ShovelScout vs PermitGrab

A side-by-side comparison built from both listings. Blank cells mean the company has not given that detail; we never guess.

ShovelScout compared with PermitGrab
Detail	ShovelScout	PermitGrab
What it does	Search Reddit, Hacker News and business forums for posts by people asking for what you sell	Public building permit data for contractors, organized by market with source dates and available fields
Stage	Startup	Startup
Founded	2026	2024
Based in	CN	US
Pricing model	Freemium	Not given
Pricing	Free: 5 keywords, up to 15 matches per keyword/day, Reddit + Hacker News. Starter: $9.9/month or $99/year (pay 10 months, get 12), 25 keywords, up to 40 matches per keyword/day, 300 searches/day. Growth: $19.9/month or $199/year, 60 keywords, up to 100 matches per keyword/day, all sources. Automatio	Pro plan: $149/month, billed monthly; includes city-level permit records, filters by trade and date, CSV export, contractor profiles and contact fields where available, owner and violation records in supported markets, daily and weekly digest alerts, and priority support. 14-day free trial available
Key features	Automated labels showing what each poster wants Email alerts for new matching posts New threads indexed within minutes Search the full history, not just recent posts Filters to limit results by board, title-only, or exclude words RSS, JSON, API, and Webhook feeds on higher plans AI judgment layer to assess thread relevance	Browse and filter permits by trade, value, date, and ZIP code Contractor profiles and contact details where published by source CSV export of qualified records Daily and weekly digest alerts for new permit activity Coverage of 474+ U.S. cities with permits published in last 30 days Source date transparency for each market Data from official municipal sources including Socrata, ArcGIS, and CKAN Trade-specific filtering for Roofers, HVAC, Electricians, Plumbers, General Contractors Market-specific field availability disclosed before subscription
What makes it different	Finds people asking for solutions, not just posts mentioning keywords Does not sell contact lists or allow bulk messaging Same library on all plans including free No placement or sponsored results	Uses official government sources rather than purchased directories Transparently discloses source dates and available fields by market before signup Distinguishes between owner, applicant, contractor, and other source-published roles Free browsing to verify market coverage before committing to subscription 30-day money-back guarantee for Professional plan
Community votes	0	0
DR (Domain Rating by Ahrefs)	2 +1 (up) since last check	8 +3 (up) since last check
Trust Flow (Majestic)	0	0
Citation Flow (Majestic)	26	17
Referring domains (Majestic)	15	12

7 details filled in for both companies.

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