CIsion Communications Cloud is used for identifying key media and influencers, connecting with audiences, monitoring traditional and social media, and analyzing outcomes.
N/A
Guru
Score 9.4 out of 10
N/A
Guru is a knowledge platform designed to serve as what the vendor describes as an AI source of truth for enterprises. It connects information from tools like Slack, Teams, Google Workspace, Salesforce, and other systems into one governed, permission-aware knowledge layer. Guru delivers cited AI answers, chat, and research directly within existing workflows, to enable employees and AI assistants to access verified knowledge securely and efficiently. The platform combines…
$25
per month per user
Prezly
Score 9.6 out of 10
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
Prezly is presented as all-in-one public relations management tool that helps PR teams organise their workflow, collaborate and save time. Accessible through any browser, Prezly's key features are divided between three main areas: Contact management Full PR CRM for managing contacts Automated contact enrichment and flagging for out-of-date contact details At-a-glance comms timeline per contact showing emails sent/received, added…
$50
per month per user
Pricing
Cision Communications Cloud
Guru
Prezly
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Team
$25
per month per user
AI Source of Truth Platform
Custom
Starter Plan
$50
per month per user
Core Plan
$90
per month per user
Premium Plan
$140
per month per user
Enterprise Plan
custom
per month per user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cision Communications Cloud
Guru
Prezly
Free Trial
No
Yes
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
Yes
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
Optional
Optional
Additional Details
—
Guru provides a tailored platform and expertise package based on an organization’s scale, knowledge complexity, and AI maturity.
Each engagement includes the full AI Source of Truth platform along with implementation guidance, knowledge architecture design, and ongoing optimization. Pricing is customized to ensure the right fit for enterprise systems, governance requirements, and AI initiatives.
Best suited for mid-market and enterprise organizations.
Prezly also offers a yearly payment option with a 20% discount. Additional seats are available for each plan, and additional newsrooms are available for Core Plan and above. For larger/global clients, Prezly offers an Enterprise Plan that accommodates 10+ seats and more customizable functionality; Enterprise Plans are priced based on an organization's requirements.
It's been a while since I evaluated Prezly against Cision. It's an apples-to-oranges comparison because Cision has a lot of additional features, but Prezly has a robust CRM platform and digital newsroom that outflanks the Cision newsroom in look, feel and ease of use, not to …
Prezly is much more user-friendly than Cision but isn't as robust. The pricing is similar and I believe Prezly beats it out a bit. Overall, the UI is much better in Prezly giving it the edge.
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.
Well-suited for internal knowledge and documentation. Less appropriate for constantly changing SOPs or multi-team shared SOPs, because the cards are "2-dimensional" for "linear" processes. It would be nice to have easy access to historical versions, or a way to capture non-linear processes without having to capture this via video, etc., in another app. The AI Agent feature may help with this. Because we are such a small team, I have minimal bandwidth to implement new features, which is a catch-22.
Since this platform is so easy to use when creating or managing communication workflows, it is recommended to work mostly with scenarios that generally require several processes to complete each group management, for example, to cover from the follow-up of employees within the communications team to the management of the team's communication processes.
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.
Easy to learn. Anyone can make cards and use the AI to make them professional.
Answer questions about my business, essentially a wiki for everything we do.
The research mode is amazing. Full reports on various types of information including some rather complex topics. Complete with citations of where the information came from.
Admins can manage a hierarchy to keep information secure and available to the correct people.
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.
Formatting has always been a pain point for me. We used Google Sites previously, and the ability to add multiple columns of smaller content boxes was great. To do the same thing in Guru, you need to create a table, which constrains you.
While the AI functionality is great, it can be challenging at times to refine the responses. Specifically, you must edit the source that is being pulled rather than the response itself. In some cases, we've edited the source to make the answer as clear as possible, and even after multiple attempts, the populated answer was acceptable but still not ideal for minimizing confusion.
Sometimes, when adding content, the cards glitch, and it won't save. Or if I go to add something to a landing page, it says it couldn't be saved. Then I do it all over again, and it works.
While the cards have limited formatting, the landing pages are great; however, when trying to move around or adjust the content boxes, it can be hypersensitive and very tricky to work with.
The contact management system is a little wonky but it has improved over the last two years and I expect that trend to continue.
The grouping system (segments) and tagging is not intuitive. I've had many missteps in trying to get content to particular segments while deselecting individuals.
You cannot add another group of people to a distribution without going back and recreating the same distribution. you can add individuals but not groups.
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.
