Cision fact checkCision is an international provider of media monitoring and PR software that sells the CisionOne platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and delivers press reviews as a service. It suits PR teams with an international focus who want monitoring, a journalist database and analysis in one tool. No source figures are given for Austria and Switzerland. According to its company history, Brandwatch also belongs to the Cision group. According to Cision, prices are only available on request after a demo (as of October 2026).
What is Cision?
Cision is a group for PR and communications software whose CisionOne platform combines media monitoring across online, print, TV, radio, podcasts and social media with media analysis, a journalist database and social listening. According to the legal notice, the contracting party for DACH is Cision Germany GmbH in Frankfurt am Main, and according to a press release the parent company is based in Chicago. According to PR Newswire, CisionOne launched in the DACH region on 17.07.2024. Besides the software, Cision sells press reviews and media analyses as a service under the name Cision Insights. For social media management in CisionOne, Cision names a content calendar and approval tools on its social listening page.
According to its company history, the company has carried the name Cision since 2007, and its roots go back to 1892. According to the same page, Brandwatch belongs to the Cision group (“Cision acquires Brandwatch”). We cover Brandwatch with its own fact file in the Brandwatch fact check.
Under our methodology, we rate Cision in the monitoring pillar.
What can Cision do?
According to its media monitoring page, CisionOne monitors media in over 190 countries and 96 languages, and mention streams are unlimited.
| Area | What the sources document |
|---|---|
| Online | Online media, premium and trade titles, over 10,000 paywalled titles |
| documented, number of titles not given | |
| TV and radio | over 3,000 stations, clips shareable |
| Podcasts | over 60,000 podcasts |
| Social media | Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Reddit, Bluesky, millions of blogs and forums |
According to the help centre, you build searches with Boolean operators such as AND, OR, NOT and NEAR. An AI rates the sentiment, and you can override it yourself on a 5-point scale. Alerts arrive via the mobile app, email, Slack or Microsoft Teams. According to Cision, the AI-supported React Score is meant to detect critical content such as fake news, social media backlash or disinformation.
Scheduled email reports, share of voice, a REST API, SSO via SAML 2.0 with SCIM and an app for iOS and Android are documented. According to the help centre, the API delivers mentions and statistics per mention stream as JSON or CSV; there are no ready-made connectors to other tools. For results in reports, the help centre names an AI summary. The add-on product Trajaan Search Intelligence measures how large language models mention your brand.
What sets Cision apart as a media monitoring service?
Cision combines do-it-yourself software with press reviews and analyses as a service under the name Cision Insights.
- Press review: According to the Insights page, Cision creates individual press reviews to your editorial specifications, and you decide the frequency.
- Human selection: According to Cision, the Insights analyses combine human expertise and AI, for example media resonance, benchmark and C-level analyses or issue monitoring.
- Licence: The Insights page only speaks of summarising clippings in a way that keeps licence costs down. Cision currently names no licensing partner for Germany, Austria and Switzerland; an archived partner page lists PMG Presse-Monitor.
- Print DACH: Cision does not publish how many German-language print titles CisionOne covers.
- Austria and Switzerland: The DACH launch in 2024 is documented, but Cision does not explicitly name Austrian and Swiss sources.
According to the help centre, there are limits on print. Headlines and protected content of print results are restricted, and you should keep searches narrow because of licence costs. Online content in CisionOne only goes back to March 2022, and licensed UK print content is sometimes only retrievable for 28 to 30 days.
For you this means: before signing, clarify in writing whether Cision takes over the rights for internal distribution of your press review or whether you need your own contract with PMG in Germany.
Who is Cision for, and who is it not for?
Cision suits PR and communications teams who monitor international media in many languages and want to use monitoring, a journalist database and distribution from one platform. Larger organisations benefit from SSO, SCIM, roles and teams, which the help centre describes. If you also want to outsource press reviews or qualitative analyses, you will find them at Cision Insights. Relevant for crisis communication: the React Score flags potentially critical content, and alerts land directly in Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Cision is less suitable if you mainly need Austrian or Swiss regional media, because their coverage is not documented. If you are looking for a licensed press review for Germany with clearly arranged PMG handling, you also need to ask Cision. You will find a comparison with providers from the region on the page about media monitoring.
