Press release distribution cost in 2026, from free to $10,375 a release

By Jan Suski. I go deep on every review, checking every number against its source and digging up details other coverage misses, a habit from six years of SEO and link building for tech companies. Bylines at Surfer, Brand24, and Senuto. How the scoring works.

Published 6 October 2026Prefer this source on Google

Press release distribution cost runs from $0 to $10,375 for one release. PRLog posts a press release for free and pushes it to major search engines. At the top, PR Newswire (PRN), Cision's wire, charges $10,375 in its 2024 Pricing Guide for a 400-word press release on its Premier Global distribution circuit, before the $305 membership and any photo.

Between those two numbers sit the 14 press release distribution services priced in this report. Business Wire, the newswire Berkshire Hathaway owns, quotes a starting price of $940 for a 400-word US national release.

EIN Presswire sells one press release for $149. 24-7 Press Release starts at $29. Business Wire's national press release cost is 32 times that entry price. The gap between $29 and $10,375 is 358 to 1, and most of the press release cost difference comes from three things: geography, word count and who's on the receiving end of the distribution feed.

This report prices every package with a figure on the vendor's own page, checked 6 October 2026, then adds what buyers pay over a year from Vendr's tracked contracts and four public procurement records. It covers the newswire service tier, the budget-friendly tier, press release writing, PR agency retainers and the PR software subscriptions that sit next to press release distribution.

It's written for founders, marketers and communications teams putting a number on a launch, and for investor relations staff checking if a Business Wire or GlobeNewswire annual quote is in line. Press release pricing changes, so treat a figure here as hot off the press for October 2026 and check the vendor's page before you sign.

Press release distribution cost, service by service

Press release distribution cost falls into three price bands, and the band is set by the distribution feed a service plugs into. Press release services under $150 publish to their own network of online news sites and partner pages.

The $240 to $1,000 band adds a national wire feed, journalist email lists or AP News distribution. Above $1,000, you're paying Business Wire or PRN for distribution circuits that reach newsrooms, trade publications and international media outlets.

The table lists the cheapest and most expensive published press release distribution package for each service. Every price is per press release, in US dollars, from the vendor's own pricing page unless marked otherwise.

Every price is a list price from the vendor's own site, checked 6 October 2026, except PR Newswire's, which come from its 2024 Pricing Guide.

Read the billing unit column before the press release cost. EIN Presswire's $999 buys 15 press releases, which works out to $66.60 each. Bulk credits on some services expire after six months. PRN's $460 covers 400 words in one state, and a 600-word press release costs $650 more in extra words on the same distribution circuit. Two press release pricing plans that look 3 to 1 apart on a pricing page can land within $100 of each other on the invoice.

eReleases' cost guide splits the market into budget services at $0 to $300, premium at $300 to $1,999 and enterprise at $1,000 to $8,700. The published cards above put the top of the enterprise band at $10,375 for a single release, and Business Wire's flat-rate packages at $2,595 to $4,495. A buyer who budgets from the $8,700 ceiling will come up short on a global release.

Press release pricing structures: six ways a newswire bills you

Press release pricing comes in six pricing structures, and most press release service menus combine two or three of them. The unit decides how the press release cost grows when your press release gets longer, wider or more frequent.

• Flat price per release. PRWeb, Newswire.com, Send2Press and 24-7 Press Release charge one package price per press release, with no membership.
• Per 400 words plus per 100 words. PRN and Business Wire price a 400-word press release by distribution circuit, then charge for every extra 100 words. PRN's add-on for US1 national distribution is $325 per 100 words.
• Annual membership. PRN lists a $305 12-month membership in its 2024 guide, a fee that flies under the radar until the first invoice.
• Prepaid credit bundles. EIN Presswire's bundles last 365 days. Other services' bulk credits last six months.
• Monthly subscription. ACCESS Newswire offers a monthly subscription, quarterly or annual pricing, and PR software such as Prezly bills by the month.
• Annual contract. Business Wire and GlobeNewswire sell negotiated yearly deals to regular senders, which is where Vendr's tracked medians come from.

Several factors push a press release cost up inside any of these units: word count, the geographic distribution circuit, multimedia elements, targeted distribution lists, translation, editorial review and turnaround time. Each one is priced separately on at least one rate card below, so a total-price comparison has to add every line along with the headline package.

