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Ishara vs spreadsheets:
the real competitor

Excel is the true incumbent for both jobs. Here is when each one breaks.

Choose a spreadsheet if

One person works a pipeline that fits on one screen.

Choose Ishara if

The list needs discovering, replies need remembering, or a deadline can hide between portal checks.

What Ishara costs

Free; Pro $12 per seat per month; Business $39 per seat per month; Enterprise custom.

The short version

The tool most raise trackers and tender trackers live in is Excel or Google Sheets: free, familiar, already open. For one person and one screen, it is enough.

The two jobs outgrow one file in different ways: the investor tracker rots, and the tender tracker runs blind.

Where the sheet breaks

The investor tracker rots. Pasted rows decay silently: the partner moved firms, the email bounces. The directory keeps 32,822 profiles current, Find my investors ranks them against your raise with a reason beside every name, and every reply lands on the record.

The tender tracker runs blind. A sheet only knows what someone pasted in after a portal visit: a tender published on Wednesday evening reaches a twice-weekly sheet on Sunday with 4 of 14 days gone. Tender intelligence brings every new tender across the six markets QatarBahrainSaudi ArabiaKuwaitOmanUnited Arab Emirates to you, in Arabic and English.

The most expensive miss never appears on any portal. The recompete radar names the incumbent on every contract approaching its end date, so pursuit starts before the tender exists, and benchmarks show how many rivals a tender like yours usually draws.

Capability comparison

7 Ishara1 tie3 Spreadsheet
CapabilityIsharaSpreadsheet
A list you fully controlYesYes
Investor data included on day oneYes 32,822 investorsNo
Tender feed without a person checking portalsYes six marketsNo
Recompete visibility before the new tender is publishedYesNo
Bid history from published bidder tablesYesPartial your own past bids
Reply data on the recordYesNo
Matching with a reason per name, plus warm pathsYesNo
Arabic and English titles in one data modelYesPartial two columns by hand
Free-form analysis in any layoutPartial filter, sort, exportYes
Zero learning curve for everyone around youPartialYes
Runs as a local file, offlineNo web and desktop appYes

Bring the sheet in

Your sheet is the starting point: CSV import maps your columns to typed fields and merges duplicates on every run. Free is a standing plan: load the sheet first. The raise calculator and bid calculator size either pipeline.

Frequently asked questions

When is a spreadsheet enough for tracking investors or tenders?

When one person works a pipeline that fits on one screen, already knows everyone on the list, bids on one portal that gets checked daily, and nobody else depends on the sheet being current. It stops being enough the moment the list needs discovering, replies need remembering across dozens of threads, or a deadline can hide between portal checks.

Can I import my existing tracker spreadsheet into Ishara?

Yes. The CSV import maps your columns to typed fields, previews the result before it writes, and merges duplicates so a re-import stays clean. Free is a standing plan, so you can load the sheet and judge the result before paying anything.

How is Ishara tender data fresher than checking portals by hand?

A hand-checked sheet trails the portal by the length of your checking habit. Ishara brings new tenders across Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE to you, the recompete radar surfaces contracts approaching their end date before the new tender is published, and tender profiles carry the bidder table.

What does Ishara cost compared with a spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet is free or bundled with your office suite; its real cost is the time spent pasting and re-checking. Ishara Free is a standing plan with the CRM, the directory and your imports; Pro is $12 per seat per month and Business, which carries the tender plane, is $39 per seat per month.

Bring your sheet in this afternoon.

32,822 investors, government tenders across six markets and a CRM that starts free. Bring your data from any CRM or spreadsheet in an afternoon.

Free plan · 32,822 investors · six markets