Updated October 2026 · Guide

Glenigan vs Barbour ABI: price, contracts and coverage

Glenigan and Barbour ABI are the two long-established names in UK construction project intelligence, and if you have got as far as comparing them you already know that neither publishes a price list. This guide puts them side by side on the things a buyer can actually check before a sales call: what subscriptions cost, what the contracts commit you to, and where each is strong. Everything about the two platforms here is drawn from their own published pages and terms, except Glenigan’s prices, which it does not publish: those come from public reviews and a public contract notice. All are referenced at the bottom.

One thing to declare first: we build a competing tool, SiteLens, and it appears as a third column near the end. It is built for a different job, and we say plainly below when the enterprise platforms are the better buy.

The short answer

They are close substitutes. Both sell researcher-validated intelligence on named construction projects: scheme details, values, timelines and the decision-makers attached, aimed at sales, marketing and BD teams. Both are sold through a sales team, after a demo. If you are choosing between them, the feature grids will not settle it, because the grids look nearly identical. What you can compare from the outside is the entry price, where Barbour ABI publishes figures and Glenigan does not, and the published renewal terms, where the two differ in a way worth knowing before you sign either.

How much does Glenigan cost?

Glenigan does not publish prices. Its pricing page invites you to discuss your requirements and get a quote for only what you need. Renewal amounts quoted in public reviews of Glenigan from 2024 run from about £3,500 to £6,800 a year, and bigger contracts run higher: a 2024 Department for Transport contract for Glenigan data, reports and analyst access was valued at £60,000 for one year. Treat those figures as the shape of the market rather than a quote, because that is all a reported number can be. Glenigan’s own pricing page says every customer gets five user logins as standard, and its terms quote fees exclusive of VAT and let them rise once a year by up to RPI plus 5%.

How much does Barbour ABI cost?

Barbour ABI publishes more. Its own ROI page says “average subscription costs range from £4k and can be altered to fit the needs of your team”, and its worked ROI example uses “an average annual Barbour ABI subscription of around £7,500” (both checked 21 October 2026). It prices by the sectors, locations, users and API licences you choose. So a realistic budget is £4k to get in and something nearer £7,500 for a typical team.

What do the contracts commit you to?

This is the section to read twice, because it is where renewals catch people. Both vendors’ published terms continue past the first term automatically, and both ask for 90 days’ written notice to leave. The detail differs, and Barbour ABI’s terms carry a date range:

• Glenigan (General Terms of Business, clauses 3.1 and 5.9, checked 21 October 2026): a contract continues “for the term identified in the Order, and then will automatically extend for further 12 month periods” unless a party gives “at least 90 days’ written notice”. Notice is only valid by email to one contract address, and the terms state you cannot cancel autorenewal “using any other method of communication including a telephone call”. After the first anniversary, fees can rise once a year by up to the RPI rate “plus 5%”.
• Barbour ABI (Client Terms, clauses 3.2, 11.4 and 14.12, checked 21 October 2026): the only terms on its site are headed “For all contracts entered into between 16 October 2024 and 11 May 2026”. For those contracts, an initial subscription period of 12 months “(or such other period as may be agreed)”, after which the agreement “will continue automatically unless and until it is terminated”. Termination takes “not less than 90 (ninety) days’ prior written notice”, sent “either by (i) registered post; or (ii) by couriered letter”. Its site publishes no terms for contracts signed since, so ask for the ones you would sign.

Neither clause is unusual for enterprise software, and neither is a reason on its own to avoid either platform. But if you sign one, diarise the notice window on day one: 90 days’ notice means your real decision point is three months before each renewal date, and the notice has to travel by the one channel that vendor accepts.

How do coverage and research differ?

Both claim UK-wide coverage, with Republic of Ireland projects too, and both invest heavily in human research: teams who phone projects to confirm scope, timing and the people behind them. On their own published numbers, checked 21 October 2026, Glenigan’s homepage counts around 600,000 live projects, 160 researchers and more than a million research calls a year, and offers “Up to 3 Weeks Earlier Insight via planning data from the Planning Portal”. Barbour ABI’s counts 1.6 million live projects and calls its research team the largest in the UK, and its leads platform tracks projects valued over £100k. Both now add AI on top: Glenigan says its AI tools mine each planning application, and Barbour ABI’s “Just Ask” AI search comes free with a subscription. Those are the vendors’ own claims, so weigh them accordingly.

Vendor numbers will not settle the choice either, because what matters is coverage of your schemes. The only reliable test is the one we suggest for any project-intelligence buy: take ten schemes you already know about, in your sector and your patch, and ask each provider to show you their records. Whichever knew about more of them first is the one that would have helped you.

When to pick Glenigan

You are an enterprise BD, sales or marketing team chasing named major schemes, and your team will actually phone the decision-makers its researchers confirm. Its extras are early sight of some applications through the Planning Portal, NBS specification data and projects that never need planning. The research service is the expensive part of what you are buying, and it pays for itself on the largest projects or not at all.

When to pick Barbour ABI

Same category, same test. Points in its favour: it publishes figures where Glenigan publishes none, its product specification tool suits manufacturers, and its market-analysis output suits teams that want sector intelligence alongside leads. If you are torn, run the ten-schemes test and compare the two quotes, because the platforms are closer to each other than either is to anything else on the market.

When neither is the right shape

Both are project-intelligence platforms priced for enterprise teams. If your work is supply-chain, meaning you want to know quickly which new planning applications across your patch mean work for your trade, then bid-level dossiers on megaprojects are the wrong shape and the wrong price, whichever vendor sells them. That job is what SiteLens is built for: every new application across 380+ UK councils, sorted by the trades it needs, typically searchable and alertable the morning after the council publishes it. Estimated value bands each name their basis, and the firms are matched to Companies House on every plan. It is self-serve with published pricing. Pro is £39/mo, or £29/mo billed annually, and Team is £99/mo, or £79/mo billed annually, with a free plan and no contract. We compare ourselves to each in detail on SiteLens vs Glenigan and SiteLens vs Barbour ABI.

Side by side

(Barbour ABI’s figures and both sets of terms were re-read on the vendors’ own sites on 21 October 2026. The Glenigan amounts come from 2024 reviews and a 2024 contract. Always confirm current terms with the vendor before signing.)

Quick answers

Still weighing the wider field? Our guide to the main UK planning data tools covers the land platforms and the lighter alert tools too, and Glenigan alternatives goes deeper on the self-serve end of the market.

Sources

• Glenigan: homepage, live project count, researchers, research calls and Planning Portal early insight
• Barbour ABI: homepage, live project count and research team claims
• Glenigan: pricing, quote-based, no published price list, five user logins as standard
• Trustpilot review of Glenigan, 28 November 2024, a renewal invoice of £3,500, 9% up on the year before
• Trustpilot review of Glenigan, 9 April 2024, a renewal charge of £6,800
• Contracts Finder: Department for Transport award to Glenigan, contract value £60,000, 15 May 2024 to 14 May 2025
• Glenigan: General Terms of Business, clause 3.1 on automatic extension, notice period and the notice email address, 5.8 on VAT and 5.9 on yearly price rises
• Barbour ABI: Your ROI, average subscription cost figures
• Barbour ABI: Subcontractors, projects tracked with a value over £100k
• Barbour ABI: Client Terms and Conditions, headed “For all contracts entered into between 16 October 2024 and 11 May 2026”, clauses 3.2, 11.4 and 14.12 on renewal and notice
• SiteLens pricing: Pro £39/mo, or £29/mo billed annually. Team £99/mo, or £79/mo billed annually