Key takeaway - Roxhill vs Cision
- Roxhill's media intelligence platform includes media monitoring, journalist outreach, and spokesperson analytics and is particularly strong for teams operating in the UK, US and MENA.
- Cision's tool is built for large organisations with global database and monitoring needs.
- Both offer AI assistance and distribution features to help PRs and comms teams with outreach.
- Roxhill's media data is updated and verified by a research team daily.
- Social media monitoring is available in both tools as self-service. Roxhill built it into its monitoring platform as an add-on, and Cision has it as a separate tool through Brandwatch.
- Cision offers a wide range of global media monitoring, while Roxhill is more focused and in-depth in the UK, US and MENA.
- Both Roxhill and Cision offer pricing through quotes.
What each platform is and who's it for
Quick answer
Roxhill is a global media intelligence platform built for teams that want greater depth and service across the UK, US and MENA rather than uniform coverage everywhere. Cision is a global enterprise PR platform built for large, multi-market communications teams.
Roxhill:
- Roxhill is built for teams whose PR strategy depends on genuine depth in the markets that matter to them – principally the UK, US and MENA – rather than uniform, shallower coverage spread across every market globally.
- Roxhill’s service combines an actively maintained media database, monitoring, and spokespeople analytics in a single platform, aimed at teams who want an actively maintained, service-led alternative to a large enterprise suite.
Cision:
- Cision is built for large, often globally distributed communications teams that need PR Newswire’s reach, one of the industry’s largest journalist databases, and the reporting infrastructure of CisionOne (the platform Cision has consolidated its Communications Cloud, monitoring and social listening tools into).
- It’s a strong fit for organisations running campaigns across many markets at once, or those already anchored to PR Newswire for regulatory and financial disclosure distribution.
Neither platform is objectively “better” – the right one depends on which markets your coverage actually needs to land in, and how much you value database breadth versus depth and service in the markets that matter to you.
This comparison focuses on earned media: journalist data, press release distribution, coverage monitoring and measurement. If your remit also covers social listening at scale, influencer marketing or consumer intelligence, Cision’s wider suite covers more of that ground in one system.
What each media intelligence platform covers
Quick answer
Roxhill combines media monitoring, a media database, spokespeople analytics and reporting under one login. Cision combines a global media database, PR Newswire, monitoring, social listening and reporting under CisionOne.
| Capability | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Core platform | Media monitoring, a journalist database that is actively maintained, and spokespeople analytics – all under one login. | Global media database, PR Newswire distribution, media monitoring, and social listening via Brandwatch. |
| Extra features | Custom metrics, a press release tracker, and the Journalist Assistant AI tool built into the core platform. | Measurement and reporting tools, and an influencer database, all consolidated under the CisionOne platform. |
| Specialist services | Bespoke Insights available as a separate, analyst-led reporting service. | Not offered as a separate analyst-led service; reporting is delivered within CisionOne. |
Media database: journalist data depth and accuracy
Quick answer
Cision's database is larger overall (1.4 million+ contacts globally). Roxhill's is smaller but actively maintained, with the greatest depth across the UK, US and MENA, backed by in-house researchers across the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
| Capability | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Database size | 250,000+ verified journalist contacts, tracking 100,000+ media sources. | 1.4 million+ contacts – one of the largest journalist and outlet databases in the industry. |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained every day by an in-house, UK-based data team. | Maintained at scale across every major market by a global research team. |
| AI tools | Journalist Assistant helps shape pitches around what a journalist actually covers. | AI-assisted workflows across CisionOne, spanning drafting, tagging and analytics rather than pitch targeting specifically. |
| Best suited for | Teams pitching in priority regions who need day-to-day accuracy on journalist moves, what journalists are writing about and what they are looking for in a pitch. | Teams pitching across many regions and markets at once. |
| Trade-off | Contacts worldwide, but day-to-day maintenance is concentrated on the UK, US and MENA. | Breadth at scale can make it harder to keep every national and trade-press contact up-to-date in any one market. |
Distribution: how each platform's distribution tool works
Quick answer
PR Newswire broadcasts a release simultaneously to a large, fixed wire network of newsrooms and syndication partners. Roxhill's Distribution tool sends a release to a curated list you build yourself. The press release tracker in Roxhill’s media database automatically tracks which coverage is influenced by the release.
