Prezly costs 100 EUR per month billed annually for 1 user and 5,000 contacts, with no journalist database of its own (prezly.com, September 2026). Cision publishes no price: about 7,200 USD a year at entry, 12,625 USD median contract, 1,400,000+ contacts, monitoring and PR Newswire included (Prezly, August 2026; Vendr, February 2026; AuthorityTech, July 2026).
Quick answer
Prezly is the practical choice for a small or mid-size team that already holds its contact list and wants a branded newsroom, email campaigns and a published price. Cision is the reference for a listed company or an enterprise comms team that needs a journalist database of 1,400,000+ contacts, monitoring across markets and a wire for regulated disclosures. They overlap on the newsroom and on sending, and on nothing else.
At a glance
| Criteria | Prezly | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | 100 EUR per month billed annually, 150 EUR monthlyprezly.com (2 September 2026) | About 7,200 USD a year, estimatePrezly Academy (August 2026) |
| Typical contract | 1,200 EUR a year on Essential, 3,000 EUR on Standardprezly.com (2 September 2026) | 12,625 USD median, 3,150 to 30,368 USDVendr (February 2026) |
| Pricing visible | Yes, public page | No, quote form |
| Contract | Monthly or annual, 14-day trial | Annual onlyAuthorityTech (23 July 2026) |
| Users and contacts | 1 user and 5,000 contacts on Essential, 2 users and 10,000 on Standard | Per quote |
| Journalist database | None, bring your ownAuthorityTech (23 July 2026) | 1,400,000+ contactsAuthorityTech (23 July 2026) |
| Branded newsroom | Core product | Part of the package quoted |
| Regulated disclosure | No | Yes, PR Newswire at 805 USD per national releasePrezly Academy (August 2026) |
| Media monitoring | No | Yes |
| Best for | SMBs, agencies, scale-ups with their own list | Listed companies, enterprise comms |
Prezly plans in detail
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Users | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential | 100 EUR per month | 150 EUR per month | 1 | Up to 5,000 |
| Standard | 250 EUR per month | 300 EUR per month | 2 | Up to 10,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom, billed annually | Not offered | Custom | Custom |
All plans come with a 14-day trial and no credit card (prezly.com, read 2 September 2026). Annual billing works out at 1,200 EUR on Essential and 3,000 EUR on Standard. AuthorityTech places Prezly's yearly spend at 1,200 to 10,000 USD (July 2026), which matches the range from Essential to an Enterprise quote. There is no Cision equivalent of this table: seats, modules and contract length are all set in the quote.
Where Prezly wins
- A published price. Essential at 100 EUR per month billed annually and Standard at 250 EUR are on the website with the user and contact limits next to them. Cision's price is a quote, and Vendr's data shows a 3,150 to 30,368 USD spread between buyers.
- Monthly billing. 150 EUR month to month on Essential, 300 EUR on Standard, and a 14-day trial without a credit card. Cision sells annual contracts only.
- The newsroom. Prezly is built around a hosted, branded newsroom with stories and media kits; it is the core product rather than a module.
- Cost at small scale. 1,200 EUR a year on Essential against a 7,200 USD entry estimate at Cision, about six times less, for a team that already has its contacts.
- An open academy. Prezly publishes detailed pricing guides on its competitors, which is where several figures on this page come from.
Where Cision wins
- The database. 1,400,000+ contacts (AuthorityTech, July 2026). Prezly has none: it manages the contacts you import, up to 5,000 or 10,000 depending on the plan.
- Regulated disclosure. Cision owns PR Newswire, at 805 USD per national release (Prezly, August 2026). Prezly is not a wire.
- Monitoring. Media monitoring, social listening and reporting come with the Cision suite. Prezly does not monitor.
- One contract for everything. Enterprise procurement can put database, monitoring, wire and newsroom under one vendor, which is what the 74,923 USD enterprise average in SpendHound's data pays for (see our Cision pricing guide).
