RFPCapture vs CLEATUS

Quick summary

Pick this comparison when you are deciding how much autonomy you want to hand an AI system. CLEATUS describes agents that search the web, generate files, compute a PWIN score on arrival, and execute multi-step workflows without manual intervention. CaptureIQ scores capability fit with deterministic rules first, uses AI only after those rules run, and requires a named human reviewer before a packet advances. Neither approach is universally correct.

The second split is market scope. CLEATUS claims discovery across more than 50,000 federal, state, local, and education sources plus grants and SBIR/STTR (verified as of September 4, 2026 from CLEATUS-owned pages). CaptureIQ is federal only, centered on SAM.gov. If SLED volume is your pipeline, that difference decides the evaluation before any feature table matters.

The autonomy question: agents that act vs gates that hold

CLEATUS public materials draw a deliberate line between chatbots and agents. The stated model is that the platform pre-shreds a solicitation package the moment an opportunity matches, computes a probability-of-win score against your capture profile without a questionnaire, and can chain AI steps on a drag-and-drop workflow canvas. For a two-person shop drowning in triage, an agent that has already read the package before you open the record is a meaningful time change.

CaptureIQ inverts the emphasis. Qualification runs against approved capability materials using deterministic rules before any model scores anything, so a fit result can be traced to a rule rather than to a generation. Bid and no-bid outcomes are recorded as Decision Ledger events. Packets require human review and CaptureIQ does not auto-submit to any portal.

Neither model is safer by definition. Autonomy is faster when the inputs are clean and the stakes of a wrong pursuit are low. Authorization gates are more defensible when a contracting officer, a prime, or your own leadership will later ask who decided to bid and on what basis. Ask both vendors to show you the audit record for a decision, not just the speed of the draft.

Feature comparison (autonomy and coverage weighted)

Criteria below emphasize autonomy, market breadth, and packaging, because those are the axes where these two products actually diverge. Confirm current CLEATUS modules in the 7-day trial.

Pricing where verified

CLEATUS (verified as of September 4, 2026 from https://www.cleat.ai/pricing): DATA at $39/user/month billed annually, with 1 seat and no AI chat, proposal writer, CRM, or integrations. DATA + AI at $78/user/month billed annually, with up to 5 seats, 50 GovCon AI Chat credits per month, and 100MB of Document Hub storage. DATA + AI + Automations and GovCloud are both listed as Contact Us, annual only, with no public dollar price. The AI Proposal Writer and AI Workflows appear only on Automations and above.

CaptureIQ (from the public /pricing catalog): Starter $249/month, Scout $499/month, Pursuit $1,299/month, Command $2,499/month, with annual options where supported. Grant discovery is packaged separately. Reconfirm live figures on /pricing before purchase.

The two models are not directly comparable. CLEATUS published tiers are per user per month with seat caps and monthly AI credits; CaptureIQ tiers are organization plans. A five-seat team on DATA + AI is a different budget shape than a five-person team on a single CaptureIQ plan, and the CLEATUS tier that carries the proposal writer is not publicly priced at all. Model seats, credit burn, and proposal volume before comparing totals.

Security and compliance: read the labels carefully

The CLEATUS security page describes AES-256 encryption at rest, TLS 1.2+ in transit, role-based access control, exportable audit logs, third-party penetration testing, permanent data deletion within 30 days of cancellation, and a separate AWS GovCloud (US) government environment with its own authentication stack and customer-scoped keys. CLEATUS also states it does not train models on customer data.

CLEATUS lists FedRAMP and CMMC Level 2 as GovCloud plan features. CaptureIQ did not verify a CLEATUS FedRAMP Marketplace authorization listing from a marketplace.fedramp.gov URL during this review, so this page describes those items as enterprise tier features rather than as an authorization. If FedRAMP status is a gate for your security team, ask CLEATUS for the Marketplace listing and the authorization boundary in writing.

CaptureIQ is not FedRAMP authorized. Do not shortlist CaptureIQ for a requirement that mandates a FedRAMP authorized cloud service. CaptureIQ security posture is documented at /legal/security, and its governance emphasis is decision auditability and required human review rather than a federal authorization boundary.