Business Wire pricing: $475 local to $4,495 for a national package

Business Wire publishes two sets of press release pricing, and they price different buyers. The first is a Business Wire starting price for a 400-word press release. The second is a set of Business Wire flat-rate packages with unlimited word count, sold to qualifying customers sending non-earnings press releases.

Business Wire starting price by circuit

Business Wire's US distribution pricing page lists three starting estimates for a 400-word press release:

• Business Wire local distribution: $475
• Business Wire regional distribution: $510
• Business Wire national distribution: $940

The jump from regional to national distribution is $430, almost double, for the same 400 words. Business Wire's main pricing page says the Business Wire press release cost depends on word count, the geographic circuit and enhancements such as multimedia or translation.

Business Wire doesn't print the per-100-word rate, so a Business Wire press release over 400 words needs a quote from the Business Wire sales team before you know the number. The same page tells regular publishers to ask about volume discounts, and the sales team sets those too. The devil's in the details on a Business Wire order: the starting price is the floor, and the word count decides where the invoice lands.

Business Wire flat-rate distribution packages

The distribution packages page lists three press release distribution packages, each with unlimited word count:

List prices from Business Wire's distribution packages page, checked 6 October 2026.

Business Wire offers these to "qualifying customers" for non-earnings press releases, and the same page lists 5-release and 8-release package discounts next to them. Business Wire earnings releases stay on the per-word card. For a public company, that means the investor relations calendar, four quarterly results and an annual report, runs on quoted pricing even when the marketing team's product news runs on a package.

What a Business Wire release includes

Every Business Wire press release at the starting price carries the same base list of key features, per the Business Wire pricing page:

• 400 words with unlimited hyperlinks
• A full-color, linked logo
• Rich-text formatting and financial tables
• Detailed analytics reports
• Expert editorial review and customized callout text
• Social sharing tools for social media
• 24/7 customer service support

Unlimited hyperlinks matter more than they look. EIN Presswire caps anchor text links at three per press release, so a Business Wire press release can carry a full product link list where a budget wire allows three. Business Wire's detailed analytics come with every press release, so you can track performance without a separate reporting fee. Business Wire also lists 24/7 customer service support, so a press release filed outside business hours still has someone to call.

What Business Wire buyers pay over a year

Regular senders don't buy Business Wire one press release at a time. Vendr's header puts the median Business Wire contract at $19,000 a year, with a low of $14,300 and a high of $29,229.

A team that sends 20 national press releases a year can bite the bullet on a contract near that median or pay $18,800 at the $940 starting price one by one. The spread is narrow: the top Business Wire contract costs about twice the bottom one, while Cision's Vendr range runs nearly ten to one.

Business Wire reviewers on G2 say the Business Wire per-word card is where the money goes. A mid-market director of communications wrote in October 2024:

"The upcharges can get very pricey. I get that it's a lot of work to distribute across channels, but at a certain point it's excessive."

G2 review, Sophia T., Director of Communications, mid-market company, 30 October 2024

A small-business associate account manager compared Business Wire with a rival newswire service in a G2 review dated 24 March 2026: "Compared with other newswire services, such as Notified, Business Wire felt a bit pricier." A mid-market communications specialist made the per-word point back in July 2018:

"This is not such a great choice with a limited budget. You get charged by the word, which is not a problem if you are a well-funded organization."

G2 review, Rick S., Marketing & Communications Specialist, mid-market company, 30 July 2018

Business Wire ownership and investor relations distribution

Lorry I. Lokey founded Business Wire in 1961, and Berkshire Hathaway completed its acquisition of the San Francisco company on 1 March 2006. Berkshire's release describes Business Wire as a global distributor of corporate news, multimedia and regulatory filings. The regulatory part is why investor relations teams pay Business Wire rates: financial tables are on the Business Wire base list, and a public company can't cut corners on a Regulation FD disclosure to save $500.

PR Newswire press release cost from the 2024 guide

PR Newswire, owned by Cision since a $841 million deal in June 2016, is the only one of the big three wires with a full printed rate card in circulation. PRN's 2024 Pricing Guide took effect on 1 January 2024 and prices each distribution circuit for a 400-word press release, plus every additional 100 words.

