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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    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

    Drupal

    Score7.1 out of 10
    N/ADrupal is a free, open-source content management system written in PHP that competes primarily with Joomla and Plone. The standard release of Drupal, known as Drupal core, contains basic features such as account and menu management, RSS feeds, page layout customization, and system administration.N/A
    Pricing
    Cision Communications CloudDrupal
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Cision Communications CloudDrupal
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Cision Communications CloudDrupal
    Considered Both Products
    Cision
    No answer on this topic
    Open Source
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    92%
    Would buy again
    45 Answers
    76%
    Would buy again
    13 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    86%
    Delivers good value for the price
    32 Answers
    88%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    90%
    Happy with the feature set
    44 Answers
    76%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    37 Answers
    92%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    12 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    97%
    Implementation went as expected
    36 Answers
    87%
    Implementation went as expected
    13 Answers
    Features
    Cision Communications CloudDrupal
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Cision Communications Cloud and Drupal
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Drupal
    8.3
    74 Ratings
    1% above category average
    Role-based user permissions00 Ratings8.374 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Cision Communications Cloud and Drupal
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Drupal
    7.8
    69 Ratings
    0% below category average
    API00 Ratings7.364 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language00 Ratings8.260 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Cision Communications Cloud and Drupal
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Drupal
    6.5
    78 Ratings
    19% below category average
    WYSIWYG editor00 Ratings6.371 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness00 Ratings8.275 Ratings
    Admin section00 Ratings7.078 Ratings
    Page templates00 Ratings5.677 Ratings
    Library of website themes00 Ratings5.568 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design00 Ratings6.572 Ratings
    Publishing workflow00 Ratings6.776 Ratings
    Form generator00 Ratings6.672 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Cision Communications Cloud and Drupal
    Feature
    Cision Communications Cloud
    -
    Ratings
    Drupal
    6.6
    77 Ratings
    13% below category average
    Content taxonomy00 Ratings6.971 Ratings
    SEO support00 Ratings6.472 Ratings
    Bulk management00 Ratings6.467 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions00 Ratings6.670 Ratings
    Community / comment management00 Ratings6.869 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Cision Communications CloudDrupal
    Small Businesses
    Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
    Score5 out of 10
    Umbraco CMS
    Score7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Critical Mention
    Score8 out of 10
    Square Online
    Score7.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Meltwater
    Score7.6 out of 10
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Cision Communications CloudDrupal
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (280 ratings)
    6.8
    (87 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.0
    (17 ratings)
    1.0
    (19 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (54 ratings)
    6.9
    (20 ratings)
    Availability
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    9.7
    (3 ratings)
    Performance
    9.1
    (2 ratings)
    8.9
    (2 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.0
    (192 ratings)
    1.0
    (5 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    8.0
    (3 ratings)
    6.0
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    5.1
    (4 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    7.3
    (1 ratings)
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Cision Communications CloudDrupal
    Likelihood to Recommend
    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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    Open Source
    If you want to set up a basic Not For Profit (NFP) Membership system and content base, Word Press is easier than Drupal. However, if you have specific needs that require a fair bit of customisation then Drupal is the best CRM available. If the webmaster is confident with PHP and SQL, Drupal allows a lot of creativity.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    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
    Read full review
    Open Source
    • Drag and drop functionality is easy to use
    • Easy to switch between straight text and HTML content
    • Ability to easily have multiple environments so that pages can be built in b/c-stage before they are approved and published
    • Solid user experience where it's clear how to navigate the platform
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    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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    Open Source
    • This is not an easy CMS to work with if you don't have a good understanding of website development. It isn't "plug-and-play" like Wordpress or Shopify.
    • Over time, doing major updates to the system can be taxing, especially if you aren't well-versed enough in doing system updates in line with your "child" theme and code.
    • The CMS can become somewhat cumbersome with server resources if not carefully optimized while you build and customize it to your liking.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    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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    Open Source
    The time and money invested into this platform were too great to discontinue it at this point. I'm sure it will be in use for a while. We have also spent time training many employees how to use it. All of these things add up to quite an investment in the product. Lastly, it basically fulfills what we need our intranet site to do.
    Read full review
    Usability
    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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    Open Source
    As a team, we found Drupal to be highly customizable and flexible, allowing our development team to go to great lengths to develop desired functionalities. It can be used as a solution for all types of web projects. It comes with a robust admin interface that provides greater flexibility once the user gets acquainted with the system.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Cision
    Easily accessible 24/7.
    Incentivized
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    Open Source
    Drupal itself does not tend to have bugs that cause sporadic outages. When deployed on a well-configured LAMP stack, deployment and maintenance problems are minimal, and in general no exotic tuning or configuration is required. For highest uptime, putting a caching proxy like Varnish in front of Drupal (or a CDN that supports dynamic applications).
    Read full review
    Performance
    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
    Open Source
    Drupal page loads can be slow, as a great many database calls may be required to generate a page. It is highly recommended to use caching systems, both built-in and external to lessen such database loads and improve performance. I haven't had any problems with behind-the-scenes integrations with external systems.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    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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    Open Source
    As noted earlier, the support of the community can be rather variable, with some modules attracting more attraction and action in their issue queues, but overall, the development community for Drupal is second to none. It probably the single greatest aspect of being involved in this open-source project.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Cision
    No answers on this topic
    Open Source
    I was part of the team that conducted the training. Our training was fine, but we could have been better informed on Drupal before we started providing it. If we did not have answers to tough questions, we had more technical staff we could consult with. We did provide hands-on practice time for the learners, which I would always recommend. That is where the best learning occurred.
    Read full review
    Online Training
    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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    Open Source
    The on-line training was not as ideal as the face-to-face training. It was done remotely and only allowed for the trainers to present information to the learners and demonstrate the platform online. There was not a good way to allow for the learners to practice, ask questions and have them answered all in the same session.
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    Implementation Rating
    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
    Open Source
    Plan ahead as much you can. You really need to know how to build what you want with the modules available to you, or that you might need to code yourself, in order to make the best use of Drupal. I recommend you analyze the most technically difficult workflows and other aspects of your implementation, and try building some test versions of those first. Get feedback from stakeholders early and often, because you can easily find yourself in a situation where your implementation does 90% of what you want, but, due to something you didn't plan for, foresee, or know about, there's no feasible way to get past the last 10%
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    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
    Open Source
    Drupal can be more complex to learn, but it offers a much wider range of applications. Drupal’s front and backend can be customized from design to functionality to allow for a wide range of uses. If someone wants to create something more complex than a simple site or blog, Drupal can be an amazing asset to have at hand.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Cision
    Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Open Source
    Drupal is well known to be scalable, although it requires solid knowledge of MySQL best practices, caching mechanisms, and other server-level best practices. I have never personally dealt with an especially large site, so I can speak well to the issues associated with Drupal scaling.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    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
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    Open Source
    • Given the endless possibilities that Drupal can have, we tend to have great support going on when we get a website launched
    • It has become much much faster and easier for us to launch a new project due to reusability
    • Configuration management in Drupal helps greatly with CI/CD, saves us costs
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    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.