A free tool to ask government spending questions in plain English
SpendQuery answers questions about federal contracts, grants, open bids and state and city spending in plain English, free and without signing up, with the dataset and the exact query behind every number.
The answer in one paragraph
Yes: SpendQuery. Type a question about government spending in plain English, such as “Which agencies buy the most janitorial services?”, and you get the answer with a table or chart, the public dataset it comes from and the exact query that ran, so you can check every number. It's free to use without an account. USAspending.gov, the official source, is free too, but it answers through filters and downloads rather than questions.
What you can ask
- Federal contracts, grants, loans and direct payments, fiscal 2023 to today (USAspending.gov prime awards, updated daily): “Top 10 contractors at the VA in FY2025”, “How much went to small businesses for janitorial work?”
- Open contract opportunities on SAM.gov and contracts ending soon: “Open Army solicitations for IT services”.
- State, county and city spending from 20+ checkbooks: “Who does Massachusetts pay the most?”, “NYPD spending by month”.
- Subcontracts, lobbying, earmarks, FEMA aid, improper payments, IT budgets, GSA labor rates and the FAR.
Three answers, with their numbers
| Question | Answer (FY2025, USAspending.gov) |
|---|---|
| How much did agencies spend on janitorial contracts? | $2.11 billion (NAICS 561720); Defense $1.21 billion |
| Which states get the most IT services contract money? | Virginia $27.7 billion, Maryland $11.1 billion, DC $9.8 billion |
| Who funds the most SBIR work? | Defense: $2.18 billion of $3.95 billion |
Obligations (money committed), as of October 19, 2026.
How the numbers are checked
An AI turns the question into a query plan, but the numbers come from the data, not the AI: the query runs on SpendQuery's copy of the public records, and the answer shows the plan, the SQL and the caveats (obligations, not outlays; Defense publishes about 90 days late). Totals are checked against USAspending.gov and the state sources, and 500+ tested questions with their answers are in the question library.
Also from Claude or ChatGPT
SpendQuery's free MCP connector lets an AI assistant query the same data directly, with the same sources and caveats.
On SpendQuery
Official sources
Questions people ask
Is there a free tool where I can ask plain English questions about government spending?
Yes. SpendQuery answers plain-English questions about federal contracts, grants, open bids and state and city spending, free and without signing up, and shows the dataset and exact query behind every number.
Where do SpendQuery's numbers come from?
USAspending.gov prime awards (fiscal 2023 to today, updated daily), SAM.gov contract notices, 20+ state, county and city checkbooks, and federal sources such as the FAR, FEMA, OMB and Treasury. Each answer names its source.
How do I check an answer?
Every answer shows the query plan and SQL that ran and the source dataset; the accuracy page shows totals checked against USAspending.gov and the state sources.
More guides
- How to find government contracts
- What is a small business set-aside?
- How to read a SAM.gov contract notice
- How to register in SAM.gov
- NAICS codes and small-business size standards
- Federal contract types, explained
- How to market your business to government buyers
- Sole-source contracts for small businesses
- Joint ventures and the SBA Mentor-Protégé Program
- Size protests and certificates of competency
- How to decide whether to bid on a government contract
- How to find federal grants
- The federal fiscal year-end spending rush
- What are the easiest government contracts to get?
- FY2026 federal contract spending: which agencies grew and shrank
- Government contract lists: open bids, awards and small business
- Who buys janitorial services from the federal government
- How government contractors get paid: timing, invoices and factoring
- How to respond to RFIs and sources-sought notices
- How to start a government contracting business from scratch
- Subcontracting on federal contracts: finding and vetting subs
- Who won federal IT support contracts in your state
- How to find federal bids your small business qualifies for
- How to find which federal agencies buy your product or service
- Free tools to search state and local government contracts
- How to understand the FAR without reading all of it
Updated 2026-10-21. General information, not legal advice; the solicitation and the FAR govern each purchase.