Submit.com vs SmartSimple: a sourced comparison for UK and Irish grant teams

Last reviewed 2 October 2026. Every claim about either platform below links to a public source. Claims about SmartSimple are taken from its Crown Commercial Service G-Cloud entry on the GOV.UK Digital Marketplace, which is a declaration the supplier makes to government buyers, and from independent trade coverage. Where something is not on the public record, this page says so instead of guessing.

What is the main difference between Submit.com and SmartSimple?

The difference that shows up first in a procurement timetable is how each vendor starts work. SmartSimple states in its G-Cloud entry that all clients begin at a scoping phase in which current business processes, pain points and goals for the new solution are reviewed, and that its contract pricing has two components: a one-time fee for system configuration, and a subscription fee covering access, support and maintenance (SmartSimple Cloud for Granting, G-Cloud 14 listing).

Submit.com sells a licence at a published price and onboards with a standard package of four one-hour online training sessions, recorded for reuse, with further sessions available at extra cost (Submit.com, G-Cloud 14 listing). Programme teams then build and change forms, eligibility rules, review stages and weighted scoring themselves.

Neither model is better in the abstract. A council running one or two grant schemes with no internal IT resource usually wants the second. A funder with an unusual data model, a long requirements document and a delivery partner already appointed often wants the first.

One ownership fact is worth knowing before a multi-year commitment: SmartSimple Software merged with Foundant Technologies in 2024 in a transaction announced by their private equity owner, L Squared Capital Partners (L Squared Capital Partners; NonProfit PRO). Ask any consolidating vendor which product line your contract sits on and what the roadmap commitment is in writing.

How do Submit.com and SmartSimple compare on the public record?

Every cell in this table comes from the two suppliers' own G-Cloud 14 entries on the GOV.UK Digital Marketplace, checked on 2 October 2026. Suppliers update these entries themselves, so treat the table as a starting point for questions rather than as a contract.

Swipe left or right to see the full table on mobile.

Sources: Submit.com G-Cloud 14 listing and SmartSimple Cloud for Granting G-Cloud 14 listing, Crown Commercial Service, both checked 2 October 2026. Submit.com certification detail also from Submit.com security and compliance, and the euro price from Submit.com pricing.

What does each platform actually cost?

Submit.com publishes a figure. The G-Cloud listing shows £5,995 a licence a year, and the Submit.com pricing page shows €5,995 a year, with the final quote shaped by programme volume, user numbers and modules.

SmartSimple publishes a day rate of £950 a unit a day on G-Cloud and describes the shape of its commercial model, but not the total. A buyer cannot build a five-year cost comparison from the public record alone, because the one-time configuration fee is the part that varies most and is not published (G-Cloud listing).

For a like-for-like comparison, ask both suppliers for a five-year total covering licence or subscription, implementation or configuration, training days, support tier, and the cost of a change once live. The last item is the one that quietly decides which platform is cheaper in year three.

Which platform suits a UK or Irish council?

Both are available through G-Cloud, which lets public bodies buy by direct award from the Digital Marketplace without a separate competition where the framework rules are met (Crown Commercial Service G-Cloud buyers guide). Confirm the current framework iteration and the live service ID before you rely on a direct award, because listings move with each framework round.

Where Submit.com is strongest for this buyer is the evidence base in comparable organisations. Cork City Council moved from roughly 1,000 online applications in 2019 to 22,000 in 2020, and now runs more than 100 active forms across eight departments covering grants, parking permits, road licensing, freedom of information requests and the Cork Lifelong Learning Awards, with single sign-on inside the network, multi-factor authentication for remote access and a data protection impact assessment completed before go-live (Cork City Council case study).

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council runs its community grants across eight departments with 22 admin users on restricted permissions (DLR County Council case study). The Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Local Enterprise Office puts the saving from running evaluation committee meetings in the platform at two days a month (DLR LEO case study). Kildare County Council uses the multilingual feature for statutory Irish language obligations, describing the translation process as straightforward and needing no additional technical expertise (Kildare County Council case study). Submit.com supports Irish, Welsh, Polish and English in application forms (Submit.com pricing page).

In the UK, Suffolk County Council and Mid Ulster District Council both run grant programmes on Submit.com. Beverley Davies, Grants and Programmes Manager at Suffolk County Council, describes the result as a slick, efficient grant process with far less paperwork.

SmartSimple's public record for UK and Irish local government is thinner, but its G-Cloud entry declares staff security clearance to BS7858:2019 and government clearance up to Developed Vetting, which matters to some central government buyers more than any feature does. If that is your context, ask for it.

When is SmartSimple the better choice?

