Best PR Software: Comparison Guide in 2023

In today’s digital age, public relations (PR) has become more critical than ever for businesses and individuals alike. Managing media relations, monitoring brand mentions, and crafting effective communication strategies require powerful tools that can streamline and optimize PR efforts. 

This is where PR software comes into play. Effective PR software offers a wide range of features that can help you enhance your campaigns and track your success. In this article, we will explore the best PR software options available and provide a comprehensive comparison guide to help you make an informed decision. 

The applications of PR software today

With the help of PR software, you can reduce the effort you put into recurring public relations processes in your business. These include reaching out to press contacts, creating virtual newsrooms, drafting media lists, and monitoring responses to your email pitches. By taking all of these tasks off your plate, you’ll have more time to invest in developing your business further. 

Picking the ideal PR software requires effort. For starters, you will have to shortlist the best PR solutions available in the market today. Once you’ve done that, you will still have to compare their features to determine which one fits your business. 

We’ve done this work, so you don’t have to. In this article, we will cover the ultimate steps to picking the ideal PR solution. We’ll also share our shortlist that compares the leading PR solutions in the market. With this list, you will have an easy time choosing the ideal platform to work with.

Pressfarm: Pricing from $180 (one-time fee)

Pressfarm ranks high among the popular PR solution with great features. With the help of this platform, you can run most of your PR campaigns effortlessly. This tool is designed to help you streamline your media outreach efforts and connect with journalists and influencers more effectively. It offers you a range of features that focus on simplifying the process of building media lists and distributing press releases.

One of the key features of Pressfarm is its media database of 1 million journalists, bloggers, and influencers across different industries. As a Pressfarm client, you can use this database to identify and connect with relevant media professionals for press coverage. Furthermore, the database allows you to search for journalists based on industry, location, and other criteria. This ensures targeted outreach and enables you to maximize the chances of securing media exposure.

Pressfarm also offers press release distribution services. You can create and distribute press releases to your media contacts directly from the platform. With this feature, you can efficiently share important news, updates, and announcements with the media. This can ultimately save you time and effort.

Pros

• Budget: Whether your business is a startup or an established business, budget is always a major issue. Even so, there are critical services like PR that you cannot overlook, since they determine the success of any business. However, that doesn’t mean you should break the bank just to run your PR campaign. Platforms like Pressfarm offer quality PR services at relatively affordable prices, with different packages to choose from. 
• Flexibility: While other PR solutions like Prowly, Cision, and Muck Rack require you to commit to them on an annual or monthly basis, Pressfarm offers one-time campaigns. That means you only pick a plan and pay once for all the services offered. 
• Service quality: Even with these inclusive rates, the Pressfarm team has ensured that the quality of services remains competitive. That means their services can compete with some of the major and most expensive PR solutions in the market. Pressfarm offers you the best of both worlds – quality services and affordable pricing.

Cons 

• Less specialized in media monitoring: Pressfarm focuses more on media outreach and less on media monitoring unlike a platform like Cision that specializes solely in media monitoring.

Prezly: Pricing from $50 per month

Prezly is a PR solution that specializes in media outreach and press release management. It provides you with a range of features that can streamline your business PR efforts and help you effectively communicate with the media.

One of the key features of this tool is its contact management functionality. You can easily organize and manage your contacts in a central platform. This allows for efficient communication and relationship-building. Furthermore, the software simplifies the process of maintaining up-to-date contact information, thus enabling you to segment your contacts based on different criteria.

What’s more, Prezly also offers press release management capabilities. You can create, distribute, and track press releases directly from the platform. The software provides you with custom templates and tools for designing visually appealing press releases. 

This can help your business present its news and updates professionally. Additionally, you can track the engagement and performance of your press releases, gaining valuable insights into the effectiveness of your PR campaigns.

