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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Chartbeat

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AChartbeat delivers real-time analytics, insights, and transformative tools for content teams around the world, to help improve audience engagement, inform editorial decisions, and increase loyalty.N/A

    Cision Communications Cloud

    Score8 out of 10
    N/ACIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.N/A
    Pricing
    ChartbeatCision Communications Cloud
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    ChartbeatCision Communications Cloud
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsChartbeat pricing is based on monthly site page views. Discounts are applied to multi-year contracts. The Basic Plan includes the Real-time Dashboard, Historical Dashboard, Heads Up Display, Reports, Big Board, iOS and Android app, and Real-time API endpoints. The Plus Plan includes all of the Basic Plan features, plus ONE of the following Premium features: Headline Testing, Advanced Queries, or Multi-Site View. The Premium Plan includes all of the Basic Plan features, plus ALL Premium features: Headline Testing, Advanced Queries, Multi-Site View, and enterprise-level support and custom trainings.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    ChartbeatCision Communications Cloud
    Considered Both Products
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    No answer on this topic
    Cision
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    98%
    Would buy again
    47 Answers
    92%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    21 Answers
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    96%
    Happy with the feature set
    46 Answers
    90%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    20 Answers
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    24 Answers
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    Features
    ChartbeatCision Communications Cloud
    Web Analytics
    Comparison of Web Analytics features of Chartbeat and Cision Communications Cloud
    Feature
    Chartbeat
    7.8
    15 Ratings
    4% below category average
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Lead Conversion Tracking6.15 Ratings00 Ratings
    Bounce Rate Measurement6.89 Ratings00 Ratings
    Device and Browser Reporting7.714 Ratings00 Ratings
    Pageview Tracking8.913 Ratings00 Ratings
    Event Tracking8.58 Ratings00 Ratings
    Reporting in real-time9.414 Ratings00 Ratings
    Referral Source Tracking8.414 Ratings00 Ratings
    Customizable Dashboards6.712 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    ChartbeatCision Communications Cloud
    Small Businesses
    Matomo Analytics
    Score9 out of 10
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Lead Forensics
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Critical Mention
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Alexa Internet (discontinued)
    Score7.9 out of 10
    Meltwater
    Score7.6 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    ChartbeatCision Communications Cloud
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (69 ratings)
    8.0
    (280 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.9
    (9 ratings)
    7.0
    (17 ratings)
    Usability
    10.0
    (60 ratings)
    8.0
    (54 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.1
    (10 ratings)
    9.0
    (192 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    ChartbeatCision Communications Cloud
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    The main point of benefit is the realtime data. This is vital to our team as we are publishing a lot of content per day, so we have a busy homepage to manage and it's important to know which content is performing well. We also like to get an understanding as quickly as possible - which Chartbeat offers - of where traffic is coming from. Often we will see an example where a page is getting high traffic from Google, for example, and we know that might not need to be placed so prominently on the homepage because the traffic is arriving to us externally anyway. Without that depth of understanding what is performing best and why - updated immediately, unlike in Google Analytics now - our homepage would not be as well optimised for users coming to us direct
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    • Provides easy at-a-glance look at what people are reading right now
    • Heads-up Display allows you to make sure the homepage is showing the content people want to read
    • Headline testing tool provides fascinating insight into what makes people read a story and improves headline-writing ability
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    • Source of traffic needs improvement. Search and social make sense, but "internal" and "links" is a grey area. It would be helpful to define those with an organization and provide an information icon so users can easily remember what each of those buckets is tracking.
    • More ways to customize the real-time board. For example, with video content, that's great that I can see a user has started a video, but what is the completion rate, was that only on O&O or can that track Facebook, too?
    • Would like to see demo (age) information included as a way to slice the data so I can see what's working with my older and younger demo.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    I gave Chartbeat a 5 for a renewal rating, because, while it delivers clear and understandable content, Google Analytics also provides many of the same features for free. For a small to medium website, I believe it would be more cost effective to use Google Analytics. A website with a high amount of traffic, however, could merit spending the money on Chartbeat to maximize their potential.
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    I am able to "set it and forget it," keeping it up on my monitor for either constant checking or just keeping an eye on the numbers during the day. I'm also able to keep track of what times are perfect to post a story and which stories rack up the most traffic.
    Incentivized
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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.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Cision
    Easily accessible 24/7.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Performance
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    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
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    I have had limited experience of support for Chartbeat but whenever I have needed help it has been there. Recently there was an issue of seeing different forms of data in real time - app and otherwise effectively, and the issue was being clearly dealt with and communicated back to us.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Online Training
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    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.
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    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).
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    Omnilytics is more robust, detailed, and catered for an intermediate media user, while I think Chartbeat is a more user-friendly and beginner-oriented piece of technology. That being said, there is an impressive amount of lift for Chartbeat, and it's evident that simplicity is the key to using a software daily (which is absolutely the point in the content world).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    No answers on this topic
    Cision
    Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Chartbeat, Inc.
    • It has helped us save time in report generation and performance analysis.
    • By helping us evaluate our contributors, we're able to get our money's worth.
    • Seeing our numbers on the Big Board fosters healthy competition among brands, motivating us to distribute our stories better.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Chartbeat Screenshots

    Screenshot of Big Board: For newsrooms, the leaderboard-style visualization shows the top stories on the biggest screen.Screenshot of Real-time dashboard: Displays how an audience is connecting with content in the moment – across platforms, channels, and devices.Screenshot of Historical Dashboard: To assess content performance, KPIs, and valuable trends over the long term.Screenshot of Heads Up Display: Shows which homepage articles are the top performers, how stories are trending up or down in traffic, and how far visitors are scrolling down the page.Screenshot of Video Dashboard: Reveals how video content captures viewer attention.Screenshot of Conversion Dashboard: Tracks conversion metrics and insights.

    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.