Short answer: media monitoring costs anywhere from $0 to well over $10,000 a year. Free alerts cost nothing but miss a lot. Mid-range tools for small teams usually cost about $50 to $500 a month. Enterprise media intelligence suites like Meltwater and Cision are sold on custom annual contracts that buyers commonly report in the five figures.
What are you actually paying for?
Every monitoring tool does the same three jobs: it collects mentions, it sorts them, and it tells someone. The price goes up with how many sources it collects from, how well it sorts, and how many people it serves.
- Sources. News sites, blogs, social platforms, forums, broadcast and print. Licensed content (paywalled news, TV transcripts) is the most expensive part.
- Speed. Checking every few minutes costs more than a daily email.
- Analysis. Relevance filtering, sentiment, topics, summaries and share of voice.
- Seats and workspaces. More people and more clients means a higher tier.
- Extras. Journalist databases, press release distribution and dedicated account managers.
What does each price level get you?
| Level | Typical cost | What you get | What you miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free alerts | $0 | Email when new indexed pages match a keyword | Social, sentiment, speed, team features |
| Small team tools | About $50 to $500 a month | News and social, sentiment, alerts, reports | Broadcast, print, journalist database |
| Enterprise suites | Often $10,000+ a year | Very broad licensed coverage, media database, analysts | Simplicity and a small team budget |
Prices change often, and most vendors adjust them by seats and add-ons. Treat these ranges as a starting point and check each vendor before you decide.
How much should a small organization spend?
A useful rule: compare the price with the time your team spends searching by hand. If someone spends three hours a week checking news and social, that is more than 150 hours a year. At almost any salary, a tool in the $100 to $250 a month range costs less than that time, and it catches more.
Then ask what a missed story would cost. For a nonprofit, it might be a funder reading criticism before you have answered it. For a municipality, it is a resident complaint that reaches council. For a brand, it is a product issue that spreads for a day before anyone notices.
What does Heardsay cost?
Heardsay has three monthly plans with no annual contract:
- Starter, $99 a month: 3 trackers, 2 seats and the AI daily brief.
- Team, $249 a month: 10 trackers, 6 seats, real-time alerts and Slack or Teams.
- Agency, $499 a month: 30 trackers, unlimited seats, client workspaces and white-label briefs.
Registered nonprofits, charities and Indigenous organizations get a discount on every plan. See the full comparison on the pricing page.
How to choose without overpaying
- List the sources that actually matter to you. If you never get TV coverage, do not pay for broadcast monitoring.
- Count the people who need alerts, and the people who only need a summary.
- Run a free trial on your own name for two weeks, next to Google Alerts, and compare what each one caught.
- Prefer monthly billing until you are sure.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free media monitoring tool?
Yes. Google Alerts and Talkwalker Alerts are free. They send emails when new pages match your keywords, but they have no sentiment, no social coverage beyond what search engines index, and no team features.
Why do Meltwater and Cision not show prices?
They sell custom annual packages that depend on modules, seats and content licences. Buyers commonly report contracts in the five figures per year.
How much does Heardsay cost?
Starter is $99 a month, Team is $249 a month and Agency is $499 a month, billed monthly with no annual contract. Nonprofits get a discount.