Who should pick Prezly
Teams that already hold a contact list they trust and want to publish often from a newsroom that looks like the brand: consumer brands, B2B software companies, agencies running several client newsrooms, and in-house comms leads who would rather pay 100 to 250 EUR a month than negotiate an annual quote.
Who should pick Cision
Listed companies with a disclosure policy that names PR Newswire, comms teams that need to find journalists in many markets rather than manage a list they already have, and organisations that run monitoring and outreach under one procurement contract.
A note on third options
Prezly has no database and Cision has no public price. A team that needs to find journalists without an annual contract can put a targeted sending tool next to a Prezly newsroom. PressPilot, which we make, sends a release to 100 journalists chosen from a database of 45,476 (live count, September 2026) from 29 EUR a month, with AI drafting included and no contract; it does not monitor and it is not a wire. Prowly, at 258 USD per month billed annually with a 1,000,000+ contact database (Prezly, August 2026; AuthorityTech, July 2026), is the subscription route to the same gap.
For tool-by-tool comparisons, see the Prezly alternatives guide, the 7 best Cision alternatives and PressPilot pricing.
Summary
Prezly wins on price, billing flexibility and the newsroom. Cision wins on the database, regulated disclosure and monitoring. A small team with its own list will be happier on Prezly at 100 to 250 EUR a month; a listed company or an enterprise comms team will keep paying Cision's 12,625 USD median contract for the parts Prezly does not do.
Frequently asked questions
- Prezly vs Cision: which one is cheaper?
- Prezly. Its Essential plan costs 100 EUR per month billed annually, or 150 EUR month to month, for 1 user and 5,000 contacts; Standard is 250 EUR billed annually for 2 users and 10,000 contacts (prezly.com, September 2026). Cision publishes no prices: the entry estimate is about 7,200 USD a year (Prezly, August 2026) and the median real contract 12,625 USD (Vendr, February 2026). On the entry plans that is 1,200 EUR against 7,200 USD a year, about six times less.
- Which has the bigger journalist database, Prezly or Cision?
- Cision, by a wide margin, because Prezly has none. AuthorityTech's July 2026 table lists Cision at 1,400,000+ contacts and Prezly with no native database. Prezly is a CRM for contacts you bring, up to 5,000 on Essential and 10,000 on Standard (prezly.com, September 2026). If you need to find journalists, Prezly alone will not do it.
- Can Prezly handle SEC disclosures like Cision?
- No. Prezly is not a wire. Cision owns PR Newswire, which charges 805 USD per national release (Prezly, August 2026) and is accepted for regulated disclosures. A listed company can run its newsroom on Prezly and still file through PR Newswire or Business Wire.
- Is Prezly a full Cision replacement?
- Only for teams that already own their contact list. Prezly covers the newsroom, contact management and email campaigns; it has no journalist database, no monitoring and no wire. A team leaving Cision for Prezly usually adds a database tool, or a targeted sending tool such as PressPilot, next to it.
- Does Prezly offer monthly billing?
- Yes. Essential is 150 EUR month to month or 100 EUR per month billed annually, Standard 300 EUR month to month or 250 EUR billed annually, with a 14-day trial and no credit card (prezly.com, September 2026). Cision sells annual contracts only (AuthorityTech, July 2026).
- How much does Prezly cost per year?
- 1,200 EUR on Essential and 3,000 EUR on Standard when billed annually, or 1,800 EUR and 3,600 EUR when paid month to month (prezly.com, September 2026). Enterprise is on quote and billed annually. AuthorityTech places Prezly's annual spend at 1,200 to 10,000 USD (July 2026), which matches the range from Essential to an Enterprise quote.
- Does Cision publish its prices?
- No. Cision's pricing page is a quote form. The figures on this page come from Prezly's estimate of about 7,200 USD a year (verified August 2026), Vendr's contract data with a 12,625 USD median across 77 deals (February 2026) and AuthorityTech's 25,000 to 80,000 USD enterprise range (July 2026). Our Cision pricing guide lists every benchmark with its date.
Keep exploring
If neither Prezly nor Cision fits, the alternatives guides compare the other platforms on price, database size and contract, with a source on every number.