Muck Rack Pricing: Plans, Contract Terms and What to Ask Sales

Muck Rack doesn’t publish prices. As of September 2026, its pricing page lists three plans (Starter, Standard and Premier), and every one says “Contact us.” Muck Rack says pricing “depends on a few factors specific to your team including the number of users,” and its published terms say annual subscriptions are billed in advance and are non-refundable for the period you’ve bought.

This guide covers what Muck Rack publishes about its plans and add-ons, what drives the cost of a proposal, the renewal and cancellation terms, what to ask sales, and the cheaper or free options. Everything about Muck Rack here comes from its own pricing page and terms of service, checked in September 2026. We don’t repeat third-party price estimates, because they can’t be checked against Muck Rack’s own pages. Pricing changes, so check Muck Rack’s site and your written proposal before you sign.

Muck Rack’s plans (as of September 2026)

Muck Rack is a PR platform built around its media database, pitching and coverage monitoring. Its pricing page shows three tiers, each with a short label and a “Contact us” button instead of a price:

Plan	Price	Muck Rack’s label
Starter	Contact us (not published)	“Basic access”
Standard	Contact us (not published)	“Most popular”
Premier	Contact us (not published)	“Most flexible”

Its FAQ adds that it offers “three plans for brand customers and three plans for agency customers,” so an agency and an in-house team asking for the same tier may get different proposals.

A few other points from the pricing FAQ are worth knowing before you call:

• There’s no free PR plan. Muck Rack says it “offers free tools exclusively for journalists,” but its PR platform “requires a paid subscription with custom pricing.”
• Journalists don’t pay. The FAQ says “journalists never pay to use Muck Rack.”
• No free trial is listed. The pricing page doesn’t mention a trial. The route in is a personalized demo, where “one of our product experts will walk you through Muck Rack’s features.”

So the honest answer to “how much does Muck Rack cost?” is that it depends on your proposal. Any single figure you see elsewhere isn’t coming from Muck Rack’s own pricing page.

What drives the cost of a Muck Rack quote

Muck Rack names two factors directly. Its FAQ says it “customizes proposals based on team-specific factors like user count and selected modules.” In practice, that points to four things you control:

• Number of users. This is the factor Muck Rack mentions first. Decide who genuinely needs a login and who only needs to see reports.
• Plan tier. Starter, Standard or Premier, and whether you’re buying as a brand or an agency.
• Add-ons. The pricing page lists these as extras: Print & Broadcast Monitoring, Social Listening, Press Release Distribution, Media Intelligence Services and Generative Pulse.
• API access. The Muck Rack API is listed as an add-on for Premier customers only, so needing it effectively sets your minimum tier.

The add-ons matter most for budgeting. If you need TV, radio or print coverage tracked, or social listening, those appear on the pricing page as add-ons rather than as part of a plan. A proposal that looks affordable without them can change once they’re included.

Contract, renewal and cancellation terms

Muck Rack’s pricing page doesn’t state a contract length. Its terms of service (effective March 12, 2025) cover billing, renewal and refunds for paid subscriptions. Your order form or signed agreement may differ, so read both.

Item	What the terms say	Why it matters
Billing	Subscriptions “are billed in advance on an annual basis”	Budget for the full year upfront
Refunds	Fees are “non-refundable for the subscription period they are purchased for,” with no refunds or credits for partial years, mid-cycle downgrades or unused time	You can’t get money back for leaving early
Renewal	Paid subscriptions auto-renew	Doing nothing means another term
How to cancel	Email the cancellation request to your Customer Success Manager	Keep a written record of the email and the reply
Canceling a one-year term	The cancellation takes effect immediately and the subscription won’t renew; no refund for the billing cycle in which you cancel	Time a cancellation carefully, since access and money are both affected
Multi-year deals	Can be canceled mid-term, but “all fees for the full multi-year contract term remain due and owing”	A multi-year discount commits you to every year
Price changes	Communicated in advance and take effect at the start of the next subscription period	Your renewal price can differ from year one
Late payment	Late fees of the lesser of 4% a month or the maximum lawful rate	Pay invoices on time