How much does Cision cost?
Cision does not publish prices; according to its “Request Pricing” page, you only get a quote after a demo or price request (as of October 2026). This applies to CisionOne, Cision Insights and Trajaan Search Intelligence.
Whether social listening, social media management and Trajaan are part of the CisionOne base contract or booked separately is not documented. Ask specifically about this in the quote. Because the help centre points to licence costs for additional searches in print, also have it explained how these costs affect your price and whether they are charged as a flat fee or per search.
Cision mentions no trial to test it yourself; a live demo is offered instead. A free plan is not documented. What is known is in the pricing table.
Data protection and DACH: servers, DPA, language
The security statement does not say where Cision stores the data; the data centres are only described there as geographically distributed. The data processing addendum governs transfers from the EEA, UK and Switzerland via standard contractual clauses. The parent company is based in the USA. We therefore list the data location as mixed.
There is a DPA: according to Cision, the data processing addendum to the master agreement is also available in German. According to the security statement, the data centres have a SOC 2 Type II audit; the page names no certification of Cision itself.
According to the GDPR FAQ, support in German is documented, with customer support from Cision Germany GmbH in Frankfurt, Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. According to the help centre, you choose the interface language in your account, but the article does not say whether German is included.
Our assessment
Under our methodology, Cision is a broadly positioned provider of international media monitoring that combines software and service. Well documented are its reach across countries, languages, broadcast and podcasts, Boolean search, SSO, API, app and a published DPA in German.
Against this stand missing prices, no trial, unclear licence handling for press reviews in Germany, unquantified sources from Austria and Switzerland, and online archives only back to March 2022.
Our position: for teams with an international media focus who need a journalist database, Cision belongs on the shortlist. If you mainly need press reviews from DACH print media, put providers with documented coverage and settled licensing next to it.
How the score is calculated
The score is not a hands-on test verdict. It counts which checkpoints of methodology v1.4 are documented with a source for Cision. “Not documented” means we found no evidence, not necessarily that the feature is missing. Read the methodology
| Criterion | Weight | Value | Documented / checkpoints |
|---|---|---|---|
| Source coverage | 20% | 9.1 / 10 | 6 / 7 |
| Analysis & sentiment | 15% | 5.0 / 10 | 3 / 6 |
| Alerts & search | 15% | 9.0 / 10 | 3 / 3 |
| Reporting & export | 10% | 7.5 / 10 | 2 / 3 |
| Data protection & GDPR | 15% | 6.9 / 10 | 3 / 4 |
| German language | 5% | 3.3 / 10 | 1 / 2 |
| Price transparency | 5% | 0.0 / 10 | 1 / 2 |
| AI connectivity & integrations | 15% | 5.0 / 10 | 2 / 3 |
Show all 30 checkpoints
| Criterion / checkpoint | Weight / points | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Source coverage | 20% | 9.1 / 10 |
| Social listening (mentions on social networks) | 3 of 3 | + yes |
| Online news | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| Blogs and forums | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| Print media | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| TV and radio | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| Podcasts | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| Review sites | 0 of 1 | ? not documented |
| Analysis & sentiment | 15% | 5.0 / 10 |
| Sentiment detection | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| Sentiment for German-language text | 0 of 2 | ? not documented |
| Image and logo recognition | 0 of 1 | ? not documented |
| Influencer identification | 0 of 1 | ? not documented |
| Historical data | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| AI summaries | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| Alerts & search | 15% | 9.0 / 10 |
| Real-time alerts | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| Boolean search queries | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| Monitoring of AI answers (ChatGPT & co.) | 0.5 of 1 | ½ add-on only |
| Reporting & export | 10% | 7.5 / 10 |
| Analytics and reports | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| PDF export | 0 of 1 | ? not documented |
| Scheduled reports | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| Data protection & GDPR | 15% | 6.9 / 10 |
| Data stored in the EU (mixed = half points) | 1.5 of 3 | ½ partly outside the EU |
| Data processing agreement (DPA) available | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| Provider based in the EU/EEA (country with EU adequacy decision = half points) | 2 of 2 | + yes |
| Security certification (e.g. ISO 27001, SOC 2) | 0 of 1 | ? not documented |
| German language | 5% | 3.3 / 10 |
| German-language interface | 0 of 2 | ? not documented |
| German-language support | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| Price transparency | 5% | 0.0 / 10 |
| Public pricing | 0 of 1 | − no |
| Free to try (trial or free plan) | 0 of 1 | ? not documented |
| AI connectivity & integrations | 15% | 5.0 / 10 |
| MCP server by the vendor (connects AI assistants) | 0 of 2 | ? not documented |
| API access | 1 of 1 | + yes |
| Native integrations documented | 1 of 1 | + yes |
Cision pricing and costs
| Plan | Price per month | Billing | Scope according to the vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| CisionOne | on request | on request | Media monitoring, analysis, journalist database, distribution, social listening |
| Cision Insights (press reviews, media analyses as a service) | on request | on request | Individual press reviews, media resonance, benchmark and C-level analyses, issue monitoring |
| Trajaan Search Intelligence | on request | on request | Search behaviour and LLM mentions |
No public prices; quote after demo or price request.. As of 13 October 2026, source: vendor pricing page. Prices can change; the vendor’s page is authoritative.
