Cision vs Roxhill in 2026: Global enterprise reach vs UK-focused media intelligence
Both are sales-led, demo-first PR platforms with no published pricing. The difference is geographic depth and what sits alongside the journalist database.
Cision
Roxhill- Cision covers 190 countries and 75 languages. Roxhill's database depth is strongest in UK press, with international coverage described as thinner for North American and APAC media.
- Roxhill has a dedicated spokespeople analytics module that compares executive share of voice against named competitors. Cision has no equivalent feature.
- Both platforms include press release distribution: Cision through its owned PR Newswire network, Roxhill through direct distribution to its own journalist database.
- Cision includes social listening across X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Reddit. Roxhill's own materials describe a smaller social listening and digital monitoring feature set than platforms built for that space.
- Neither Cision's CisionOne tier nor Roxhill's Professional or Enterprise tiers offer API access, and neither publishes pricing without a sales conversation.
- Roxhill offers bespoke newsletters and board-ready reports as a managed service layer. Cision's reporting is self-serve dashboards and custom BI integration rather than a managed-service add-on.
Cision and Roxhill both ask you to book a demo before you see a price, which puts them in the same procurement category, but they are not really built for the same buyer. Cision covers 190 countries and 75 languages with a million-plus journalist database, social listening, and PR Newswire distribution owned outright. Roxhill goes deep instead of wide: its UK journalist database tracks beat changes and outlet moves with editorial-level accuracy, and its spokespeople analytics module measures share of voice for individual executives in a way Cision does not attempt. Neither has an API on its standard tier and neither has self-serve pricing, so the decision comes down to whether your media footprint is genuinely global or concentrated in the UK.
The tools at a glance
Cision
Enterprise PR intelligence platform covering 190 countries with PR Newswire distribution
Cision is CisionOne, built through acquisitions into one of the largest PR technology platforms in the world, used by 84% of the Fortune 500. It combines media monitoring across print, broadcast, radio, podcasts, and social media in 190 countries with a journalist and influencer database of more than one million contacts, plus social listening and sentiment tracking in the same product.
The feature that sets it apart from a database like Roxhill is ownership of PR Newswire, so releases can be drafted, approved, and distributed without switching tools, targeted by industry, geography, or journalist segment. The analytics layer connects coverage and social data to business outcomes through custom dashboards and an API that reaches Tableau and Power BI, though full API access is generally an Enterprise-tier feature.
The cost of that breadth is a genuinely complex product. Pricing is entirely custom and negotiated, there is no self-serve trial, and the interface still shows the seams of the acquisitions that built it. Teams outside the enterprise bracket will find both the price and the operational overhead more than they need.
| Feature | CisionOne Contact for pricing | Enterprise Contact for pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Media monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Countries covered | 190 | 190 |
| Journalist database | Yes | Yes |
| PR Newswire distribution | Add-on | Included |
| Social listening | Yes | Yes |
| API access | Limited | Full |
| Dedicated account manager | No | Yes |
Roxhill
Media intelligence platform for UK and global PR with journalist database, media monitoring, and spokespeople analytics
Roxhill is built specifically around the UK press landscape, with a journalist database that tracks not just contact details but beat changes and outlet moves as they happen, maintained through active editorial intelligence rather than pure automated crawling. PR teams use this to time pitches around what a journalist is already covering, not just who they are.
The spokespeople analytics module is the platform's clearest differentiator: it tracks how an organization's named experts are covered relative to competitor spokespeople and surfaces journalists writing about your sector who have not yet quoted your people. That turns executive thought leadership into something measurable rather than a qualitative impression, which most competing platforms, Cision included, do not offer at the same depth.
