Media List is the easier buy if you want to see the price, start today and pay month to month. Basic costs $99 a month, with no annual contract and no sales call. Cision does not publish a price and bills a year in advance, but it covers much more ground, with monitoring, distribution and global reach.
Media List vs Cision at a glance
Every Cision fact below links to its source. Prices and terms are as of October 2026.
| Row | Media List | Cision (CisionOne) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $99 a month, shown on the pricing page | No price published. The pricing page is a form, and an expert reaches out1 |
| How you pay | Monthly, or yearly at 10 times the monthly price | "All fees are invoiced annually in advance"2 |
| Contract | No annual contract. Cancel anytime from your billing page | Annual, paid up front, and the fees cannot be cancelled unless your order says so2 |
| Trial | 3-day trial, $0 today, card or PayPal, up to 25 exports | No trial found on Cision's pages14 |
| Demo or sales call to buy | Not needed. Buy online and start the same day | Yes. A 3-step form, then an expert reaches out1 |
| Size of the database | 31,000+ journalists, editors and producers | Cision wins. "Over 500,000 media profiles across 225 countries and territories"4 |
| US journalists | 22,000+, in every US state plus DC | No US-only count published4 |
| Global coverage | Focused on US outreach | Cision wins. Profiles in 225 countries and territories, as claimed4 |
| YouTube and podcasts | 189,000+ and 1.2 million, in every plan | Journalist and influencer profiles. A 2021 TrustRadius reviewer wanted more podcast host contacts8 |
| Contact fields | Email with its verification status, LinkedIn, title, outlet and location | Cision wins. Email, phone number, address, social links, bio and recent articles5 |
| Exports | 2,500 to 25,000 a month. About $0.04 per exported contact | A licence to create and download lists, which ends with the agreement23 |
| Email status before export | Every contact shows its verification status before you export. Filter to verified emails | Describes a "human-curated database of verified journalists and media outlets"4 |
| Media monitoring | Not part of Media List | Cision wins. Print, online, TV, radio, podcasts and social5 |
| Press release distribution | Not part of Media List | Cision wins. PR Newswire distribution is in the same group1 |
| Sending pitches | Campaigns with follow-ups and open and click tracking on Professional and up | Email builder, templates, AI pitch help, scheduling and pitch analytics45 |
| Seats | 1 on Basic, up to 3 on Professional, up to 10 on Scale, all included | Priced "based on users, features, and service levels"5 |
| API, MCP and apps | MCP server, read-only API, Zapier (beta), Google Sheets add-on, Send to Notion and Send to Webflow | REST API for monitoring data, plus Slack, Teams and Google Analytics5 |
| Support and setup | Self-serve, start the same day, support by email | Cision wins on hand-holding. Account manager, onboarding consultant, chat and office hours5 |
Try Media List for 3 days, $0 today, then from $99 a month. No contract. No sales call.
Start 3-day free trial →Who each tool fits best
Choose Media List if you want to pitch this week
- Solo publicists. You see the price before you talk to anyone. Basic is $99 a month, and you can stop when a client project ends.
- Founders and startups. You can sign up, search and export the same day. The trial shows real contacts, so you can judge the data before your plan starts.
- Small agencies. Professional costs $399 a month with up to 3 seats included. Scale gives up to 10 seats and private-label reports for clients.
- Teams that pitch creators too. Journalists, YouTube channels and podcasts sit in one search, in every plan.
- Teams that build with AI tools. The MCP server and read-only API let Claude and other assistants search the contact database.
Choose Cision if you need the whole suite
- In-house comms teams that need media monitoring across print, online, TV, radio, podcasts and social, with reports and dashboards in the same login.
- Global agencies that pitch in many countries. Cision claims profiles in 225 countries and territories.
- Teams that want phone numbers, mailing addresses and bios on each profile.
- Brands that send wire releases often and want distribution and the database from one company.
- Larger startups with a comms lead who wants a dedicated account manager and guided onboarding.