• You need support cover outside UK office hours. SmartSimple declares 24 x 5 support with 24 x 7 critical cover; Submit.com declares Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm.
• You need a contractual availability figure up front. SmartSimple states 99.9 per cent monthly availability with SLA penalties on its listing.
• You need two-way integration rather than reporting exports. SmartSimple lists OData, SOAP and JSON APIs with a test environment; the Submit.com API is described as predominantly for exporting data.
• You need vetted personnel. SmartSimple declares government security clearance up to Developed Vetting.
• You have an appointed delivery partner, a long requirements document and the time for a scoping phase before anything is built.

When is Submit.com the better choice?

• Your scheme opens on a fixed date and you need the form live before it, without a configuration project in front of it.
• You need a number for a business case this month. Submit.com's price is published; SmartSimple's is not.
• The grants team, not IT, will own the system and change it between rounds.
• You need Irish language forms for statutory obligations, evidenced at Kildare County Council.
• You want one platform across grants, awards, permits, licensing, recruitment and other submissions rather than a grants system alone, as at Cork City Council and Meath County Council.
• You want to see it working in a council the size of yours before you commit, and to speak to the people running it.

What should you ask both suppliers in writing?

Take the same five questions to each shortlisted vendor and compare the written answers, not the demos.

• Total five-year cost, itemised: licence or subscription, configuration or implementation, training, support tier, and the cost of changing a scheme after go-live.
• A dated go-live plan for your hardest scheme, naming who builds what, and what happens if the date slips.
• Who can change an eligibility rule two weeks before the deadline: your officer, or the vendor at a day rate.
• An accessibility conformance report for the applicant-facing portal itself, not the marketing site, against EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.1 AA.
• Exit terms: the formats your data leaves in, how long it takes, and what it costs.

Frequently asked questions

Is Submit.com a good alternative to SmartSimple?

It depends on which risk you are managing. Submit.com publishes its price, offers a 14 day free trial and starts with four one-hour training sessions, which suits teams that need a scheme live quickly without a configuration project. SmartSimple declares 24 x 5 support, a 99.9 per cent availability commitment and a wider API surface, which suits operationally complex funders. Both are listed on G-Cloud Lot 2.

How much does Submit.com cost compared with SmartSimple?

Submit.com lists £5,995 a licence a year on its G-Cloud entry and €5,995 a year on its pricing page. SmartSimple lists £950 a unit a day on its G-Cloud entry and describes a two-part model of a one-time configuration fee plus a subscription, but does not publish the totals. A five-year comparison therefore needs a written quote from both.

Are both Submit.com and SmartSimple on the G-Cloud framework?

Yes. Both are listed under Lot 2, Cloud software, on the Crown Commercial Service Digital Marketplace: Submit.com as service 747443801367611 from Submit Software Solutions Ltd, and SmartSimple Cloud for Granting as service 381817298686710. Confirm the current framework iteration and live service ID before relying on a direct award.

Does Submit.com support Irish language application forms?

Yes. Submit.com supports Irish, Welsh, Polish and English in application forms, with in-form language switching. Kildare County Council's Community Department uses the feature to meet statutory Irish language obligations and describes the translation process as straightforward, requiring no additional technical expertise from staff.

Which platform offers better support cover?

On the public record, SmartSimple. Its G-Cloud entry declares a support desk open 24 x 5 with 24 x 7 critical support, plus premium support at £1,250 or £2,000 a month. Submit.com declares email and ticketing support Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, with phone support 9 to 5 UK time, and includes four one-hour training sessions in onboarding.

Can Submit.com handle multi-stage grant workflows?

Yes. Submit.com supports multi-phase submissions, configurable eligibility, multi-step approval with role-based permissions and weighted scoring. Cork City Council runs more than 100 active forms across eight departments, including the Cork Lifelong Learning Awards, where 23 external judges were given limited access to specific categories and scores were calculated automatically from five criteria.

Who owns SmartSimple?

SmartSimple Software merged with Foundant Technologies in 2024 in a transaction announced by private equity firm L Squared Capital Partners, creating a combined grants and philanthropic software group. Buyers signing multi-year agreements with any consolidating vendor should ask which product line the contract sits on and what the roadmap commitment is.

Sources and corrections

• Submit.com, G-Cloud 14 listing, Crown Commercial Service Digital Marketplace
• SmartSimple Cloud for Granting, G-Cloud 14 listing, Crown Commercial Service Digital Marketplace
• G-Cloud buyers guide, GOV.UK
• L Squared Capital Partners merger announcement and NonProfit PRO coverage
• Submit.com pricing, security and compliance and customer stories

SmartSimple, SmartSimple Cloud and Foundant are the property of their respective owners and are named here for comparison only. This page describes SmartSimple using its own declarations to government buyers and independent trade coverage. It is reviewed quarterly. To request a correction, email support@submit.com.