Last updated: August 2026
Grata and Scouly promise the same headline outcome, a list of companies to buy that no broker has listed. Past the headline they are barely the same product category. Grata is a private-company intelligence platform sold to deal teams at funds and banks, with 22 million company profiles and pricing you learn on a demo call. Scouly is a public-records database of 173,769 companies in seven service verticals, priced at $35 a month with a free tier. This page lays out both honestly, including the parts where Grata is simply better.
Disclosure: we build Scouly. Read accordingly.
Grata describes itself in institutional numbers. Its homepage cites 22M+ companies, 100M+ global filings, 250,000+ verified dealmakers across 60,000+ transactions, and 2,000+ customers including 35 of the top 40 firms. The named buyers are private equity, growth equity, investment banking, corporate development, private credit and consulting. The product ships as a platform with a Chrome extension and CRM sync, an MCP and API for AI stacks, seller-intent signals Grata says reach 98% accuracy in the US and 89% in EMEA, and deal intelligence through Datasite and MergerLinks.
That feature list tells you who it serves. Nobody buying one HVAC company needs a bidirectional Salesforce sync.
Grata does not publish prices. The pricing page lists three tiers, each ending in a demo request with no dollar figure shown:
So the honest answer to "grata pricing" is that you find out on a call. Any dollar figure you read elsewhere is a secondhand report of one negotiated contract, not a list price. Scouly's pricing sits on the site: the Explorer tier is free with 10 full profile unlocks, and Operator is $35 a month with unlimited unlocks.
| Grata | Scouly | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | PE, growth equity, corporate development, investment banks, private credit, consulting | Self-funded searchers, search funds, independent sponsors, individual buyers |
| Data | 22M+ company profiles with financials, contacts, conference and deal data | 173,769 companies built from SBA 7(a)/504 loan files, PPP data, DOL Form 5500, state registries, UK Companies House, OpenStreetMap density |
| Price | Unpublished; three demo-gated tiers | Free Explorer with 10 unlocks; Operator at $35/month, unlimited |
| Contacts | Executive contacts in every tier | None; you find the owner through the linked registry records |
| Coverage | Every industry, US plus EU and global filings | 7 US verticals (HVAC and plumbing, dental, manufacturing, landscaping, auto repair, funeral homes, veterinary) plus UK Companies House |
| Signals | Exit-readiness and seller-intent scores; Grata claims 98% US accuracy | Deterministic 0 to 100 score from loan maturity, registry longevity and fragmentation, with each input linked to its source record |
Be honest with yourself about this list before you let price decide.
If none of that made you flinch and the contract fits your budget, book the Grata demo. It is the right tool for that job.
Scouly models one moment: an owner approaching a transition. Every tracked company sits on a verifiable public-record footprint, which can include SBA 7(a) or 504 borrowing, a state registry history, PPP and Form 5500 filings where they exist, and establishment density from OpenStreetMap for the fragmentation read. Each company gets a deterministic 0 to 100 score, and the breakdown links to the underlying records, so you can audit why a company ranks where it does.
That auditability is the real difference. Grata's seller-intent accuracy claims may well hold. You cannot check them. With Scouly you can, because nothing in the score comes from a model you can't inspect. The other structural difference is what Scouly refuses to do: it never estimates revenue or EBITDA, since true private financials are not public, it never contacts owners, and nothing on it is listed for sale. It hands you the evidence and the timing signal. The relationship is yours to build.
Run sourcing for a fund across many industries? Grata, and this page will not talk you out of it. The Growth tier exists for exactly the family offices and independent sponsors reading this.
Buying one business with your own money? The demo-call pricing model is the reason the phrase "grata alternative for searchers" gets typed at all. We mapped the whole field, SourceScrub, Inven, Kumo, Searchfunder and the raw public records, in Grata alternatives for searchers and SMB buyers, and the broader category in deal sourcing software for self-funded searchers. The closest enterprise substitute gets its own head-to-head at Scouly vs SourceScrub, and if you're earlier in the journey, start with how Scouly fits a self-funded search.
And if your thesis sits inside Scouly's seven verticals, skip the demo call entirely. Build your thesis for free and see the scored list in a few minutes.
How much does Grata cost? Grata does not publish pricing. Its pricing page lists three tiers, Growth, Scale and Alpha, and every one of them ends in a demo request with no dollar figure shown. Cost depends on seats, modules and negotiation, so two firms can pay very different amounts for the same tier. If a specific number matters to your budget, you have to book the call and ask.
Is there a free alternative to Grata? Scouly's Explorer tier is free and includes 10 full profile unlocks across 173,769 tracked companies in seven verticals. The completely free path is the underlying records themselves. SBA 7(a) and 504 loan files on data.sba.gov, state registry filings and DOL Form 5500 data are all public. The tradeoff is the entity-matching work it takes to stitch those sources together yourself.
Who is Grata built for? Grata's own site names its buyers: private equity, growth equity, investment banks, corporate development, private credit and consulting firms, with 2,000+ customers including 35 of the top 40 firms. The Growth tier is pitched at family offices and independent sponsors, which is the closest Grata gets to an individual buyer, and even that tier is sold through a demo call.
Does Scouly include contact data like Grata? No. Grata includes executive contacts in every tier. Scouly gives you no emails or phone numbers, never contacts owners, and leaves outreach entirely to you. Owner names and registered addresses usually appear in the state registry filings each profile links to, so the information exists in public records. You do the last step yourself.
Can Scouly replace Grata for a PE deal team? Usually no. A team sourcing across many industries needs Grata's breadth, contact data and CRM workflow, and Scouly covers seven verticals with no contact enrichment. The realistic overlap is a searcher or independent sponsor whose thesis sits inside HVAC, dental, manufacturing, landscaping, auto repair, funeral homes or veterinary care, where the public filings carry the timing signal anyway.