CrowMark vs SwiftBid

CrowMark is a subscription UK bid and tender management suite from £49 per month. SwiftBid is a per-bid AI writing service, charged at £149 to £749 a bid with no subscription. They price in completely different ways, so the honest comparison is about how often you bid and what you need around the draft. This page sets out both, states CrowMark's prices, and dates every source.

At a glance

What is SwiftBid?

SwiftBid is a per-bid AI bid-writing service. Rather than a subscription, you pay for each bid at one of three fixed prices: £149 for Basic, £349 for Standard and £749 for Premium. The Premium tier adds optional human expert review, a compliance audit, multi-document analysis and turnarounds as fast as six hours. It is sector-agnostic and has no built-in tender discovery feed; you upload the contract pack you want written against.

For a firm that bids only once or twice a year, that model has a real advantage: no ongoing commitment, and at Premium the option of a human reviewer on the draft. CrowMark does not offer either of those. If your bidding is genuinely occasional, paying per bid can be the cheaper and simpler choice, and SwiftBid is built around exactly that.

What is CrowMark?

CrowMark is CrowAgent's UK bid and tender management suite, currently in beta and in daily use on real bids. It is a subscription, which gives you continuous access to tender discovery, drafting, social-value scoring and delivery evidence rather than a per-bid transaction. It tracks Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, refreshed every morning at 06:00, and drafts answers grounded in the supplier's own submitted bids. Its defining rule is figure-grounding: before a draft is shown, every £ and % is checked against a set of allowed figures computed from your own data, and if a number is not in that set the draft is rejected. Every AI-assisted draft carries a PPN 017 AI-use disclosure and waits for a person to approve it.

CrowMark also calculates PPN 002 social value deterministically against the 10% minimum weighting, and after award it tracks each commitment to a delivery percentage with a RAG status, captures evidence, issues monthly reports and checks the Procurement Act 2023 KPI duties in sections 52 and 71. It does not supply an external bid writer; the reviewer who approves each draft is your own.

CrowMark publishes its pricing. Starter is £49 per month for 3 users, Pro is £149 per month for 10 users with post-award delivery tracking, and Portfolio is contact sales. Every plan includes a 14-day free trial.

Pricing compared

The maths comes down to volume. SwiftBid Standard at £349 a bid costs about £1,047 for three bids in a year. A CrowMark Starter subscription is £49 per month, or £529 for a year on annual billing, which covers as many bids as you want to write in that time. So for one or two bids a year SwiftBid can be cheaper, and from roughly the third bid of the year a CrowMark subscription tends to win on cost, before you even count the tender discovery, social-value maths and delivery evidence that come with it.

Which should you choose?

Where CrowMark loses honestly

For genuinely occasional bidders, SwiftBid's per-bid model is the more sensible spend: no subscription, a fixed cost per bid, and at Premium the option of a human expert on the draft, which CrowMark's self-serve software does not provide. If you write one bid this year and none next year, a monthly subscription is poor value and SwiftBid is the honest recommendation. CrowMark earns its keep when bidding is a regular activity, and when tender discovery, deterministic social-value maths and post-award delivery evidence are worth having in one place. The two can also be combined: subscribe to CrowMark for the ongoing work and commission SwiftBid for a single high-stakes bid.

Frequently asked questions

Is CrowMark or SwiftBid cheaper?

It depends on how many bids you write. SwiftBid charges per bid at £149 (Basic), £349 (Standard) and £749 (Premium). CrowMark is a subscription from £49 per month. For one or two bids a year SwiftBid can be cheaper; from around the third bid a year a CrowMark subscription tends to cost less overall.

Does SwiftBid have a subscription?

No. SwiftBid is a per-bid service with no subscription, which is the point of it. You pay for each bid you want written. CrowMark is a monthly subscription with continuous access to the whole suite.

Does SwiftBid find tenders for me?

No. SwiftBid has no built-in tender discovery feed; you upload the contract pack you want a bid written against. CrowMark tracks Contracts Finder and Find a Tender and refreshes the feed every morning at 06:00.

Does SwiftBid include a human bid writer?

Its Premium tier adds optional human expert review alongside the AI draft. CrowMark is self-serve software: it drafts and your own reviewer approves each answer before submission, but it does not supply an external bid writer.

How fast is each one?

SwiftBid quotes turnarounds as fast as 6 hours on its Premium tier. CrowMark gives you continuous access to draft, score and revise whenever you like, rather than a per-bid turnaround window.

Which handles social value and post-award delivery?

CrowMark calculates PPN 002 social value deterministically against the 10% minimum weighting and tracks post-award delivery under the Procurement Act 2023 sections 52 and 71. SwiftBid does not state a social-value calculator or a post-award delivery feature.

I only bid once or twice a year, which is better?

If you bid very occasionally and do not want a subscription, SwiftBid's per-bid model may suit you, and its Premium tier can add a human reviewer. If you bid more often, or you want tender discovery, PPN 002 maths and delivery evidence, a CrowMark subscription is likely the better value.

Can I use both CrowMark and SwiftBid?

Yes. You could run a CrowMark subscription for discovery, social value and delivery evidence, and commission SwiftBid for a one-off high-stakes bid where you want an external expert review.

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