List prices from PR Newswire's 2024 Pricing Guide, effective 1 January 2024.

Multimedia sits outside the distribution circuit price. The guide charges $595 for a logo and $490 each for an image, video, audio file or PDF. A 600-word US1 press release with one photo costs $1,020, plus $650 for the extra 200 words, plus $490 for the image, plus $305 for a first-year membership: $2,465 before anyone has read it.

The membership is printed twice with two answers. The guide says $305, while the client terms say membership fees "may range from $99 - $249 and are subject to annual increases." Ask which number your order form uses, and treat a quote that leaves the membership line out as a red flag.

The guide says the PRN distribution network reaches more than 170 countries in more than 40 languages, and that over 290,000 journalists, bloggers and influencers use its journalist site to look for story leads, which is where the news reaches people who write.

What PRN users say about the press release cost

Five G2 reviews of PRN written between 2022 and 2026 name price as the drawback, from founders and mid-market teams alike. The add-ons are where it climbs. A director of marketing and communications wrote in December 2022:

"By the time you've added your targeted lists, logos and copy you're well on your way to $1000 per release."

G2 review, Jheramis A. H. C., Director of Marketing and Communications, mid-market company, 13 December 2022

A small-business founder who recommends the wire to clients flagged the trend line in a G2 review dated 14 April 2026: "The price is steep for many of the clients we recommend this service to, and it continues to rise every year." A mid-market user in e-learning described the volume problem in July 2026:

"The biggest drawback is cost. While the platform delivers strong reach and credibility, pricing can become expensive, particularly for organizations distributing multiple releases each year or adding multimedia and targeting options."

G2 review, verified user, e-learning, mid-market company, 23 July 2026

Targeting lists don't always pay back. A sales and marketing technology manager tried PRN's micro lists and reported in April 2026:

"I tried using the micro lists and besides being a bit expensive, between $300 to $1,200 each one, I didn't find that the amplification really helped that much."

G2 review, Jorge R., Manager, Sales and Marketing Technology, mid-market company, 14 April 2026

A founder and marketer summed up the one-off case in a G2 review dated 18 August 2026: "The initiation costs were very expensive, and I felt it was too much for one-off press releases." That's the membership plus circuit math, felt by someone sending one press release a year. Business Wire's page lists no membership line at all, which changes the one-off math in Business Wire's favor.

GlobeNewswire and Notified: quote-only, $25,050 median

GlobeNewswire publishes no rate card. Its home page offers "Send a Press Release" and "Request a Demo" buttons, so the price starts with a call. The wire belongs to Notified, which West sold to Equiniti for $534.5 million, including an $80 million earnout, in a deal that closed on 1 May 2025.

Vendr's header puts the median Notified contract at $25,050 a year, with a low of $5,670 and a high of $55,624. Vendr lists Notified Investor Relations as the product, so the median covers investor relations services beyond the wire and isn't a pure distribution figure.

A buyer who only needs GlobeNewswire distribution can reach it through a reseller: iCrowdNewswire lists GlobeNewswire distribution in its $599 Premium package and premium GlobeNewswire distribution in its $899 Super Premium package.

Mid-priced press release distribution services: $99 to $965

The middle band is where many small businesses and startups buy, and the press release distribution services in it differ more by what they bundle than by price. Five of them publish full pricing plans for every distribution package.

PRWeb: $120 to $480

PRWeb is Cision's self-serve wire, and its pricing page lists four packages, each priced per news release with unlimited media assets:

• Basic, $120: keyword tagging for search visibility in search engines, 48-hour turnaround time
• Standard, $245: adds online syndication to a network of 1,200+ websites
• Advanced, $360: adds email distribution to one industry-curated journalist list, 24-hour turnaround
• Premium, $480: the PRWeb premium plan adds Sovrn's content recommendation network and keeps the 24-hour turnaround time

The $115 step from Standard to Advanced is the one to watch, because it's the first PRWeb package that emails a journalist. PRWeb's Basic plan and Standard plan reach websites only, and journalist email starts at $360. That's the pattern across the budget end of the market: basic packages post to sites, and direct outreach to the right journalists costs extra.

