The PR software market offers a wide range of options, and it can be difficult to choose the best one for you. This article aims to help you make the right choice by comparing the best Meltwater alternatives.
Who is the competition for Meltwater?
We’ll cover these top 5 options.
If you’re worried about cost, why not skip the comparison and try Prowly for free for 7 days?
Why should you think about Meltwater alternatives?
Whether you’re picking out your first PR software or looking to switch to a different tool, there are three main reasons you should check out Meltwater’s competitors: pricing and feature scope.
Is Meltwater free?
Our research shows that, on average, Meltwater usually costs between $6,000 and $10,000 a year.
The only available plans include yearly contracts. This means you must make a huge payment upfront, which can be difficult for starting teams. It also means less flexibility.
💡 We did extensive research on Meltwater pricing. You can find more information in our article “Meltwater Pricing—How Much Does Meltwater Cost?”
Feature scope
Meltwater offers features focused on data analysis. You can use the native solutions or connect with other tools via their integration options.
However, it doesn’t offer options like an online newsroom or press release templates and creators. If you’re looking for such features, you should check out other alternatives to Meltwater.
Is there a free Meltwater alternative?
There’s always a price to pay for the scope of features and possibilities PR software offers. Yet, it brings you several gains:
- organized contact database
- ease of pitching
- analytics
- an overview of media publications about you
When you need more info, check out the benefits of PR software. In the meantime, let’s have a look at Meltwater’s competitors!
Meltwater alternative #1: Prowly
- Pricing: starts from $258 per month
- All-in-one PR tool: Yes
- Free trial: Yes, for 7 days
Prowly vs Meltwater: The main difference
While both tools will enable PR specialists to find new journalists, send emails to them, and monitor results, each shines in distinct scenarios tailored to different team needs.
→ Meltwater is considered a tool best suited for big PR or marketing agencies that need access to comprehensive media intelligence solutions and for teams that run multiple communication campaigns in various regional markets.
→ Meanwhile, Prowly is well-suited for smaller teams operating in environments where conditions change rapidly, where there is big-time pressure and a lack of time to learn new tools and incorporate them into a team. The tool is tailor-made for small to mid-sized teams and agencies needing media monitoring, a rich media database, and the power to generate impactful PR reports.
Moreover, Prowly brings an edge with:
- Generative AI features – that speed up the work and increase efficiency and creativity in PR storytelling.
- Advanced email analytics and insights about media outlets – to help reach new audiences and start campaigns for new clients and niche industries.
- Onboarding and dedicated support – always approachable and responsive.
A closer look: shePR’s journey with Prowly
Consider the story of Lakesha Cole, CEO and Founder of shePR, a women-led, Black-owned boutique PR agency focused on amplifying the narratives of women-led enterprises and influencers. Lakesha needed a tool that was not only robust but also cost-effective—something crucial for mid-sized teams facing tight budgets.
They managed to do the following using Prowly:
✔︎ increase the scale and complexity of their operations
✔︎ gain a diverse client base
✔︎ target niche audiences
✔︎ enhance the nature of their campaigns
Scaling a team excessively is usually not a viable option due to budget constraints, leading to individuals taking on more responsibilities than they can handle efficiently. In this all-too-familiar scenario, any time-saving methods or streamlining of repetitive processes can prove invaluable.
💡 Read more about shePR accelerated their growth with Prowly.
Prowly vs Meltwater: Alternative Overview
| Meltwater | Prowly | |
| Pricing | From $8,000/yr* | From $258/mo |
| Contract length | Annually | Monthly or annually |
| Media database size | 380k+ | 1M+ |
| AI press release creator | ✔ | ✔ |
| AI email pitching assistant | ✔ | ✔ |
| Email analytics | Standard | Advanced |
| Online newsroom | ✖ | ✔ |
| Media monitoring and reporting | ✔ | ✔ |
| Ease of use | Medium | Easy |
| Free, dedicated training | ✖ | ✔ |
| Free trial | ✖ | Free 7-day trial |
Prowly includes features unavailable in Meltwater, like an Online Newsroom or a Press Release Creator. Nevertheless, Meltwater seems to have more extended analytics options and a newswire service.
