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UK political monitoring services, compared

Choosing or switching? Here’s what each UK service covers, and what only GovConnex does.

Which suits you

All four parliaments, same-day transcripts, MPs on six networks, your stakeholders and AI in one place
GovConnex
EU institutions as well as the UK
DeHavilland, Dods or ParliamentToday
PR, media and political monitoring from one supplier
Vuelio

How they compare

Nine things teams ask for most. Only GovConnex does all nine.

All four UK parliamentsReal-time alertsSame-day committee transcriptsMPs on six social networksStakeholder CRMConstituency mappingAI assistantWorks in Claude, ChatGPT and CopilotISO 27001
GovConnex Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
DeHavilland (Helio) Yes Yes Yes Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned
Dods Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned
Frontbench Not yet Overnight Not yet Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned
Navigate Politics Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned X and Bluesky Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned
ParliamentToday Yes Yes Not mentioned X Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned
PoliMonitor Not mentioned Yes Yes X Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned
PolicyMogul Not mentioned Yes Yes X, as an add-on Yes Not mentioned Yes Yes Not mentioned
Randall’s Yes Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned
Vuelio Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned X Yes Not mentioned Not mentioned Not mentioned Yes

Tick: offered. Dash: not mentioned on its website. A network: the only ones it names. Not yet: in development.

Each service in detail

GovConnex

Political intelligence platform

Monitoring, briefings, a stakeholder CRM and AI in one platform, with experts where it counts.

Coverage
Westminster, Holyrood, the Senedd and Stormont, with their committees. UK Government departments and consultations, and the devolved governments. MPs on X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and Bluesky. Also Australia and New Zealand.
Speed and transcripts
Alerts by email the moment there’s a match. Select committee sessions transcribed the same day, with your name marked.
Briefings
Eight, written for your organisation, from 7 am daily to monthly. No seat needed to subscribe. GovConnex’s research team on Budgets, elections and party conferences.
Stakeholders
Every MP, peer, MSP, Member of the Senedd, MLA and special adviser, already in a built-in CRM. Meetings logged by email. Your sites mapped to all 650 seats.
AI
Analyst drafts briefing notes and meeting briefs, with a source for every point. Works in Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot. AI can be switched off for any team.
Trial
A free week on your own issues, set up by your account manager.

Suits Public affairs teams and consultancies that want all four parliaments, their stakeholders and AI in one place.

DeHavilland (Helio)

Analyst-led service and platform

Political monitoring with in-house policy analysts, now part of Helio Intelligence, covering the UK and the EU.

Coverage
Westminster, Holyrood, the Senedd and Stormont, and the EU, with politicians on social media in its sentiment tracking.
Speed and transcripts
Real-time alerts customised to your brief. Helio Transcript covers every Westminster meeting, reviewed by analysts, with Holyrood and the Senedd announced.
Briefings
Curated updates, with reports and policy support from its analysts in scheduled or ad-hoc sessions.
Stakeholders
PeoplePoint: over 50,000 policymakers, including civil servants, special advisers and council leaders, with engagement tracking and an API to your own CRM.
AI
Havi, an AI assistant for clients, and AI summaries.
Trial
A free two-week trial.

Suits Teams that need the EU covered, or want civil servants and council leaders in their database.

Sources: home page, devolved coverage, stakeholder management, Havi, Helio Transcript, sentiment analysis

Dods

Consultant-led service and platform

Monitoring with a dedicated sector consultant, the Dods People directory and Dods AI, from a business that traces its parliamentary reference to 1832.

Coverage
Over 16,000 UK and EU sources; parliaments not named. Dods Signals follows over 5,000 social sources.
Speed and transcripts
Personalised alerts set up with your consultant. Its AI policy lists automated transcription of parliamentary sessions.
Briefings
Briefings, agendas and bulletins, and proactive briefings from your consultant, one of over 20.
Stakeholders
Dods People: over 7,000 political representatives, civil servants and public affairs professionals, with groups, export and mail merge.
AI
Dods AI answers from over 2 million curated documents, with citations.
Trial
A trial is available.

Suits Teams that want profiles of civil servants, or EU sources.

Sources: home page, UK monitoring, Dods People, Dods AI, AI policy, Dods Signals

Frontbench

Self-serve software

Low-cost software for following Westminster and running advocacy, matched to your organisation overnight.

