How long does switching from Förderberatungen / agencies actually take?

An evening for most accounts. The export from Förderberatungen / agencies is the slow step - the import side runs in minutes once the field mapping is settled. Larger teams (50+ seats with custom field schemas) sometimes split it across two sessions: import first, reorganise the next day.

Will I lose data when I switch?

Nothing structural. The CSV/JSON export from Förderberatungen / agencies preserves the data: records, fields, history, and attachments come over intact. What doesn't transfer is anything tied to Förderberatungen / agencies-specific UI metadata (custom views, saved searches, in-app annotations) - those don't sit in the export, they sit in the source product's UI. Plan an evening to rebuild your most-used views once you're in.

What about my existing Förderberatungen / agencies subscription?

Run both side-by-side until you're confident, then cancel Förderberatungen / agencies from their side. We don't lock you in - export from Grants is one click in account settings, same as import.

Is the import path free?

The import button is open on every plan, including the free tier - we don't paywall the way out of a competitor. The data going in still has to fit your plan's per-type quotas (the free-tier caps are listed on /sales); paid plans raise those caps. If you're moving a large set, check the caps first or write to /support and we can advise.

Can I get help with the switch?

Yes. Write to /support - both founders see those threads directly. Reply within a working day. For the field-mapping itself we typically resolve things in one or two exchanges; if your dataset is unusually large or Förderberatungen / agencies's export shape is unfamiliar, we'll say so up front.

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Grants: the alternative to Förderberatungen / agencies

What moving from Förderberatungen / agencies to Grants actually looks like in 2026.

Switching

EXIST

Consultants

Cost

Finn GlasCo-Founder + Engineering

·May 4, 2026·

2 min read

Grants is what people use when Förderberatungen / agencies stops fitting. Below is the honest side-by-side - same product surface, different posture: hosted in Germany, no third-party trackers, one honest price - plus the migration mechanics that decide whether the switch lands in an evening or in a quarter.

At a glance

Förderberatungen are real experts and earn their keep on six-figure Forschungstransfer Phase II awards. For a Gründerstipendium-sized application (€139,600 over 12 months) the typical 15% commission lands at €20,940 - paid out of money you have not seen yet, on a grant you may not be awarded. Grants charges a flat monthly fee, you keep the cheque, and the structural and language wins are about 80% of what a senior consultant brings. Pick a consultant when the stakes are eight figures; pick us for the rest.

Switching

What moving from Förderberatungen / agencies actually looks like

The switch goes in three rough phases: export from Förderberatungen / agencies, import into Grants, and reorganise what came over. Most people allocate an evening for it. The export side is where the time goes - Förderberatungen / agencies hands you a CSV/JSON dump and the field mapping isn't always obvious; once that's resolved the import is a couple of minutes. We don't paywall the import path or pretend it's a pro-only feature, and you can run both side-by-side while you decide.

Grants vs Förderberatungen / agencies: feature comparison

	Ours Grants	Theirs Förderberatungen / agencies
Cost on a €139,600 EXIST award	~€100/yr	~€20,000
Takes on small grants
PTJ language conventions
Pre-submission criteria check
Hands-on writing for you
Available evenings + weekends
Hosted in Germany		Depends

When to pick which

Pick Grants when

Your award would be in the €60k-€200k range and a percentage fee is hard to swallow.

You want to keep the writing - and the IP - inside your own team.

You apply to multiple grants per year and need a tool, not a single engagement.

Pick Förderberatungen / agencies when

The application is Forschungstransfer Phase II or larger and a senior consultant's review is worth six figures.

You have zero capacity to write yourself and prefer to delegate the entire process.

How the consultant fee actually works

Most German Förderberatungen quote a success fee of 10-20% of the awarded sum, paid after disbursement. Some add a base retainer of €2,000-€8,000 paid up front, win or lose. The model is rational - the consultant carries the risk of a 44.7% rejection rate (2024 EXIST Monitoring Report) - and that is exactly why it does not scale to small grants. A 15% fee on an EXIST Gründerstipendium is barely above their hourly cost; on a Forschungstransfer Phase II it pays for the next quarter. The agency picks the latter, every time.

What the consultant actually does, and what we automate

Strip the engagement down to its mechanics: a senior consultant brings (1) section structure that fits PTJ expectations, (2) language conventions reviewers respond to, (3) a pre-submission read against EXIST review criteria, (4) deadline shepherding. Items 1-3 are static knowledge - the same advice they give every applicant. We bake that into the tool. Item 4 is calendar discipline that any tool can carry. What stays uniquely human: insider context on a specific reviewer panel, hand-off coordination with your university, the politics of multi-applicant Verbund grants. Buy that hour-by-hour if you need it.

Hybrid: what works in practice

The pattern that wins for most founders: write the application in here over six to eight weeks (so the structure, language, and criteria checks land for free), then book one or two pre-submission review calls with a Förderberatung at their hourly rate. €300-€800 for two hours of senior eyes is a different conversation than 15% of the award - and you keep authorship of the document. Your university's gründungsbüro often offers similar reviews for free.

Step by step

Export from Förderberatungen / agencies

Find the export option in Förderberatungen / agencies's account settings. Most tools provide a CSV or JSON download. Save the dump locally - that's the source of truth for the next step.

Account settings → Export / Download data

Pick the broadest format the tool offers (usually JSON)

Map fields in Grants

Open the import tool in Grants. Förderberatungen / agencies's field names rarely match Grants' 1:1; the import flags any unmapped columns so you can pair them up before anything commits.

Account settings → Import

Resolve the mapping prompts the tool surfaces

Run the import

Run the import. Grants shows a preview of the first parsed rows in the import dialog so you can sanity-check the column mapping + a sample of records before anything commits. If you're nervous about a large dump, import a small subset first, verify it landed the way you expected, then run the full file.

Re-create your views, tags, saved searches

Förderberatungen / agencies-specific UI metadata (custom views, saved filters, in-app annotations) doesn't transfer with the data export. Spend an evening rebuilding the views you used most - usually a 30-minute job once you've done it once.

Cancel Förderberatungen / agencies when you're confident

Run both side-by-side for a couple of weeks if you want to be sure. When you're confident, cancel the Förderberatungen / agencies subscription from their side. Grants keeps your export option self-serve in account settings - no lock-in either direction.

Switching from Förderberatungen / agencies

The five questions we get most often before someone moves their data over.

Start with Grants

Free plan, no credit card. We host in Germany. Export + delete are self-serve.

Written by

Finn Glas

Co-Founder + Engineering

Finn is one of the Co-Founders. He owns the engineering side, the infrastructure, and most of the late-night fixes that ship before anyone notices.

finn.glas at aicuflow dot comLinkedIn Website