Cision Pricing - How Much Does Cision Cost In 2025?

Cision does not disclose their pricing on their website. Instead you need to fill out a form and wait for them to contact you with a quote. But based on web research, pricing for Cision starts from around $7,000 per year.

The exact price you are quoted will depend on how many seats you need and which features you want included in your plan.

More features and more seats will mean a higher price. In public forums, people have commented that they pay over $20,000 a year for Cision.

If you are looking for a cost-effective media database solution, try out JournoFinder today.

Sign up to a 7 day free trial here.

Cision brands

Cision is an umbrella company that runs multiple platforms in the PR space. 

They own and operate:

➔ CisionOne: An all-in-one PR tool.
➔ PR Newswire: A press release distribution service.
➔ PRWeb: A press release distribution service.
➔ BrandWatch: A customer intelligence and social media management service.

How much does CisionOne cost?

When people refer to ‘Cision’ they most likely mean CisionOne. CisionOne is an all-in-one PR platform offering features including a media database, media monitoring, outreach, and analytics. 

While CisionOne do not provide exact costs, pricing starts from around $7,000 a year for the most basic features. But the cost will rise depending on how many features and seats you need.

Here are a few Reddit comments answering the question ‘how much do you pay for Cision?’.

“About $13k a year. We currently use Cision for their database, media monitoring and social listening. Four total users.”

“We were paying around $23k/year for Cision. 5 seats I believe, unlimited searches, broadcast monitoring included, social listening, global journalist database”

“Have a client paying $10k - 2 seats. Database + news monitoring.”

“Cision quoted us around $21k”

How much does Cision’s PR Newswire cost?

PRNewswire is a high-end press release distribution service. You can pay for an annual subscription or per press release.

The cost of a one-off press release will depend on your target audience and your word count.

According to PR Newswire's 2025 pricing guide, distributing a 400-word press release nationally in the U.S. costs $1,070, with an additional charge of $340 for every 100 words beyond the initial limit.

Costs for other types of press releases:

➔ U.S. regional press release: $750 + $215 for extra 100 words
➔ State-wide press release: $485 + $180 for extra 100 words
➔ World press release: $6,510 + $1,785 for extra 100 words

Note: You can see an image of the pricing guide on this Reddit thread.

How much does Cision’s PRWeb cost?

PRWeb is a press release distribution service. The cost for an individual press release is as follows:

➔ Basic: $110 / news release
➔ Standard: $230 / news release
➔ Advanced: $340 / news release
➔ Premium: $455 / news release

The basic package includes “unlimited media assets”, “relevant content keyword tagging” and a “48-hour turnaround time.”

The standard package includes everything from the basic package plus “syndication to a network of 1200+ websites”.

The advanced package includes everything from the standard package, plus “email distribution to one industry-curated journalist lists”. The turnaround time is reduced to 24 hours.

The premium package includes everything from the advanced package, plus “distribution to Sovrn's content recommended network”.

PRWeb also offers subscription packages, however no pricing information is available without contacting the sales team.

How much does Cision’s Brandwatch cost?

Brandwatch is Cision’s consumer intelligence & social media management suite, like most Cision platforms pricing is not disclosed on the website.

However, web research suggests that pricing can be into the tens of thousands per year. One forum user noted, 'Currently we pay about $10,000 / year.'.

Does Cision have a free trial?

No Cision does not offer a free trial. You can request a demo, but you will need to commit to paying for a full year of the service upfront before getting to try the tool yourself.

Does Cision have a monthly payment option?

Cision has a minimum contract length of one year. You will need to pay for one year up front - there is no monthly contract option. The exact cost varies depending on which features are included in your plan, but start from around $7,000 per year.

Is Cision worth it?

Cision is designed for enterprise-level businesses, so if that’s not you, it’s probably not worth the investment.

Cision has a lot of different features and tools, but a lot of them go unused and simply serve to complicate the platform. Users commonly complain of an outdated and clunky user interface, slow customer support, and data accuracy issues.

There are other, more modern and more affordable options on the market that offer better value and are ideal for small to medium-sized businesses, freelancers, and solopreneurs.

For example, JournoFinder plans start from $99 / month. It's a streamlined media database with an intuitive interface and helpful customer support.

If you're considering PRNewswire, it's almost definitely not worth it. For media coverage, directly emailing relevant journalists is a far more effective and current approach. If the press release is for legal reasons, more affordable newswires are available.

Cision alternatives 

Cision is one of the, if not the oldest, PR platforms out there, which is part of the reason they can get away with such high pricing. They’ve been on the market a long time and have great brand recognition.

But more expensive doesn’t mean better. There are plenty of other options out there.

JournoFinder

If you’re looking for a media database, JournoFinder is the obvious choice. 

It’s far more affordable than Cision, with plans starting at just $99 per month - and with flexible monthly subscriptions, there’s no need to commit to a full year upfront.

JournoFinder is designed to be streamlined and user-friendly, focusing on the quality of its media database rather than piling on extra features you might never use. Any emails you add to a media list are verified for deliverability and updated if needed. Plus, the responsive customer support team is always ready to help.

You can try it for 7 days free here.

Meltwater

Meltwater is similar to Cision in terms of pricing, so comes with all the same bells and whistles. Meltwater originally started as a media monitoring tool and later expanded into a full suite of PR tools, including social listening, analytics, and a media database.

Its strengths still lie in monitoring and analytics, with a notably smaller media database compared to the likes of Cision or JournoFinder.

Meltwater also offers an ‘essentials’ plan, which gives you access to their core media monitoring functionality without the other tools.

Brand24

If you’re looking for a more affordable media monitoring platform, something like Brand24 is a good option.

They offer monthly plans and cover social media platforms, blogs, forums, news sites, and reviews. The tool also offers real-time alerts, sentiment analysis, and influencer scoring.

They don’t however monitor traditional media such as print and TV.

Cision’s PR Newswire alternatives

Newswires are no longer effective for generating coverage beyond a few syndicated sites because they’re filled with so many irrelevant press releases, journalists don’t tend to check them very often and many press releases get missed.

Contacting relevant journalists directly is the best way to get their attention, which is where modern media databases like JournoFinder come in - to make the process of finding and contacting relevant journalists really quick and easy.

If you do want to go ahead and try a press release distribution service, here are some PRnewswire alternatives:

➔ EIN Presswire: from $149 /release)
➔ Globe Newswire: contact for a quote)
➔ Newswire: from $349.00 /release)
➔ Presswire: from $250 /release)
➔ Businesswire: from $475 /release)

The platforms vary slightly in reach and price, but they all work in the same way and focus on distributing press releases to media outlets, newsrooms, websites, and syndication networks.