grant finder?
- Yes. The same free search covers business grants and funding for charities, CICs, startups and community groups, so you don't need a separate tool for each. CICs in particular are worth checking here, because many funders exclude them and the finder flags the ones that don't.
- Does it use AI to find the grants?
- No. Finding and matching are deterministic — grants are indexed from official sources and matched on your real profile, so results are reproducible and every one shows the signals behind it. AI only enriches descriptions and, if you ask, drafts application text you review. It is never asked to find or invent grants, which is what makes results checkable against the source.
- How current is the grant information?
- Around 936 live grants from 49 official sources are refreshed daily. Every result links to the funder's own page with the date it was last checked, and you should always confirm eligibility with the funder before applying.
About the author
Simon Bumford — Founder, Subvention. Simon built Subvention's grant index and the matching engine behind this finder, and reviews this page against the live index each time it is rebuilt.
Grant data refreshed daily · page last reviewed . Always confirm details with the funder. Nothing here is financial, legal or tax advice.