The trade-offs are geography and integration. Coverage outside the UK is noticeably thinner, there is no API for pulling data into CRM or BI tools, and pricing requires a demo call with no published starting point. For UK-focused comms and agency teams, the database quality and spokespeople tooling justify the process; for global programs, the gaps in North American and APAC coverage are a real limitation.
| Feature | Professional Contact for pricing | Enterprise Contact for pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Journalist database access | Yes | Yes |
| Media monitoring | Yes | Yes |
| Smart folders | Yes | Yes |
| Spokespeople analytics | Yes | Yes |
| Press release distribution | Yes | Yes |
| Bespoke reports (managed) | Add-on | Yes |
| API access | No | No |
| White-label | No | No |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | Cision | Roxhill |
|---|---|---|
| Geographic coverage strength | 190 countries, 75 languages | Strongest in UK, thinner internationally |
| Journalist database size | 1M+ contacts | Not publicly disclosed |
| Press release distribution | Yes (owns PR Newswire) | Yes (own distribution to database) |
| Social listening / digital monitoring | Yes (X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit) | Smaller than dedicated social platforms |
| Spokespeople / share-of-voice analytics | No | Yes |
| Managed reporting service | No (self-serve dashboards + BI export) | Yes (bespoke newsletters, board reports) |
| API access | Limited on CisionOne, full on Enterprise | No |
| Free tier or trial | No | No |
| Starting price | Custom (sales-led) | Custom (sales-led) |
Which should you choose?
CisionRoxhillRoxhillCisionCisionRoxhillBoth platforms make you sit through a demo before you learn the price, so the real decision criterion is not process, it is geography plus what you are actually trying to measure. Cision's case is global reach and an owned wire service; Roxhill's case is UK editorial depth and a spokespeople analytics layer that treats executive visibility as a metric rather than a feeling. A UK-only comms team buying Cision is paying for global coverage it will not use. A multinational buying Roxhill will hit the edges of its database outside Britain within the first campaign.
Bottom line
Choose Cision if your media exposure genuinely spans multiple regions and you want monitoring, a large contact database, and press release distribution under one owned-wire account. Choose Roxhill if your program is UK-centered and you need to prove, with numbers, how your spokespeople are performing against named competitors in the UK press. Neither has an API, so if programmatic data access matters as much as coverage, that gap applies to both and needs a separate integration plan regardless of which one you pick.
Frequently asked questions
Is Roxhill a good Cision alternative for a UK-only PR team?
Roxhill is a strong Cision alternative for a UK-only team because its journalist database depth in UK nationals, regionals, and trade press is a specific strength, backed by editorial intelligence on beat and outlet changes. Cision's 190-country coverage is largely wasted budget if your media targets never leave the UK, so Roxhill's narrower but deeper focus is the better fit at what is typically a lower cost.
Does either Cision or Roxhill offer an API for pulling data into a CRM?
Cision offers API access, but it is limited on the standard CisionOne tier and only reaches full access on Enterprise contracts. Roxhill does not offer a public API at all as of mid-2026, so any Roxhill data going into CRM or reporting systems has to be manually exported rather than pulled through an automated connection.
Which platform has better press release distribution, Cision or Roxhill?
Cision has the stronger press release distribution because it owns PR Newswire, the most widely recognized wire service, and integrates drafting and delivery directly into CisionOne. Roxhill also distributes releases directly to journalists in its own database, which works well for UK-targeted campaigns but does not carry the same brand recognition or global reach as PR Newswire.
What is spokespeople analytics and does Cision have it?
Spokespeople analytics tracks how an organization's named experts or executives are covered in the media and compares their share of voice against competitor spokespeople. This is a Roxhill feature, not a Cision one; Cision's analytics are built around brand and topic coverage rather than individual spokesperson positioning.
Can I try Cision or Roxhill for free before committing?
Neither Cision nor Roxhill offers a free trial or self-serve signup, so there is no way to try either platform without going through a sales process. Both require a demo call and a negotiated contract before you get platform access, so evaluating either one means budgeting time for a sales process rather than testing on your own schedule.
Is Cision worth it for a company with only regional UK media exposure?
Cision is usually not worth it for a company with only regional UK media exposure, since it is priced and built for genuinely global monitoring and distribution needs, and a UK-only company would pay for 190-country coverage it never uses. Roxhill's UK-specific database depth and lower operational complexity generally make more sense for that profile, unless the company also needs PR Newswire's specific distribution reach.