Newswire vs. Cision Communications Cloud

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
ACCESS Newswire is a press release distribution platform that helps clients increase their online visibility and web presence. It provides premier syndication to leading news outlets. The solution aims to empower clients with a variety of solutions to suit any budget.
$299
per month
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
N/A
CIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A
Pricing
NewswireCision Communications Cloud
Editions & Modules
Newswire Digital
$299
single PR
Newswire Digital Plus
$549
single PR
Newswire State
$599
single PR
Newswire National
$799
single PR
Newswire Canada
$899
single PR
Newswire UK
$899
single PR
Newswire Financial
$899
single PR
Newswire Asia
$1,299
single PR
Newswire Latin America
$1,299
single PR
Newswire Global
$1,999
single PR
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
NewswireCision Communications Cloud
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsBulk discounts available
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
NewswireCision Communications Cloud
Considered Both Products
Newswire
Chose Newswire
Newswire is affordable compared to the other products in this segment and very user-friendly. The onboarding process is quick, simple, and smooth and the product is entirely self-serve. Others have strict guidelines for content review and take time and support intervention for …
Chose Newswire
Flexible Payment Structures - I love how you can sign up via membership plan or pay as you go via credits; it gives startups like us the freedom to send press releases when we want.
Chose Newswire
Newswire stacks up poorly against Cision. However, we opted for Newswire as it offered automatic placement on Cision's PR Newswire for a much lower fee than going directly to Cision.
Cision Communications Cloud