I rated Guru a 9 out of 10 for renewal likelihood because it has significantly enhanced our processes and customer satisfaction in the automotive rental company. Guru’s user-friendly interface and organized knowledge base make it easy to access and update essential information, which is crucial for maintaining high operational standards. The tool’s integration with other platforms, like the Guru Chrome extension, streamlines our workflow, increasing efficiency and productivity. One of the standout features is the ability to favorite cards, allowing quick access to frequently used information, which saves time and ensures accuracy in customer interactions. Additionally, Guru’s analytics feature helps us identify which resources need updating, ensuring our knowledge base remains relevant and effective. The only reason it’s not a perfect 10 is occasional slow performance and occasional inaccuracies in search results. However, these minor issues do not overshadow the overall benefits Guru provides. Its consistent updates and reminders further enhance our ability to deliver excellent customer support, making it an indispensable tool for our team.
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.
What am I looking for from the partners that I'm working with? To be supported on my role in order to succeed, and Guru does that. It supported me to easily set it up, easily integrate with multiple sources based on my needs, and an easy launch, such an easy rollout that I didn't need to even beta test it or have a soft launch. I went directly with a full launch, which saved me a lot of time also and saved time across teams. I'm internally advocating for how useful it is across the teams to find very quick answers to very complex questions
Highly reliable day‑to‑dayGuru is consistently available when I need it. The platform loads quickly, search works reliably, and I rarely experience downtime or slow performance. It’s dependable enough that teams can trust it as a daily source of truth. Minimal unplanned outages or errors. In my experience, unplanned outages or errors are extremely rare. Even during high‑usage periods or heavy workflows, Guru remains stable and responsive.
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
Pages load quickly and consistently. Guru’s interface is lightweight, so cards, boards, and search results load fast with very little lag. Even when navigating between collections or opening larger cards, performance stays smooth and reliable. Integrations perform well without slowing systems down. Using Guru through the browser extension or Slack integration doesn’t noticeably impact performance. Cards surface quickly, and interacting with the integrations feels just as smooth as using Guru directly.
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.
The only reason I do not give it a a ten is because I think there is still some room for improvement in meeting the different time zone needs of their customers, but overall their support is top notch. Friendly, capable, and quick.
I would rate the in-person training for Guru a solid 9 out of 10. The session was incredibly valuable as it provided comprehensive insights into using Guru effectively. I learned a lot about the tool's functionalities, which significantly enhanced my proficiency and confidence in utilizing Guru for my daily tasks. The training was engaging, informative, and tailored well to ensure I could apply what I learned immediately. Overall, it was a highly productive and beneficial learning experience.
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.
The online, on-demand training available was very good. I do wish we had done live online training as an org so that everyone had the same opportunity to learn the value and best practices. I completed the online, on-demand trainings personally, then turned around and taught the org, but I wish I had let the Guru experts do the heavy lifting for me!
You will need a very strong team of guru champions in order to get EVERYONE and EVERYTHING on Guru, it takes some craziness and over talking about guru everywhere to get people to be exicted, contribute and use. If you are starting any kind of buisness and you need KB, just go for guru as fast as you can because when you will grow you will thank yourself.
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.
The platform is unique, comprehensive, and uses AI. These are standout features. I also like the verification process and the ability to search from anywhere or on any browser. Guru enhances productivity and knowledge transfer when someone leaves an organization. Guru's interface is very user-friendly and can be trained quickly with new hires.
Prezly is much more user-friendly than Cision but isn't as robust. The pricing is similar and I believe Prezly beats it out a bit. Overall, the UI is much better in Prezly giving it the edge.
Guru is somewhat expensive compared to what our org is typically willing to spend on software solutions. Additionally, there is a price difference per seat when paid monthly versus annually, which was a big downside for us as my company didn't want to commit to an annual cost.
Easily deployable across multiple teams and departmentsGuru is designed to scale horizontally across an organization. As teams grow, it’s simple to create new Collections, Boards, and permission sets without disrupting existing structures. This allows each department to manage its own knowledge while still contributing to a unified source of truth
Guru allows our team to quickly reference available learning/knowledge materials with our clients on a daily basis and provide better support at every outreach
With that said, spreading those same resources across two major global teams in the USA and Germany can lead to some inconsistencies. The i-frame process is not very intuitive for this scenario and our team treats policy/procedural differences as separate card or article entities.
Guru allowed our organization to pioneer and establish a dedicated knowledge team component, of subject matter experts who work in tangent with existing resources, create new ones, and vet collective knowledge.
We have taken into account our net profit rates during the time of using Prezly, and therefore we decided that the platform is useful when generating work formations that result in higher profits. Prezly has proven to be an excellent investment, which has satisfied our team.