Send2Press: $99 to $289, no membership

Send2Press sells each press release with no strings attached. It says in its price list that all pricing is "per release issued and NOT a membership or subscription." Each US package comes in a Basic and a Pro version, with a 1,200-word base limit:

• US Online: $99 Basic, $199 Pro
• US State: $129 Basic, $219 Pro
• US National: $199 Basic, $289 Pro
• US Regional: $199 Basic, $289 Pro
• US Industry: $219 Basic, $249 Pro

The National Basic package pushes to daily and trade media nationwide via the AP. The PRO plan adds email distribution to daily media in all US states, email to applicable trade publications and a 300dpi print image. Send2Press sells press release writing as a $199 add-on and a Social Boost from $50, both on the same page. Its regional packages cost the same as national, which is unusual: on PRN's card a region costs $305 less than US1.

eReleases: $399 to $699 over the PRN wire

eReleases resells national PRN distribution with its own editorial review and targeting on top, so the news reaches the same national feed at a reseller's price. Its three packages:

List prices from the eReleases pricing page, checked 6 October 2026.

Each package includes two images, and every extra 100 words costs $150. Add-ons run $150 each for another industry list, local saturation, the Cision Influencer List or an embedded image, $200 for a YouTube embed, and $150 per country or $1,000 global for international distribution. First-time customers get 30% off.

The resale math is the finding here. A 600-word national press release with one image costs $649 on eReleases Newsmaker plus 100 extra words. The same press release booked direct on PRN's US1 card runs $2,465 with membership. Reading between the lines, the reseller buys wire capacity at a rate no single sender gets.

Newswire.com: $399 to $965, unlimited words

Newswire.com sells four packages, all with unlimited words and images and no retainer:

• Starter, $399: Digital Journal and online news and media sites, 6 to 10 million estimated monthly readers
• Basic, $659: adds AP News, 75 to 100 million estimated monthly readers
• Feature, $965: adds Yahoo, Nexstar and other major outlets, 150 to 200 million estimated monthly readers
• State Distribution, $599: regional news outlets, local TV stations and state digital publications, with an insights and analytics report

The page names Yahoo Finance, Morningstar, Nexstar and Benzinga in its reach claim, and carries a Business Insider logo in its carousel of media outlets. Readership estimates are the vendor's own and count the potential audience of those media outlets. The number of people who read your press release is smaller and shows up only in the report.

ACCESS Newswire and iCrowdNewswire

ACCESS Newswire says on its home page that "our prices start at $415" and sells subscriptions monthly, quarterly or annually, with no annual lock-in. iCrowdNewswire's $599 and $899 packages ride on GlobeNewswire, and its $250 Ad Boost buys 50,000 guaranteed headline views through paid placement. Both are priced for teams that distribute press releases monthly or more and want one vendor for the year.

Budget-friendly press release distribution services under $150

Budget-friendly press release services are a dime a dozen, and the price gap between them is small. What changes is where the news reaches: a $29 package and a $149 package differ in their distribution feeds.

EIN Presswire: $149, or $66.60 a release in bulk

EIN Presswire sells three bundles, each valid for 365 days:

List prices from the EIN Presswire pricing page, checked 6 October 2026. The per-release column divides each bundle price by its release count.

Every EIN Presswire plan lists the Associated Press site, Nexstar Media Group and the USA TODAY Network, with a claimed 350 million combined monthly active users, plus major news sites, Google News, Bing and other major search engines, Bloomberg Terminals, Muck Rack and AI/LLM online platforms.

All plans include detailed reporting on distribution, search-optimized titles and meta tags for SEO optimization, and three keyword anchor text links. The Basic plan targets one country and one industry. The Pro+ plan raises that to two countries and five industries, and EIN labels it most popular, a popular demand claim the page doesn't back with a count.

Price is the thing EIN's G2 reviewers praise most. A small-business owner and digital marketing strategist wrote in a G2 review dated 5 May 2026: "The price is excellent because some alternatives cost hundreds per release, whereas EIN presswire is less than $100 per release." That holds for the Pro+ and Corporate bundles. A single Basic release costs $149.