Coverage
Westminster and UK Government consultations. The devolved parliaments are in development.
Speed and transcripts
Matching runs overnight. Live transcription is in development.
Briefings
An overnight brief, a weekly brief and a board report.
Stakeholders
Every MP and peer, with contact logging, a pipeline and a shared calendar.
AI
AI-assisted briefings and relevance matching, and its own forecasts of votes and bills.
Trial
A one-month free trial.

Suits Small teams that follow Westminster only.

Sources: pricing, features, compare

ParliamentToday

Journalist-led monitoring

Alerts and diaries filtered by journalists, monitoring since 1966.

Coverage
Westminster, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the European institutions, with consultations, Early Day Motions, questions and political influencers’ tweets.
Speed and transcripts
Email alerts straight away or at times you choose.
Briefings
A daily or weekly tailored diary, and a Thursday diary of the next two weeks at Westminster.
Stakeholders
MPs, peers, MEPs and special advisers, with notes and group emails.
AI
Not mentioned.
Trial
A free trial on request. Paid annually in advance, with 90 days’ notice to cancel.

Suits Teams that want journalist-filtered alerts and diaries, including the EU.

Sources: home page, terms

PoliMonitor

Monitoring platform

A monitoring platform with automated transcription of Parliament, a CRM and a research team.

Coverage
The UK Parliament and devolved legislature, Twitter and over 1,000 other online sources.
Speed and transcripts
Instant alerts when a keyword is said, and automated transcription of the Commons and Lords chambers and every bill and select committee.
Briefings
Daily and weekly briefings, and horizon scanning.
Stakeholders
MPs, peers, MSPs, Members of the Senedd and special advisers, with activity logs, notes and bulk email.
AI
AI transcription. No AI assistant mentioned.
Trial
Not mentioned. Contracts renew for 12 months unless 30 days’ notice is given.

Suits Teams that want instant chamber and committee transcripts.

Sources: solutions, help, terms

PolicyMogul

Self-serve platform

A self-serve monitoring platform and CRM, with live transcription on its higher plans.

Coverage
Westminster, with week-ahead and day-ahead emails covering the devolved parliaments, a consultation tracker, and policymakers on X as an add-on.
Speed and transcripts
Near-real-time alerts. Parliament Live transcribes the Commons, Lords, Westminster Hall and committees in real time, on its Mogul and Enterprise plans.
Briefings
A daily digest, Week Ahead, Day Ahead, Westminster Business and a weekly consultation tracker.
Stakeholders
MPs, peers, special advisers and devolved policymakers, with a CRM, groups and email campaigns.
AI
AI summaries and questions answered over its updates, built with OpenAI. It says it works inside Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude.
Trial
A 14-day free trial.

Suits Charities and small teams that want live Westminster transcription.

Sources: pricing, monitoring, Parliament Live, alerts

Randall’s

Human-led monitoring service

Monitoring chosen by people rather than software, since 1976, with the Touchbase CRM.

Coverage
Westminster and Whitehall, the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly, and over 2,500 organisations including departments and think tanks.
Speed and transcripts
Breaking news as it happens, selected by people.
Briefings
Early and mid-morning updates, daily and devolved diaries, weekly committee, consultation and legislation trackers, and monthly Policy Watch.
Stakeholders
Touchbase: parliamentarians’ biographies and contact details, with lists and engagement logging.
AI
None mentioned. Its people, rather than technology, decide what you get.
Trial
A trial on request.

Suits Teams that want people to choose what they see, with detailed weekly trackers.

Sources: monitoring, Touchbase, legislation tracking

Vuelio

Public affairs modules in a PR suite

Political monitoring, a political contacts database and stakeholder management, sold as modules alongside Vuelio’s PR and media tools.

Coverage
Westminster, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, UK Government departments, charities, trade bodies and think tanks, and Twitter.
Speed and transcripts
Tailored content from its political team. Real-time alerts and transcripts not mentioned.
Briefings
Tailored political content and daily publications.
Stakeholders
MPs, peers, special advisers, MPs’ staff, APPGs, council leaders and chief executives, with a stakeholder relationship management tool.
AI
Lumina, an AI suite for PR and comms, and AI View, which tracks what AI tools say about you.
Trial
A free demo.

Suits Comms teams that want PR, media and political monitoring from one supplier.

