Cision Communications Cloud vs. Sprout Social

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 7.6 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
Sprout Social
Score 8.1 out of 10
N/A
Sprout Social provides social media management, marketing, customer care, data and intelligence, and employee advocacy solutions for brands and agencies, including Ticketmaster, Chipotle, Grubhub, Subaru, and Zendesk. Sprout’s platform is used to simplify social publishing, engagement, reviews, analytics and listening for customers. Sprout also provides customer success and technical support, to deliver consistent value to all users. Any organization, regardless of size or industry, receives…
$249
per month per user
Pricing
Cision Communications CloudSprout Social
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Standard
$199 annual / $249 monthly
per user/per month
Professional
$299 annual / $399 monthly
per user/per month
Advanced
$399 annual / $499 monthly
per user/per month
Free Trial
Free
for 30 days
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cision Communications CloudSprout Social
Free Trial
NoYes
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 CloudSprout Social
Considered Both Products
Cision Communications Cloud
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
We use other platforms and we have found that Cision Communications Cloud (now with TrendKite) meets our needs over Cision (pre-TrendKite) and Meltwater. The customer service with Cision is superb compared to these two platforms. Additionally, Cision Communications Cloud is …
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
We liked the cost of Cision Communications Cloud (TrendKite)* against its competitors. We also felt the platform was more advanced and intuitive. It was easier to use and included more features. They're always adding something new - even the little things make a difference. I …
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
In full transparency, Cision Communications Cloud was purchased before I arrived at my current job. However, I have been involved in evaluating other options. One of these was Meltwater. In the end, Cision Communications Cloud does what we want it to -- and very effectively -- …
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
I find Meltwater to be as user-friendly/easy to use as Cision, but the difference is in the number of metrics that Cision is able to capture and quantify (ie audience, UVPM, publicity value, etc). To be fair, I've also only started using Meltwater, but I prefer Cision because …
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
The ROI for Cision is better than Meltwater.
Chose Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud gives you PR analytics that can keep up with the pace of the industry in the age of digital PR and allows users to quickly understand and organize the current landscape.
Sprout Social
Chose Sprout Social
More features for the price point, easy to understand, always adding additional features, streamlined.
Chose Sprout Social
Sprout social is a bit more advanced than Hootsuite in my experience, but it does not stack up to other social media monitoring or analytics tools that I've used as far as functionality. Having said that, it is a significantly less expensive tool than others such as Cision or Cr…
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Cision Communications CloudSprout Social
Listening/monitoring
Comparison of Listening/monitoring features of Product A and Product B
Cision Communications Cloud
-
Ratings
Sprout Social
7.2
53 Ratings
6% below category average
Boolean keyword searches00 Ratings6.739 Ratings
Filtering out noise/spam00 Ratings6.943 Ratings
Sentiment analysis00 Ratings6.924 Ratings
Broad channel coverage00 Ratings8.134 Ratings
Publishing
Comparison of Publishing features of Product A and Product B
Cision Communications Cloud
-
Ratings
Sprout Social
4.9
57 Ratings
47% below category average
Content planning and scheduling00 Ratings7.057 Ratings
Audience targeting00 Ratings3.148 Ratings
Content optimization00 Ratings3.749 Ratings
Workflow management00 Ratings5.952 Ratings
Engagement
Comparison of Engagement features of Product A and Product B
Cision Communications Cloud
-
Ratings
Sprout Social
5.9
55 Ratings
31% below category average
Automated routing and prioritization00 Ratings2.825 Ratings
Customer interaction histories00 Ratings7.751 Ratings
Bulk actions00 Ratings7.246 Ratings
Marketing
Comparison of Marketing features of Product A and Product B
Cision Communications Cloud
-
Ratings
Sprout Social
4.7
39 Ratings
48% below category average
Lead generation00 Ratings2.531 Ratings
Content marketing00 Ratings3.135 Ratings
Paid media management00 Ratings6.23 Ratings
Campaigns and promotions00 Ratings7.24 Ratings
Channel coverage/integration
Comparison of Channel coverage/integration features of Product A and Product B
Cision Communications Cloud
-
Ratings
Sprout Social
7.5
59 Ratings
13% below category average
Twitter00 Ratings7.757 Ratings
Facebook00 Ratings6.459 Ratings
LinkedIn00 Ratings8.252 Ratings
Google+00 Ratings7.721 Ratings
Instagram00 Ratings7.049 Ratings
Pinterest00 Ratings7.214 Ratings
YouTube00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Reporting/analytics
Comparison of Reporting/analytics features of Product A and Product B
Cision Communications Cloud
-
Ratings
Sprout Social
5.8
58 Ratings
30% below category average
Campaign success analytics00 Ratings4.354 Ratings
Real-time tracking00 Ratings6.455 Ratings
Competitor analysis00 Ratings6.847 Ratings
Account management
Comparison of Account management features of Product A and Product B
Cision Communications Cloud
-
Ratings
Sprout Social
7.6
58 Ratings
7% below category average
Role-based user permissions & privileges00 Ratings7.655 Ratings
Mobile access00 Ratings7.551 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cision Communications CloudSprout Social
Small Businesses
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Publer
Publer
Score 9.8 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Newswire
Newswire
Score 8.3 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Meltwater
Meltwater
Score 6.6 out of 10
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Social Suite by Reputation.com
Score 9.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Cision Communications CloudSprout Social
Likelihood to Recommend
8.5
(279 ratings)
7.4
(115 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
7.0
(17 ratings)
9.0
(62 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(53 ratings)
7.0
(42 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(2 ratings)
7.7
(8 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(2 ratings)
8.0
(7 ratings)
Support Rating
9.0
(192 ratings)
5.1
(37 ratings)
Online Training
8.0
(3 ratings)
7.3
(3 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(3 ratings)
10.0
(11 ratings)
Product Scalability
7.3
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(1 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cision Communications CloudSprout Social
