Mavenly

Mavenly brings grant discovery, proposal drafting, and application management into a single workspace for grantseekers and grantmakers. It is best suited to organizations coordinating several grant applications, rather than individuals looking for a lasting free tool. Its broad workflow coverage is promising, but Starter’s usage caps and the paid subscription requirement narrow its appeal to teams ready to budget for it.

Overview

Mavenly’s discovery module matches organizations with federal, foundation, and corporate opportunities, scoring fit by mission, geography, budget band, and grant history. Compose AI uses an organization’s previous submissions and a funder’s evaluation rubric to draft proposals, which can be exported as DOCX or PDF. Pipeline and application management, deadline tasks, funder relationship tracking, and reporting and outcomes tools cover the work around those applications. Keeping these jobs together should suit teams that want one place to manage a grant cycle; organizations needing only a writing assistant may not need the wider system.

Native integrations include Slack, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365, with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Bloomerang available as CRM integrations. Mavenly says it encrypts data in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher and at rest with AES-256, and does not use customer data to train its AI models or third-party models for general use. Its AI inference uses Anthropic’s Claude API with zero-data-retention endpoints. The company identifies itself as pre-launch on its security page: SOC 2 Type II is in flight, while ISO 27001 and HIPAA readiness are planned. Organizations that require established certifications should weigh that status carefully.

Key features

Opportunity matching and AI drafting

Fit scoring across mission, geography, budget, and grant history gives organizations a way to focus on opportunities aligned with their profile. Drafts based on prior submissions and funder rubrics may reduce repetitive proposal work, while document export makes it practical to continue editing outside Mavenly. The monthly draft allowance matters, though: Starter includes 25, Professional 200, and Team removes the AI-draft cap.

Grant workflow and collaboration

Application pipelines, deadline tasks, funder relationship tracking, and outcomes reporting extend Mavenly beyond finding and writing grants. That combination is most useful to teams managing several active applications; Starter’s limit of ten active applications and two authorized users may become restrictive as a program grows. Higher plans raise or remove those constraints.

Pricing

Mavenly has a 14-day guided trial that mirrors Starter: two authorized users, up to ten active applications, 50 funder matches, and 25 AI drafts. When the trial ends, the workspace becomes read-only unless the customer subscribes, so it is an evaluation period rather than a free ongoing tier.

Annual pricing is spelled out for Starter, Professional, and Team; the other plans that mention annual billing describe it as ten months’ price. Starter’s lack of API access contrasts with the request-based Developer / Pilot and Professional / Scale plans, so buyers should match the plan to whether they need grant-workspace tools or API capacity.

Platforms

Mavenly is available on web and through an API. A mobile app is planned for Q1 2027. API access varies by plan: Starter has none, Team provides read-only access, and Enterprise includes read-and-write access.

Who it's for

Mavenly offers editions for grantseekers, including nonprofits and higher-education advancement teams, as well as grantmakers such as private and community foundations. Its strongest case is for organizations that want opportunity matching, drafting, and ongoing application workflows together. It is less compelling for a solo user or a small organization that needs a permanent free plan, since the trial expires into read-only access.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Discovery, rubric-informed drafting, application tracking, deadlines, funder relationships, and outcomes reporting span a grant cycle in one system.
• Pro: Starter begins at $49.00 per month and includes two users, making it a defined entry point for a small team.
• Pro: Integrations cover common collaboration suites and several CRMs, including Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, HubSpot, and Bloomerang.
• Con: The trial lasts 14 days and has Starter’s caps; after it ends, the workspace is read-only without a subscription.
• Con: Starter caps applications, matches, and drafts, while Professional still caps drafting at 200 per month.
• Con: Mavenly is pre-launch on its security page, with SOC 2 Type II in flight and ISO 27001 and HIPAA readiness planned; that may not satisfy organizations requiring completed certifications.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison of category options, see Nonprofit Grant Writing Software.

• Grantable is a web-based freemium option with a free plan that includes five chat messages a day and file imports up to 10 MB, making it worth considering if a free starting tier matters more than Mavenly’s integrated grant workflow.
• Grantboost offers a web free plan with ten Writer chats and ten grant views per month, plus a $32-per-year Find Grants plan; it is a candidate for readers seeking a free entry point with modest usage limits.
• Grantora has a free Community plan with up to four Grant Project Outputs per year and separate admin, writer, and read-only auditor roles, which may suit a small group prioritizing those role distinctions.
• Grantivo has a free plan with ten credits, unlimited proposals and drafts, a full funder directory, and requirement tracking; consider it if those free drafting and directory features are the priority.
• GrantAppli offers a free plan for three grant projects, a straightforward alternative for readers who want to start with a small project allotment.
• GrantLoop is a $2,999.00-per-month platform for consultants with 26M+ grant records, peer-funding analysis, warm paths, request sizing, and unlimited users; it is aimed at consulting workflows rather than Mavenly’s broad organizational audience.
• GrantAdvance offers a three-year membership at $167.00 per year, billed as $6,000 upfront ($2,000 per year), with one user included and additional seats priced at 50% of the first-license sign-up fee; consider it if a multi-year membership structure fits better.
• Instrumentl is a paid web and API alternative with a free trial; consider it if you want to compare another paid platform with both web and API availability.

Verdict

Mavenly is a strong fit for nonprofits, advancement teams, and foundations that want to coordinate matching, proposal drafting, and grant workflows in one platform. Its range of tools and integrations is the main reason to choose it; the 14-day trial, Starter quotas, and pre-launch security status are reasons to look elsewhere if you need a lasting free workspace or completed security certifications.