# Is there a free SAM.gov API? Yes. Every official SAM.gov API on api.sam.gov is free: entity registrations, opportunities, exclusions, contract awards and the federal hierarchy. The limits are the cost: 10 calls a day without a SAM.gov role, 1,000 with one, keys that expire every 90 days, and 10 entities per page. USAspending's API is also free and needs no key at all, which makes it the easiest free source for award history.Checked on 2026-11-15.Official source: [open.gsa.gov API catalog](https://open.gsa.gov/api/) | Official SAM.gov API price | Free | | --- | --- | | USAspending API price | Free, no key | | samgovapi.io free plan | 100 credits a month | | SAM.gov registration | Free at sam.gov | ## The answer in detail USAspending's API is also free and needs no key at all, which makes it the easiest free source for award history. The SAM.gov extracts are free files. Between them, all of the public federal contracting record is available at no charge; what costs time is the loading, joining and paging.Paid products sell that work. samgovapi.io has a permanent free plan (100 credits a month and 20 requests a minute, no card) and a keyless MCP search that answers lookups for AI assistants without any key.Beware of sites that charge to register in SAM.gov: registration is free at sam.gov, and GSA warns about paid registration services. ## How the options compare | Option | Price | Access and limits | Coverage and history | Best for | Checked | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [SAM.gov APIs (official)](https://open.gsa.gov/api/entity-api/) | Free | 10 requests a day with no SAM.gov role, 1,000 with a role or a non-federal system account; keys expire every 90 days | The live, authoritative record: entities, opportunities, exclusions, contract awards, hierarchy, subawards | Anyone who needs the official record itself, at low volume | 2026-11-12 | | [USAspending API (official)](https://api.usaspending.gov/docs/endpoints) | Free, no key | No key and no published daily cap | Prime awards and subawards back to FY2001; no SAM.gov registration status or expiry | Award and spending history | 2026-11-12 | | [SAM.gov entity extracts (official files)](https://open.gsa.gov/api/sam-entity-extracts-api/) | Free | Monthly full file plus daily deltas; public version needs a free key to download | Every registration in the public extract; you load and query it yourself | Data teams that want to host the whole file | 2026-11-12 | | [sam-gov-mcp (open source, PyPI)](https://pypi.org/project/sam-gov-mcp/) | Free | Hosted edition: no key, 6 tools; local edition: 20 tools on your own SAM.gov key, so SAM.gov's daily limits apply | Wraps the official SAM.gov REST APIs live (version 1.0.18, released 27 Oct 2026) | Agents that need a few live SAM.gov calls a day | 2026-11-15 | | [samgovapi.io](https://samgovapi.io/pricing) | Free (100 credits a month, no card); Developer $49/mo, Pro $149/mo, Scale $499/mo | 20 to 180 requests a minute by plan, no daily cap; REST, MCP and keyless MCP search | 881,370 entities (1 Nov 2026 extract), 74,420 notices, 169,191 exclusions, 114,954 awards since 1 Oct 2026 | Developers and AI agents who want entities, bids and exclusions joined in one API | 2026-11-15 | ## Where samgovapi.io is the weaker choice - The free plan is 100 credits a month. SAM.gov's no-role key allows 10 calls a day, about 300 a month, though each returns at most 10 entities where one call here returns up to 100. - Award history is short: 114,954 prime awards with action dates from 1 Oct 2026 to 10 Nov 2026 (fiscal year 2027 so far). USAspending goes back to FY2001 and GovCon API serves 12.27 million contracts from FY2025. ## Try it The keyless search tool needs no account at all. ``` # No key needed: the hosted MCP server's search tool curl -s https://samgovapi.io/api/mcp -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"search","arguments":{"query":"cage code 53U20"}}}' ``` ## Questions Do I need to register my company to get a SAM.gov API key?No. Any SAM.gov user can request a public API key; a role in a registered entity raises the daily limit.Is the keyless search really free?Yes. The MCP search and fetch tools need no key and cost no credits, with per-client rate limits. ## Related - [SAM.gov API](https://samgovapi.io/sam-gov-api) - [USAspending API](https://samgovapi.io/usaspending-api) - [API docs](https://samgovapi.io/docs) - [Pricing](https://samgovapi.io/pricing) - [Answers](https://samgovapi.io/answers)Updated 2026-11-15. Sources checked 2026-11-15.Independent. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by GSA, SAM.gov or any U.S. government agency. Registering in SAM.gov is free at sam.gov.

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Independent. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by GSA, SAM.gov or any U.S. government agency. Registering in SAM.gov is free at sam.gov.

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