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Best Alternatives
NewswireCision Communications Cloud
Small Businesses
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Meltwater
Meltwater
Score 7.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
NewswireCision Communications Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(106 ratings)
8.5
(279 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.2
(8 ratings)
7.0
(17 ratings)
Usability
8.8
(106 ratings)
7.0
(53 ratings)
Availability
10.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Support Rating
8.9
(7 ratings)
9.0
(192 ratings)
Online Training
-
(0 ratings)
8.0
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.9
(4 ratings)
10.0
(3 ratings)
Configurability
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.0
(1 ratings)
7.3
(1 ratings)
Professional Services
5.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
5.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.0
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
NewswireCision Communications Cloud
Likelihood to Recommend
Issuer Direct Corporation
As a general rule, press releases announcing an event are more effective than product or corporate business deals press releases. This may be because events are people-centered and tend to be one of a kind. The interest in a new product, unless it is an upgrade to an existing product line or service, attracts little attention. There are exceptions; if, for example, there is an outbreak of some pathogen and the company is working on a solution, then interest is higher. News has to be related to current concerns.
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Cision
For a small start-up, the cost-benefit to add lift to press releases [and] particular milestone accomplishments is definitely there with the Cision [Communications] Cloud. Much of what we do, by necessity, is done internally without the benefit of outsourced press folks, so the Cision [Communications] Cloud ease of use and reporting is very important.
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Pros
Issuer Direct Corporation
  • Communication via video calls and emails. They were responsive to any questions we had.
  • Provided all the information we needed to make the decision to move forward. They had the materials around what publications and news outlets they could get into for us.
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Cision
  • Their upgraded press release templates and ability [to] pull in an entire, completed release makes the [process] faster and easier, and allows for more graphics, such as company mastheads, [are done well].
  • The media tracking offers the ability to find relevant placements across the entire country.
  • The journalist database streamlines the process of finding relevant reporters to directly connect [to] on news releases that are relevant to their beats.
  • The process of setting up, creating, and distributing a release is seamless, easy to use, and not labor-intensive.
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Cons
Issuer Direct Corporation
  • The editorial process was always very hard on our sale releases. Even if we followed the same structure we used to with PR Wire they would flag it as advertorial.
  • The option for video is nice but would be better to actually embed it into a part of the release versus just floating at the bottom.
  • Would be interesting for them to share more industry-specific releases or give the option to only get emails on specific industries. The E-blasts are always too general.
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Cision
  • In the media influencer database, the classic Cision allowed us to do a zip code radius search to really drill down to the neighborhood level. That's because we do localized media advisories and press releases for events at neighborhood schools. One part of a big city like Chicago really doesn't care what's happening in another part of Chicago that's too far away. The zip code radius search was a feature in the classic Cision but not with the current Cision Communications Cloud. We've asked for this to be restored several times, but nothing's happened. In fact, we were told to use DMA — which actually goes wider in a search (bigger than a city), not more narrow as needed. This reflects a basic misunderstanding of what we need.
  • Another missing feature involves a merge field when sending out an email press release through Cision. This is the "select insert field" button in the upper right that's used to personalize a release with the media contact's name and other information. This is key for localization of the release. Many media outlets won't run a release unless it's local. While "county" is a feature in the influencer database when putting together a media list in Cision, "county" is not available to insert into a press release as a merge field. Counties are important because this is how many newspapers and health departments are organized and identify themselves. I've asked for this to be implemented, to no avail. As a workaround, we've had to use "contact city" or "outlet city."
  • After refining a media list in Cision using filters, I've had to download the list and take it offline to see the big picture, screen for duplicates, etc. While there is a button on the bottom left intended to help with this, it doesn't do the trick. That's because there may be multiple contacts with the same email address. In addition, one media contact may represent numerous media outlets, so this same contact could show up several times. It would be nice to have a better way to see the whole list online and eliminate both duplicates as well as those who previously opted out.
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Likelihood to Renew
Issuer Direct Corporation
Newswire is simple to use and the pricing is fair. The company's network for press releases is not as large as some competitors but seems to have the best reach at a comparable price point. Newswire also offers quality support for customers, which can be hard to find in this space.
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Cision
While I am happy with the product performance overall, TrendKite's recent merger with Cision is cause for concern. When we first signed on with TrendKite, I spoke with several users and the best response I received was that the company was a startup and we could expect there to be hiccups along the way as the company grew and the platform got more robust. That has certainly been the case. However, now that they have merged with Cision — a company that has grown too fast, has not focused on improving its product and has poor customer service — I have concerns that TrendKite will lose some of the qualities that have made it a great company and great product to work with.
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Usability
Issuer Direct Corporation
Simple step-by-step process to get your news out to the world. Easy to understand process and explanation as you go through the steps. Each upgrade does have a charge, but it's pretty visible. Once you get familiar with their platform and systems, it becomes fairly easy to use to get your news published. It's also nice how quickly you are able to get the news out and published in the places you choose.
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Cision
The flexibility and customization of Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* is among its most important features. Changing the dashboards, using keywords in the saved searches to pull out the best stories and the integration with marketing automation tools gives me confidence that I will able to continue using this tool well into the future. The future implementation and integration of the media contact database will complete the suite, making list management and email marketing programs much smoother. *This review was written before Cision acquired TrendKite. TrendKite is now part of Cision Communications Cloud.
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Reliability and Availability
Issuer Direct Corporation
It was available for immediate use
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Cision
Easily accessible 24/7.
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Performance
Issuer Direct Corporation
It seemed to be okay overall an we plan on continuing to use it as we expand
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Cision
Generally, Cision performs well day to day, but it's got some annoying bugs that slow down usage/require user workarounds which is inefficient. More seriously, a few months ago, as a result of a major system upgrade, certain critical functionality was not working and I was unable to use the service for more than a day when I had time-sensitive work to execute
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Support Rating
Issuer Direct Corporation
Any time I’ve had a question or needed assistance, I’ve been able to get in contact with a Newswire representative within a short amount of time. Their attention to customer satisfaction is impeccable, and they definitely go out of their way to ensure they can be of assistance to the best of their ability!
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Cision
For Cision TrendKite in particilar, support always responded, but it was sometimes slow. For some of our booleans and search queries, we would need help refining and excluding terms/phrases that weren't relevant to our client or campaign. This sometimes took 1-2 days just to get a response back, which sometimes was too late when a last-minute report was due. This was only with the support staff, not necessarily our customer success manager or sales rep.
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Online Training
Issuer Direct Corporation
No answers on this topic
Cision
The online training sessions available for the Cision Communications Cloud are helpful and informative. There's more than one option - initially, I signed up for the live webinar classes on basic functions and that is what I recommend other new users do as well. If I have specific questions or something I want to learn more about, I can search the online database and find article or online training videos to get the information I need.
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Implementation Rating
Issuer Direct Corporation
It is a very simple product to get started using, particularly for press releases. I have no used the other functionality so I can't say for sure how easy or difficult that might be, but my guess is that the way the platform is built makes it easy for anybody to get started.
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Cision
There is no implementation at the customer's end so this doesn't really apply to my instance of Cision (possibly to all instances of it).
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Alternatives Considered
Issuer Direct Corporation
Newswire hands-down beats these other platforms based on their unique price-to-feature-set ratio. We couldn't find a better value and user experience on any of these other platforms when we went through our discovery and evaluation process. All in all, we are very happy with the team and platform at Newswire.
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Cision
It's a similar product. I think Meltwater sells itself as being a bit more niche, but I have not found many significant differences between Meltwater and Cision. Meltwater's sales process is a very high pressure and their prices are inflated.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
Issuer Direct Corporation
I did not purchase, I only purchased the per use newswire options
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Cision
No answers on this topic
Scalability
Issuer Direct Corporation
I have not really used this software feature to the level to scale at this point
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Cision
Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
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Professional Services
Issuer Direct Corporation
I did not really use professional services other than the customer support did answer some questions from time to time
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Cision
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
Issuer Direct Corporation
  • In a new technology area, Newswire has helped us build brand recognition.
  • During the pressures put on Healthcare over the past COVID periods our presence in the Marketplace have been difficult to maintain. Newswire has been key in our efforts.
  • When medical imaging AI tools exploded on the scene three years ago, there were over 150 vendors at conferences. Those that didn't promote with tools like Newswire and now gone.
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Cision
  • Cision has a net positive impact on time savings for staff so we can be quicker to market
  • Cision has a positive impact on internal savings as it is used internally across multiple accounts and with the internal PR team
  • Cision is extremely useful when it comes to resourcing and conducting outreach in those DMA's where our agency doesn't have a physical presence
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ScreenShots

Newswire Screenshots

Screenshot of Newswire DashboardScreenshot of Press Writing

Cision Communications Cloud Screenshots

Screenshot of Media Monitoring and Analytics are just part of the complete Comms Cloud. It combines deep data dive with a database of journalists and influencers, and a media relationship management tool.Screenshot of Track brand mentions in real time across the millions of online stories on the internet. Monitor millions of stories and breaking news happening daily across the web. Professional services consultants teams are in place to ensure best practices while setting up a monitoring account.Screenshot of Cision’s media and influencer relationship management tools include audience insights, combined with a pitchable database that enables brands to uncover the best media contacts and social influencers to reach their target audience.Screenshot of Identify the social conversations and influencers that are impacting a brand. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube monitoring capabilities track brand mentions across all major social channels. Analyze results for social mentions or campaigns on the fly with its reporting features.