Cision vs Meltwater vs Prowly – 2025 Pricing & Feature Comparison

When comparing PR tools, the Meltwater vs Cision debate often centers on pricing opacity, distribution reach, and database size. Both platforms dominate the enterprise PR tech space—but what if you’re looking for something more modern, flexible, and transparent?

This comparison breaks down Cision, Meltwater, and Prowly across key categories like pricing, features, media monitoring, outreach, and usability. Whether you're part of a growing PR agency or an in-house comms team, here you’ll find the insights you need to make an informed decision.

Cision vs Meltwater vs Prowly comparison

When evaluating tools like Prowly vs Cision or Meltwater vs Cision, it helps to understand the ideal user profile for each solution. Below is a breakdown of who’s most likely to benefit from each platform based on team size, complexity, and goals.

→ Prowly: built for small and medium teams

Prowly is designed for small to medium-sized PR teams and agencies that need powerful tools without the complexity or enterprise-level price tags.

Ideal for:

• In-house comms teams (1–10 people) in growing brands and medium-sized companies
• Agencies with dynamic workloads, shifting client rosters, and tight timelines
• PR pros who need an intuitive platform that saves time and scales easily
• Teams with limited budgets that need flexibility—monthly plans, no hidden fees

💡 Prowly helps teams like shePR boost efficiency and ROI by simplifying campaign execution and client collaboration—all in one place. Read how shePR boosts efficiency and ROI with Prowly.

→ Cision & Meltwater: designed for enterprise reach & investor-facing PR

Cision and Meltwater primarily cater to larger organizations and enterprise-level agencies that require extensive media intelligence tools and advanced analytics.

Best suited for:

• Corporations managing investor relations, public disclosures, and compliance
• Large PR and marketing agencies handling high-volume campaigns
• Teams needing comprehensive media monitoring and automated reporting at scale
• Users who benefit from built-in press release distribution via newswires

While both platforms technically serve SMBs, they’re often considered premium options due to higher costs and annual contracts.

🔍 Cision vs Meltwater:

• Cision is often chosen for its deep media database and PR Newswire access
• Meltwater’s strength lies in its marketing intelligence capabilities and broader listening functions

For smaller teams, running long-term media relations and building 1:1 connections is often more effective (and budget-friendly) than high-cost mass distribution.

Now let's dive into the full Cision vs Meltwater vs Prowly software comparison to help you make the best choice for your PR strategy.

Quick comparison overview

At a glance, here's how Cision compares to Meltwater and Prowly. The main differences lie in the pricing, media database size, and available features.

Transparent pricing breakdown

The price is one of the main factors in choosing a PR software provider. And with some platforms costing well over $10,000 per year—it's not surprising.

Cision and Meltwater offer only annual plans, which can be expensive for smaller teams or PR agencies.

Both Cision and Meltwater typically provide custom pricing upon request, which can make it challenging for buyers comparing Meltwater vs Cision to quickly evaluate costs during the shortlisting process.

Because of that, the above values are estimates based on third-party data and online reviews.

Prowly

• From $258/mo (billed annually)
• No setup fees
• Fully transparent pricing on the Prowly website
• Flexible monthly or annual contracts
• Free 7-day trial—no credit card required

🔥 Ideal for small PR teams, agencies, and marketers looking for flexibility.

Prowly has three subscriptions available with all features and costs listed on its pricing page. Users can choose to stay flexible with monthly plans or pay yearly and save up to 30%. Prowly starts at $258 per month with the Essential Bundle when billed yearly.

Cision

• Estimated from $7,200/year
• Annual contract only
• Pricing hidden – quote required
• Final cost varies by organization size, number of users, and services

Based on our research, Cision pricing starts at $7,200 per year. The price depends on the package of services you need, the size of the organization, and the number of accounts.

Ultimately, it's hard to say how much Cision currently costs—to get the most accurate number, contact a member of Cision's sales team.

Meltwater

• Estimated from $8,000/year (can go up to $25,000+)
• Annual contract only
• Pricing also hidden–requires contact form & sales call
• Final pricing depends on features, database access, number of users

Based on our data and third-party sources, we estimate Meltwater to cost around $8,000 annually. The actual price will depend on the number of features and users and can be as high as $25,000 per year—or more.

Meltwater doesn't display its pricing plans on its website. To get a quote, you must fill out a contact form and contact a sales representative.

Depending on the chosen features, media database regions, the size of your team, and other factors, the price can go up dramatically, for example for 5 users and additional searches you can be charged up to $25,000 annually. Unfortunately, the exact factors that go into Meltwater's pricing are also not transparent and publicly available.

Feature comparison

To make an informed choice when buying PR software, you should first learn about all the features included in the price of each solution.