PR Underground: $74.99, falling to $37.50

PR Underground prices two plans with volume tiers. Its basic plan starts at $74.99 a press release and drops to $49.99 for 5 to 9, $39.99 for 10 to 29 and $37.50 at 30 or more.

That plan submits to Google News, gets indexed by Google, lands on 300+ news and TV websites and comes with a PDF coverage report. The US National plan starts at $419.99, falls to $350 at 30+, and adds Yahoo Finance, StreetInsider and the Cision wire network, about 400 sites in total. Bulk credits expire after six months, and unused credits aren't refunded.

24-7 Press Release: $29 to $479

24-7 Press Release has six plans. Its plan comparison counts guaranteed placements for each paid distribution tier:

• Simple Post, $29: the release goes on 24-7's own site with no additional distribution
• Visibility Boost, $49: 100+ guaranteed placements, unlimited word count
• PR Network Plus, $89: 200+ guaranteed placements, plus the Associated Press Newsroom, a 30,000+ journalist platform
• Integrated Media Pro, $139: 300+ guaranteed placements
• Integrated Media Pro+, $199: 400+ guaranteed placements and an immediate release option during business hours, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific
• Mass Media Visibility, $479: 500+ guaranteed placements and PR Newswire national wire distribution with an official performance report

The $479 top plan is another wire resale. For $479 you get a national distribution feed that costs $1,020 plus membership booked direct at PRN, a pattern worth knowing before a sales team quotes you the wire's own card.

PR.com and PRLog: free tiers

PR.com runs a free package with reduced distribution to search engines, PR.com, some third-party online news sites and RSS feeds. Paid tiers cost $60, $100 and $300. The $100 package adds next-day distribution and editorial feedback.

The $300 package adds same-day distribution until 8 p.m. Eastern, the Associated Press newsroom and APNews.com, and a premium online syndication network. PRLog offers free press release and press room hosting with free distribution to search engines, and sells discounted distribution to news websites and journalists on top.

Free distribution tiers are a simple post with a search index behind it, enough to get the ball rolling for a business with no budget. Beggars can't be choosers at $0, and the trade is reach: no journalist list, no wire feed and no Google News submission unless you pay for it.

Geography and word count: the two biggest price drivers

Geographic reach moves the press release cost more than anything else on a rate card. Local or regional distribution is cheaper than national distribution, and national is cheaper than international distribution, on every card that prices all three:

• PRN: $460 for a state, $715 for a region, $1,020 for US1, $6,070 for World General News and $10,375 for Premier Global
• Business Wire: $475 local, $510 regional and $940 national at the starting price
• Send2Press: $129 Basic for a state against $199 Basic for the nation
• eReleases: $150 per country, or $1,000 for global distribution, on top of the US package, a drop in the bucket next to PRN's $10,375 Premier Global price

Word count is the second driver, and the traditional wire services enforce it hardest. PRN and Business Wire both price a 400-word press release and charge for every extra 100. eReleases includes 400 to 600 words and charges $150 per extra 100. Most budget services cap or ignore it: EIN Presswire sets a 700-word limit on Basic, Send2Press uses 1,200 words, and Newswire.com and 24-7 Press Release sell unlimited word count.

Writing press releases short is the cheapest edit you'll ever make, and writing press releases to length is the job of whoever drafts them. On PRN's US1 distribution circuit, cutting a 700-word draft to 400 words saves $975, about six and a half months of Semrush's AI PR Toolkit on its $149 Base plan.

The same 600-word press release, priced at eight services

Distribution rate cards use different units, so the only fair comparison prices one press release everywhere. The scenario: a 600-word US-wide press release with one image, bought singly by a first-time customer, at list price with no bundle discount or promo code.

Totals built from each vendor's list prices, checked 6 October 2026, and from PR Newswire's 2024 Pricing Guide for the PRN row.

Business Wire can't sit in this table without a quote, because its page prints a $940 national starting price for 400 words and no rate for the next 200. A Business Wire Premium package at $4,495 with unlimited words is the published alternative for qualifying senders. Every service in the table is a press release distribution service with a public card; the higher costs at the top come from membership, words and multimedia stacked on the circuit.

