What job does each one do?
| Service | Job | What you pay for | What it cannot do |
|---|---|---|---|
| TenderLink | Alert aggregation across public and private notices | Filtered alerts and tender documentation access | Run the buyer’s evaluation or lodge on your behalf |
| Tenders.net | Alert aggregation with category and region filters | A digest of notices matched to your profile | Replace the free boards as the source of truth |
| Australian Tenders | Alert aggregation over government and private work | Search, alerts, and notice summaries | Qualify the opportunity or write the response |
| VendorPanel | Buyer-hosted procurement: RFQs, panels, and evaluation workflow | Usually buyer-side licensing; suppliers join panels and respond inside it | Act as a neutral alert feed; it is where invited work happens |
This table compares jobs, not scores. Inclusion is by the job each service publicly claims as of September 2026, checked against official capability pages: a documentation review, not hands-on testing of every tier. Features, prices, and coverage change; recheck before buying. selrob sells qualification (the gate after the alert), not alerts, and this page is not a neutral marketplace review.
When should you pay for alerts?
After the free boards work. If AusTender, the state portals, and GETS alerts already arrive and get gated, an aggregator buys convenience: one digest, better filters, private-sector notices the public boards never carry. If the free boards are not set up, paid alerts buy a fuller feed of work you still cannot qualify.
The failure mode is familiar: fifty Monday-morning notifications, no gate, exhausted bid writers chasing low-probability work. Discovery is a notification mechanism. Qualification is the governance. A fuller inbox without a faster no is how firms spend more to win the same.
What about VendorPanel specifically?
VendorPanel is where invited and panel work happens for many councils and agencies: a procurement platform, not a legal regime and not an alert feed. Being registered there matters when buyers you want invite through it. Council platform use is covered on council tenders. Do not confuse registration on a platform with qualification for the work inside it.
What does this mean for the bid/no-bid call?
Every alert, free or paid, enters the same gate. Log the notice, check pre-conditions, read the method, price the pursuit on the calculator. The national directory of free boards is where tenders are published. If the inbox is already full of regretted work, you need a gate, not a fuller feed.