| Capability | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Distribution model | Build and send releases to a curated list you built, filtered by community, keyword or sector. The list is automatically checked against GDPR opt-outs to ensure releases go out to journalists who want to receive them. | PR Newswire broadcasts releases simultaneously to a fixed, global wire network. |
| Network reach | PRs can curate a list of relevant journalists out of 250,000 verified journalist contacts across the globe, and 100,000+ media sources across print, broadcast and social. UK teams can also use PA Media as a common alternative route. | 440,000+ newsrooms, direct feeds and subscribers, including 270,000+ journalists/influencers and 9,000+ websites, across 170+ countries and 40+ languages. |
| Customer support | A dedicated account manager is there to support PR to trouble-shoot press release distribution. | 24/7 editorial team reviews and formats each release; multimedia can be embedded directly into the wire send. |
| Post-send tracking | Press release tracker automatically links coverage back to the release – by checking phrasing, paraphrasing spokesperson mentions and brand references. So PRs can see who opened it, who covered it, and how the story was picked up without manually cross-referencing sends against clippings. | Pickup is reported through CisionOne’s campaign and distribution reporting rather than an automatic release-to-coverage link. |
| Best suited for | Teams that want to send the press release and track who opened, covered and picked up a release all in one platform – without manual cross-referencing. | Teams who want to distribute their press release at a large scale. |
Media monitoring: earned media, trade press, broadcast
Quick answer
Both platforms monitor online news, print and broadcast. Cision's monitoring spans the widest range of global markets as part of CisionOne; Roxhill's monitoring is built specifically around trade press and broadcast depth in the UK, US and MENA.
| Capability | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring scope | Built specifically around earned media: national and trade press, and broadcast via Kinetiq. See how Roxhill's media monitoring works. | Delivered through CisionOne, monitoring online news, print and broadcast across the same global footprint as its database. |
| Depth vs breadth | Strong depth across a defined set of markets, linking all journalist data from Roxhill's media database. | Strong breadth, but as one component of a much larger enterprise suite. |
| Organising coverage | Smart Folders automatically categorise every mention by theme, brand pillar, spokesperson or competitor, with an excluded-articles folder to filter out noise. | Grouped within CisionOne's dashboards and saved searches. |
| Building a search | Prompt-based – describe what you want in plain language and the platform surfaces matching coverage. | Boolean-based – teams build and maintain search strings. |
| Historical coverage | Searchable 12-month archive of media coverage. | Historical data available within CisionOne. |
| Best suited for | Teams focused on markets where region-specific granularity matters most. | Teams needing global monitoring scale across many markets at once, where breadth is more important than depth. |
Measurement and reporting
Quick answer
Roxhill measures impact through custom metrics, salience scoring, AI sentiment and spokespeople share of voice (SOV), with Bespoke Insights available for deeper analysis. Cision reports through CisionOne's built-in analytics and share-of-voice tools, both platforms have moved reporting beyond AVE.
| Capability | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Core tools | Custom metrics, salience scoring, AI sentiment analysis, and spokespeople share of voice – organised via Smart Folders in Roxhill's media monitoring. | Share of voice reporting and broader analytics via CisionOne. |
| Beyond AVE? | Reporting built around custom metrics the team defines, not just volume tracking. | Actively encourages teams to move from AVE toward engagement- and sentiment-based reporting. |
| Deeper analysis | Bespoke Insights – analysts produce the analysis for you as a separate, human-led service. | In-platform – CisionOne's analytics are designed to translate coverage into board-ready output your team assembles. |
Social Media Monitoring
Quick answer
Both platforms offer self-service social monitoring, though it works differently. Roxhill's is built into Media Monitoring and accessed through the same login, available as a paid add-on, with analyst-led social research available separately through Bespoke Insights. Cision's social listening comes via Brandwatch as part of CisionOne, combining earned and social data in one view.