Feature #1: Media database

If you're solely looking for a media database, read the guide to choosing the best media database for PR.

All three providers offer a high-quality media database containing local and international media contacts.

The main differences between each media database lie in the number of contacts, update frequency, and pricing.

Cision has the most media contacts available—over 1.4 million. Prowly has around 1 million, and Meltwater has over 400 thousand.

Keep in mind that for media databases "more is not always better" because the quantity and quality of contacts may vary depending on the location and beat you're looking for—especially outside of the US. The best solution is to ask for a sample or get a free trial, so you can see what's available and have a look by yourself.

Prowly offers a free 7-day trial with full search access. It's uncertain if Meltwater or Cision offers a free trial or sample; their product pages suggest that it's possible to find out more during a demo call, but it's not explicitly stated that they actually offer a better glimpse of their contacts.

Feature #2: Media monitoring

Meltwater, Cision, and Prowly all provide media monitoring features essential for tracking brand mentions, competitors, industry trends, and media coverage across multiple channels—including online news, blogs, social media, print, and broadcast.

But here’s where Prowly truly shines:

• Custom keyword alerts that help you stay on top of relevant stories in real time
• Visual dashboards to easily interpret media impact and trends
• Built-in reporting tools to share insights with your team or clients
• Coverage across news sites, blogs, podcasts, and more—with no added complexity

Looking for more options? Check out our guide to the best media monitoring tools to explore the right fit for your needs.

Feature #3: AI & Automation

• Prowly: AI Press Release Creator helps draft, polish, and pitch in minutes
• Cision: Offers some automation tools but limited in public documentation
• Meltwater: AI features limited mostly to analytics

AI is one of the most exciting developments in PR software—but while some platforms mention it vaguely, Prowly builds it right into your workflow.

Here’s how Prowly’s AI features help you get more done in less time:

• Ideas for story angles: Need a fresh angle? Just drop in your key message—Prowly’s AI suggests compelling story directions and helps you jumpstart your draft in seconds.
• Detailed drafts: Prowly’s AI prompts you with questions a journalist might ask—helping you fill in the blanks and shape a clear, newsworthy draft.
• Smart editing assistant: Prowly’s AI Assistant provides editing suggestions to improve tone, structure, length, and clarity. You can adjust your press release to match your brand voice and communication goals—without interrupting your workflow.
• AI-powered media matching: Prowly’s AI helps identify journalists who are likely to be interested in your press release, based on its content. You’ll receive personalized contact suggestions to expand your outreach and improve your chances of media coverage.

And how do the others compare?

• Cision: Offers some automation tools, but public documentation is limited, making it difficult to assess their AI capabilities before purchase
• Meltwater: Includes some AI-powered analytics and monitoring tools, but functionality appears to be more data-focused than workflow-enhancing

Feature #4: PR reports

All three platforms offer PR reporting tools, which make creating PR reports fast and easy. Even so, according to user reviews in G2, Prowly has slightly better results in measuring and monitoring data and transforming it from Media Monitoring to visually compelling PR reports.

If you're looking for a PR report, read this guide to choose the best reporting tool for PR.

Prowly empowers PR teams and agencies to build professional reports without the manual hassle. Key features include:

• Automatic data collection covering media reach, sentiment, and coverage volume
• Custom-branded reports ideal for client or stakeholder presentations
• Drag-and-drop visual elements to highlight impact in a clear, digestible way
• Quick export to PDF or web link, perfect for sharing results instantly

🧠 Whether you're reporting internally or to clients, Prowly helps you tell a compelling PR story—without spending hours in spreadsheets.

Unlike Cision and Meltwater, which don’t offer a publicly available free trial, Prowly gives you a full 7-day trial—so you can test the PR reporting features yourself and even build a report during your trial.

Feature #5: Press release creation & newsroom management

Prowly offers a built-in Press Release Creator that helps you design visual, journalist-friendly press releases—no design skills required. These can be easily published in an online newsroom that’s searchable, mobile-optimized, and shareable with one click.

Feature #6: PR Outreach & Sending press releases

Prowly

Prowly’s media outreach tool is designed with relationship-building in mind. You can build and manage segmented media lists, send tailored pitches, and track journalist engagement—all within a modern, easy-to-use interface.

Benefits:

• Build lists using a 1M+ searchable media database
• Import your own contacts or combine both lists
• Personalize every pitch with dynamic fields
• View who opened, clicked, or replied
• Track pitch history per journalist—like a lightweight PR CRM
• No press release wires—Prowly focuses on earned media through relationship-driven outreach

✅ Great for PR teams and agencies who value quality connections over mass distribution.

Cision

Cision offers traditional pitching tools alongside access to PR Newswire, one of the largest global distribution networks. This makes it a strong choice if you need maximum reach or are regularly issuing press releases to broad audiences.

