FAQ
Questions, answered.
What TinyRFP is, what it isn't, and how it protects the people on both sides of a purchase.
- How is this different from a formal RFP?
- A formal RFP is structured and fair but slow, expensive, and burdensome — months of work that needs procurement expertise most mid-market teams don't have. TinyRFP gives you the rigor and the paper trail at the speed and cost of just Googling it. It automates the top of the funnel, from identifying a need to a defensible shortlist.
- How is it different from G2, Capterra, or Clutch?
- Those cover SaaS or agencies, have pay-to-play ranking dynamics, and hand you no structured deliverable. TinyRFP works across categories — equipment, professional services, AEC, managed IT — has no paid placement anywhere, and produces an auditable shortlist report you own.
- Isn't this just an enterprise procurement suite?
- Suites like Coupa or JAGGAER are priced and architected for the Fortune 2000, and their agents operate inside a single buyer's walled garden. TinyRFP is open, free, and built for companies of roughly 50–2,000 people making purchases of roughly $25K–$2M — the deals nobody serves well today.
- Is it really free and open source?
- Yes. The schemas, skills, reference servers, and report templates are all open. No component requires a TinyRFP-operated service to function, and there is no paid placement anywhere in the project — that neutrality is the whole point.
- What does it cost a solution provider to participate?
- Nothing, and you don't have to do anything to be included. Providers without an endpoint are still discovered and fairly evaluated from the public web. Publishing a TinyRFP endpoint improves the fidelity of your evidence and lets you answer follow-up questions — it is never a way to pay for ranking.
- How is my identity and budget protected as a buyer?
- By default the research agent operates pseudonymously: a provider sees your category, sanitized requirements, and a rough size band — not your company name, contact info, or exact budget. Your identity only ever transfers by an explicit action you take. Everything sent to a provider is recorded in the report's disclosure log.
- Does it choose the vendor for me?
- No. TinyRFP automates the top of the funnel and stops at a defensible shortlist. It recommends and ranks; a human decides. It does not negotiate, contract, or transact, and it is not a substitute for formal RFPs where regulation requires them.
- Which industries are supported at launch?
- The first industry modules target B2B SaaS, professional services (legal, accounting), construction and engineering (AEC), medical and dental equipment, managed IT, and marketing or creative agencies. Modules are open and community-extendable.
- When can I use it?
- The tools are in active development. The plan is to ship as portable skills and a reference MCP server you can run in the AI assistants you already use — no new app to install. Availability is coming soon.
The tools are coming soon.
TinyRFP ships as portable skills and a reference MCP server you run inside the AI assistants you already use — no new app to install.
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