Tool profile
Plinth: cost, fit and limits
Plinth is a UK platform for grantmakers, charities and local authorities that combines grant tracking, funder research, fundraising records and ward-level reporting, with a line on its homepage about AI reading hardship evidence. Its published prices cover several different products.
What to know first
Plinth's pricing page shows a free forever Community plan, per-user Relationships and Intelligence plans for the fundraising product, and per-program packages for local authorities. The grant-management product itself shows no amount, and the FAQ says paid plans carry an annual price. Prices exclude VAT, and a switch adds 20%. The maker, hosting and data terms were not found on the pages we read.
Plinth at a glance
| Maker | Not stated on pages read, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes |
| Entry price | £0 (Community plan, fundraising product) |
| API access | No |
| Category | Best AI Grant Management Software in 2026, rank 9 of 12 |
| Website | plinth.org.uk |
Who Plinth is best for
Local authorities running community funds
Packages are priced per program, with the price falling at six or more programs, and include a community page, reports dashboard and delivery partner network.
Small charities tracking applications
The free Community plan has grant tracking, reminders for deadlines and reports, and eligibility checks against live funder data, which costs nothing to try.
Funders that need place-based reporting
The homepage shows applicants by area with deprivation decile and reporting by ward across every provider, which suits councils reporting on local equity.
Plinth plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Community | £0 (Free forever) | Grant tracking, deadline and reporting reminders, eligibility checks against live funder data and monthly-capped funder research. |
| Relationships | £30 per user per month, minimum 3 users | Everything in Community plus pipeline, donor and funder records, team notes, giving pages, Gift Aid tracking and multi-year grant tracking. |
| Intelligence | £100 per user per month, minimum 3 users | Everything in Relationships plus portfolio insight, prospect ranking, funder alerts, concentration risk alerts and drafted donor emails. |
| Multi-Programme Management | £20,000 per program, £10,000 each at six or more | Per program: community-facing page, custom reports dashboard, data access role and delivery partner network. Family Hubs and HAF only as a quoted package. |
Checked November 2026.
What Plinth does
- Eligibility checks
- The Community plan checks applicants against live funder data. The pages read do not name the data source, so ask how current the records are.
- Hardship evidence read by AI
- The homepage says hardship payments are handled with evidence read by AI. No description of the model, checks or human review step was found. Ask whether a person signs off each payment, and what happens to evidence that the AI cannot read.
- Ward-level reporting
- Reporting runs across every provider, ward by ward, and the homepage example shows applicants with a deprivation decile, which helps councils prove where money lands.
- Funder intelligence alerts
- The Intelligence plan adds funder alerts and concentration risk alerts, though these belong to the fundraising product and are aimed at charities, not funders. A grantmaking council gets less from these alerts than a charity chasing funding, so check which features apply.
- Delivery partner network
- Local authority packages include a delivery partner network and a data access role, which let outside organizations contribute data without full administrator access. Ask which fields partners can see, and whether they can edit or only read, before you invite external bodies.
How Plinth handles your data
The pages we read state no training policy, retention period, hosting region or certification for Plinth, and the privacy policy path returned no matching content. The pricing page is the only source cited. The vendor's policy was not checked for AI use of application or hardship evidence. A funder, and especially a council handling personal hardship data, should request a data processing agreement, a hosting region and a plain statement of what the AI reads.
Where Plinth falls short in practice
- Prices belong to other products. The published amounts are for fundraising plans and local authority packages. The grant-management product for a funder shows no amount. A funder should ask for the grantmaker price in writing, as the pricing page leaves this for a conversation.
- No trial. Plinth offers free tiers but no free trial, so a funder cannot test paid features before committing to an annual price. Ask for a sandbox or pilot with real data, since a short evaluation is the only way to test the paid tiers.
- Per-user minimums. Relationships and Intelligence need at least three users, which raises the floor for tiny teams to £90 and £300 a month. Prices also exclude VAT, so the real floor for a three-person team is higher than the printed monthly sum.
- Thin AI and security detail. One homepage line about AI and no data-handling page mean a council cannot complete a data protection review from the pages read. A council should ask for the data protection impact assessment template and any subprocessor list before testing it.
Works with
Alternatives to Plinth
Plinth: common questions
Is Plinth free?
Plinth lists a Community plan at £0, described as free forever, for the fundraising product. The pricing page shows no amount for its grant-management product, and the FAQ says paid plans carry an annual price. Treat the free plan as a trial of funder research, not of grantmaking.
How is Plinth priced for councils?
Local authority programs list at £20,000 per program for one, and £10,000 each at six or more. Each includes a community page, reports dashboard, data access role and delivery partner network. Family Hubs and HAF are quoted only as a package.
What AI does Plinth use?
The homepage says hardship payments are handled with evidence read by AI. No model, data path or training statement was found on the pages we read, so ask what the AI extracts and whether staff review each decision. Ask whether the AI output is final or reviewed by staff before a payment.
Do Plinth prices include VAT?
No. The pricing page says prices exclude VAT, and a switch adds 20% VAT. A council or charity should check its own VAT position before comparing Plinth's amounts with vendors that quote tax-inclusive or in other currencies. Charities that reclaim VAT may see a lower real cost than councils that cannot.
Who makes Plinth?
The pages we read did not state the operating company, and the privacy policy path returned no matching content. The site is a UK site with a switch to a US version. Ask for the company name and registration before a contract.