SmarterSelect vs Instrumentl

Submittable

GRANTSEEKER

Volgistics

OpenWater

Grant Lifecycle Manager

Blackbaud Award Management

Compare SmarterSelect and Instrumentl based on features, pricing, verified reviews, integrations & more on GetApp. Find out which software is best for your business in 2026.

Submittable provides grant management and corporate social responsibility software for foundations, governments, and corporations. The platform enables organizations to build customizable application forms, manage review processes, and track program budgets in real time without technical expertise. It includes features for fraud prevention, impact reporting, and automated workflows that help streamline administrative tasks.

RQ Platform

RQ Platform is an all-in-one Application and Review software platform for streamlining and simplifying your entire program, designed for Awards, Scholarships, Grants, Fellowships, Mentorships, Volunteer Recruitment and more.

OpenWater streamlines program management with its end-to-end solution for accepting and reviewing applications, awards, grants, scholarships, proposals, and abstracts.

Make better decisions faster. Streamline how you choose the best candidates for your scholarship, grant, and award programs.

Sized perfectly for one program – or one thousand! Designed for non-technical users, no coding required. Set up your programs yourself, often in less than one day.

Activity Tracking

Alerts/Notifications

Applicant Portal

Applicant Tracking

Application Management

Audit Management

Commenting/Notes

Communication Management

Compliance Management

Customizable Fields

Customizable Forms

Customizable Questions

Customizable Reports

Customizable Templates

Data Import/Export

Deadline Management

Document Review

Electronic Payments

Electronic Submission

Email Reminders

For Grantmakers

Forms Management

For Nonprofits

For Schools

Grant Application Management

Grant Award Tracking

Grant Management

Interview Management

Member Database

Multi-Currency

Preview Functionality

Progress Tracking

Ratings/Reviews

Recommendations

Reminders

Reporting & Statistics

Reviewer Management

Role-Based Permissions

Scoring

Search/Filter

Single Sign On

SSL Security

Status Tracking

Third-Party Integrations

Web Forms

White Label

Most reviewers indicate that SmarterSelect delivers strong value for money, especially for small organizations, and they appreciate the tiered pricing options. Some reviewers feel higher-tier plans may be costly for very small organizations.

Value for money

By industry, SmarterSelect reviewers are most commonly professionals in non-profit organization management (50%). The most frequent use case cited is scholarship management (69% of reviewers).

SmarterSelect

Web-based

Basic

Executive Director

SmarterSelect allows us to manage and process over 800 applications annually.   When we made the decision to migrate over to Smarter Select, we found that we spend muck less time in the management process, which allowed us to spend more time fundraising and working with recipients and donors.

Educational Grant Officer 

The fact that the body of an email (personal message box) will not let you put in an email address different to what is outside of the letter, and if you put one in and press send it then makes the email disappear and then you have to re write it.

It has allowed us to streamline our processes and move from paper applications to one simple common online application for scholarships.

Office Manager/Program Assistant

Also, the very tiny save button at the bottom of the grant applications and final reports gets missed and the information is not saved which is frustrating for the grantees because they have to start over.

Auxiliary National Secretary 

We found some things like we need to have a person view each application since the applicant could download anything and shows it is complete when they are missing information still.

Counselor

I don't like the tiers you need to buy just to add the Spanish language. When everything in our education system is setup to support Spanish speakers it seems lame a program that cost so much cannot support Spanish speakers unless we upgrade.

Sr. HR Specialist

In my experience, in order to send reminders to those on "incomplete" statuses and "pending" statues you have to go to two separate parts of the site.

Communications Manager

When I customize my Applications view, it doesn't "stick" - I have to re-customize it every single time I go back to it.

Office Manager

Also, we ask so many questions in our scholarship application that our calculations are sometimes slow that they don't always calculate without refreshing the calculations.

The only thing I wish we had (which is probably available on a higher tier), is the ability for scores to be added in the evaluator section for their viewing.

Director of Data & Evaluation

SmarterSelect has made it possible for our organization to grow our programs quickly by streamlining our application processes.

