Key takeaway - Roxhill vs Meltwater
- Roxhill is a media intelligence platform built around earned media monitoring, journalist outreach, and spokespeople analytics. Meltwater is also a global media intelligence platform that includes social listening and press monitoring in a single dashboard.
- UK trade press and depth favour Roxhill. It's designed to catch niche, low-volume B2B and regional coverage that a global, cross-market platform can miss.
- Both offer social media monitoring as a self-service feature. Roxhill also offers expert analyst-led social reporting.
- Neither publishes pricing. Both require a demo and a tailored quote, with packages scoped around platform access, modules, and team requirements.
- The right pick depends on scope. In-house UK comms teams and PR agencies tend to get more from Roxhill's earned-media focus. Enterprise organisations with global, cross-channel reporting needs tend to lean toward Meltwater.
Roxhill Media vs Meltwater: What are they?
Roxhill and Meltwater are both media intelligence platforms built to help comms professionals manage media relations, monitor coverage, and measure PR performance.
They overlap on many of the basics, but each leans into a different set of priorities.
Roxhill Media is built specifically for PR and communications teams. It brings together journalist insights, media monitoring and social media monitoring, spokespeople analytics, editorial opportunity discovery, and media relationship management, all aimed at helping teams plan, run, and measure earned media campaigns. Its strongest coverage is in the UK, the US, and MENA.
Meltwater takes a broader view, combining media, social, and consumer intelligence into a single platform. Alongside media monitoring and media relations, it adds social listening, consumer insights, and analytics, so teams can track brand conversations and coverage side by side rather than switching tools.
Who are Roxhill and Meltwater best for?
Roxhill tends to suit in-house PR teams, public affairs professionals, and agencies whose work centres on media relations, journalist engagement, and the measurement of earned media performance. Its media database and monitoring tools make it especially useful for organisations whose communications strategy is built primarily around press coverage.
Meltwater is often the pick for organisations that need communications intelligence spanning PR, social media, marketing, and brand reputation. With its broader mix of media monitoring, social listening, consumer insights, and analytics, it works well for cross-functional communications teams or businesses with global operations.
Which platform should you choose?
It depends on your priorities.
- If your focus is on building media relationships and managing earned media, Roxhill offers a PR-first approach.
- If you need a broader view of brand conversations across news, social, and digital channels, Meltwater may be the better fit.
In short, the right choice depends on whether your monitoring needs sit mainly with earned media or span both social and press.
Roxhill vs Meltwater: capability overview
| Capability | Roxhill | Meltwater |
|---|---|---|
| Media monitoring | Monitors press, broadcast, and online news coverage, with tools designed around earned media measurement and PR reporting. | Online news, print, broadcast, social and podcast monitoring across global media sources. |
| Media database | UK-focused journalist database with contact details, editorial interests, and media relationship insights. | Global media database supporting journalist research and media outreach. |
| Spokespeople analytics | Tracks spokesperson visibility and performance across earned media coverage. | Provides broader media and communications analytics rather than dedicated spokespeople measurement. |
| Custom metrics and reporting | Custom PR metrics focused on earned media performance, including coverage analysis and spokesperson impact. | Provides configurable dashboards covering media, social, and audience insights. |
| Social media research | Social media insight research is available through Roxhill's Bespoke Insights managed service. | Native social listening across conversations, sentiment and trends, with managed reporting available. |
| Social media monitoring | Self-service social media monitoring is available through Roxhill's Media Monitoring platform as a built-in feature. | Built-in social listening capabilities to monitor conversations, sentiment, trends, and brand mentions across social platforms. |
| Influencer tracking | Not a core platform capability. | Includes influencer identification and monitoring tools. |
| Consumer insights | Available through Bespoke Insights as a managed research service. | Available as part of the platform through consumer intelligence tools. |
How do Roxhill and Meltwater compare for UK earned media monitoring
Roxhill and Meltwater both offer media monitoring, but they’re built for different purposes.
Roxhill is designed around UK PR and earned media workflows, whereas Meltwater provides broader media intelligence across global markets and channels
| Coverage area | Roxhill | Meltwater |
|---|---|---|
| National press & online news | UK-focused media monitoring across national press and online news. | In the UK, it monitors online news, digital media, and press coverage and provides print clippings analytics. |
| UK trade press | Extensive coverage monitoring for UK trade press. Roxhill reliably captures niche B2B trade publications without missing low-volume, high-value industry mentions. | Monitors trade and industry publications as part of its wider media intelligence offering, with a broader cross-market approach. Automatically indexes digital trade journals, national UK news, and niche industry blogs in real time. |
| Regional press | Supports monitoring of UK regional coverage, provides comprehensive tracking across the UK's regional, local, and provincial press. | Provides regional media monitoring as part of its wider media coverage offering. |
| Broadcast monitoring | Tracks broadcast coverage as part of earned media monitoring. | Tracks broadcast coverage across TV and radio alongside other media channels. |
Social media monitoring comparison of Roxhill and Meltwater
Both platforms cover social, but they extend it in different directions.
