How much does a bid writer cost in the UK?
A UK bid writer typically charges £300 to £750 a day, according to Tsaks Consulting's 2026 fee guide. Consultancies quote £2,000 to £8,000 to write a single tender response and £400 to £950 to review a bid you have written. ClearBid writes a full quality response of up to 5,000 scored words for a fixed £1,495.
Prices below were checked on the providers' own pages in October 2026. They are published list prices; your quote will depend on the size of the tender and how much evidence you already have.
Published UK bid writing prices, 2026
| Service | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Junior freelance bid writer, day rate | £300 to £500 a day | Tsaks fee guide (market average) |
| Senior specialist bid writer, day rate | £500 to £750 a day | Tsaks fee guide (market average) |
| Consultancy day rate | £750 a day | Glaxtons cost guide |
| Bid review or compliance check | £400 to £950 | Tsaks fee guide |
| Bid review, 1 day (up to 10,000 words) | £750 | Contracts Advance |
| Bid review, 2 days (up to 20,000 words) | £1,495 | Contracts Advance |
| Small or simple tender, or selection questionnaire | £500 to £2,500 | Tsaks fee guide |
| Standard SME public tender | £2,500 to £5,000 | Tsaks fee guide |
| Single tender response | £2,000 to £8,000 | Glaxtons cost guide |
| AI draft with human review, per bid | from £500 (Essential), from £750 (Premium) | bidtogether |
| Framework application | £5,000 and up; £8,000 to £35,000 | Tsaks; Glaxtons |
Links to each source are at the end of this page. VAT treatment varies by provider.
ClearBid's fixed prices
| Service | What you get | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Bid Matcher | Live tenders that fit your website, with how each is marked | Free |
| Health Check | Score estimate per question and the top 10 fixes, in 48 hours | £395 |
| Response Draft | Full quality response up to 5,000 scored words, compliance check, two rounds of changes, 7 to 10 working days | £1,495; larger tenders £1,950 to £3,495 |
| Bid Desk | Weekly matched tenders, bid or no-bid views, one full Response Draft a month | £1,450 a month |
| Bid Library Build | Case studies, policies and standard answers written once to tender standard | £750 |
No VAT is added: ClearBid is not VAT registered. Our first 10 clients pay £195 for a Health Check, £995 for a Response Draft or £1,195 a month for Bid Desk, until 31 January 2027.
What changes the price
- How many words are scored. A tender with ten 500-word questions is more work than one with four. This is why our Response Draft price steps up above 5,000 scored words.
- Frameworks and lots. A framework or a tender split into lots often means more questions, and sometimes separate answers per lot.
- Your evidence. Answers score on evidence: figures, examples, policies. If it has to be gathered from scratch, the job takes longer whoever writes it.
- The deadline. Short deadlines can cost more or limit what is possible.
Is it worth paying for?
Compare the fee with the contract, not with nothing. The council and housing association repairs contracts we analyse are worth £100,000 to £4 million each. A £1,495 fee is 1.5% of a £100,000 contract and 0.5% of a £300,000 one.
The size of the field matters too. Those repairs tenders drew a median of 6 bids (510 competed lots; middle half 3 to 10); home care and supported living tenders drew a median of 3.5. With five or six rivals, the written answers often decide the result. But only 47% of those repairs tenders gave quality more than half the marks, so check the weighting before you pay anyone to write. Our guide on how tenders are scored explains why.
What to ask before you hire a bid writer
- Is the price fixed, and what does it include: compliance check of the whole pack, rounds of changes, a final check against the instructions?
- Who writes it, and how is AI used? You may need to answer the buyer's questions about that.
- Will they write for a competitor on the same lot? We write for one firm per lot of any tender.
- Do they write only from your evidence? Nobody should invent case studies, figures or accreditations for you.
No honest bid writer guarantees a win: buyers score price as well as quality, and other firms are bidding too.
Questions
How much does a bid review cost?
Tsaks Consulting's 2026 fee guide puts a bid review or compliance check at £400 to £950, depending on the size of the bid. Contracts Advance charges £750 for a one-day review of up to 10,000 words. A ClearBid Health Check is £395, with a score estimate for every question and the 10 fixes worth the most marks.
How much does a framework application cost?
More than a single tender, because there are usually more questions and sometimes several lots. Tsaks quotes £5,000 and up for a large framework or major contract. Glaxtons quotes £8,000 to £35,000 for a framework application.
Are bid writing prices quoted with VAT?
Check each quote. Some providers quote before VAT, which adds 20% if they are VAT registered. ClearBid is not VAT registered, so no VAT is added to our prices.
Is a day rate or a fixed fee better?
A fixed fee tells you the cost before you start. A day rate can suit open-ended work, but the total depends on how many days the bid takes, including your rounds of changes. Ask either way what is included.
Will a bid writer write our pricing?
Some will. ClearBid does not write or advise on pricing: your price stays your decision, and we write the quality answers.
Sources
- Tsaks Consulting, UK bid writing fee guide 2026 and 2027. Day rates, review, small tender, SME tender and framework ranges
- Glaxtons, how much do bid writing services cost. Single tender, framework and day rate figures
- Contracts Advance, pricing. Bid review prices
- bidtogether, pricing. Essential and Premium per-bid prices
- ClearBid prices. Fixed prices, not VAT registered
- ClearBid award statistics. Bids per tender and contract sizes
Public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Spotted something wrong? See how our figures are built and how to report a correction.