Sources: political services, pricing, stakeholder management, Lumina

What GovConnex covers, parliament by parliament

WestminsterHolyroodSeneddStormont
Members MPs and peers MSPs Members of the Senedd MLAs
Debates Commons and Lords Hansard Official Report Record of Proceedings Official Report
Committees Select committees and inquiries, with same-day transcripts Committees and inquiries All 15 committees and their inquiries Committees
Bills Yes Yes Bills of the Sixth Senedd Not covered
Written questions Yes Not covered Yes Not covered
Government UK Government departments, agencies and consultations Scottish Government Welsh Government, its consultations and 69 public bodies Northern Ireland departments

What public bodies pay

BuyerSupplierContractTermAbout a year
General Dental Council DeHavilland £30,000 Sep 2024 to Aug 2027 £10,000
Food Standards Agency Dods £24,600 May 2025 to Apr 2027 £12,300
Historic England Dods £37,500 Apr 2025 to Apr 2028 £12,500
Pension Protection Fund PoliMonitor £50,760 Nov 2023 to Nov 2027 £12,690
NS&I PoliMonitor £13,000 Jan 2025 to Jan 2027 £6,500
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Vuelio £7,920 Nov 2023 to Nov 2024 £7,920
Office for Students Vuelio £24,000 Sep 2020 to Aug 2023 £8,000
Intellectual Property Office Vuelio, with media monitoring £45,240 Apr 2026 to Mar 2028 £22,620

Totals from each contract’s notice on Contracts Finder; a year is the total over the term.

Used by public affairs teams at companies, consultancies and charities, from BHP and Novartis to Kekst CNC and Samaritans.

“Before every meeting, one page gives me their background, what they’ve said lately and our history with them.”

Ronald, Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • BHP
  • Novartis
  • Glencore
  • MSD
  • Kekst CNC
  • Samaritans
  • Fleetwood Strategy

How this was compared

GovConnex publishes this page, so it’s listed first; the rest are alphabetical. Everything about the others comes from their own websites and public contracts, checked on the date at the top.

Services in closed beta and media-only monitoring tools are left out.

Out of date? Tell GovConnex and it’ll be corrected. DeHavilland, Helio Intelligence, Dods, Frontbench, Navigate Politics, ParliamentToday, PoliMonitor, PolicyMogul, Randall’s and Vuelio are trade marks of their owners; GovConnex isn’t affiliated with them. Report a change.

Questions about UK political monitoring

Ask something else
What is the best political monitoring service in the UK?

For most public affairs teams, GovConnex. It’s the only one here with all nine: all four parliaments, real-time alerts, same-day committee transcripts, MPs on six social networks, a stakeholder CRM, constituency mapping, an AI assistant, AI in Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot, and ISO 27001. For the EU as well, DeHavilland, Dods or ParliamentToday. For Westminster alone, Frontbench.

How much does political monitoring cost in the UK?

Most services quote. Public contracts give a guide: public bodies’ contracts with DeHavilland, Dods, PoliMonitor and Vuelio work out at about £6,500 to £12,700 a year for political monitoring alone.

Which services cover the Scottish Parliament, the Senedd and the Northern Ireland Assembly?

GovConnex, DeHavilland, Randall’s, ParliamentToday and Vuelio say they cover all three. PoliMonitor and PolicyMogul mention the devolved parliaments without listing each, Dods and Navigate Politics don’t name them, and Frontbench says its devolved coverage is in development.

Which services follow MPs on social media?

GovConnex follows MPs’ posts on X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok and Bluesky. Navigate Politics names X and Bluesky; PoliMonitor, ParliamentToday and Vuelio name X (Twitter), and PolicyMogul offers X as an add-on. DeHavilland and Dods mention social media without naming the networks.

Which political monitoring services use AI?

GovConnex’s Analyst drafts briefing notes and meeting briefs with a source for every point, and its MCP server works in Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot. PolicyMogul offers AI summaries and says it works inside Copilot, ChatGPT and Claude. Dods AI answers from over 2 million documents, DeHavilland offers its Havi assistant, Frontbench uses AI for briefings and matching, and Vuelio’s Lumina is built for PR. Randall’s says its people, rather than technology, decide what clients get.

Which services transcribe Parliament?

GovConnex transcribes select committee sessions the same day, searchable, with your organisation’s mentions marked. PolicyMogul, on its higher plans, and PoliMonitor transcribe the Commons, Lords and committees live, and DeHavilland’s Helio Transcript covers Westminster meetings.

Can I trial them first?

Most offer a trial: GovConnex a free week on your own issues, DeHavilland two weeks, PolicyMogul 14 days and Frontbench a month, while Navigate Politics, Randall’s and ParliamentToday arrange one on request.

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