Add-ons and additional services priced outside the package

The package price is rarely the bill, and several factors on this list apply to one press release at once. These additional services carry higher costs than buyers expect, and they're priced line by line on the vendors' own pages:

List prices from each vendor's own page, checked 6 October 2026, and from PR Newswire's 2024 Pricing Guide for the PRN rows.

Multimedia elements are the costliest line on a big wire, and charging per image is par for the course there. Two images and a logo on a PRN press release add $1,575, which is more than the US1 circuit price itself. The budget services bundle them: EIN Presswire includes one to five images and one video per press release, and PRWeb includes unlimited media assets at every tier.

Quality editorial support raises the price too. PR.com's $100 package adds editorial feedback and costs $40 more than its $60 package, and its $300 package adds same day distribution. Send2Press charges $89 for a one-draft rewrite and $169 for two drafts. Business Wire includes expert editorial review in every release.

Press release writing costs

Press release writing is a separate line from distribution on every card that sells both, and press release writing prices are published by two vendors. A third press release writing price is the rewrite:

• Send2Press: $199 for full-service writing by a PR pro, added when you order distribution
• eReleases: $300 for professional writing added to a distribution package, with turnaround under one week
• Send2Press rewrite: $89 for one draft, $169 for two

In-house time has a press release cost too. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median public relations specialist wage at $74,750 a year, or $35.94 an hour, as of May 2025.

Four hours of drafting, review and sign-off costs about $144 in salary, less than either vendor's writing add-on. The case for paying a writer is media style and length control: on PRN's US1 card, a draft that runs 200 words long costs $650 more, and a release that misses the mark with editors costs the full $1,020 anyway.

PR agency cost against a newswire service

A PR agency bills a monthly retainer, and press release distribution sits inside it or on top. PR experts at an agency write and pitch: the Princeton contract below covers drafting stories, media liaison and strategy meetings. Public contracts give two checkable retainers. Joliet, Illinois agreed to pay Exclusive Public Relations $63,250 for about 11 months of 2025, roughly $5,750 a month, per Patch.

Princeton, New Jersey paid Taft Communications $50,250 for six months in 2023, $14,000 in the first month and $7,250 a month after.

A year with a PR agency at those rates costs $69,000 to $87,000, 3.6 to 4.6 times Business Wire's $19,000 median contract. The agency writes, pitches the right journalists and handles media relations, and the wire handles distribution of the release. Where a company buys both, the retainer takes the lion's share: $69,000 buys 73 Business Wire national releases at the $940 starting price.

Public bodies that buy distribution alone pay far less. Canada's Office of the Secretary to the Governor General contracted CNW Group for press release distribution services at C$16,950 for April 2025 to March 2026. England's Care Quality Commission awarded Precise Media Monitoring a £42,840 press release distribution contract running February 2026 to January 2030, about £10,710 a year.

PR software and media monitoring: subscriptions next to the wire

PR software covers what a newswire service doesn't: media contacts, pitching, newsrooms and media monitoring. These PR tools bundle more key features than basic distribution services, and they bill by the month or the year. A media database with journalist media contacts is the part a per-release wire package doesn't include, and it's how a team reaches the right audiences and relevant audiences one reporter at a time.

• Prezly: Essential at €100 a month billed annually, one user and up to 5,000 media contacts. Standard at €250 a month, two users, 10,000 contacts, white label sites and sending from your own domain. Enterprise is custom.
• Semrush AI PR Toolkit, formerly Prowly: Base at $149 a month for media lists and campaigns, Pro at $279 with follow-ups, weekly updates on LLM-cited media and coverage monitoring, Business at $499 with competitor coverage and share of voice.
• Muck Rack: quote-only, with a Vendr median of $13,000 a year across 59 deals, a low of $8,000 and a high of $20,860.
• Cision: a Vendr median of $12,625 a year, from $3,150 to $30,368. The Cision pricing report covers CisionOne packages and the renewal clauses.
• Meltwater: covered in the Meltwater review, with a Vendr median of $25,800 a year, from $5,375 to $56,993. The Meltwater pricing report breaks down tier floors.

Tracking coverage after the press release is a separate press release cost. Business Wire, the $419.99 US National plan and 24-7's top plan include a report on where the press release posted, and EIN includes detailed reporting on every plan. Measuring who wrote about you afterward is a media monitoring job, and the media monitoring tools ranking prices ten of them.

