DIMOP Plusz and digital development grants: a level-headed guide for SMEs

From time to time, government and EU funding windows open for digital development, and in the summer of 2026 one such window is open right now for Budapest micro and small businesses. Whether consulting-type line items are eligible, however, varies from scheme to scheme, and they can often only be claimed when tied to another development. This article gives you a frame for clear thinking — it is not grant-application advice. The exact conditions are always known to the current call for proposals and to your grant writer.

Grant conditions change quickly, which is why I deliberately keep the language cautious here. The points below reflect the publicly available position as of June 2026, and every figure is sourced. By the time you're ready to apply, it's worth checking the current call and the deadlines with your grant writer — a given budget may well have run out in the meantime.

What can a programme like this fund?

The DIMOP Plusz-1.2.6 scheme opened in 2026 aims to help micro and small businesses with low digital maturity catch up. The Budapest track (DIMOP Plusz-1.2.6/C-26) offers non-repayable grants of between 3 and 12 million forints, and the funding can be applied for from 2 June 2026, until 27 July at the latest or until the budget is exhausted. The DIMOP Plusz-1.2.6/B-26 window targeting rural regions has since closed because its budget ran out — a clear reminder that an opportunity like this isn't open forever.

At a general level — and purely for orientation — the typical eligible categories are as follows. Which one applies to your specific goal, and to what extent, has to be read out of the call itself.

• Software and subscriptions: rolling out enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, licences, cloud-based services.
• Website and webshop: website or online-store development, services that support digital operations.
• Equipment: specified hardware and network purchases — typically up to a limited share, between 15 and 30%, of the project's eligible costs, according to the call.
• ICT security: deploying IT security solutions.
• Training: digital onboarding for employees to ensure they can use the system that's been introduced.
• Expert services: consulting tied to the rollout of the digital solution — with an important restriction, see below.

How consulting is treated is the most common source of misunderstanding. According to the wording of the call, expert and advisory activity typically cannot be funded on its own: it can only be claimed if it's genuinely tied to a development that actually takes place — a system rollout, for example. In other words, a standalone assessment or diagnostic may not, by itself, fit within the budget. If you want to claim a consulting line item, clarify it with your grant writer in advance, because schemes differ materially on exactly this point.

How should you prepare before you apply?

An application is worth only as much as the measurable results it promises. Reviewers will always value a concrete starting point, a schedule, and an accountable end result over vague intent. This is where an assessment comes in: not in place of the application, but to underpin it.

An audited starting point means that, before the development begins, it's recorded in black and white where the business stands today. An AI-visibility assessment, for instance, shows precisely what ChatGPT, Gemini, and the other AI search tools tell customers about the company today — and where the gap is. That's what becomes the measurable goal: not "let's be more modern," but "relative to the baseline, this much progress is made across these dimensions, within this timeframe."

So the assessment isn't the grant line item itself; it's the evidence that makes the application stronger. If you want to follow the steps of the process, you can walk through them on the how it works page, and you can review the pricing on the pricing page. The logic of the assessment and the seven measured dimensions are set out item by item on the methodology page — useful if you want to make the measurable goals of the development tangible for the reviewer.

One important distinction for the measurable goal: technical readiness is not the same as AI actually recommending the company. Your competitors are visible in AI by accident — their reputation carried them there; the point of the assessment is to make your business visible deliberately and measurably. That difference is unpacked in the GEO score vs AI recommendation post — worth reading before anyone promises you a guaranteed result from a grant.

What should you watch for when choosing a provider?

Grant money attracts the over-promisers. A few red flags worth pausing at before you sign.

• "The grant makes it free." The funding doesn't cover the full cost: even in the Budapest track there's a self-contribution, and some line items aren't eligible in the first place. Anyone promising it'll be completely free either doesn't know the call or is leaving something out.
• Guaranteed AI appearance. Anyone who promises that after the development ChatGPT or Gemini will definitely recommend your company is selling something that isn't theirs to sell. Recommendation is decided by off-site presence and review volume — that's months of work, not the work of a single grant.
• An offer with no methodology. If a provider can't show you what they measure, how, and with what weighting, then the end result won't be accountable either. The assessment has a transparent logic — anyone can check it on the methodology page.

The best application isn't the prettiest promise; it's the most accountable one. A measurable starting point, a clear schedule, a verifiable result — that's what convinces the reviewer, and that's what protects you too.

One closing thought against haste. Calls come and go, budgets run out, deadlines are tight — it's easy to rush something in with the wrong provider and a weak submission, just to have it done. The better order is the reverse: first the clear starting picture and the measurable goal, then the application. I can prepare the assessment at any time; the conditions of the grant are stated precisely by the call and by your grant writer. If you'd like to know where your business stands in AI search tools today, request a free mini-check — and time the rest to your own pace.

Kindl Dávid · Published: June 10, 2026