Both platforms cover social, but they extend it in different directions. Roxhill pairs self-service monitoring with a team of analysts through Bespoke Insights, who do the research and reporting for you. Cision extends its platform instead, adding influencer identification and consumer intelligence as in-platform tools through Brandwatch.
| Capability | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service social monitoring | Built into Roxhill's Media Monitoring platform and accessed through the same login; available as a paid add-on. | Social listening via Brandwatch, part of CisionOne. |
| Building a search | Prompt-based – describe what you want in plain language and the platform surfaces matching coverage. | Boolean-based – teams build and maintain search strings. |
| Mention organisation | Organise mentions by campaign, spokesperson or story into dedicated folders. | Grouped within CisionOne's dashboards and saved searches. |
| Social analytics | Self-service dashboards within the social monitoring tool, plus analyst-led analysis through Bespoke Insights. | Dashboards for sentiment, audience and conversation trends via Brandwatch. |
| Analyst-led social research | A separate service – Bespoke Insights analysts carry out the research and produce the reporting for you. | Delivered in-platform through Brandwatch rather than as an analyst-led service. |
| Influencer tracking | Not a core platform capability. | Includes an influencer database and identification tools. |
What Cision offers that Roxhill does not
Quick answer
PR Newswire's global, regulatory-grade distribution, a substantially larger international journalist database, and CisionOne – a broader enterprise suite covering the full PR lifecycle, including social listening via Brandwatch, in one system for large, multi-market teams.
- PR Newswire global distribution, including regulatory and financial disclosure wires.
- A large international journalist database, with meaningfully more depth outside the UK, US and MENA.
- CisionOne, a broader enterprise suite that includes social listening and covers the full PR lifecycle in one system for large, multi-market teams.
What Roxhill offers that Cision does not
Quick answer
An actively maintained journalist database across the UK, US and MENA, the Journalist Assistant AI tool, integrated spokespeople Share of Voice tracking, a press release tracker with automatic pickup linking, custom metrics to measure what matters most, and a single login across the full platform.
- An actively maintained journalist database across the UK, US and MENA, kept current on journalist moves and freelancer data as a core focus rather than one region of a much larger global dataset
- Journalist Assistant, an AI tool built to help PRs pitch the right journalist based on what they actually cover
- Integrated spokespeople Share of Voice tracking alongside monitoring and the media database, rather than as a bolt-on
- A press release tracker that automatically links distribution to coverage pickup
- Custom metrics that allow PRs to measure and report on statistics that matter most to their company
- A single login for database, monitoring, spokespeople, and measurement – no separate platforms to stitch together
Pricing and contracts
Quick answer
Neither platform publishes list pricing, both quote after a demo. The structural difference is how the cost is built up. Roxhill bundles database and monitoring into one annual fee across four bands, with distribution included from Boutique up. Cision is quoted per module, with PR Newswire billed separately per release.
| Factor | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Public pricing | Bands and their contents are published; the annual fee is quoted after a demo. | Not published; provided through a tailored quote after a demo. |
| Packages | Four bands – Core, Boutique, Enterprise and Premium – covering database and monitoring under one annual fee. | Offered as modular products rather than fixed tiers – CisionOne platform, media database, monitoring & analytics, and PR Newswire distribution. |
| What's included | Database and monitoring in every band. Press release distribution from Boutique up; spokespeople platform from Enterprise up; Bespoke Insights with Premium. Social media monitoring is available as an add-on. | Priced by which modules you select, number of users/seats, geographic coverage, and distribution volume. |
| Distribution costs | Included in the band price from Boutique up – no per-release fee. | PR Newswire billed separately, per release. |
| Contract terms | Annual fee; bands can be extended with additional features where needed. | Annual contracts are standard; monthly plans are generally not available. |
Which platform is right for you?
