Cision not meeting your expectations? You're not alone. Many businesses across industries have social listening and media monitoring needs that the platform can't meet.
The good news is that there are plenty of better options out there. Read on for a quick and easy guide to the top Cision competitors.
Table of Contents
What Is Cision?
What Are Cision Alternatives?
The Best Alternative to Cision
Other Alternatives to Cision
What Is Cision?
Before we look at competitors, let's take a closer look at what Cision is and does.
It is perhaps best known for PRWeb, its digital media PR distribution platform, and PR Newswire, its digital and traditional media press release distribution platform.
What Are Cision Alternatives?
The following companies offer solutions that are good alternatives to what Cision is offering.
- Meltwater
- Critical Mention
- GlobeNewswire
- Newswire
- NiceJob
- Prezly
- Prowly
Scroll down to read more about their pros and cons.
The Best Alternative to Cision
Cision has been a player in communications for more than 150 years, but its platforms leave many users wanting something better. It has many competitors in the crowded marketing technology space, but there's only one that ticks more boxes than the rest.
Top Cision Alternative: Meltwater
Our platform is a best-in-class, all-in-one social and media intelligence solution for PR, marketing, communications, and social professionals. From social media analytics and engagement solutions to an all-encompassing influencer marketing platform, Meltwater is designed to solve all the problems and obstacles (and take advantage of all the opportunities!) that come along with modern marketing.
Meltwater vs. Cision
One of Cision's weaknesses is its clunkiness. Unlike our all-in-one, PR, comms, and social solutions, Cision's varied tools require users to log into multiple platforms and seek support from multiple account representatives. Brandwatch and Falcon.io, which have been under the Cision umbrella since 2021 and 2019 respectively, remain completely separate platforms.
By comparison, Meltwater solutions are customizable, integrated, and easy to use. Plus, clients enjoy having one dedicated customer success team per account. Usability and integration are especially key when it comes to campaign management and long-term marketing strategies. Insights extracted from media monitoring and social media analytics can be put to good use seamlessly via our social engagement and influencer marketing platforms.
Another frequent complaint of Cision clients is that the software's large journalist database is riddled with out-of-date information. Our database, on the other hand, offers keyword searches for journalists and a "living" media list that uses data cleansing to eliminate double counting.
We also come out ahead when it comes to reputation and brand management use cases. With a broad social listening capability across numerous channels worldwide, it offers users a comprehensive look at online conversations about their companies and brands. And highly customizable reporting on traditional and bespoke metrics makes analytics and insights easy to communicate across teams and departments.
For brands and companies looking to get into the exploding world of influencer marketing, our solutions facilitate identifying and vetting influencers, managing influencer campaigns, capturing and analyzing results, as well as payment.
Finally, live Meltwater customer support reps are available to clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We can't say the same about Cision.
From PR to communications to marketing to social media and every combination in between, Meltwater is the comprehensive, all-in-one platform that out-performs Cision solutions across the board.
Other Alternatives to Cision
Meltwater is the top Cision alternative, but there are many other options to compare it to. Here's how other competitors match up.
Critical Mention
Critical Mention is a media monitoring platform that helps businesses and brands keep tabs on their earned media mentions and coverage.
Critical Mention vs. Cision Communications Cloud
While Critical Mention helps users collect and monitor media coverage, it doesn't help with crucial aspects of drumming up engagement. Cision offers capabilities like communication management and email distribution that Critical Mention is missing.
GlobeNewswire
GlobeNewswire is a global press release agency and newswire distribution network. It delivers unique press releases, multimedia content, and financial disclosures to databases and news outlets, including NASDAQ and Reuters.
GlobeNewswire vs. Cision PR Newswire
G2 reviewers applaud GlobeNewswire for being easy to use, but when it comes to reach, the platform falls flat. Despite its name, it distributes across 92 countries compared to PR Newswire's 170+.
Newswire
Newswire lets users distribute press releases, track news and industry trends, and analyze campaign performance.
Newswire vs. Cision PRWeb
Newswire and PRWeb are mostly comparable tools, except when it comes to multimedia. Newswire charges extra for including more than one image or video in its releases. By comparison, PRWeb offers users a much wider range of embedded, attached, and hyperlinked multimedia.
NiceJob
This reputation management software's main features are automated email and SMS review invites along with a branded website where customer feedback can be displayed.
NiceJob vs. Cision Communications Cloud
Notably, both Cision and NiceJob lack keyword and brand tracking. When it comes to straight-ahead review generation and management, NiceJob is the more specialized tool. However, all-in-one platforms that enable online reputation management via social media monitoring and audience engagement are a better solution for in-depth PR and marketing strategies.
Prezly
Prezly helps public relations professionals get their websites, email engagement, media relations, and customer support in order. Some of its go-to features are its media contacts database and press release creator.
Prezly vs. Cision Communications Cloud
Prezly's main advantage over Cision Communications Cloud is its CRM platform strictly for PR contacts, which lets users track the conversations and interactions with key individuals. At the same time, Prezly is a very specialized tool that may not be the best choice for businesses and brands with more robust marketing and PR needs.
Prowly
Businesses use Prowly to manage their media relations using the platform's journalist database, press release creator, and other tools.
Prowly vs. Cision Communications Cloud
G2 reviews show that users generally find Prowly to be easier to use than SaaS like Cision, but many may find that simplicity comes at the cost of versatility. Unlike Cision, Prowly offers a free trial, which at least lets you check out the accuracy (and relevance to you) of its media contacts database.
Cision boasts tons of offerings, but it isn't right for everyone. Want to learn more about how the #1 Cision alternative can boost your business? Get in touch for a Meltwater demo today!