Roxhill and Meltwater both offer built-in social monitoring. Roxhill also gives you access to a team of analysts through Bespoke Insights, who do the research and reporting for you. Meltwater extends its platform differently, adding influencer tracking and consumer intelligence as in-platform tools.
| Capability | Roxhill | Meltwater |
|---|---|---|
| Self-service social media monitoring | Users can switch on social media monitoring within Roxhill's Media Monitoring platform. | Users can set up searches, monitor conversations, and analyse results directly within the platform. |
| Social analytics | Self-service dashboards in the social media monitoring platform, plus analyst-led analysis through Bespoke Insights. | Provides dashboards and analytics for tracking social performance, sentiment, audience behaviour, and conversation trends. |
| Keyword matching | Prompt-based. Teams describe what they want in plain language and LLMs surface matching coverage. | Boolean-based. Teams build search strings, combined with AI and natural language processing for broader matching. |
| Mention organisation | Teams can organise social mentions by campaign, spokesperson, or story into dedicated folders. | Groups data by dynamic tags, saved searches, and workspaces. |
| Social media research | Available through Roxhill's Bespoke Insights managed service, where research and analysis are delivered by analysts. | Provides native social listening capabilities and managed custom reports. |
Overview of Roxhill and Meltwater media database and journalist outreach
A media database is central to PR teams that need to identify relevant journalists, build targeted media lists, and manage outreach. Roxhill and Meltwater both provide journalist and media contact information, but they take different approaches
| Capability | Roxhill | Meltwater |
|---|---|---|
| Media Database depth | Detailed journalist profiles including roles, beats, editorial interests, and contact information, and insights from journalist interviews. | Global media database with journalist contact profiles including direct emails, phone numbers, social media handles, job titles, assigned beats, and languages. |
| UK trade press journalist data | UK trade and specialist media database, covering B2B publications alongside national and regional press. | Includes digital and print trade publications, journalist and editor profiles, and sector-specific monitoring across B2B markets. |
| Database updates | Maintained by in-house researchers across the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with a focus on keeping journalist information, roles, and editorial interests relevant for PR teams. | Regularly updated to reflect changes in journalists, publications, and media organisations. |
| Journalist discovery and targeting | Journalist Assistant helps users identify relevant journalists for specific stories and campaigns, making it easier to target outreach. | Provides search and filtering tools to find relevant journalists and build targeted media lists. |
| Distribution and outreach tools | The built-in distribution tool supports media list creation and journalist outreach workflows. | Includes broader media outreach and distribution functionality, allowing teams to send releases, manage campaigns, and track results. |
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What reporting and measurement tools do Roxhill and Meltwater offer?
PR and comms teams can measure performance and generate reports in both Roxhill and Meltwater.
Meltwater’s broader platform enables measurement across communications and social analytics, whereas Roxhill Media is built primarily around earned media reporting and PR metrics.
| Capability | Roxhill | Meltwater |
|---|---|---|
| Custom metrics | Custom PR metrics tailored to campaign objectives. Teams can track, analyse, and visualise campaign performance based on specific goals. | Custom scoring system. Teams can create unique scoring models based on publication, title mentions, etc. |
| Share of Voice (SOV) | Brand, competitors and spokesperson Share of Voice. | Brand and competitor Share of Voice dashboards. |
| Sentiment analysis | AI-powered sentiment analysis. | Media and social sentiment analysis. |
| Salience scoring | Salience scoring (AAA, AA, A) to measure prominence. | Available within the custom scoring framework. |
| Spokespeople analytics | Dedicated spokesperson visibility and performance reporting. | Included within broader media analytics. |
| Press release tracking | Press release performance tracking. | Campaign and distribution reporting. |
| Reporting outputs | Branded chart exports and custom reports. | Interactive dashboards and enterprise reporting. |
| Board-level reporting | Available through Bespoke Insights managed analyst service. | Enterprise reporting and executive dashboards within the platform. |
What is the difference in reporting at Roxhill and Meltwater?
Roxhill’s reporting is built around earned media measurement, including custom PR metrics, salience scoring, spokesperson analytics, and branded reporting. Organisations that need bespoke analysis or board-level reporting can also draw on Bespoke Insights, which provides analyst-led research and reporting.
Meltwater offers a broader reporting suite that combines media monitoring, social analytics, Share of Voice, and enterprise dashboards on a single platform, which suits organisations that report across multiple communication channels.
Media Monitoring Report
Weekly Summary
3 – 9 Aug 2026
Salience Score
Mentions
Share of Voice
Sentiment Score
How do Roxhill and Meltwater pricing plans compare?
