Muck Rack vs. Cision vs. PressKitHero: Which PR Tool Is Right for You?

Effective public relations (PR) strategies involve a lot of moving pieces. There's outreach, asset management, content creation, analytics—the list goes on and on. To stay on top of it all, most businesses turn to dedicated PR tools.

But what PR tools are available? And which one is right for you?

In this comparison, we'll introduce you to three (very different) PR tools—Muck Rack, Cision, and PressKitHero. We'll be looking at features & pricing, pros & cons, and more to help you make an informed decision about which tool to use.

Ready? Let's go!

Muck Rack vs. Cision vs. PressKitHero: Key Differences

Features

PR tools come in all shapes and sizes. As you'll see later on, there's a ton of variety when it comes to the features offered by different platforms.

For now, let's take a quick look at the broad strokes:

• Muck Rack is a media relations platform that helps you find and contact journalists, measure the impact of your campaigns, and monitor coverage. It also offers content analytics & optimization.
• Cision is a comprehensive PR software with an extensive media database, content management, social listening, and measuring & reporting capabilities.
• PressKitHero is a digital press kit builder that gives you a centralized place to store all your press assets.

Pricing

With differences in features comes price variations.

While Muck Rack and Cision don't publically list their prices, most users report entry-level, single-user quotes starting at $4,000 to $10,000 per year, respectively.

PressKitHero is much more affordable. We offer a free forever Hobby plan for individual users, and our most expensive Agency plan tops out at $80/month.

What Is Muck Rack?

Founded in 2009, Muck Rack is one of the oldest PR management platforms around.

Muck Rack helps enterprise-level companies like Google, Pfizer, Golin, Zapier, and Duolingo build trust, tell stories, and demonstrate value through earned media. The platform helps users create media lists, craft pitches, and track analytics.

Muck Rack also provides journalists with tools to build professional profiles and sell stories to the world’s top media outlets.

Muck Rack Key Features

Media Database

One of Muck Rack's defining features is its massive media database which currently sits at 1M+ journalists, podcasters, and influencers.

At the core of Muck Rack's directory is a powerful search engine. Users can filter by a range of criteria, including:

• Name
• Media outlet
• Beat (industry or topic)
• Location
• Keyword

All journalists are listed alongside their contact information, as well as reach estimates and article examples so that you always know who you're reaching out to.

News Monitoring

Another key feature of Muck Rack is its news monitoring capabilities.

The platform scours millions of online sources to help you stay up-to-date on the latest news. You can even track competitors and monitor coverage of specific keywords or topics to ensure you don't miss a beat.

Muck Rack also makes it easy to share news with colleagues and clients by email, Slack, or Teampage. And you can create custom alerts to get notifications when new stories are published.

Campaign Reporting

Finally, Muck Rack provides reporting tools that can be used to measure the success of a PR campaign. The platform tracks key metrics such as the number of impressions, the total coverage, and the sentiment around a particular campaign.

You can also use Muck Rack to create detailed reports that show the progress of your campaigns over time. Plus, reports can easily be added to custom dashboards so that the information you need is always on-hand.

Muck Rack Pricing

Muck Rack's pricing is based on a subscription model. The monthly cost varies depending on the features and number of users you need.

For accurate pricing, you'll need to contact Muck Rack for a quote. Anecdotally, we can put the entry-level price at roughly $4,500/year.

Muck Rack Pros and Cons

Pros

• Massive Media Database: Muck Rack's directory of journalists and influencers provides a great resource for reaching out to potential contacts.
• Actionable Insights: The platform's news monitoring and campaign reporting tools make it easy to track the success of your PR campaigns.
• Effective Dashboards: The ability to create your own custom dashboards is incredibly valuable.

Cons

• Expensive: Muck Rack is expensive—around $4,500/year. That makes it inaccessible for many small to medium businesses and startups.

What Is Cision?

Cision is a global software solution that provides PR and marketing professionals with tools to manage their communications strategies better.

The platform helps more than 75,000 clients—including LinkedIn, PBS, and GE—create and monitor campaigns, measure their performance and impact, research media outlets and influencers, track industry trends, and more.

Cision Key Features

Press Release Distribution

One of the best things about Cision's PR platform is its press release distribution capabilities.