Supported networks
- X
- YouTube
- Bluesky
According to the vendor, as of 13 October 2026.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- Media monitoring in over 190 countries and 96 languages with unlimited mention streams. [Source]
- According to the vendor, over 3,000 TV and radio stations, over 60,000 podcasts and over 10,000 premium paywalled titles. [Source]
- AI-supported React Score detects potentially critical content such as fake news, social media backlash or disinformation. [Source]
- Besides the software, press reviews and qualitative media analyses as a service (Cision Insights) with AI and human expertise. [Source]
- Add-on product Trajaan Search Intelligence measures how large language models mention the brand in prompts. [Source]
Limitations
- No public prices, only demo and price request. [Source]
- Online content in CisionOne only goes back to March 2022; licensed UK print content sometimes only retrievable for 28 to 30 days. [Source]
- For print results, headlines and copyrighted content are restricted; searches should be kept narrow because of licence costs. [Source]
- The API only delivers monitoring data for existing mention streams, without ready-made connectors to other tools. [Source]
Who is Cision for?
According to the disclosed fit rules, Cision suits:
- PR & media monitoring
Cision user reviews on review platforms
User reviews do not count towards our score. They are shown here as additional information.
- OMR Reviews: 4 / 5 from 3 reviews (accessed 13 October 2026)
Cision alternatives
Brand24
Social listening and media monitoring tool that collects mentions from over 25 million online sources (social media, news, blogs, forums, videos, podcasts, reviews) and evaluates them with AI sentiment, topic and event analysis.
from $ 199/month
Hootsuite
Social media platform ("Hootsuite Social OS") with modules for planning and publishing (Perch), inbox and customer service (Nest), social listening (Lumen), AI assistant (Wisdom) and employee advocacy (Parliament).
from € 99/month
Sprinklr
Enterprise platform for unified customer experience management with the suites Sprinklr Social (publishing, engagement, advocacy), Sprinklr Insights (social listening, benchmarking, Visual and LLM Insights), Sprinklr Service and Sprinklr Marketing.
Price on request
Talkwalker
Platform for social listening, media monitoring, social benchmarking and customer feedback analytics; marketed as "Lumen by Talkwalker" since its acquisition by Hootsuite (2024).
Price on request
Questions about Cision
How much does Cision cost?
Cision gives no public prices; you only get a quote after a demo or price request (as of October 2026). This applies to the CisionOne platform, to press reviews and analyses from Cision Insights and to Trajaan Search Intelligence. Whether social listening is included in the base contract is not documented, so ask. For print results, the help centre points to licence costs for additional searches.
Is there a free trial of Cision?
Cision mentions no trial to test it yourself; a live demo is offered instead. A permanently free plan is not documented either. So plan for a demo with the sales team of Cision Germany GmbH during your selection, and have them show you the sources for your countries there, especially for Austria and Switzerland, which Cision does not quantify.
What is CisionOne?
