UK political monitoring tools, compared honestly.
Frontbench is a UK political monitoring platform: bills, committees, consultations and motions matched to your policy priorities overnight, with plans from £50 a month billed annually. Here is how it compares with PolicyMogul, DeHavilland (Helio) and Dods.
Based on each vendor's public positioning and published pricing. Last verified August 2026. Corrections welcome at team@frontbench.io.
| Compared on | Frontbench | PolicyMogul | DeHavilland (Helio) | Dods |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitoring | ||||
| Bills, debates and committee monitoring | ||||
| Consultation tracking with deadlines | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| Early Day Motion tracking | ||||
| News and reports in your policy areas | ||||
| Relevance matching to your organisation | Automated | Human-assisted setup | Analyst-curated | Consultant-curated |
| A brief that learns from your feedback | Feedback loop | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| Devolved parliaments (Holyrood, Senedd) | In development | Scotland and Wales | ||
| Live pre-Hansard transcription | In development | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| Insight | ||||
| MP and Peer stakeholder database | With voting records | |||
| Per-bill sentiment across all 650 MPs | Topic-level | Topic-level add-on | Not advertised | |
| Bill survival rates from real outcomes | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| Stakeholder engagement scoring | Ranking | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| Risk tracking against your priorities | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| Strategic briefings on tracked bills | Paid add-on | Paid add-on | ||
| Action | ||||
| Built-in advocacy pipeline | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| Relationship management | Encrypted notes | |||
| Shared team calendar with owners | Not advertised | Not advertised | Not advertised | |
| KPIs and board-ready reporting | Paid add-on | |||
| Commercial | ||||
| Published pricing | ||||
| Monthly billing | Not advertised | Not advertised | ||
| Entry price (published) | £50/mo annual, £59 monthly | £395/mo | Quote only | Quote only |
Based on each vendor's publicly available positioning and published pricing as of August 2026. “Not advertised” means we could not find the capability in the vendor's public materials. Enterprise services are sold by quotation and may include more than their websites state. Spotted an error? Email team@frontbench.io and we will correct it.
Where Frontbench is the right choice.
You want to know where all 650 MPs stand
Frontbench estimates how every MP is likely to vote on each bill you track, so you can see support, opposition and the persuadable middle at a glance. The other services compared here do not advertise it.
You want to know if a bill will actually pass
Every tracked bill carries an estimated likelihood of passing, so you can put your effort where it changes the outcome.
You want to be running this week, not after a sales cycle
Book a 30 minute introduction and we set up your profile and priorities with you. Your first matched brief is ready by the end of the call, and every plan starts with a one-month free trial. No quote needed, and you can pay month to month.
You want serious monitoring at a sensible price
From £50 a month billed annually for a working advocate, £152 for a team of three (£59 and £179 month to month). The rest of the market starts in the thousands per year.
You want to act on what you learn
Monitoring, stakeholder intelligence, an advocacy pipeline, relationship notes, a shared calendar and board reporting live in one product, behind one login.
You want a brief that gets sharper
Every priority you add and every item you dismiss teaches Frontbench what belongs in front of you.
Two things to know before you choose.
Devolved coverage is in development
Frontbench monitors Westminster today, and coverage of the devolved parliaments is in development. If Holyrood or the Senedd are essential to your work right now, PolicyMogul covers Scotland and Wales and DeHavilland covers the devolved nations.
Agencies run through Enterprise
Frontbench accounts serve one organisation each. If you manage monitoring for several clients, we build that with you as an Enterprise engagement rather than off the shelf. Get in touch and tell us what you run.
Frequently asked.
- Is there a free trial of Frontbench, or a free political monitoring tool for the UK?
- Every Frontbench plan starts with a one-month free trial: ask for it when you book an introduction. After the trial it costs £50 a month billed annually (Advocate), or £59 month to month, with overnight matching of bills, committees, consultations and motions. PolicyMogul offers a free trial rather than a free plan. The enterprise services (DeHavilland, Dods) are sold by quotation and do not advertise free tiers.
- How much does political monitoring software cost in the UK?
- It ranges from under £1,000 to five figures a year. Frontbench costs £50 a month billed annually for Advocate or £152 for Coalition (three seats), and £59 or £179 month to month. PolicyMogul publishes its entry Starter plan at £395/month, or £4,740 billed annually. DeHavilland and Dods do not publish pricing and sell by annual quotation. One public Find a Tender record from 2025 shows a UK public body paying £41,400 including VAT for a year of Dods' service.
- What is a good PolicyMogul alternative?
- Frontbench is the closest low-cost alternative for Westminster-focused work: £50 a month billed annually for a working advocate (£59 month to month), with estimated bill passage likelihoods, estimated whip counts across all 650 MPs and stakeholder engagement scoring that PolicyMogul does not advertise. Choose PolicyMogul instead if you need Scottish Parliament or Senedd coverage today. Frontbench's devolved coverage is in development.
- What is a good DeHavilland alternative?
- Frontbench covers Westminster bills, debates, committees, consultations and motions with automated relevance matching, published pricing and monthly billing, without an annual quote. It also estimates things DeHavilland does not advertise, including whip counts for all 650 MPs on each bill and the likelihood of each bill passing. Book an introduction and compare it against your current brief for a week.
- Does Frontbench cover the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd or Stormont?
- Not yet. Frontbench monitors the UK Parliament at Westminster today, and devolved coverage is in development. If you need Scotland or Wales coverage right now, PolicyMogul covers both, and DeHavilland (Helio) covers the devolved nations.
- How is Frontbench different from the enterprise services?
- Three ways. Access: published pricing and monthly billing, where the enterprise services sell by annual quotation. Setup: we set up your organisation profile and priorities with you in one 30 minute call, then Frontbench matches everything overnight, rather than tuning coverage through rounds of analyst meetings. Analysis: it estimates things the incumbents do not advertise, including how all 650 MPs are likely to vote on a bill, how likely that bill is to pass, and how engaged each stakeholder is with your priorities.
How this comparison was made. We reviewed each vendor's public website, product pages, published pricing and comparison materials during August 2026. Where a capability did not appear in a vendor's public materials the table says “not advertised” rather than claiming it does not exist. Enterprise services often include more than their websites describe. Prices for other vendors are their own published figures at the time of review, so check their sites for current pricing. If you work for one of these companies and something here is wrong or out of date, email team@frontbench.io and we will correct it.