Teams buying PR tools that also track social mentions can compare the cost of social listening tools, since several PR tools sell both, and some PR software adds a white label newsroom for agencies.

What guaranteed placements, Google News and AI search buy you

A guaranteed placement is a repost of your press release on a partner site. 24-7 Press Release counts 100+ to 500+ guaranteed placements per plan, iCrowdNewswire sells 50,000 guaranteed headline views for $250, and the $74.99 Basic plan above lists 300+ news and TV websites.

Those are partner sites that carry the feed automatically. None of the published rate cards here sells an article written by a journalist, and media coverage stays a long shot for a press release with no news in it.

Syndication options differ by provider, and the names on the list are what you're buying:

• Google News: PR Underground's basic plan submits to it, EIN lists it on every plan, and PR.com includes it from $60.
• AP News and the Associated Press: EIN Presswire, Newswire.com Basic at $659, PR.com's $300 package and Send2Press National Basic all name AP distribution.
• Yahoo Finance: the $419.99 US National plan, Newswire.com's Feature package and 24-7's wire-fed top plan.
• Trade publications: Send2Press PRO emails applicable trade publications and trade media, and Business Wire sells trade media distribution as an enhancement.
• AI search: EIN lists AI/LLM platforms, iCrowdNewswire names OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic, ByteDance, Amazon and Apple, and Semrush's Pro plan tracks LLM-cited media weekly.

Google and Bing index these reposts, but a press release on 400 partner pages carries one set of links, and EIN caps them at three. Treat SEO optimization claims on a pricing page as a description of meta tags and keyword titles, which is what EIN's page lists, and judge the package by its named outlets.

Reports are how you track performance. Business Wire includes detailed analytics with every press release, EIN includes detailed reporting on distribution, Newswire.com's State Distribution adds an insights report, and wire-fed packages from resellers carry the wire's own report. Detailed analytics show where the release posted and how often the headline loaded. Finding who wrote a story about it takes a media monitoring subscription.

How to pick a press release service by budget

Choosing a press release service comes down to three questions: who needs to read it, where they read news, and what you can spend per press release over a year. Get on the same page with your team about the first one before you look at a single distribution price, because distribution to the wrong audience is money spent twice.

Small businesses: $29 to $250 a press release

Small businesses announcing a launch or an award need Google News, AP News and their own state's online news sites. EIN Presswire Basic at $149, PRWeb Standard at $245 or 24-7's PR Network Plus at $89 each cover that.

Buy bundles only once you know you'll send more than four press releases in a year, because EIN's credits expire after 365 days and some rivals' credits after six months. A budget friendly bundle you don't use costs more per press release than a single order.

Mid-size companies: $400 to $1,000 a press release

A funded startup or a mid-market brand pitching trade press needs targeted distribution to industry media. eReleases at $499 to $699 sends over the PRN wire with industry lists, and Newswire.com's $659 Basic adds AP News with unlimited words. This is the band where a press release writing add-on at $199 to $300 earns its fee, because length is priced per 100 words on two of the resellers' upstream wires.

Public companies and enterprises: $940 a press release to $25,000 a year

Investor relations teams need disclosure-grade circuits, financial tables and 24/7 support. Business Wire, PRN and GlobeNewswire are the three options, and regular senders sign annual contracts in the $14,300 to $55,624 range Vendr tracks.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket: ask each wire for a quote on your actual calendar, four earnings releases plus product news, and put the three totals side by side. Comparing them is easier said than done, because only one of the three prints a full card.

Press release costs to check before you pay

Several factors sit outside the headline package price, and each one shows up on at least one card in this report. Check these before the order goes in:

• Membership. PRN charges $305 a year. Send2Press prints that its pricing is per release and not a membership.
• Word overage. $325 per 100 words on PRN's US1 distribution, $150 at eReleases, and quote-only at Business Wire.
• Multimedia. $490 an image and $595 a logo on PRN. EIN's Basic plan includes one image and one video.
• Targeting. $150 per extra industry list at eReleases.
• International distribution. $150 per country at eReleases, $6,070 for 400 words of World General News distribution at PRN.
• Credit expiry. 365 days on EIN bundles, six months on PRUnderground.com credits.
• Social sharing. Send2Press sells a Social Boost from $50. Business Wire includes social sharing tools in the base price.
• Measurement. Distribution reports come with most plans, so you can track performance of the posting. Finding who covered the news release afterward takes media monitoring at $13,000 to $25,800 a year on Vendr's medians.

