Cision sells three things on one contract: distribution, a media database and monitoring. If you use all three, the bundle can be good value. If you mostly use one, you're paying for the other two.
So the useful question isn't “what replaces Cision?” but “which part of Cision do I actually need?” Here are the alternatives for each part, and what a split setup costs compared with the bundle.
What you get with Cision
Cision owns PR Newswire, so its distribution reaches a large syndication network. Its media database covers a wide range of journalists and outlets, and its monitoring and reporting sit in the same platform. For a large team that sends releases on the wire weekly and pitches daily, one vendor for all of it is a real convenience.
Cision doesn't publish prices. Buyers report a median of about $12,700 a year, on annual contracts – and depending on the package, wire distribution can be charged on top, per release.
Three jobs, three sets of alternatives
Distribution
Business Wire and GlobeNewswire are the other big wires, priced per release. Smaller wires cost less and reach less. For trade stories, a well-targeted email to the right editors often beats any wire.
Media database
Muck Rack is the best-known alternative and the strongest for pitching. Prowly is a lighter, cheaper option.
Monitoring
Where the choice is widest – from free alerts to per-release tools to the other enterprise suites. The cards below cover it.
Reporting
Usually comes with the monitoring tool. Check that the report is one you'd send a client without reformatting it first.
Monitoring alternatives to Cision
They run from the closest like-for-like swap to the biggest change. PressMe is ours, and marked as such.
Muck Rack
The closest one-for-one swap for teams that live in the media database. Monitoring and coverage reports are built in.
- Price
- Not published. Buyers report entry contracts around $5,000 a year.
- Best for
- Replacing Cision's database and monitoring together, if pitching is your main job.
- What it misses
- Distribution. And it's still an annual contract.
Meltwater
A move sideways rather than down. Our guide to Meltwater alternatives covers the same question from the other side.
- Price
- Not published. Buyers report annual contracts from around $15,000 a year.
- Best for
- Teams that want monitoring and analytics as the core of the platform, rather than distribution.
- What it misses
- Distribution, and it rarely works out cheaper.
PressMe
OursOur tool, so read this one with an eyebrow raised. Paste a release and PressMe finds the coverage across news sites, trade titles and blogs, scores each mention for relevance and keeps looking for a week. Pair it with whichever wire or database you like.
- Price
- Per release, no annual contract. In early access at an introductory rate.
- Best for
- Teams that distribute their own way and need the coverage of each release, scored and reported.
- What it misses
- Distribution and a journalist database – we don't do either. No broadcast or print.
Google Alerts (plus Talkwalker Alerts)
Free, and an early warning worth having whatever else you use.
- Price
- Free.
- Best for
- A release or two a year, with no report to produce.
- What it misses
- Much trade and non-English coverage, relevance scoring and anything client-ready.
For the wider field, see the seven best press release monitoring tools.
Bundle or split: the sum
Take a team that sends two releases a month, pitches by email and uses Cision mostly for monitoring. On the bundle, it pays the contract every year regardless. Split, it pays per release for the wire when a story needs one, nothing for a database it doesn't use, and per release for monitoring.
- Keep the bundle if you use distribution, the database and monitoring every week.
- Split it if one part does most of the work and the others mostly sit there.
Whichever way you go, measure the coverage the same way before and after, so the comparison is fair. Our guide to measuring press release results sets out what to count.
Common questions
Can I use PR Newswire without Cision?
Yes. PR Newswire sells distribution on its own, per release, so you can keep the wire and take monitoring elsewhere.
What is the cheapest alternative to Cision?
For monitoring, free alerts first, then a per-release tool. For a database, the lighter tools such as Prowly. For distribution, a targeted email to the right editors costs nothing but time.
How do I check what Cision is finding for me?
Pick a recent release, run the ten-minute manual check, and compare. Coverage you find by hand that the tool missed is the number that matters.
Where PressMe fits
Keep the parts of your setup that work, and stop paying for the ones that don't. PressMe has you covered.