This page is shorter than our usual comparison, for a reason you should know. OpenVC's main site at openvc.app refused our requests on 31 October 2026, including its pricing page. Its blog at blog.openvc.app opened normally, so what you read here comes from there, along with search excerpts of the blocked pages, which we label as such. We don't doubt the site works in a browser. We just couldn't read it ourselves, so we won't guess at its details.
What is clear is the shape of the choice. OpenVC describes itself as a radically open platform that helps tech founders connect with the right investors. Nautis is a workspace for running a startup.
What OpenVC's blog says it does
According to its own February 2026 post on angel investor platforms, OpenVC is built for founders who want to see who invests at their stage, where they invest and how they prefer to engage. You can filter investors by geography, stage, check size and sector. Beyond discovery, it lists pitch deck sharing with tracking, a fundraising CRM and warm intro paths where available.
The same post says most of the core functions are free, with no hidden fees, no percentage of capital raised and no carry. Founders who want higher outreach limits can opt into a paid plan. Investors can create profiles too, which shape who you can reach and how they respond.
What we could and couldn't confirm
| Detail | What we found | How we know |
|---|---|---|
| Core functions at no cost | Yes, most of them | OpenVC blog, read directly |
| Fees on your raise | No percentage or carry | OpenVC blog, read directly |
| Paid plan price | $99 a month or $299 a year, per subscription, which an excerpt says the whole team can use. One blog excerpt says $288 a year | Search excerpts of its pricing pages and blog only |
| Outreach limits | About 1 investor a day at no cost, 5 on Premium | Search excerpts only. The no-cost figure is from a third-party review |
| Older pricing | A February 2025 post lists $99 for a month and $399 for six | OpenVC blog, likely out of date |
| Size of database | Excerpts mention both 16,000+ and 20,000+ | Not confirmed |
Please check the price and limits on OpenVC's own pricing page before you plan around them.
Where Nautis overlaps with OpenVC
Nautis's Find Investors directory filters by investor type, ticket size, stage, mechanism, industry, technology and country, and shows a % match against your profile. A deal can go straight into the Fundraising CRM, where Beacon drafts follow-ups that wait for your approval. It doesn't send cold messages from the directory, and warm intro mapping isn't in its guides. Investor deals are limited on the $49 Launch plan.
What you pay for beyond the list
Nautis covers what OpenVC's posts don't discuss: runway, invoices, a leads CRM, task boards and an AI Chief of Staff. It also has a 14-day trial and no $0 tier, and its public launch came just in July 2026. If you only want an investor list, paying $49 or more a month for all of that makes little sense.
The fair way to compare them is by what you would actually open each morning. A founder sending one investor a day from a directory has a different week from a founder chasing an invoice, a late hire and a term sheet.
Which to use, and when
- Start with OpenVC if you have little money, are early, and need a list of investors to contact. Pairing it with a clear process, like the one in our guide to reaching investors, costs nothing to try.
- Add or move to Nautis when the raise is no longer your only problem and you need investors, cash and tasks in view together. See Nautis for pre-seed startups for what that looks like.
- Keep one pipeline. If you use both, track each investor in one place only. Otherwise follow-ups get lost.
FAQ
Is OpenVC free to use?
Its blog says most core functions are free, with no percentage of your raise and no carry, and a paid plan offers higher outreach limits. Search excerpts put that plan at $99 a month or $299 a year. We couldn't open the pricing page directly, so confirm this there.
Which should I choose in Nautis vs OpenVC?
Choose OpenVC if you mainly need investor discovery and don't want to pay yet. Choose Nautis if you also want to run finance, sales and tasks in one workspace. They suit different problems, and an early founder could reasonably use OpenVC first.
Why is this comparison shorter than others?
OpenVC's main site blocked our fetch on the day we checked, so we could read only its blog plus search excerpts. We'd rather give you a short page that says so than fill it with guesses.
Disclosure: We make Nautis, so we have a stake in this comparison. It's based on published information, not a scored hands-on test. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will correct it.
Sources
- OpenVC blog: best angel investor platforms (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- OpenVC blog: OpenVC 2.1.4 release notes (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- OpenVC: pricing (search excerpts only, direct fetch blocked) (checked Oct 31, 2026)
- OpenVC: upgrade page (search excerpts only, direct fetch blocked) (checked Oct 31, 2026)