President-Elect

The software allowed us to move from a paper-based system to online applications for our scholarships.

Program Officer

SmarterSelect changing major components of the software during the critical time in our scholarship program without any notice or warning or any tutorials of what is going on.

Associate Commissioner

There are numerous capabilities within the platform which we are still learning as staff turns over or duties shift but we are quite pleased with the Smarter Select platform.

Operations Manager

Most of our board members review online, which is ideal, but for those that prefer a printed binder, the export design ends up costing me more time than it should.

It can be very time-consuming. When our reviewers (independent scholarship committee) go into do their part, we've found that the software sometimes will not hold their ratings even though they are saving as they go.

Workforce Development Manager

When using a program from the library and trying to customize is difficult and I don’t like that I had to delete sections and start over.

I enjoy the ability to customize the site easily, even for those without any sort of web-design knowledge.

I just want to make sure we are using what is available to us as changes to the software are made and our grandfathered price increases.

College Counselor/College Prep Instructor

I like that once familiar with Smarter Select, you're able to have the ease and stress-free experience of managing scholarships that are difficult to put in one place.

I like to be able to have a common application for scholarships and to customize the specific scholarships.  

I think anytime you pay an annual bill for SAS (software as service) you think about value and the wisdom of spending scarce resources.

I can customize the whole system to what I need it to do in order to fit Mt needs.

Only downside is the support system - which if you are not a tech person can be difficult to understand as you have to explain what your problem is in messages.

I think there may be a setting to send completed ones to the reviewers but they like getting them all but would prefer the program separate them rather than lump them all together.

scholarship/fellowship coordinator

Sometimes my institution's firewall blocks the reporting emails and it was slightly difficult to fix that this year.

Executive Assistant

I love that it is online and that users can have multiple roles, which is key in our small town and organization

executive director

Having the ability for applicants to apply online is critical to our operation and staying current and relevant.  

We worked with smarter select to customize the application as much as the platform currently allows.

Program Coordinator

With Smarter Select I can download and filter on any field to get to the information I need.

Program Specialist

Every once is awhile there is a bug that needs fixing, but Customer Service quickly identifies issues and fixes them without delay.

Foundation Coordinator

Secondly, the delete feature should be able to be canceled within a few seconds/minutes to avoid any permanent issues.

Donor Relations Coordinator

Small con:  I wish that when the button to disable an application is selected that the "active" button would uncheck.

We are able to begin and end our grants management procedures within the same system.

The support system is a bit hit and miss depending on how much technical knowledge you have and who you get replying to your enquiry.

We really like that we can open and close the scholarship process just by setting up the dates ahead of time.

Marketing Coordinator

Being an evaluator isn't as intuitive when viewing and printing the documents.  

Manager, Research and Innovation

Occasionally, since I am a user and administrator, I get an error indicating I am not allowed to access certain things.

It's ability to export in a format that our dozen's of reviewers can utilize has been appreciated.

Managing Director

I wish there was a way that I could make adjustments to the application once it has gone live. If there is a way, I don't know how to do it.

We love that the forms are customizable and are easy to set auto-calculation and autoscoring features.

I like the fact that all the information is in one place and we're not having to search different places for information.  

Scholarships Administrator

SmarterSelect has allowed us to receive less mailed in applications.  

Director of Development

Unable to search a single person across multiple grant applications.

Program Director

We are using SmarterSelect to select students for a leadership program.  

Development Director

Adding scoring or questions sometimes is less than intuitive when you first learn how to do it.

Foundation Director

I can usually find posts of similar issues when troubleshooting which is nice to resolve and move on.

Project Director

In addition, all of our reviewers are able to complete their assignments online at their convenience.

The major qualm I have with SmarterSelect is the export options.

Director

SmarterSelect helped us streamline our scholarship application process saving time and money!