Pricing for Roxhill and Meltwater is not publicly listed. Both platforms typically require organisations to request a demo or speak with their sales teams to receive a tailored quote.
| Pricing factor | Roxhill | Meltwater |
|---|---|---|
| Public pricing | Pricing is provided through a tailored quote. | Pricing is provided through a tailored quote. |
| Packages | Core, Boutique, Enterprise, and Premium packages. | Starter, Pro, Enterprise, and Agency packages. |
| Pricing model | Packages can be tailored based on platform access, features, and service requirements. | Plans are tailored based on the products, modules, users, and business requirements. |
| Demo required | Yes. | Yes. |
| Contract terms | Vary depending on subscription package and organisational requirements. | Vary depending on the selected plan, platform configuration, and business requirements. |
Which platform is right for you?
In-house UK comms teams
Roxhill Media is generally the stronger fit for UK-based in-house teams, thanks to its depth in UK journalist data and its focus on earned media reporting. Teams whose day-to-day work centres on pitching, monitoring, and reporting on press coverage tend to find everything they need in one platform.
PR agencies
Roxhill suits agencies whose client work centres on media relations, journalist outreach, and earned coverage measurement. Its combined database, monitoring, and spokesperson tools let agency teams manage research, outreach, and reporting without switching between platforms.
Enterprise organisations with global operations
Meltwater is generally the better fit for large organisations operating across multiple markets, given its broader reach across media monitoring, social listening, and cross-channel reporting. Teams that need to track brand conversations alongside press coverage across regions tend to lean on Meltwater’s broader remit.
Boutique consultancies
The right choice here depends on scope. Roxhill works well for consultancies focused purely on PR and media relations, while Meltwater suits those also covering social and brand monitoring for clients.
Marketing teams running occasional PR campaigns
Roxhill vs Meltwater: feature comparison table
| Feature | Roxhill | Meltwater |
|---|---|---|
| Earned media monitoring | Strong. Platform built specifically around earned media measurement and PR reporting. | Strong. Broad monitoring across news, broadcast, social, and podcasts. |
| Social media monitoring | Strong. Users can access it as a self-service feature within the media monitoring platform. | Strong. Native, self-service social listening built into the platform. |
| UK trade press depth | Strong. Dedicated focus on niche UK B2B and trade publications. | Limited. Covered as part of a broader, cross-market approach rather than a UK specialism. |
| Media database | Strong. UK-focused, with detailed editorial and relationship insights. | Limited. Large global database, less UK-specific depth. |
| Journalist outreach | Strong. List building, targeting, and distribution built into one workflow. | Strong. Broader outreach and distribution tools across a larger contact base. |
| Measurement and reporting | Strong. Custom PR metrics, salience scoring, and spokesperson-level analysis. | Strong. Configurable scoring and enterprise dashboards. |
| Social analytics | Strong. Cross-channel analytics within social media monitoring dashboards, plus analyst-led analysis through Bespoke Insights. | Strong. Self-service dashboards for sentiment, performance, and audience trends. |
| Customer support | Strong. Online and dedicated UK-based account management support. | Limited. Standard account support, less personalised. |
COMPARISON: ROXHILL MEDIA AND MELTWATER
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Roxhill and Meltwater for UK PR teams?
Is Roxhill or Meltwater better for earned media monitoring in the UK?
Which has better UK trade press coverage: Roxhill or Meltwater?
Roxhill tends to go deeper here. It’s built to catch niche, low-volume B2B and trade publications that broader platforms can miss. Meltwater covers trade and industry publications too, but as part of a wider cross-market approach rather than a UK trade press specialism.
Does Meltwater cover UK broadcast and regional press as well as Roxhill?
Both track broadcast and regional press. Meltwater covers TV and radio broadcast monitoring alongside its other media channels, and includes regional coverage as part of its wider media monitoring. Roxhill’s regional and broadcast tracking is more explicitly built around UK earned media, with comprehensive coverage across regional, local, and provincial press.
Which is better for in-house UK comms teams: Roxhill or Meltwater?
It depends on team size and scope. In-house UK comms teams that primarily need media monitoring, journalist relations, and PR reporting often find Roxhill’s UK focus, dedicated account support, and the integrated platform a good fit. Teams that also need social listening, influencer tracking, or global monitoring alongside PR may get more out of Meltwater’s wider feature set.
What does Roxhill offer that Meltwater does not?
What's included in Roxhill's starting price?
Roxhill doesn’t publish fixed pricing. Like Meltwater, pricing is provided through a tailored quote. What’s included depends on the package (Core, Boutique, Enterprise, or Premium) and is scoped around platform access, features, and service requirements, so it’s worth getting a quote based on your team’s specific needs rather than assuming a fixed starting point.
Do Roxhill and Meltwater charge separately for add-ons like monitoring or spokespeople tools?
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