Press release distribution pricing: every published rate in one place (2026)

By Presswire · 20 October 2026

Most press release distribution pricing is not published. You fill in a form, you get a call, and you find out what it costs after you have identified yourself as a buyer. That is normal in this industry and it is why comparing providers is harder than it should be.

This page is the counterweight. It collects every distribution price a provider prints on its own website, states the date each one was read, and keeps those figures strictly separate from the numbers that circulate in third-party blog posts. If a price here is marked published, you can click through and see it. If it is marked reported, you cannot, and the difference matters when you are building a budget.

Prices are shown in USD first, with GBP and EUR alongside where a provider quotes them. Every figure was re-verified in October 2026, and each row shows the date it was read.

The published rates, side by side

These are the entry prices each provider prints publicly. They are not like-for-like — a financial newswire release and a direct-to-journalist send are different products — so read the notes column before comparing the numbers.

Presswire’s prices exclude VAT; any VAT is shown at checkout before you pay, as set out on the Presswire pricing page.

What “published” means here, and why it is the whole story

Of the three large American newswires, exactly one prints a number. Business Wire’s pricing page shows $475, described as the “Starting price for 400 words, U.S. domestic local distribution.” Everything above that — national circuits, international circuits, extra words, multimedia — is a quote request (checked October 20, 2026). GlobeNewswire publishes no rate card. PR Newswire’s two pricing addresses, prnewswire.com/pricing/ and prnewswire.com/account/pricing/, both returned a 404 on October 19, 2026; Prezly reports that the second carried starting prices until it was withdrawn (see below).

That asymmetry is worth sitting with. A buyer can establish the floor price of one provider’s smallest circuit in a single click, and cannot establish anything about the other two without reading a competitor’s blog post. Every “how much does a press release cost” article you will find is working around the same gap.

It also means the widely circulated figures for those two providers are inference, not disclosure. We keep them below, clearly labeled, because they are the best available evidence — but a number a company will not print is a number it can change.

Reported figures: useful, but not the provider’s own word

None of the figures in this section come from the provider. Each is attributed, and none should go into a budget without a quote.

One reported figure deserves to be singled out, because of who is reporting it. eReleases is a PR Newswire reseller partner, and its own pricing page states that “the Cision PR Newswire price list shows a range between $715-$865 for a local city/state distribution to more than $1500 for a national press release distribution, plus a $305 setup fee.” That is a commercial partner quoting the price list it sells against, which puts it in a different class from a marketing blog’s estimate. It is still not PR Newswire’s own published rate.

Note also where that quotation stops. The price list eReleases describes is for 500 words, so it is not directly comparable with Business Wire’s 400-word $475, and it does not match the starting prices Prezly recorded from PR Newswire’s own, now withdrawn, pricing page: $355 for a 400-word state release and $850 national. Two well-placed sources quoting different numbers for the same wire is the point: until PR Newswire prints a price again, nobody outside a quote can tell you which is current. Among the three large wires, the one live published price is the cheapest circuit of the provider willing to print it.

Add-ons are where the bill is decided

The headline rate is rarely the invoice. Across the providers that publish a full card, the same categories of surcharge recur, and word count is the most expensive of them.

eReleases prints its add-ons in full, and they are a fair model of how the American market bills:

A 700-word release on the $399 tier is therefore $399 plus three blocks of extra words at $150 each: $849. Two images are included, but embedding one in the body of the release is another $150, which takes it to $999 from a $399 headline. That is not a criticism of eReleases, which publishes all of it openly. It is how per-word wire pricing works, and it is the single most common reason a press release budget is wrong.

Pressat’s international add-ons follow the same shape at a smaller scale: from £49 for a single country, from £99 for a continent, from £199 for global coverage, on top of a PAYG submission from £110.

Presswire is structured the other way around. There are no word-count surcharges and no per-image fees; the distribution price is the distribution price. That is a deliberate choice rather than a discount, and it shows up as a difference at 700 words, not at 400.

The UK market, and one price you can check in a click

UK-published rates are more common than American ones. PR Fire publishes £95 +VAT for distribution and £600 +VAT for its UK Regional Newswire across 65 media sites. Pressat publishes PAYG from £110, a subscription from £290 a month for five releases, and a £880 bundle for ten.