Scholarship Management

Customization

Email Communication

Applicant Review

Data Export

Bugs and Issues

Process Management

File Upload and Download

Evaluator Access

Small Business

Mid-size Business

Large Enterprises

Freelancers

Most reviewers indicate that SmarterSelect offers strong value for money, especially for small organizations and those with limited budgets. They appreciate the tiered pricing options that allow them to choose a plan suited to their needs and budget, and say the software provides comparable functionality to more expensive competitors. Users think the product remains affordable as new features are added, and they find it saves both time and money. Some reviewers feel that higher-tier plans may be too costly for very small organizations, and wish more features were available at lower price points.

Fluxx Grantmaker

Fluxx Grantmaker provides the most complete set of features designed solely for grantmaking - collaboration tools, budgeting and forecasting, grantee engagement, reporting, storytelling, and more - all out of the box to help  drive impact for funders and their grantees.

MonkeyPod

MonkeyPod is an all-in-one platform to manage nonprofit accounting, donor management, grants management, CRM, email marketing, online fundraising, and more. Add unlimited users, CRM entities, email subscribers, online fundraising pages, pipelines, and more at no additional cost.

Instrumentl is the only complete grant solution that empowers grant-seeking organizations to discover best-fit grants, craft winning proposals faster with AI, and manage their entire grant lifecycle—all in one place

Activity Dashboard

Administrative Reporting

Categorization/Grouping

Collaboration Tools

Contact Management

Document Management

Due Date Tracking

Financial Reporting

For Grantseekers

Grant Discovery

Monitoring

Payment Tracking

Workflow Management

By industry, Instrumentl reviewers are most commonly professionals in non-profit organization management (51%). The most frequent use case for Instrumentl cited by reviewers is grant management (92% of reviewers).

Users and use cases

Instrumentl is a grant management program offering key features such as grant discovery, due date tracking, reminders, grant application management, and grant award tracking, among others.

Proprietary

Instrumentl

Standard

Advanced

Grants and Development Manager

I also enjoy the "Funder Matches" section because it helps spot many local opportunities that may not seem obvious at first glance. While many funders have direct websites, grant portals, and deadlines - Funder Matches helps to locate family foundations that often require more personal engagement.

Grant Manager

From quickly projecting exactly where a potential cash flow problem comes from to easily visualizing project deadline bottlenecks, Instrumentl transforms what used to take hours and days of painstaking effort -  patching data from across multiple platforms -  into simple, easily repeatable tasks that help plan and understand your work in a more comprehensive and meaningful way.

I like how in-depth I'm able to research a funder before I even attempt an outreach, allowing me to best utilize my time and resources to ensure that I am making the most of all grant/stewardship opportunities. Because of Instrumentl, I've been able to impress donors with an in-depth knowledge of their funding priorities, history of giving, and preferred geographic range.

The the layout of the custom home dashboard is especially useful because it can be filtered to show the opportunities by deadline, allowing for grant mapping for the calendar year.

Instrumentl is one stop shopping for everything we need for researching, cultivating and submitting proposals to foundations--990s, information on grants/year, openness to new grantees, annual grant levels, and more.

Instrumentl is designed to make every stage of an organization’s grant program easier—from researching funding opportunities to drafting proposals to managing an award. Yet what makes the Instrumentl platform genuinely transformative is that it goes far beyond facilitating an individual grant project.

Director, Grant Management

I have reduced my grant research time by more than 50%, which is particularly impactful given that I am solely responsible for writing and managing all grants within my organization.

Senior Grant Writer

By pairing Instrumentl’s filtered, funder-aligned search tools with ChatGPT's drafting capabilities, I’ve been able to accelerate narrative development, synthesize funder priorities, and customize applications with greater precision.

Grant Fiscal Manager

Even if you are not familiar with the website and its content, they offer tons of tutorial videos to walk you through each tab, step by step.

Director of Development Operations

It is the first software I've used that has integrated so well with Raiser's Edge which is awesome, because now i'm not having to manage my portfolio in two separate systems.

SmarterSelect vs Instrumentl Comparison (2026)

SmarterSelect

Instrumentl

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives