The prices
| Tool | Price | Contract |
|---|---|---|
| CoverageBook | From £69 a month | None |
| Prezly | From €100 a month (yearly) | Monthly or yearly |
| Semrush AI PR Toolkit | From $149 a month | Monthly |
| Releasd | From £259 a month | Monthly, or 12 months for 15% off |
| Cision | Quote; about $10,600 a year (est.) | Not published |
| Meltwater | Quote; about $14,300 a year (est.) | 12-month minimum |
| Muck Rack | Quote; about $14,500 a year (est.) | Not published |
Published prices checked on each vendor's site on 13 October 2026. Estimates are SpendHound small-business averages (updated 1 October 2026), not list prices. Sources: CoverageBook, Prezly, Semrush, Releasd, Meltwater, SpendHound for Cision, Meltwater and Muck Rack.
Why the suites cost more
The big three are priced for enterprise comms teams. The contract bundles a large journalist database, broadcast and print monitoring in many languages, a newswire and an account manager. Broadcast and print is the line that takes a contract into five figures.
If you need broadcast and print, the price makes sense, but if you don't, you're still paying for it.
What changes the price
The price moves with seats, the size of the contact database, which media are monitored and how long you sign for, and most quote-only vendors discount for a longer commitment, so the first-year price is rarely the list price. Published-price tools are simpler. They charge mainly by seats and by volume, whether that's contacts, clips or prompts.
A budget for a small team
Three people who monitor online media, pitch 50 to 200 trade journalists and report monthly need a few hundred pounds a month, not a five-figure contract, and the number goes up when broadcast clipping, a newswire or global monitoring comes into it.
Where Agentcy sits
Agentcy covers monitoring, the journalist CRM, drafting, coverage reports and AI visibility tracking in one subscription.
There's a free plan for one brand, and Core is $269/month for three seats, billed monthly. It doesn't monitor broadcast or print. Agentcy pricing.
Questions
How much does Meltwater cost?
Meltwater doesn't publish prices, and SpendHound puts its small-business average at $14,269 a year and its enterprise average at $64,950 (updated 1 October 2026). Vendr's median is higher, at $25,800 a year across 126 purchases, in a range from $5,375 to $56,993 (February 2026). Meltwater says most agreements are annual, with a minimum contract of 12 months, and it offers a guided demo instead of a self-serve trial. Your quote depends on the modules you choose and the scale of your programme.
How much does Cision cost?
Cision doesn't publish prices, and its pricing page is a request form that asks for your phone number. SpendHound puts its small-business average at $10,618 a year and its enterprise average at $87,883 (updated 1 October 2026). Vendr's median is $12,625 across 107 purchases, in a range from $3,150 to $30,368 (February 2026). Cision publishes no contract term either, so the notice period is in your order form. Print and broadcast monitoring is the line that takes a contract into five figures.
How much does Muck Rack cost?
Muck Rack prices by the number of users across its Starter, Standard and Premier tiers, and doesn't publish figures. SpendHound puts its small-business average at $14,492 a year (updated 1 October 2026), and Vendr's median is $13,000 across 80 purchases, in a range from $8,000 to $20,860 (February 2026). Add-ons cost extra. They include print and broadcast monitoring, social listening, press release distribution, API access and Generative Pulse, its AI visibility product, so ask for each one priced separately.
Is there free PR software?
Agentcy has a free plan with no time limit for one brand, covering news intelligence, a 500-contact journalist CRM, five press lists and 50 tracked sends a month. Most other tools offer a trial of 7 to 30 days instead. The Semrush AI PR Toolkit gives seven days, Brand24 and Prezly give 14, and CoverageBook gives 30 with no card. Paid Agentcy plans start at $269/month for Core with three seats. Free PR software covers what each free option leaves out.
Is a PR retainer better value?
A PR retainer does a different job from software, so the two rarely compete on value. A UK B2B tech retainer starts around £2,000 to £3,000 a month and pays for people to pitch and write for you, while software gives your own team the tools to do that work itself. Software costs far less. Someone on your team still has to find the hours to use it. PR for start-ups covers when to switch.
Try it on one brand, free
You can set up one brand in an afternoon and see what it finds. Paid plans are monthly, and you can stop whenever you like.