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.
Read full review
Sprout Social
Sprout [Social] is great for small businesses, small agencies and those who need a platform but don't want to spend a fortune. If you need multiple user log-in's, the cost will add up. This is great to share a log-in for different people to use or add one or two users
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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.
Read full review
Sprout Social
  • The Landscape system that Sprout Social offers allows me to modify all the images that I want to publish on my social networks. This service allows me to modify the size of the image, add filters, modify the colors and much more, it is a very important tool to be able to have a better presentation of the images that we use in our publications on social networks.
  • It offers me a perfect statistical system where I can consult all kinds of movements that have occurred in all my social networks, I can see statistics individually or generally. The statistics allow me to see group reports, participation, information on audience movement on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and also allow me to view the activity that has occurred in my account.
  • Sprout Social allows me to view a record in real time that shows me all the movements that my social networks are having by my employees. As Director of the Marketing Sector, this is a very important role, as I can know what actions my employees are taking to improve marketing with social networks.
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.
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Sprout Social
  • I'd love to see more robust tag reporting capabilities, but they mentioned that this is something in the pipeline for improvement.
  • I wish it was easier to batch content and shift it to approval or draft mode. Sometimes clients can change their mind and moving through each post individually can be a bit time consuming. This is a very minor thing.
  • I'd love to see more customization options come to its reporting feature so we can insert graphics. Currently it supports the insertion of text only.
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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.
Read full review
Sprout Social
While I am currently no longer working with the company in which I was employed and utilized Sprout Social, I do know that the company is still utilizing Sprout Social on a daily basis and I do not foresee a time when the subscription would be cancelled.
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.
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Sprout Social
Sprout Social is extremely user-friendly. The publishing feature is easy to use, and provides previews of what your content will look like once posted. I also love the calendar view where you can view all posts you have scheduled for the month. The collaborative nature of the platform makes working directly in Sprout Social with clients a breeze, and we are seeing our content get approved much faster.
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Reliability and Availability
Cision
Easily accessible 24/7.
Read full review
Sprout Social
Uptime was OK, but given the fact that we are in Europe, there were some specific problems: They tended to take the system down for maintenance during the night in the US, which was during our workday. This was definitely problematic and hard to explain to our clients.
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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
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Sprout Social
It is quick to post, however you have to refresh the page every time you add a new scheduled item.
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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.
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Sprout Social
Sprout Social's customer support is extremely prompt and always helpful. Not only do they provide quick and useful service, but the representatives follow up multiple times to ensure that the issue is fully address and/or completely resolved. The overall experience is exemplary; very few other companies provide comparable service.
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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.
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Sprout Social
Their training is good, but the promotion of it is even better. I don't need or have the time for training, but I was always happy to know it was there. They did a great job sending updates out and making me aware when there was a new feature that I may want training for. As for the training I never used it, so I can't comment on that
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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).
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Sprout Social
Make sure you do it all the way. Do not break it into phases. Pour yourself a coffee, start it in the morning and you'll be done before you finish that coffee.
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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.
Read full review
Sprout Social
I used Buffer previous to Sprout Social for two years. It was a good solution as we were getting a handle on scheduling content. It was the first real tool we had for this. But we outgrew it and they began removing features that were critical to our workflow, such as the RSS Feed. While their 50% off policy for non-profits was very helpful, once we started adding up the cost to use features like Replies and Analytics, we discovered that our needs were simply too robust for Buffer to handle. Sprout Social was the solution suggested by all our peers and we've been very happy with it ever since.
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Scalability
Cision
Easy to use, but still room for improvement.
Read full review
Sprout Social
No answers on this topic
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
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Sprout Social
  • Sprout has given insights to lead our creative refreshes every quarter. As we have a healthy budget on paid social, it is crucial to understand the type of creative that works best.
  • Sprout has the ability to send notifications based on certain types of messages received. This is crucial for social media teams who don't have 24/7 coverage but need to be notified of urgent matters.
  • Sprout has saved me hours of time as I no longer pull analytics natively from each social platform. The generated reports give me a look at all of the platforms and can be customized.
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.

Sprout Social Screenshots

Screenshot of Sprout’s social media publishing tools, used to schedule and post messages to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn simultaneously from a single Compose window.