Pros 

• All-inclusive: This tool claims to be an all-inclusive solution for in-house and PR agency teams. With Prezly, you can deal with your daily PR workload swiftly. Additionally, signing up means you can enjoy the unique functionalities of their powerful PR software. As such, you can access all the tools you may need for your PR campaigns. These include reporting coverage, email outreach tools, and newsrooms, among others. 
• Flexibility: Unlike some PR solutions, Prezly supports more flexible packages. You can pick a monthly plan instead of a yearly package. 

Cons 

• No media database: One of the major drawbacks of this platform is the lack of a media database. Unlike Pressfarm which offers you an updated media database, you’ve got to look for media contacts and build your media lists on your own. Once you’ve combed the web for contacts to include in your media list, you will have to upload it on the platform.

For this reason, if you’re pressed for time on your PR campaign, Prezly is not an ideal choice. After all, it takes time to look for media contacts and confirm that the information is up to date. This platform also lacks a media tracking solution. As such, it’s less of an all-inclusive solution and more of a CRM platform. 

Prowly: Pricing from $293/ month

Prowly is a PR solution that focuses on media relations and content development. It provides you with resources for developing media lists, setting up online newsrooms, and distributing tailored pitches. It’s easy to manage media connections and keep track of conversations using its user-friendly layout and straightforward features. This solution also offers analytics to gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns and content.

Pros 

• Budget: Some of the major PR platforms require that you commit to their services annually. This can be overwhelming to most businesses, especially startups. Prowly offers plans curated to fit different business budgets, making it easier for startups to access quality PR services. 

Instead of committing to a yearly plan, you can pay for an affordable monthly package. However, if you’re running PR on an ongoing basis, you might save more money with an annual package. 

• Quality: Just because you’re paying less than you would elsewhere doesn’t mean you are sacrificing quality. If anything, Prowly’s budget-friendly services easily rival the services you would pay for at Cision or even Muck Rack. In fact, Prowly offers the same major features that these platforms pride themselves in offering. These include virtual newsroom hosting, distribution of press releases, and press release development. 
• Ease of use: Tired of contacting customer support over and over due to technical difficulties? Well, Prowly is the ideal PR solution for your company. They have an easy-to-use interface that favors every user including the tech novice. 

Cons 

• Lack of media tracking tools: When it comes to social media tracking, Prowly is still far behind. 

Meltwater: Pricing from $4000

Meltwater is a prominent PR software tool that focuses on media monitoring and analytics. It provides you with valuable insights into your brand reputation, media coverage, and industry trends.

One of the key features of this solution is its media monitoring functions. It allows you to monitor mentions of your brand, rivals, or industry topics related to your niche across various media channels. That includes news websites, social media platforms, and online forums, among other media channels.  Furthermore, it offers real-time monitoring that enables you to stay informed about relevant conversations and respond promptly to emerging issues.

Meltwater also offers advanced data analysis. This lets you gauge the tone and sentiment surrounding your brand or specific topics. This feature also provides you with valuable insights into public perception and helps you track sentiment trends over time.

Last but not least, this solution provides you with comprehensive analytics tools to measure the effectiveness of PR efforts. As such, you can access detailed reports on media coverage, social media engagement, and sentiment analysis. With this data, you can assess the impact of your PR campaigns, identify key media influencers, and make data-driven decisions to refine your strategies.

Pros 

• Ease of use: If you are looking for the biggest PR solution with ease of use, then Meltwater is the best option. Unlike Cision, you won’t have to deal with technical difficulties. 
• Keywords: By simply using specific keywords, you can find reporters dealing with your type of content. You can also find reporters who have written content about your competitors or clients, which is added advantage to you. 
• Social media integration: social media outreach plays a critical role in the success of PR campaigns. You can integrate Meltwater with major social media channels to maximize your impact across the internet. Some of these channels include TikTok, Pinterest, Twitch, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. 

Cons 

• Smaller media database: Meltwater offers a relatively low number of media contacts in its database. 
• Lack of flexibility: You can only get an annual package. Startups and small businesses might find these packages inaccessible because of the pricing model. 
• No training: Their annual package doesn’t include any training

Cision: Starting from $7,200 annually 

Cision is a leading platform for PR software that gives you the ability to manage media contacts, send out press releases, and monitor coverage. It provides you with a sizable media database that you can utilize to locate journalists and influencers who align with your PR campaign goals. 