Key features that read the same across rate cards, such as distribution to media outlets or search visibility, cover different media outlets on each list. The key features you can check are the named outlets, the word limit, the image count and the report, and those four decide what the distribution is worth.

Frequently asked questions

How can I distribute a press release for free?

PRLog posts a press release and hosts a press room for free, with free distribution to Google and Bing. PR.com has a free package with reduced distribution to search indexes, its own site, some third-party news sites and RSS feeds. A free release reaches search indexes and the hosting site. Google News distribution starts at $60 on PR.com, and 24-7 Press Release's cheapest paid option costs $29.

Is PR Newswire worth it?

PR Newswire is worth its price for public companies and for national news that needs a newsroom feed, at $1,020 for a 400-word US1 release plus $305 membership. For small businesses, the same national distribution feed costs $479 through 24-7 Press Release's top plan or $399 to $699 through eReleases, both of which resell PRN distribution. Five G2 reviewers between 2022 and 2026 cite cost and add-ons as the drawback.

What are the top 10 press release distribution services?

By published press release pricing, from the cheapest entry package: PRLog (free), PR.com (free to $300), 24-7 Press Release ($29 to $479), PR Underground ($74.99 to $419.99), PRWeb ($120 to $480), EIN Presswire ($149 for one), Send2Press ($99 to $289), eReleases ($399 to $699), Newswire.com ($399 to $965) and Business Wire ($475 to $940 starting, 400 words). PRN and GlobeNewswire round out the big press release distribution services at $460 and up, and by quote.

What is the best way to distribute a press release?

Match the distribution circuit to the audience and send the press release to the right audiences directly as well. A newswire service posts the release to partner sites and newsrooms; a short personal pitch to ten reporters who cover your beat reaches relevant audiences the distribution feed can't, and PR tools exist to find them.

Prezly at €100 a month or Semrush's AI PR Toolkit at $149 a month covers the media contacts side, with journalist media contacts you can filter to the right audiences.

Does it cost money to submit a press release?

Submitting a press release costs nothing on PRLog and PR.com's free tier, and both let you distribute press releases to Google and Bing at $0. Additional services such as Google News distribution and media subscriber lists start at $60 on PR.com. Everything past a basic web posting is paid: $29 for a hosted post on 24-7, $149 for EIN's Basic plan with AP News, and $460 to $10,375 for a PRN distribution circuit, plus extra words and multimedia.

How much does a PR agency cost?

Two public contracts put a PR agency retainer at $5,750 to $7,250 a month: Joliet, Illinois paid Exclusive Public Relations $63,250 for about 11 months of 2025, and Princeton, New Jersey paid Taft Communications $7,250 a month after a $14,000 first month in 2023.

What is the cheapest press release service?

PRLog and PR.com's free tier are the cheapest at $0. The cheapest paid press release distribution beyond the host site is 24-7 Press Release's Visibility Boost at $49, with 100+ guaranteed placements. The cheapest per-release price with AP News is EIN Presswire's Corporate bundle at $66.60 a release, $999 for 15.

Bottom line

Press release pricing follows the distribution feed, the geography and the word count, in that order, and press release distribution cost moves with each one. A release that only needs search engine distribution costs $0 to $149. A national wire feed costs $940 to $1,020 for 400 words booked direct, or $479 to $699 through a reseller that buys PRN capacity in bulk. A global press release on PRN's top circuit costs $10,375 before a single photo.

Regular senders end up on annual distribution contracts, and Vendr's medians put Business Wire at $19,000 and Notified at $25,050 a year. That's cheaper than a PR agency at $5,750 a month and dearer than PR software at €100 to $499 a month, which does a different job.

Price the release you'll send, at its real length, with every image and distribution list on it. On the eight services priced side by side here, that one step put the totals between $149 and $2,465.