The platform allows users to reach 200,000+ journalists and influencers from 170+ countries with highly targeted campaigns. You can choose from more than 8,000 media outlets or create custom lists based on geography, job title, beat, and more.

Reach Targeting

Expanding your reach doesn't mean much if it isn't targeted at the people who matter.  That's why Cision also provides powerful targeting tools.

You can filter potential contacts based on an extensive range of criteria, such as job title, industry, location, and much more. This allows you to quickly narrow down your list of prospects and create highly targeted campaigns that get results.

You also have a team of strategists on call to help you make the most out of the platform's capabilities.

Monitoring & Analytics

Cision also provides real-time insights into the progress and success of your campaigns. The platform's reporting suite helps you understand precisely how your communications strategies are performing across online, broadcast, print, and social mediums.

You can also use Cision's analytics tools to gauge the sentiment and reach of your campaigns. This helps you ensure that you're on track and making the most out of your efforts.

Cision Pricing

Cision is pretty tight-lipped when it comes to pricing. If you're curious, you'll need to request a quote. That said, it's safe to say that Cision is expensive—roughly $7,000 per year, according to most sources.

Cision Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fantastic Targeting:  Cision's powerful targeting tools help you reach the right contacts quickly and easily.
• Impressive Analytics: The platform's reporting and analytics suite provide detailed insights into the performance of your PR campaigns.

Cons

• Expensive: Cision is an expensive solution—around $7,000 per year. Plus, the lack of a monthly payment option means that you'll need to pay upfront.
• Limited Reach: While the 200,000+ journalists and influencers Cision can get your message in front of is impressive, it isn't quite as comprehensive as other PR solutions.

What Is PressKitHero?

PressKitHero is a tool that's designed to support DIY public relations. It helps small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs create digital press kits for their products, services, and events without breaking the bank.

PressKitHero makes it easy to build an attractive and effective media kit in a few clicks. Once your press kit is ready, it's easy to share the link with journalists so that you're always in control of the narrative around your brand.

PressKitHero Key Features

Easy Setup

PressKitHero is incredibly easy to set up—just create an account, fill in some basic company information, and upload your documents and images.

With PressKitHero, there's no need to learn any complicated systems or tools. Instead, creating your press kit is as easy as filling in a form—you enter the information you want to include, and we make it look pretty!

Information Hub

PressKitHero gives you an easy-to-use, centralized hub for all your press and media material. It includes pre-built templates to quickly create your press kit, and you can easily add images, videos, audio files, documents, and more.

You can also customize the design and layout of your press kit to fit the look and feel of your website.

Custom Domain

Your PressKitHero press kit can either sit at a custom domain on our website, or yours. You're free to choose either option during setup (or later on if you change your mind).

A custom domain gives your press kit a professional look and feel, that helps you build credibility with the journalists and creators you're reaching out to.

PressKitHero Pricing

At PressKitHero, we believe every public-facing person, business, and company should have their own press kit. That’s why we’ve made affordability one of our top priorities.

We offer three pricing tiers—one free, two paid.

The free forever Hobby plan lets one user create one press kit—no paywalled features or view caps. If you want more than one user seat, you can upgrade to our Company plan for $20/month. If you want more than one press kit, you can upgrade to our Agency plan for $80/month.

See? Affordable!

PressKitHero Pros and Cons

Pros

• Affordable: PressKitHero is much more affordable than other PR solutions like Cision and Muck Rack—perfect for lean startups and DIYers.
• Easy Setup: Setting up your press kit couldn't be easier—just fill in a few fields, and you're done.
• Customizable Layout: You can customize the design and layout of your press kit to match the look and feel of your website.

Cons

• Limited Features: PressKitHero is designed for DIY public relations, so it won't provide the same robust PR features that a PR platform will.

Muck Rack vs. Cision vs. PressKitHero: Feature Comparison

Make Your Company Accessible with PressKitHero

PressKitHero is the perfect solution for small businesses, startups, and entrepreneurs who want to make their companies more accessible to journalists and members of the media.

With our simple setup process and easy-to-use tools, you'll be able to quickly create eye-catching press kits that help you promote your brand. Plus, our affordable pricing makes it easy to start building relationships with influencers and media outlets without breaking the bank.

PressKitHero helps you get your message out into the world—so why not give us a try today?