• CaptureIQ: not FedRAMP authorized, and does not claim to be
• CLEATUS: FedRAMP and CMMC listed as GovCloud tier features; confirm authorization directly
• Both: ask for the written data retention, residency, and model-training terms

Who each product is best for

CLEATUS (public positioning): teams that want maximum automation per dollar across a wide market, especially small businesses chasing state, local, education, and grant work alongside federal notices, and teams comfortable letting an agent do first-pass analysis and drafting. The per-user entry price and 7-day trial make it easy to test without procurement involvement.

RFPCapture / CaptureIQ: lean federal contractors whose bottleneck is not volume of opportunities but defensible throughput, where a wrong pursuit costs real proposal hours, and where leadership wants a recorded reason for every go and no-go decision. Federal only, with published organization pricing and free alerts.

RFPCapture advantages in this matchup

Deterministic capability-fit rules run before model scoring, so a fit result traces to an approved rule rather than to a generation.

Decision Ledger records bid and no-bid events with the human who authorized them.

Required human review before a packet advances, and no automatic submission to any portal.

Free opportunity alerts and free explore with no trial countdown and no credit card.

Organization plan pricing rather than per-seat plus per-action credits, which keeps the monthly number stable as usage varies.

Original public-corpus research pages your team can cite in a capture review independent of any paid seat.

CLEATUS advantages in this matchup

State, local, and education coverage plus grants and SBIR/STTR, none of which CaptureIQ offers.

A published entry price of $39/user/month billed annually for data access, which is below the CaptureIQ Starter plan for a single-seat buyer who only needs discovery.

Named contract-vehicle feeds including GSA eBuy, SeaPort NxG, and DLA DIBBS listed on CLEATUS pages; CaptureIQ does not claim equivalent vehicle-level ingestion.

Claude and ChatGPT connectors plus a public REST API on higher tiers, for teams that want GovCon data inside an assistant they already use.

A 7-day free trial that includes AI credits, which lets a buyer test agent output before committing.

RFPCapture limitations (relevant to CLEATUS buyers)

No state, local, or education coverage, and no cooperative purchasing program ingestion.

No claimed parity with CLEATUS pre-forecasting or recompete scoring 12 to 18 months ahead of an RFP.

No Claude or ChatGPT connector directory listing and no equivalent public MCP tool surface.

Not FedRAMP authorized, and no GovCloud isolated deployment option.

Free explore excludes completed proposal packets and downloadable final proposal documents.

Best-fit decision guide

Lean toward CLEATUS when SLED or grant volume is a real part of your pipeline, when you want the lowest published entry price for data access, or when you want an agent to do first-pass work autonomously and you are comfortable reviewing its output afterward.

Lean toward CaptureIQ when your pursuits are federal, when a recorded bid/no-bid rationale matters more than raw draft speed, and when you want a stable organization plan price rather than seats plus credits.

A stacked approach is possible but should be a deliberate choice: broad discovery in one tool, governed qualification and packet production in another. Model the combined cost honestly before assuming both are needed.

Supporting RFPCapture research and public data

These links support CaptureIQ claims about the federal opportunity landscape. They are not claims of CLEATUS feature parity. Figures are RFPCapture-derived analysis of structured public notice fields, not official SAM.gov statistics.

• /research/2026-federal-opportunity-benchmark - 71,161 dated federal notices in the shared catalog
• /research/2026-federal-set-aside-benchmark - set-aside program families across the dated corpus
• /research/federal-proposal-timeline-benchmark - response windows from authoritative posted dates
• /federal-opportunities - live public opportunity directory
• /naics - market hubs
• /pricing - published CaptureIQ organization plans
• /opportunity-alerts - free alerts with no subscription

Competitor sources (verified)

CLEATUS pricing https://www.cleat.ai/pricing - plan dollars, seat caps, credits, 7-day trial (verified September 4, 2026).

CLEATUS security https://www.cleat.ai/security - encryption, access control, audit logs, GovCloud option (verified September 4, 2026).

CLEATUS llms.txt https://www.cleat.ai/llms.txt - site-published feature and coverage summary (verified September 4, 2026).

Volatile facts including prices, credit allotments, seat caps, and compliance packaging change without notice. Re-check CLEATUS pages before procurement.