CisionOne is Cision's AI-supported PR and communications platform with media monitoring across online, print, TV, radio, podcasts and social media, media analysis, a journalist database and social listening. According to PR Newswire, CisionOne has been available in the DACH region since 17.07.2024, sold through Cision Germany GmbH in Frankfurt. According to Cision, CisionOne covers over 190 countries and 96 languages.
Does Cision comply with the GDPR?
We give no legal assessment. Cision provides a data processing addendum as a DPA, also in German. Cision does not name the data storage location, and according to the DPA, transfers to the USA run via standard contractual clauses. According to the security statement, the data centres have a SOC 2 Type II audit. Check the DPA with your data protection team before signing.
Is Cision available in German?
According to the GDPR FAQ, customer support is available in German: Cision Germany GmbH in Frankfurt can be reached on a German phone number Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. According to the help centre, you choose the interface language via a dropdown in the account settings. No current vendor page documents whether German is included.
Where is the vendor of Cision based?
According to the legal notice, the contracting party in the DACH region is Cision Germany GmbH in Frankfurt am Main. According to a press release, the parent company is based in Chicago, USA. The company has carried the name Cision since 2007, when Bacon's Information and Observer AB were renamed; according to the vendor, its roots go back to 1892.
Which sources does Cision monitor?
According to the vendor, CisionOne monitors online media, print, TV, radio, podcasts and social media in over 190 countries and 96 languages. According to Cision, this includes over 3,000 TV and radio stations, over 60,000 podcasts and over 10,000 paywalled titles. Cision does not say how many print titles from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are included.
Does Cision have social listening?
Yes, according to the vendor CisionOne includes social listening for Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Reddit and Bluesky as well as millions of blogs and forums. You formulate searches in mention streams with the operators AND, OR, NOT, NEAR and brackets. Whether social listening is included in the base contract or booked separately is not documented in public sources.
Does Cision have sentiment analysis and alerts?
Yes, according to the help centre CisionOne rates results with an AI-generated sentiment that you can override manually on a 5-point scale. According to the vendor, the React Score detects potentially critical content such as fake news or social media backlash. Alerts arrive as push notifications in the app, by email, in Slack or in Microsoft Teams.
How far back does Cision data go?
According to the help centre, online content in CisionOne goes back to March 2022. Licensed print content from the UK is sometimes only retrievable for 28 to 30 days. For print results, headlines and protected content are restricted, and the help centre advises keeping searches narrow because of licence costs. CisionOne is therefore not enough for long look-backs before 2022.
Does Cision also create press reviews?
Yes, as a service from Cision Insights. According to the vendor, the team creates individual press reviews to your editorial specifications and at the frequency of your choice, plus media resonance, benchmark and C-level analyses. According to the Insights page, Cision summarises the clippings in a way that keeps licence costs down. Cision does not say who bears the press review licence for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Does Cision have an API and SSO?
Yes, according to the help centre CisionOne has a REST API that delivers mentions and statistics per mention stream as JSON or CSV. It does not provide ready-made connectors to other tools. Single sign-on runs via SAML 2.0, for example with Okta or Azure, including SCIM provisioning. There is a CisionOne app for iOS and Android.
Does Cision measure visibility in AI models?
Yes, with the add-on product Trajaan Search Intelligence. According to the vendor, it measures how large language models mention your brand across thousands of prompts, including sentiment and cited sources. Trajaan is a separate product with its own quote on request. Whether it can be included in the CisionOne contract is not documented in public sources.
Does Brandwatch belong to Cision?
Yes, according to the company history on cision.de Cision acquired Brandwatch, so Brandwatch belongs to the Cision group. Brandwatch has its own Brandwatch fact check on our site. Whether and how Brandwatch functions feed into CisionOne is not documented in our sources. We therefore list the two providers separately, because functions, prices and data locations each have their own evidence.
What are the alternatives to Cision?
Which alternative to Cision fits depends on whether you need to monitor international media or need a press review from German-language print media. For Austria and Switzerland, media monitoring services with documented coverage there are worth a look. Three alternatives under our methodology are listed further down, and the page on media monitoring gives an overview.
23 sources for this page in the source index · with access dates