To assess the effectiveness of PR initiatives and pinpoint areas for development, Cision also offers analytics and reporting solutions. This tool is great option if you are looking for a simple design and robust functionality.

Pros

• Media database: Cision ranks among the leading PR tools when it comes to the size of the media database. They’ve got over 1.3 million contacts available to their subscribers. Cision clients also get access to editorial calendars. With this functionality, you can leverage more press coverage and press release distribution opportunities. 
• Multimedia tools: This gives you power to create well-organized press content. And this makes it easy for reporters to review it and consider it for press coverage. Not to mention, you can integrate this solution with other creative applications like Shutterstock. With the help of the interactive dashboard, you can also monitor your campaigns. 
• Media intelligence and media monitoring tools: With these features, you can monitor your campaigns virtually. You can also track your brand mentions on various virtual platforms like podcasts, social media, print, and broadcasts. 

Cons 

• Technical issues: Of all the PR solutions in this list, Cision has received the most complaints for technical difficulties. Many users find it hard to use.  

Muck Rack: Pricing from $5000

Muck Rack is primarily popular for its media database and media monitoring capabilities. It provides you with access to journalist contact information, media lists, and personalized pitching features. Not to mention, it comes with media monitoring and analytics tools. With Muck Rack, you can track media coverage and measure the impact of your PR efforts.

Pros

• Ease of use: Based on current reviews, Muck Rack is an easy-to-use solution compared to Cision. It comes with an easy-to-use interface with key PR features making it ideal for most professionals. Furthermore, if you need to automate most of your daily PR routines, it’s the best platform for the job. 
• Additional features: Other features from Muck Rack include custom list creation, media outreach metrics, and custom email pitches. 
• Tracking: With their tracking feature, you can monitor competitor news and clients across various channels. Not to mention, you will get automated alerts once something new pops up. 

Cons 

• Smaller database: Muck Rack’s database is one of the smaller ones on this list. 

Agility PR Solutions: Pricing from $1000 annually 

Agility PR Solutions is an all-inclusive PR solution built to help companies manage their PR initiatives successfully. It provides a wide range of functions that can help your business meet various PR needs. 

The huge media database is one of its notable assets. It enables you to locate and get in touch with pertinent media outlets and influencers for your PR campaigns by giving you access to a wide network of journalist contacts. With the aid of this tool, you can enjoy a simpler media outreach, and strengthen your connections with influential contacts.

Additionally, the website offers press release distribution services, enabling you to send your press releases to specific journalists and media outlets. Thanks to this feature, your major announcements will receive the most exposure and reach.

Pros 

• Database: This platform has one of the most impressive databases. With over a million contacts, you can find whichever contacts you need in your niche. Furthermore, it offers resourceful features like setting up daily email briefings and access to email insights. You can also customize your emails before distributing them to reporters. 
• Newswire service: The flat rate newswire service guarantees that you will not incur additional costs for drafting longer content. The same applies to links and images. Press release distribution includes tracking services and a newswire with more than 800k contacts. Additionally, you can benefit from PR measurement and personalized media tracking services. 

Cons 

• Lack of information: You can only access pricing for their packages by talking to a salesperson. What’s more, each feature is assigned a separate price. Agility PR Solutions can be costly, especially considering that other PR solutions are offering all-inclusive services. 

Final Take 

Making the right PR software tool selection is essential for streamlining PR initiatives, managing media relations, and monitoring PR results. Ultimately, the ideal option will depend on your unique needs and available resources. 

You can make an informed choice by considering aspects like media database coverage and press release distribution reach. Media monitoring capabilities, additional services, and pricing are also crucial factors to consider.

 We would also advise you to look for user reviews, free trials, and demos before choosing the PR software that best suits your company’s needs. Keep in mind that the right PR software can greatly improve your public relations strategy and boost the success of your brand as a whole.