The federal grant landscape is large and constantly shifting. Every working day, agencies like NIH, NSF, DOD, EPA, and USDA post new funding opportunities, close existing ones, and update award ceilings. For organizations that depend on federal funding — research universities, nonprofits, state agencies, and small businesses — understanding the shape of that landscape is as important as finding any individual grant.
These statistics are pulled hourly from the public Grants.gov API and reflect every active opportunity currently tracked by GrantMetric. The sector breakdown shows which areas of federal policy are receiving the most competitive funding right now. The agency distribution reveals which departments are most active. The funding instrument breakdown distinguishes discretionary competitive grants from formula and continuation awards — a distinction that matters enormously for how organizations approach their funding strategy.
Numbers on this page reflect the current active grant pool — not historical totals. A grant that closes today is removed from the count by the next hourly refresh. Use the deadline tracker to act on time-sensitive opportunities, and the insights library to understand individual funding programs in depth.
Total Tracked 1,107 active opportunities
Top Sector Health 440 grants
Funding Types 1 instrument categories
With Deadline 991 90% of grants
Sectors Covered 6 federal categories
Agencies Active 161 federal agencies
$800B+
Annual federal grant spending across all agencies
26+
Federal agencies posting grants on grants.gov
Hourly
Frequency of GrantMetric data refresh from grants.gov
HHS/NIH
Largest federal grant agency by number of opportunities
SBIR
Most popular program for small business innovation grants
Free
All grant data sourced from the public grants.gov API
Frequently Asked Questions
How many federal grants are available right now?
GrantMetric tracks all active federal grant opportunities posted on Grants.gov. The total fluctuates daily as new notices of funding opportunity (NOFOs) are posted and expired ones are removed. The live count is displayed at the top of this page and updates hourly. Historically, between 700 and 1,200 active opportunities are available at any given time across all federal agencies.
Which federal agency awards the most grants?
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its sub-agencies NIH, HRSA, SAMHSA, and CDC, consistently posts the largest number of grant opportunities on Grants.gov. NIH alone awards approximately $35 billion per year in research grants. The National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Defense (DOD) round out the top three by both number of grants and total funding volume.
What is the difference between a grant and a cooperative agreement?
Both are federal awards that transfer funds to recipients, but they differ in the level of agency involvement. In a grant, the federal agency has minimal involvement in the day-to-day activities of the project. In a cooperative agreement, the agency plays a substantial role in directing the work. Both appear in the Grants.gov feed and are tracked here. The funding instrument breakdown on this page shows the current distribution between grant types, cooperative agreements, and other instruments.
How reliable is the data on this page?
All statistics are sourced directly from the official Grants.gov public API, which is maintained by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. GrantMetric fetches and caches this data hourly. Award ceiling figures represent the maximum possible award per the posted NOFO and do not reflect actual disbursements. For official verification of any specific opportunity, always refer directly to Grants.gov or the issuing agency's website.
Data sourced from grants.gov (U.S. federal grants registry). Statistics reflect the most recent hourly cache of 1,107 tracked opportunities.
Award ceiling figures represent maximum possible funding per award. Actual awards may differ.
GrantMetric Intelligence Systems — Independent federal grant intelligence platform. Not affiliated with Grants.gov, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, or any government agency. Grant data is sourced from the Grants.gov API for informational purposes only; always verify opportunity details directly with the funding agency before applying. Some links on this site are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
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Last Reviewed: May 2026 ·
Data Methodology