Verified User in Marketing and Advertising
UM
Verified User in Marketing and Advertising
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Wide, Credible Distribution Network That Delivers"
5/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

I love having acess to a wide and credible distribution network Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

Many announcements are promotional in nature rather than journalistic, so you need to filter carefully. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Internet
II
Verified User in Internet
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Highly recommended for in house PR management"
5/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

Although I haven't used myself, I know the new AI-Powered Content Creation is a significant new feature that can help generate a whole campaign assets from it, which it can be a great time-saver. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

The prices are still too high for SMEs or freelancers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Kruti K.
KK
Kruti K.
Founder
Information Technology and Services
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Reliable distribution , good reach. - It's like no brainer for your PR needs"
4/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

The platform offers great media reach and credibility. It's easy to schedule press releases, and the analytics dashboard helps track performance effectively. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

While the interface is functional, it could use a UI refresh to make navigation and content uploads feel more modern and intuitive. They can improve on dissemination in markets like UAE and UK. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

TP
Tony P.
CMO/President
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"We were migrated from CISION/PRweb"
1/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

Support was quick to respond whenever we needed assistance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

PR Newswire online experience was dreadful. First off, the login asks for username but you are supposed to use your email. I had a username with CISION, which was another awful login experience altogether. I had to call support just to login and though support was very helpful and quick to get to me, they asked, "are you a CISION migration." When i said yes, they said, "oh we're taking a lot of calls from those migrations, I'm sorry you're having trouble."

Logging in was only the tip of the iceberg. The whole posting-through-their-portal experience was dreadful.

1. You get an error trying to get to billing system and have to contact your rep. I did so and he never replied.

2. Because of problem in #1 you don't know what your license covers. This is important because you undoubtedly will check the distributions that aren't covered in your license and there is an added cost. You must be careful here and it is very scummy of PR Newswire not to allow you to view what is covered by your license. I still don't know.

3. After speaking with support, they said they understand the issue in #2 above and apologized and said they would set my account up so that only options that are covered by my license are available to click on. That never happened and on my next distribution, they tried to charge me extra for selecting an extra distribution that was not in my plan. Again, there is no way to view what is in your plan bc it is not in the UI and you cannot access billing portal to see what is in your plan.

4. The UI is terribly designed, not intuitive at all. Other than the problem in 2 above, you aren't able to get a PDF preview so you don't know what they are posting unless you call them and ask for a PDF. I was told there is a view PDF option in the UI but there is not.

5. In my case, I was told to call in to get my distribution live. This completely defeats the purpose of having an online portal for distributions. The first PR they apologized for this and I asked if they could set it up so that i didn't have to call them every time i had a distribution. They assured me I would not have to call them next time.

6. Next distribution I had to call them to get it approved after saying I did not have to do that.

I've been in the software business for 20+ years and have the utmost empathy for people working in tech. I also know when an app has poor requirements that aren't user needs, and is rushed and not properly tested. This is one of the worst software experiences I've ever had. Took us about 3 hours to do a distribution and through the submit-for-approval process. We also use EIN Newswire (we are an agency) and I can do this process there in about 15 minutes.

I suspect, a legacy PR Newswire customer experience might be better than mine for we were migrated from CISION, which had its own set of submission issues. All-in-all I cannot recommend PR Newswire. I declined on my client's behalf to renew a license because of this terrible user experience where it takes hours to submit a PR. Objectively and fairly I could not bill this client for the hours spent trying to get through the bad EUX and ended up eating a lot of billing hours due to their poor app design. We are glad to have this company's bad tech behind us after the license period lapsed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Erika M.
EM
Erika M.
CEO-President
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Most Comprehensive Wire Service"
5/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

The many distribution options - local, regional and national and lots of features to choose from. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

The cost is prohibitive to some clients. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Public Relations and Communications
UP
Verified User in Public Relations and Communications
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Great wire service on a budget"
5/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

The service is simple and easy to use, reliable, and also tends to be less expensive than other wire services I've used. Customer service team is great as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

Honestly, there isn't much not to like. Sometimes the website stalls or goes offline during periods of high traffic but that usually gets resolved within a minute or two. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Food & Beverages
UF
Verified User in Food & Beverages
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Cision is very reliable"
3/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

The newswire support team is always on top of it Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

The database is a bit outdated when it comes to media information Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Rachel D.
RD
Rachel D.
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Effective but better value elsewhere"
3.5/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

Easy to use platform, no delays even with detailed press releases with tables, images and links. Does what they say they will do, helpful staff and truly a turnkey service. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

For our smaller public company, we didn't need the turnkey nature and didn't need the advanced features that we were paying for. We'd consider returning for a lower price with less features tailored to companes like ours that don't need all the bells and whistles. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

SD
Stacey D.
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Pricey...but reach is worth it!"
4.5/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

*Reach

*Extension-related coverage

*Less spam emails

*Market selection for coverage

*Easy to use Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

*PRICE! (*C'mon!!)

*Do get spam emails

*Reporting can be improved

*Limits with word counts and photos

*Misc. extra add on costs Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain
UL
Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Cision Newswire: A Disappointing Platform with Terrible Customer Service and No Transparency"
0/5
What do you like best about PR Newswire?

Mmmm let me think...

Oh, yes...

NOTHING Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about PR Newswire?

I am utterly disappointed with Cision Newswire. This platform is anything but user-friendly - it's outdated and frustrating to navigate. As if that weren't bad enough, their customer service is absolutely atrocious. They take forever to respond to emails (if they even bother to respond at all), and when we did manage to reach someone via chat or email, they had the audacity to ask us to call them! What kind of company in this day and age operates like that?

But that's not even the worst part. Cision Newswire has zero transparency when it comes to billing. If you select certain options that require extra payment, they won't even tell you until you receive their invoice at the end of the month. That is completely unethical and downright sleazy.

And if that wasn't enough to make you want to steer clear of this platform, they also modify your URLs without your permission. We lost out on 300 backlinking opportunities because they decided to make our links "trackable" without our consent.

In conclusion, I would not recommend Cision Newswire to anyone. Their platform is terrible, their customer service is even worse, and they engage in unethical practices that only serve to line their own pockets. One star is too generous for a company like this. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.