Business Wire vs PR Newswire

Service details

Detail	Business Wire	PR Newswire
Founded	1961	1954
Ownership	Berkshire Hathaway	Cision
Company size	N/A	N/A
Headquarters	San Francisco, United States	New York, United States
Funding history	Owned by Berkshire Hathaway	Operated by Cision
Customer audience	PR, investor relations and agency teams	PR professionals, comms teams, and public companies
Distribution reach	92,000+ media outlets across 160+ countries	Distributes to over 500,000 media outlets, newsrooms, and financial portals across 170+ countries in 40+ languages.
Turnaround	Editorial checks precede distribution	Press releases can be distributed within hours of approval by the 24/7 editorial team.
Pricing model	From $475 for 400 words, U.S. local; broader reach quoted	Starts at $350 for local distribution plus a $195-$249 annual membership fee. National releases start at $805, with steep overages for extra words and multimedia.

Side by side

Data point	Business Wire	PR Newswire
Pricing & value2.92 vs 1.60Business Wire leads
Entry-level release cost	From $475 per release3.0 ▲	$350 for state/local release2.0
Pricing transparency	Public starting price; tailored final quote3.0 ▲	No public rate card (returns 404)1.0
Word-count & multimedia overages	400 words included; word count and multimedia affect cost2.6 ▲	$140+ per 100 extra words, $325 per image1.0
Contract flexibility	One-time distribution or ongoing plans4.0 ▲	$195-$249 annual membership required2.0
Refund policy	Refund terms are not published in the public site terms2.0	Unused portion refunded if vendor discontinues service2.0
Distribution reach4.62 vs 4.82PR Newswire leads
Stated outlet count	92,000+ media points5.0	500,000+ media outlets and newsrooms5.0
Country coverage	160+ countries4.8	170+ countries5.0 ▲
Financial & regulatory circuits	Disclosure services: Canada, UK, Ireland and Europe4.9 ▲	Full regulatory disclosure points4.8
Trade & vertical targeting	160+ industry categories plus specialty circuits4.7 ▲	100+ industries and trade categories4.5
Outlet variety (regions & niches)	General, business, local, trade and financial destinations4.8	Multicultural, language-specific, and industry verticals4.8
Additional reach services	Specialized media targeting and consultative services3.5	ProfNet, media tours, paid placement, social sharing4.8 ▲
Placement quality3.96 vs 4.04PR Newswire leads
Tier-1 pickup likelihood	Direct to AP, Reuters, Bloomberg terminals4.8	Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, CNBC, AP News4.8
Guaranteed placements	Full-text posting on portals and financial systems3.5	Guaranteed paid placement available4.0 ▲
Average outlet authority (DR & traffic)	High authority syndication, mostly nofollow4.0	High domain authority and web traffic4.5 ▲
Speed of distribution	N/A3.8	Within hours of approval4.0 ▲
Search indexing durability	SEO and AI-optimized discoverability4.2 ▲	N/A3.5
Indexing ratio	N/A3.5	N/A3.5
Platform & workflow3.91 vs 3.97PR Newswire leads
Release editor usability	N/A3.6	AI-powered Create+ tool for drafting and enhancing4.5 ▲
Approval & compliance workflow	Secure submission and expert editorial review3.8	Internal approvals required before submission4.0 ▲
Multimedia support	Images, video, infographics and audio4.2	Photos, videos, logos, infographics4.5 ▲
Integrations	Integrates with Q4, Workiva4.0	Website integration and social media connections4.0
Team & multi-user management	Multi-client management for agencies4.0 ▲	Individual registered-user logins; no sharing2.0
Additional tools & extras	Q4 IR websites, webcasting and analytics3.8	AI campaign planning, content creation, media monitoring4.8 ▲
White label & reseller3.70 vs 4.04PR Newswire leads
White-label reporting	N/A4.0	N/A4.0
API access	N/A3.1	N/A3.1
White-label publishing	N/A4.6	N/A4.6
Agency & reseller pricing	Custom quotes for agency and multi-client distribution3.3	Channel Partner and Publishing Partner programs3.5 ▲
Dedicated account manager	Account manager access reported by a customer3.5	Dedicated agency account management team5.0 ▲
Customer support4.08 vs 3.85Business Wire leads
Support channels	Phone via local bureaus and global number4.0 ▲	Phone & e-mail3.5
Response speed	24/7 global support4.5	24/7 editorial team availability4.5
Support quality (public reviews)	Capterra customer service: 4.3/5 from 4 ratings4.3 ▲	3.9/5 on G2 (781 reviews)3.9
Onboarding & training	Personalized setup guidance and multimedia guides3.5	MediaRoom CMS training and 24/7/365 support3.5
Analytics & reporting4.08 vs 4.24PR Newswire leads
Pickup reporting detail	Hosting-site list with monthly unique visitors4.5	Visibility Reports showing engagement, pickup, and reach4.5
Audience & engagement metrics	Views, traffic source/location and reader interactions4.0	Performance and audience engagement data4.2 ▲
Report speed after distribution	Real-time analytics from the moment of distribution4.5	Visibility Report 2 hours after distribution4.5
Real-time dashboards	Real-time visibility and syndication analytics3.9	Real-time newsfeed and analytics4.0 ▲
Export & sharing	N/A3.5	Downloadable reports to share results4.0 ▲

N/A means the provider does not publish that detail; the data point then inherits the directory average so a missing disclosure neither helps nor hurts. See how we rank.