Buildscout alternative

Buildscout Planning data is £99 + VAT a month. SiteLens Pro is £39 a month, with a free plan to start.

Buildscout: Projects £49 a month and Planning data £99 a month, rolling monthly, each with a 14-day trial that takes payment details at the start and then bills automatically (its draft terms). Homeowner outreach from £199 a month and Enterprise £499 a month per user, both on 12-month plans. Prices exclude VAT. Letters cost £1 + VAT each, or 80p + VAT on Enterprise.
SiteLens: £39 a month, or £29 a month billed annually, with a free plan to start. Twelve months of Pro at £39 a month is £468; twelve months of Buildscout Planning data is £1,188 + VAT.

Checked 21 October 2026.

Buildscout, part of the Searchland Group, sells planning data, letters to homeowners and tools to run the job. SiteLens sorts every new application across 380+ UK councils by the trades it needs, maps it with site checks and nearby public tenders, and emails your matches each morning.

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Which should you choose?

Choose SiteLens if you find your own work and make contact yourself: the new applications in your patch sorted by your trade, Companies House checks on the firms you want to chase, and your matches in your inbox each morning. Start free, then £39 a month, or £29 a month billed annually, with no contract.

Choose Buildscout if you want letters written and posted to homeowners for you, on a 12-month plan from £199 a month + VAT, or one platform that also runs your jobs, crew timesheets and client updates.

What SiteLens does better

Sorted by your trade

22 works tags, from groundworks to renewables, mark the trades each application needs, so a roofer’s alert holds roofing jobs. Buildscout filters by work type, distance, property value and stage.

Your matches, every morning

Save a search and SiteLens emails the new matches daily or weekly on every plan, including free, each with the reason it matched. Buildscout advertises saved searches you re-run, with folders that fill themselves each day and saved searches exported to each rep daily, weekly or monthly on Enterprise.

Who is behind it, checked

Companies House numbers are matched to applicants, agents and contractors on every plan. Pro opens the directors and filing health, the agent’s published email and phone, and 15 contact lookups a month; Buildscout keeps company owners and contact lookup for Enterprise.

SiteLens vs Buildscout, feature by feature

Each Buildscout entry comes from its own website unless the cell says otherwise. Checked 21 October 2026.

Feature	SiteLens	Buildscout
Price	£39/mo, or £29/mo billed annually	Planning data £99/mo; Homeowner outreach from £199/mo; Enterprise £499/mo per user; Projects £49/mo; all + VAT
Try before you pay	Free plan with no time limit, plus 7 days of Pro, no card	14-day trial on Projects and Planning data; payment details taken at the start, then billed automatically (draft terms)
Contract	Monthly or annual, no minimum term, cancel any time	Planning data rolling monthly; Homeowner outreach and Enterprise are 12-month plans that renew unless you give 30 days’ notice (draft terms)
Users	Pro for one; Team for up to 5 at £99/mo, or £79/mo billed annually	Unlimited team members on the job tools; Enterprise data users at £499/mo + VAT each
Planning applications	Every new application across 380+ UK councils, collected every night	UK-wide coverage, live, with the documents
Applications at submission	No. New applications come from council registers, every night	Picks up applications at submission, up to 22 days before validation
Plain-English summary	Yes, a plain-English brief, with project type, stage and building type	AI summary of every application
Plain-English search	Included	Yes, AI search
Trade tags	22 works tags, from groundworks to renewables	Pick your trade or describe it to AI
Search filters	Trade, stage, value, radius, council, constraints, EPC, homes, storeys and more	Work type, distance, property value and stage
Search inside planning documents	No. We read them for figures and the named project team	Document keyword search, with words to require or leave out
Project values	Estimated value bands, each naming its basis	Filter by property value
Contact details	Agent’s published email and phone, the named project team and 15 lookups a month (Pro)	Homeowner and agent on the application; enriched architect contacts and contact lookup on Enterprise
Companies House match	Yes, on every plan (directors, accounts and charges on Pro)	Company owners from Companies House, even behind holding companies (Enterprise)
Company data	One page per firm: its applications, decision record and who it works with (Pro)	Search by architect, agent or company (Enterprise)
Alerts on new applications	Daily or weekly email by trade, area and keyword; hourly on Team	Saved searches to re-run; folders that fill themselves each day, and saved searches exported to each rep daily, weekly or monthly, on Enterprise
Decision alerts	On every plan, including free	Not mentioned on its website
Tenders and contract awards	Near each site and in alerts, plus public contracts ending in the next 12 months	Not mentioned on its website
Maps and site data	Map search; 24 planning constraint flags, six drawn on the map; EPC and a street-level imagery link; history at the address on Pro	Map and drawn-area search, and planning history with the documents; hotspots on Enterprise
Pipeline and exports	Built-in leads pipeline; CSV with HubSpot and Salesforce columns (Pro)	Leads board with win rate; CSV exports 3 a week on Planning data, 5 on Homeowner outreach, unlimited on Enterprise
API	API plan from £149/mo, billed annually	Not mentioned on its website
Letters to homeowners	No. SiteLens does not print or post letters	Automatic letters to matching applications, with follow-ups at validation and approval; £1 + VAT each, 80p on Enterprise
Running the job	No. SiteLens is for finding the work	Projects plan: AI walkthroughs that write the tasks, crew clock-in and timesheets, and a client portal
Getting started	Six guided starting points by trade or role, built into the app	Self-serve on the monthly plans; an account manager on Homeowner outreach (draft terms)