The right choice comes down to whether your team’s priority is Cision’s quick global distribution scale, or Roxhill’s single-platform experience that offer actively maintained data and customer service to support your PR campaign distribution across the UK, US and MENA – this guide breaks down exactly where each platform wins.
Quick answer
Choose Roxhill if your team's priority is depth, service and single-platform simplicity within those regions. Choose Cision if your coverage or distribution genuinely spans markets beyond the UK, US and MENA.
Roxhill vs Cision: feature comparison table
| Criteria | Roxhill | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Journalist database depth | Actively maintained by region rather than treated as one slice of a global dataset. Profiles in Roxhill's media database cover roles, beats, editorial interests and contact details, plus insights from Roxhill's own journalist interviews. | Broad global coverage as part of a 1.4 million+ contact database. |
| Global journalist database | Contacts worldwide, with the greatest depth and day-to-day maintenance in the UK, US and MENA. | One of the largest in the industry, spanning most major markets. |
| Press release distribution | Send to journalists in any market from a list you build; deepest contact coverage in the UK, US and MENA. PA Media as a common UK complement. | PR Newswire – global, regulatory-grade wire distribution. |
| Earned media monitoring | Monitors press and broadcast worldwide, with specialist depth in UK, US and MENA trade press. | Broad coverage across markets as part of CisionOne. |
| Social media | Built into Media Monitoring as a paid add-on; analyst-led social research through Bespoke Insights. | Social listening via Brandwatch, part of CisionOne. |
| Building a search | Prompt-based – describe what you want in plain language and the platform surfaces matching coverage. | Boolean-based – teams build and maintain search strings. |
| Measurement and reporting | Custom metrics, salience scoring (AAA, AA, A) to measure prominence, AI sentiment and spokespeople SOV, organised through Smart Folders by theme, brand pillar, spokesperson or competitor. | CisionOne analytics and share-of-voice reporting. |
| Reporting outputs | Charts and graphs exported in your own brand colours, plus custom reports and branded newsletters. | Interactive dashboards and enterprise reporting. |
| Historical coverage | Searchable 12-month archive of media coverage across the platform. | Historical data available within CisionOne. |
| Board-level analysis | Bespoke Insights – a separate, analyst-led media analysis service. | Delivered within CisionOne, designed to translate coverage into board-ready output. |
| AI features | Journalist Assistant, AI sentiment and salience scoring, intelli-labels for coverage with mixed sentiment. | AI-assisted workflows and metrics within CisionOne. |
| Customer support / onboarding | Dedicated account manager, guided demos, help hub articles and speedy customer service, plus a single-platform onboarding service. | Enterprise onboarding, scoped to modules purchased. |
COMPARISON: ROXHILL MEDIA AND CISION
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Roxhill and Cision?
Roxhill is a global media intelligence platform built around an actively maintained journalist database across the globe, integrated monitoring, and spokespeople analytics in one login. Cision is a global enterprise platform, with PR Newswire distribution and a larger international database.
Is Roxhill or Cision better for trade press journalist outreach?
What does Roxhill offer that Cision does not?
An actively maintained journalist database across the UK, US and MENA integrated with media monitoring, the Journalist Assistant AI tool, integrated spokespeople share-of-voice tracking, a press release tracker, custom metrics, and one login across the full platform.
Is Cision worth the cost for a regionally focused PR team?
If your coverage and distribution needs are genuinely concentrated in the UK, US or MENA, Cision’s global infrastructure – and the pricing that comes with it – may be more platform than you need. Teams with distribution requirements beyond those regions will more often find that scale justifies the cost.
MEDIA INTELLIGENCE YOU CAN TRUST
We’re with you, every step of the way
One login. Multiple solutions.
Roxhill’s all-in-one media intelligence platform will save you time, highlight your impact, and drive your business forward.
MEDIA INTELLIGENCE YOU CAN TRUST
We’re with you, every step of the way
One login. Multiple solutions.
Roxhill’s all-in-one media intelligence platform will save you time, highlight your impact, and drive your business forward.
Click a product to explore its features.