The clearest single comparison available anywhere in this market involves the Press Association. PA Media’s own submission page states “Pricing £450 + VAT” for a direct single-release submission. The same release, on the same PA wire, is £175 +VAT through Presswire, which is an official PA partner and built its own XML upload into the wire. Both numbers are published by the companies charging them, which makes this the one comparison on this page that needs no interpretation at all.

PA is a partner, not a competitor, and the point is the routing rather than any criticism of PA’s own service.

Reading the table honestly

Three things are worth saying plainly, because a pricing page that does not say them is not much use.

Cheaper options exist and they are real. EIN Presswire at a published $149, PR Fire at a published £95 +VAT ($150) and Pressat from £110 are genuine services, and for some announcements they are the right choice. They are not the same product: PR Fire and Pressat both describe targeted distribution to journalists, while EIN Presswire’s packages lead with placement on news sites, aggregators and AP News. Check what each one sends and to whom, because at this end of the market the difference between being published and being read by a reporter is what you are paying for.

The expensive wires are expensive for a reason that may not apply to you. Business Wire, PR Newswire and GlobeNewswire grew up serving listed companies with simultaneous-disclosure obligations. If you have a regulatory requirement, that machinery is what you are paying for and the price is defensible. If you are announcing a funding round or a product, you are paying for compliance infrastructure you do not need.

Price per release is not price per outcome. A $149 release that reaches nobody who covers your sector is more expensive than a $250 release that reaches forty reporters who do. Nobody in this market can honestly promise coverage, this page included — but list quality and editorial review are the variables that move the odds, and they are what the middle of the price range buys.

Frequently asked questions

How much does press release distribution cost in 2026?

Published single-release prices run from $149 (EIN Presswire) and £95 +VAT (PR Fire, $150) up to $475 for Business Wire’s local U.S. circuit and £450 +VAT for a direct PA Media submission, with most mid-market direct-to-journalist distribution between $150 and $400 per release. National U.S. newswire distribution starts higher: Prezly reports $940 at Business Wire and $850 at PR Newswire for 400 words, and GlobeNewswire publishes no rate card.

Why do most newswires not publish prices?

Because pricing varies by circuit, word count and enhancements, and because quote-based selling lets a provider price each customer individually. Business Wire is the exception among the large American wires, and it publishes only its smallest circuit.

Which press release distribution service is cheapest?

Of the providers that publish rates, EIN Presswire ($149 for one release, or $66.60 a release in its 15-release package) and PR Fire (£95 +VAT, or $150) have the lowest published entry prices. Check whether a package sends your release to journalists or places it on news sites, because the cheapest option and the most effective one are not always the same choice.

Do longer press releases cost more?

On most American wires, substantially. eReleases charges $150 per extra block of 100 words, and Business Wire’s own page lists word count as a pricing factor. Presswire does not charge word-count surcharges, which is why the gap between providers widens as a release gets longer.

Are these prices exclusive of VAT?

Presswire’s are: prices exclude VAT, and any VAT is shown at checkout before you pay. PA Media quotes £450 + VAT, and PR Fire shows prices excluding 20% UK VAT for UK residents. Pressat does not state VAT treatment on its packages page. American providers quote in USD without VAT.

How current are these figures?

Each row carries the date it was read from the provider’s own site. EIN Presswire, eReleases, PA Media, PR Fire, Pressat and PR Newswire were re-checked on October 19, 2026; Business Wire and GlobeNewswire on October 20, 2026; Presswire’s own rates are those in force since October 7, 2026. This page is re-verified rather than replaced, so the URL stays stable as the numbers change.

Where to go next

If you are working out what a release should cost in the American market specifically, the US press release distribution cost breakdown works through a full example invoice. If you are still deciding what kind of distribution you need rather than what to pay for it, press release distribution services compared sorts the market into its three underlying models. For the large wires one at a time, see PR Newswire pricing, Business Wire pricing and GlobeNewswire pricing. If you are leaving PR Newswire, start with PR Newswire alternatives; to compare the two biggest US wires directly, see Business Wire vs PR Newswire.

Presswire’s own rates are published in full, in three currencies, with no word-count surcharges, on the pricing page.