Critical Mention vs. PR.com

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Critical Mention
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Critical Mention headquartered in New York offers their eponymous media monitoring platform for public relations and crisis management.N/A
PR.com
Score 2.0 out of 10
N/A
PR.com is a press release distribution platform from the New York company of the same name.N/A
Pricing
Critical MentionPR.com
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Critical MentionPR.com
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Critical MentionPR.com
Considered Both Products
Critical Mention
Chose Critical Mention
We selected Critical Mention and are trapped in a contract with them we can't use. We ended up having to go with another software that does what we need. Grateful that the other company allowed a trial period to ensure that it did have the components we needed. At a …
Chose Critical Mention
It provides both free and premium and you can also add a portfolio, other media links, and website. It also verifies its members like popular apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram [do]. It increases your visibility on google search for free like I use it.
Chose Critical Mention
Critical Mention has an excellent TV coverage solution in the marketing or communication industry. More so, helps us identify or see the comments in most of the social sites mentions, and gives the allowance of positively responding to them. The integration with Google, for the …
Chose Critical Mention
TV Eyes seems to be the biggest competitor to Critical Mention, but we've found that it's just not quite as intuitive or simple to track specific media hits. We keep going back to Critical Mention year after year because it does the job we need it to do to track broadcast TV …
Chose Critical Mention
I am not one to bash a competition product, but I have used several other similar products from different vendors. It has mostly been a disaster. Poor customer service to poor software interface has led me to Critical Mention. It's the first time I have ever stayed with a …
Chose Critical Mention
TV Eyes will grab EVER SINGLE mention of your organization but their UI is clunky and the reporting and editing tool takes some practice.
Chose Critical Mention
I initially selected Critical Mention because of it's DIY, quick, easy, and intuitive monitoring platform which tracks the most TV outlets in the industry. I stay with Critical Mention because of its customer service.
Chose Critical Mention
We previously used a company called TV Eyes for our media monitoring. When a big event happened and their system was down, we were very disappointed. The disappointment was compounded by their reaction and customer service. They never offered to help fix it or offered an …
Chose Critical Mention
Both Cision and Meltwater are over price and undervalued in our opinion. They both cost more and provide less. If Critical Mention makes a few changes to their software and expands its online offer and social media tracking both of these software companies would be obsolete. …
Chose Critical Mention
I've used TV Eyes as well, a similar product.
Chose Critical Mention
I honestly do not know of any other alternatives to Critical Mention that I have personally used in a professional capacity. The only one that I am aware of is TYeye and from what I have heard about the platform from colleagues is that Critical Mention is a much better and …
Chose Critical Mention
Burrelles is confusing and outdated. Critical Mention works on the side of the account team and understands our needs better. I was able to share hundreds of outlets that I wanted to be included in my online search and Critical Mention added all of them in less than a day I was …
Chose Critical Mention
I've used TVEyes in the past. I like it because it's easier to point out national media hits with their search options. You can also search for key words in a given time period.
Chose Critical Mention
I haven't used any other products except for Critical Mention.
Chose Critical Mention
Critical Mention offers a different value than Radian6. Radian6 helped my client achieve the monitoring that they required, but it didn't capture the news segments like Critical Mention was able to.
Chose Critical Mention
Critical mention has a more extensive list and the customer service is great.
Chose Critical Mention
Before Critical Mention, I utilized VMS for similar projects and there is simply no comparison between the two platforms. While VMS reported similar results, it did not include the same post-production features as Critical Mention and the lack of self-service functionality was …
Chose Critical Mention
I did not select Critical Mention, it was what was made available to me by my employer. Although I like Critical Mention, I prefer Cision because I'm more familiar with it.
PR.com
Chose PR.com
I think PR.com offers a viable alternative to smaller businesses or nonprofit clients on a budget. When I tell some of those clients it will be hundreds - or even thousands - of dollars to distribute a press release on a service like Business Wire, I can feel them cringe. …
Chose PR.com
As a newswire Cision is great and certainly has its place in any marketing plan. But newswire services are not what most companies who are seeking content distribution to regularly attract and engage their best audience need.