Pricing comparison
| Meltwater | Prowly | |
| Pricing plans provided on the website | ✖ | ✔ |
| Pricing | From $8,000/yr* | From $258/mo |
| Setup fee | Unknown | Free |
| Contract length | Annually | Monthly or annually |
Price often makes for a deciding factor in choosing a PR software provider. And with some PR software prices reaching thousands of dollars per year – you will want to check the value-to-price ratio.
Meltwater pricing depends on the number of features included and user seats. Unfortunately, to get a quote, you need to contact a sales representative – and the exact factors influencing the final price aren’t transparent.
We did our research, and from the data we could find, the price can go up drastically, reaching over $25,000 per year.
In Prowly, you get detailed pricing, which is all available online. You can choose between monthly plans or annual plans and save up to 30%.
Feature comparison
Media database
Meltwater and Prowly provide access to extensive media databases, but there are notable differences in scale, update frequency, and cost.
Prowly’s database includes around 1 million contacts, and Meltwater’s over 400 thousand.
As long as the number differs strongly, the most important factor is quality. Try to make sure that the contacts are relevant—the best way is to ask for them on the demo call or check them out during a free trial period.
Prowly gives you 7 days to try everything included in the offer, including full search access to the Media Database. Meltwater’s policy on sharing this data is unclear, suggesting that further information might be available during a demo call.
Media monitoring
Both Meltwater and Prowly offer robust media monitoring solutions, including social media monitoring and listening. These are crucial for tracking news of interest to you, including your company, partners, or competitors.
💡Check out a list of the best social media listening tools.
PR reports
Both competitors transform data from Media Monitoring to elegant PR reports. However, as user reviews on G2 claim, Prowly offers superior capabilities compared to Meltwater.
It’s hard to compare the two tools side by side, as Meltwater doesn’t seem to offer a free trial. Nevertheless, asking about it during their demo call would be useful.
Prowly, however, lets you create your PR reports during the 7-day free trial period.
AI feature comparison
AI in tools is still a hot topic – let’s see how both tools compare.
Prowly and Meltwater offer AI support in writing media pitches and press releases.
Meltwater provides AI-generated press releases based on key messages that you can take over and continue editing. It helps you speed up the creation process. Moreover, it can create additional content for you – like social media posts or even custom images (with DALL-E).
Prowly’s Press Release AI Writing Assistant supports you at each process stage – starting right from the ideation step.
It can suggest a few story angles and explain the reasoning behind each idea. This way, you can overcome writer’s block without specializing in prompts for ChatGPT.
When you want to make your text shorter or longer or rephrase some parts, it’s just one click away. You also can try different tones and styles of language.
What’s more, you can review your texts and implement suggestions based on criteria prepared by our PR experts. It’s perfect for PR specialists who are just starting out or want to develop their press release writing skills. The cherry on top – recommended journalists. Based on your topic and keywords, Prowly will suggest journalists pulled from the Media Database.
Meltwater alternative #2: Muck Rack
- Pricing: estimated from $10,000 per year – based on reviews and third-party info
- All-in-one PR tool: Yes
- Free trial: No
Features overview
Muck Rack is a robust solution for PR management, covering outreach, a media database, media monitoring, and analytics.
With media monitoring, you can track online news, social media, TV and radio broadcasts and measure the multichannel impact of your campaigns. Combined with a media database, where you can quickly see greater details on journalists who have shared your stories.
Muck Rack stands out with advanced outreach personalization options. You can personalize the subject line, copy, and attachments with each outreach message. What’s more, you can schedule the follow-up messages to ensure you don’t end up without a reply.
Pricing
Muck Rack doesn’t share much pricing info on their site. According to them, the final price depends on a few factors.
Based on our research, based on third-party info, the price per year seems to start at $10,000.
| Provider | Pricing | Contract length |
| Muck Rack | From $10,000/yr* | Yearly only |
💡Find out more about Muck Rack pricing here.
Pros
Muck Rack’s users praise this tool on G2 for its TV and radio monitoring. The tool also has a good UX and an easy-to-use interface. Its coverage reports prove helpful in discovering new people talking about your company.
Cons
Muck Rack also lies on the pricey side of the spectrum, which makes it an option for teams with bigger budgets. For this price, though, there are many drawbacks – results that are not coherent with other tools or overwhelming media alerts without a way to highlight the most important mentions.