See your own patch before you decide.

Search 380+ UK councils free, with no card. When you want the names behind the schemes, try Pro free for 7 days. After that, Pro is £39 a month, or £29 a month billed annually, with no contract.

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See every plan and price or all features.

When you should still pick Buildscout

Buildscout picks up many planning applications when they are submitted, which it says can be up to 22 days before the council validates them, and its Homeowner outreach plan writes to the homeowner for you: automatic letters to matching applications, follow-ups at validation and approval, three letter designs based on your website, sequences that stop on reply, QR tracking and campaign stats, at £1 + VAT a letter. Its document keyword search, which won Technology Innovation of the Year at the 2026 CN Specialists Awards, searches inside drawings and documents for your product. Enterprise adds architect details enriched with email, phone and LinkedIn, company owners behind holding companies and a shared sales pipeline, and the Projects tools run the job once it is won, with AI walkthroughs, crew timesheets and a client portal. If you sell to homeowners by post, or want one platform from the lead to the finished job, Buildscout is built for that.

If you find your own work and make contact yourself, you need the new applications in your patch, sorted by your trade, with Companies House checks on the firms you want to chase and a morning email of the ones that fit. That is SiteLens Pro at £39 a month, or £29 a month billed annually, with no contract.

Can you use both?

Some firms will. A groundworks contractor could find new-build and commercial schemes in SiteLens and contact the developer, and write to homeowners about driveways through Buildscout’s Homeowner outreach plan.

Frequently asked

How much does Buildscout cost?

Its pricing page lists Projects at £49 a month and Planning data at £99 a month, both rolling monthly with a 14-day trial, then Homeowner outreach from £199 a month and Enterprise at £499 a month per user, both on 12-month plans. Prices exclude VAT. Letters cost £1 + VAT each, or 80p + VAT on Enterprise.

Does Buildscout have a free trial?

Projects and Planning data start with a 14-day trial. Its terms, marked Draft, say payment details are taken when the trial starts and the paid plan begins automatically unless you cancel. The 12-month plans have no trial. SiteLens has a free plan with no time limit, and a 7-day Pro trial with no card.

Which is cheaper for planning data?

SiteLens. Pro is £39 a month, or £29 a month billed annually, and the free plan has no time limit. Buildscout Planning data is £99 a month + VAT. Architect details, company owners and contact lookup sit on Enterprise, at £499 a month + VAT per user. SiteLens Pro has Companies House profiles and 15 contact lookups a month.

Can I use SiteLens without sending letters?

Yes, that is how SiteLens works. It finds and sorts the new applications in your patch and emails your matches each morning; you choose how to make contact. Pro adds the agent’s published email and phone, the named project team and 15 contact lookups a month. SiteLens does not print or post letters.

See it before you pay a penny.

Stay on the free plan for as long as you like, or try Pro free for 7 days, no card. Sign up, then start it on the upgrade page.

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