Muck Rack Pricing Guide 2024: Costs & Plans Broken Down

As you've probably already noticed, Muck Rack don't publicly share their pricing. So, unless you’re ready to speak with their sales team, it can be pretty tricky to understand how much it’ll cost you. 

Not ready to jump into Muck Rack’s sales cycle quite yet? Don’t worry, we’ve done all the research on their pricing, so you don’t have to. 

Let’s start by breaking down Muck Rack’s pricing with a simple TL;DR.

Pricing plans: These vary widely – users reportedly pay anywhere from $3,500 to $40,000+ per year for a license.

We couldn’t find concrete plans, but here’s their pricing broken down into groups:

• Starting basic license: $5,000 per year for one user
• Average cost: Most users report paying around $10,000 per year
• High-end plans: $25,000+ per year
• Free trial: There’s no free trial available, but you can request a custom demo from the sales team
• Extra fees: Additional seats and features come with extra fees (more on the specific features below)
• Pricing transparency: Muck Rack keeps their pricing hidden, so you’ll need to speak with their sales team for a custom quote
• Commitment: Muck Rack requires users to commit to an annual contract; there’s no monthly subscription option​​​​

Muck Rack don't list their extra fees on their website. Instead, they’re known for customizing prices based on what you need.

Here's what you can generally expect:

The more features you need, the higher the price. From our research, basic packages usually include access to their media database, media monitoring, and PR analytics tool. If you need advanced features like detailed media insights or deeper analytics, it'll cost you more.

Expect to pay extra if you need Muck Rack to integrate with other tools or be customized to match your specific workflows.

Bigger organizations or those with more complex needs will pay more, too. For example, a large agency with multiple clients will likely need a more comprehensive package than a smaller team.

If you're an agency, you may find our guide about the best PR agency software helpful.

The number of users who will need access to your Muck Rack account will have a direct impact on the price you’re quoted at. So, if you can, try to keep it low. 

To get the exact pricing for your needs, you'll need to contact Muck Rack's sales team. They'll ask about what you need and give you a custom quote. Remember, you'll need to sign up for an annual contract since they don't offer month-to-month subscriptions​​​​.

Pro tip: Before jumping on a call with Muck Rack’s sales team, come prepared with a specific budget to share with them. To find that number, and negotiate a price you’re happy with, think of your ideal cost, then lower it by 10–20%. This will give you a bit of wiggle room when landing on a final price.

Now that you know how Muck Rack’s pricing works, you’re probably wondering: “What are the best alternatives to Muck Rack, and how much do they cost?”

Generally, Muck Rack’s main alternatives to consider are other dedicated PR platforms. The most notable being: Cision, Meltwater, and Prezly.

Not sure how to differentiate between “dedicated PR platforms”? Here’s a quick explainer:

In the current PR software landscape, there are three types of tools: media monitoring tools (~45%), contact databases (~45%), and all-in-one platforms (~10%).

Muck Rack, Cision, and Meltwater are all well-known as traditional tools that cater to the first two categories. Meanwhile, Prezly is a newer alternative that’s part of the all-in-one category. Generally, PR pros agree that the older tools struggle to provide fully comprehensive PR tools. 

On the other hand, we’ve built Prezly to offer everything you need to earn more media coverage. But, while Prezly can integrate with other tools to help provide media monitoring, we won’t be able to help you with getting a media database anytime soon. 

Simply put, this is because media databases do not deliver great ROI. 

Though buying lists of media contacts has become a norm in the PR world, we never recommend doing it. Three reasons why:

• They aren’t effective: The best PR work comes from building relationships, not cold selling to a list of strangers. Time and time again, we’ve found that investing into a strong CRM tool is far more useful than buying a media database.
• They’re bad for deliverability: Since thousands of PR teams are contacting journalists from media lists, every email sent often goes unopened & unread.
• They violate GDPR: Whenever you buy a database of media contacts, you are getting someone’s personal information without that person ever giving you their consent – violating GDPR.

Typically, emailing a list of bought media contacts results in a lot of bounced emails, and low engagement rates. Even Cision – who themselves sell media lists – confirm in their 2021 State of the Media report that:

PR pros need to build highly targeted media lists. More than 1 in 4 journalists receive over 100 pitches per week with most ending up in the virtual trash due to irrelevance.

The same report shows that of the pitches that journalists did pay attention to, less than 25% were actually relevant to their writing, topics they cover, publications they write for, and audiences they target.

In short? Media lists pretend to be a shortcut to success, but the vast majority of the time, they simply do not return on your investment.

4 reasons you shouldn't buy a media database (and what to do instead)

Buying lists of media contacts has become a PR norm. But how effective is it really? And are you violating GDPR by doing it?

Cision:

• Estimated avg. cost = $7,200/yr
• Known for having the largest media database on the market and great analytics tools
• But, their interface is a bit dated and hard to use

Meltwater:

• Estimated avg. cost = $6,000/yr 
• Known for their media monitoring and social media tracking tools
• But, when compared to the other platforms here, their features fall short

Muck Rack:

• Estimated avg. cost = $10,000/yr
• Known for their easy-to-use interface, and solid media database
• But, they’re the most expensive option

Prezly:

• Starts at $90/month or $1080/yr
• Priced at 10x less than the next cheapest option, Meltwater
• We built Prezly to have an incredibly easy-to-use interface, and are constantly updating our suite of tools (PR CRM, Email Outreach, Newsroom Creator, and PR Analytics) to help you maximize your earned media coverage

Want to know more about how Muck Rack and Cision compare to Prezly? Check out our full Muck Rack vs Cision and Prezly comparison. ​ ​ 

While Muck Rack is a strong PR platform, their pricing is difficult to get a hold of and (from our research) far more expensive than most other options on the market. 

On top of that, they only offer annual contracts and have a high-touch sales process that makes it hard to test out their features before committing.