Meltwater alternative #3: Cision
- Pricing: estimated from $7,200 per year – based on reviews and third-party info
- All-in-one PR tool: Yes
- Free trial: No
Features overview
Cision is a complex solution for big corporate PR teams. It covers multiple areas that PR specialists tackle – from creating content, like press releases, through distribution, monitoring, and analytics, to investor relations, ESG microsites, and custom insights.
Cision provides multiple tools and options for large PR operations. With third-party tools, it offers a guaranteed, paid placement in popular news, an alternative to sponsored articles.
Compared to other solutions on the list, it stands out among the Investor Relations comms options. It tackles compliance, streamlined communications, and online investor events and helps you efficiently manage the full process. It is one of Meltwater’s strategic alternatives.
Pricing
| Provider | Pricing | Contract length |
| Cision | From $7,200/yr (estimate) | Yearly only |
To get the pricing for each Cision solution, you must give out your data and fill out a contact form. Yet, when we dug on third-party sites, the pricing seemed to start from $7,200 per year.
Pros
What is similar to Meltwater? Cision certainly shares the most similarities. Users’ reviews on G2 show that the tool helps find relevant media for pitches and has relevant media monitoring capabilities.
Cons
Users complain about outdated information in the media database and slow customer service replies. What’s more, you need a rep to tweak the look of your reports.
Meltwater alternative #4: Brand24
- Pricing: starting from $79 per month
- All-in-one PR tool: No
- Free trial: 14-day
Features overview
Brand24 is focused on real-time online media monitoring and analytics. It gathers data from various online sources, including niche examples like podcasts, newsletters, and Twitch.
Apart from bringing you mentions, the tool excels in its analytical abilities. You can learn who the most influential author in your space is, measure AVE, or understand the context of the discussion. And later put it all together in a report.
Pricing
Brand24 offers four plans, starting from $79. They differ in terms of number of users, keywords you can monitor, and monthly mentions. Also, with higher plans, you get real-time result updates, wider coverage of online sources, and advanced AI features.
In terms of billing, you can go with a monthly or annual plan. The latter gives you two months off.
| Provider | Pricing | Contract length |
| Brand24 | From $79/mo | Monthly and annually |
Pros
Brand24 specializes in helping you understand your current online brand reputation. There’s a huge chance you already have it in your organization, as marketing teams widely use it.
Cons
It focuses only on one area, so you’d need other tools to complete your PR toolkit. If you prefer to keep everything in one place (and pay for just one tool), an all-in-one solution like Prowly might be better.
Meltwater alternative #5: Agility PR
- Pricing: Unknown
- All-in-one PR tool: Yes
- Free trial: No
Features overview
Agility PR supports teams in three main areas with annual packages: a media database and outreach, media monitoring, and social listening. In addition, you can distribute your press releases through their newswire, get ad-hoc reports, or receive one-time media outreach services.
They stand out from competitors with their Risk Intelligence feature. It monitors any threats to your brand reputation from a third party, like your suppliers’ actions. You can learn about any potential crisis, like social media publications, data breaches, or geopolitical threats, before they affect your company.
Pricing
Agility PR doesn’t share its pricing – you need to set up a demo call.
| Provider | Pricing | Contract length |
| Agility PR | Unknown | Annually |
It offers several annual plans and one-time services tailored for different PR areas. This means you can pay only for a feature set you’d use, like social listening or a media database, or combine a few options in their Enterprise plan.
Pros
Agility PR is used by well-known international brands like Pandora, McDonald’s, and Nestle. With their recognition badges from G2, it looks like a reliable tool for an enterprise-sized client.
On services like G2, users appreciate their customer service.
Cons
Due to its pricing plans, the tool isn’t flexible. When your needs change – for example, starting social listening – you’re bound to an annual plan.
Which one would be the best Meltwater alternative?
Unfortunately, there’s no simple answer!
Hopefully, our list of 5 Meltwater competitors (Prowly, Muck Rack, Cision, Brand24, and Agility PR) helped you narrow down the best options.
You can look for more info on Meltwater alternatives or try out Prowly today—it’s free for 7 days, no CC, and no strings attached.