What a year costs
Cision does not post prices, so the Cision side uses what buyers and Vendr report. Your quote may differ.
| Buyer | Media List | Cision |
|---|---|---|
| Solo publicist, database only | Basic at $99 a month. That is $1,188 over 12 months, or $990 if you pay for the year | About $3,500 to $6,000 a year in buyer reports, paid up front910 |
| 3-person agency, database and sending | Professional at $399 a month with up to 3 seats. That is $4,788 over 12 months | One Reddit user said a client pays $10k for 2 seats with the database and news monitoring. Vendr puts teams of 1 to 5 users at $15,000 to $40,000 a year96 |
The solo figure assumes one person exports up to 2,500 new contacts a month. The agency figure assumes 3 people share 10,000 exports a month and send their own campaigns. The Media List lines cover the database and sending.
Cision buyers also report extra costs. Vendr lists onboarding fees of $2,000 to $10,000 or more, and "Annual price escalations (3-7%)" as a hidden cost6. Vendr's median Cision deal is $12,625 a year across 77 deals6.
Cision's contract terms, in its own words
Cision's Master Subscription Agreement was last updated on 25 September 2025. Here is what it says about fees2.
"All fees are invoiced annually in advance, and are non-cancellable and non-refundable unless stated otherwise on an Order."
Section 6.4 covers what happens when the agreement ends2.
"At termination or expiration, all licenses granted by either party shall terminate, and each party will delete all data and content to which it no longer has a license."
In plain words, the licence ends and data you no longer have a licence for must be deleted. The Media Database Service Appendix also bars using the data "to create a historical database"3. So plan to rebuild your lists in your next tool rather than carry Cision exports across.
Media List works the other way. You pay monthly and can cancel anytime from your billing page. Your plan stays active until the end of the period you paid for. Contacts you export are licensed for your own organisation's outreach.
What buyers say about Cision
These short quotes come from public review sites and forums. They are the reviewers' words, not ours.
- "Excellent database." A TrustRadius reviewer, January 20268.
- "Superior Database and Monitoring." A TrustRadius reviewer, January 20268.
- "They have unreasonable auto renewal policies." A Trustpilot reviewer, June 20267.
- "The forced switch to Cision One was frustrating and not at all user friendly." A Reddit user in r/PublicRelations, 202511.
Scores vary a lot by site. Trustpilot shows 1.6 out of 5 from 32 reviews7. TrustRadius shows 8 out of 10 from 458 reviews and ratings8. G2 shows 3.9 out of 5 from 1,289 reviews, per search results, not checked on G212.
How to switch from Cision to Media List
Cision sets renewal and notice terms on each order form, not in its public agreement. One Reddit thread asks, "Has anyone had any luck with ending or modifying their contracts with Cision?"13 So start with your order form.
- Find your dates. Look up your renewal date and any notice period on your Cision order form. Put the notice date in your calendar.
- Test before you give notice. Start the 3-day Media List trial a few weeks before that date. Search the beats you pitch most and export up to 25 contacts.
- Rebuild your top lists. Use filters for beat, outlet, state and media type. For example, pick the technology beat, set the state to Texas, and choose newspapers and online outlets.
- Add creators. Run the same topic across YouTube channels and podcasts. They are in the same search.
- Check each email. Every contact shows its verification status before you export. Filter to verified emails if you want only those.
- Give notice. Follow the steps on your Cision order form, then pick the Media List plan that fits.
If an email you exported bounces, send it to support and Media List replaces that export at no cost.
Is Cision free?
No. Cision has no free tier for PR buyers and no trial we could find. To see a price, you fill in a 3-step pricing form, and the team contacts you1. Cision does send a free weekly newsletter about journalist moves, called the Media Brief4.
Cision database only vs the full suite
Many buyers only use the database. One said, "I pay $3500 for the media database. I have two users"9. A 2023 thread put the database at "about $6K/year"10.
Costs climb once monitoring and social listening are added. One buyer paid "About $13k a year" for four users with the database, monitoring and social listening9. If you only need contacts and sending, check that your quote does not bundle tools you will not use.
What Media List does best
Media List is built for people who want to find the right journalist and send the pitch, without a contract. You get published prices, monthly billing and a trial that shows real contacts. You also get journalists, YouTube channels and podcasts in one plan, and about $0.04 per exported contact at full use. Contacts you already exported never count again.
You can also check the data before you buy. Public newsroom pages and journalist pages are open to anyone.