Best Alternatives
Critical MentionPR.com
Small Businesses
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
Cision Communications Cloud
Cision Communications Cloud
Score 6.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Critical MentionPR.com
Likelihood to Recommend
1.6
(0 ratings)
2.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
10.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Critical MentionPR.com
Likelihood to Recommend
Critical Mention is excellent for media monitoring across platforms including TV, radio and online. It is easy to grab and tailor video clips and share. The reporting function makes creating thorough reports simple. Most importantly, the customers service is unparalleled. Any time I've ever had a question or challenge, it has been handled quickly. I would suggest that you make sure to take the time to thoroughly set up your searches to be sure you don't miss anything.
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I had very bad experience so I can never recommend to any of my clients
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Pros
  • Monitor media mentions and send alerts: it's great because I don't have to go in and search every day. I am set in the morning and afternoon with alerts.
  • Online media reports: it's great because it helps me create my own personal reports in a format that my clients love.
  • Customer service: our account team dedicated to us is amazing. There has never been a time that they let us down.
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  • com provides a cost-effective way to distribute press releases. It even has a free version.
  • Using PR.com to issue press releases helps them have more reach than they might otherwise. That way, they can be found when potential customers search for solutions online.
  • com is fairly easy to set up and use. Not a lot of technical knowledge is needed. And no need to provide any credit card info or anything unless you choose to pay for hyperlinks, for example.
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Cons
  • The media database was not as robust as our proprietary one, it contained a key journalist that had been dead for 3 years for example, others that retired or moved to other outlets. Its influencer list was dismal. Fortunately when I complained (which I did the first time I used it) they removed it from our subscription and did not charge us. They said we could add the updates or add our contacts - not sure why they thought someone would pay for a service and then give valuable information to the company that would then be shared with competitors. They removed it from our bill so that at least was positive.
  • It only tracks hashtags across social media accounts that have been added to its system. Right from the beginning, just by running a hashtag search on IG, we could see missing posts. They said we could add all those in batches or manually one at a time which was work we were hoping to avoid with this subscription. Basically, it becomes a service that prepares nice-looking reports, not one that monitors mentions on public accounts.
  • They should allow a trial demo period.
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  • Suggest offering administrators more control over when releases are distributed
  • Lower premium pricing for high frequency administrators
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Likelihood to Renew
I gave this a 5 only because I do not make the decisions to renew. When I used this at my previous company, I also recommended to the decision maker to renew this tool as it was a crucial piece to the overall client objective
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No answers on this topic
Usability
It's great for quickly looking up a specific clip, but this platform makes it difficult to select and accurately report on a high volume of clips
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Look, Critical Mention follows up on an or phone call immediately or in the AM the following business day. I have called them after hours and get a live person to work through any issues that may have come up. Support seems to be job one with Critical Mention.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
Critical Mention implementation was easy and fast. Their support and training were awesome.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
I am not one to bash a competition product, but I have used several other similar products from different vendors. It has mostly been a disaster. Poor customer service to poor software interface has led me to Critical Mention. It's the first time I have ever stayed with a product beyond one year. One company only ever reached out to me when it was time for a renewal despite repeated reach-outs on my part during the year.
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I think PR.com offers a viable alternative to smaller businesses or nonprofit clients on a budget. When I tell some of those clients it will be hundreds - or even thousands - of dollars to distribute a press release on a service like Business Wire, I can feel them cringe. PR.com offers a free option - and also offers very low-cost options to boost the distribution, include live hyperlinks and so on - if clients do have a little $ to spend on that, they can. But they can choose. The bigger services are really cost-prohibitive for the smaller businesses.
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Return on Investment
  • Every week the department I am a part does dozens of searches on Critical Mention. We use it as our primary search engine for all things broadcast.
  • One negative aspect is that we do not know where Critical Mention gets their audience viewing numbers from so we just have to take it as their word.
  • Another negative aspect is that we are limited on the amount of time that one clip can be so we have to share several clips of the same show with our clients.
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  • Immediate ROI - PR.com can't be beat for getting great content into the right hands
  • Easy for all on your marketing team to use - no "gator wrestling" to upload and distribute.
  • Metrics! PR.com has the greatest number of the right media types looking for great content of any
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ScreenShots