Benefits:

• Massive 1.4M+ media contact database
• Centralized platform for media list building and outreach
• Built-in access to PR Newswire (paid per release or bundled)
• Solid analytics, though more limited contact engagement tracking
• Annual contracts and higher pricing tiers apply

💰 Best for large enterprises with high-volume distribution needs.

Meltwater

Meltwater offers personalized outreach and access to external distribution services through partnerships. Their interface supports media list building and analytics, though some users report it’s less intuitive than competitors.

Benefits:

• 380K+ global media contacts
• Media list building and manual contact import
• Basic outreach and performance tracking tools
• Access to distribution via partner services (at additional cost)

⚖️ Works for mid-to-large teams needing flexible outreach plus occasional distribution reach.

Takeaway

In the debate of Cision vs Meltwater, both tools cater to PR teams that need broad-scale distribution—especially through built-in press release wire services. If your goal is to push news to the widest possible audience, they may be the right fit.

But if you're focused on building long-term relationships with journalists, Prowly gives you everything you need to personalize outreach, track engagement, and manage contacts effectively—without the steep costs or vendor lock-in that often come with wire-based platforms.

🎯 Choose Prowly if you're focused on smart, targeted outreach.
💼 Choose Cision or Meltwater if you need built-in mass distribution via newswires.

But that's not everything. Cision, Meltwater, and Prowly offer other PR features that are not covered in this general comparison. Find out more in the detailed comparisons below:

• Cision vs. Prowly
• Meltwater vs. Prowly

If you're seeking a comparison of UK media databases, we recommend reading these articles:

• UK Media Database Comparison–Pricing & Features
• Roxhill 2025 Pricing—How Much Does it Cost?
• What Is the Best Alternative to Roxhill?

Reviews

Without the ability to try Cision or Meltwater for free, you might want to see what users are saying about all 3 PR tools on review platforms like G2.

Meltwater

✅ Advantages of Meltwater:

➖ We take advantage of several saved searches that track media mentions. This uses boolean logic to get us the exact results we seek. The search function is also great for searching for mentions of our competitors, narrowing our search to a specific product we may have done a campaign on or a more broad topic outside of our company alone.

➖ Meltwater allows us to set up our own customized reports that are emailed to us regularly that we request.

❌ Disadvantages of Meltwater:

➖ Meltwater finds obscure placements, but it misses many prominent websites. In the last month, it's missed stories on Forbes, New York Times, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg.

➖ Meltwater can improve its updating of media contacts. They do this annually, but I average six or seven dead email addresses for every 25 reporters whenever I build a distribution list.

P.S. If you’re searching for the best tools available for competitor analysis, check out this article.

Cision

✅ Advantages of Cision:

➖ Cision makes it easy to find relevant media to target for pitches, identify their target demographic, and efficiently build lists.

➖ I most like their media monitoring capabilities, as we have over 1,500 individuals whose media hits we monitor, and Cision helped us set up this system. It's by no means perfect, but it works much better than what we were previously using.

❌ Disadvantages of Cision:

➖ The information for journalists in Cision can sometimes be outdated, and I've come across several journalists who are simply not listed. I wish this database were more accurate and up to date.

➖ Building reports to look how you would like graphically is not easy to do as a user without requesting customer assistance help.

➖ Customer service/account reps are not always attentive to your needs. Sometimes, it could take days or weeks to get a response.

➖ Expensive!

Prowly

✅ Advantages of Prowly:

➖ I like just how simple it is to add contacts to a customized media list. The user interface is user-friendly, and the number of automation capabilities looks after a few of the hard work associated with link building. Individualizing and increasing your outreach could not be easier.

➖ Ease of use and that the team is very helpful. There is no upcharge to get help to set up the press release most effectively.

❌ Disadvantages of Prowly:

➖ There is a bit of a learning curve, and support is on European time.

➖ I only wish there were more categories in the journalist database!

Final takeaway: what’s right for you?

Whether you're evaluating Prowly vs Cision, Meltwater vs Cision, or all three together, the best PR software for your team depends on what matters most to you:

• Do you prioritize scale and global distribution?
• Or do you need flexibility, transparency, and ease of use?
• Is your focus on building journalist relationships, or casting a wide net through press release wires?

Here’s the bottom line:

🎯 Choose Prowly if you're looking for modern, intuitive PR tools that support personalized outreach, visual storytelling, and relationship-driven results—without the cost or complexity of legacy systems.

💼 Choose Cision or Meltwater if your strategy relies on mass distribution, integrated wire services, and enterprise-scale reach—and you're comfortable with annual contracts and custom pricing.

If you're ready to start testing PR platforms, you can test Prowly completely free of charge for 7 days. No CC required, no strings attached.