How to get a Muck Rack quote, and what to ask

1. List the jobs you need done. Building media lists and pitching, monitoring online coverage, tracking TV and radio, listening on social, distributing releases. Each maps to a plan feature or an add-on.
2. Count your users. Muck Rack names user count as a pricing factor, so arrive with a number.
3. Book the demo. Muck Rack’s route to a price is a personalized demo and a customized proposal. There’s no self-serve checkout.
4. Ask for these in writing:
   • Which plan tier, and is it priced as a brand or an agency account?
   • How many users are included, and what does each extra user cost?
   • Which add-ons are in the price: print and broadcast monitoring, social listening, press release distribution, Generative Pulse?
   • What’s the term length, and does it auto-renew?
   • How and by when do I give notice not to renew, and will I keep access until the term ends?
   • What will the renewal price be, and can it be capped in the order form?
   • If I sign a multi-year deal, what happens if our needs shrink?
5. Get a second proposal. Compare Muck Rack with at least one other PR suite. Our media monitoring tools comparison is a good starting list.

A worked example: a small agency builds its true cost

This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client.

A four-person PR agency wants a journalist database for pitching and wants to prove results to clients, including a regional TV segment each quarter. Before signing, the founder:

1. Asks for an agency proposal, not a brand one, since Muck Rack prices the two separately.
2. Asks whether all four staff need seats, or whether two logins plus shared reports would do.
3. Asks for Print & Broadcast Monitoring to be priced as its own line, so she can see what TV tracking adds.
4. Asks for the renewal price and the non-renewal process in the order form, since fees are paid annually in advance and aren’t refundable.

With seats, add-ons and renewal terms on one page, she can compare Muck Rack fairly against a second vendor, or decide that free tools cover the monitoring part and only the database is worth paying for.

Cheaper and free options

Prices below come from each company’s own site as of September 2026. Check current pricing before you buy.

Option	Price as of September 2026	What it covers
Our free platform (123 Reputation Management)	Free	Your page-one search results, plus review and mention alerts
Google Alerts	Free	New web pages, news and blogs matching your terms
Brand24	From $199 a month billed annually ($249 monthly); 14-day free trial, no credit card	Online mentions across social, news and more
Cision	Pricing on request	CisionOne packages for journalist outreach, media monitoring and social
Meltwater	Pricing on request (“Contact Sales”)	Media intelligence, social listening, AI visibility tracking and media relations

Our free platform

This one is ours, so weigh that. Our free platform tags every page-one result for your name as positive, neutral or negative; watches for new reviews and mentions and alerts you when one needs a reply; tracks every result as owned pages climb and old ones slip; and reports back every month in plain English. It doesn’t include a journalist database, pitching tools, press release distribution or TV and radio monitoring, so it isn’t a Muck Rack replacement for a PR team. It’s useful if your real concern is what people find when they search for you or your company. Start with a free reputation audit, or see our reputation monitoring service if you’d rather have someone watch it for you.

Other options

Google Alerts is free and good enough for basic news tracking; our guide to Google Alerts for business shows how to set it up well. Brand24 publishes its prices, from $199 to $599 a month billed annually, which makes budgeting simpler. Cision and Meltwater are the PR suites most often compared with Muck Rack, and both are quote-based too: see our guides to Cision pricing and Meltwater pricing. If you mainly need a media list, our guide on how to build a media list shows how to do it by hand.

Common mistakes when buying Muck Rack

• Assuming monitoring is included. Print and broadcast monitoring and social listening appear as add-ons on the pricing page. Confirm what’s in your plan.
• Buying seats for everyone. User count drives the price. Not everyone who reads a coverage report needs a login.
• Signing multi-year for a discount you can’t use. The terms say multi-year fees stay due in full even if you cancel mid-term.
• Leaving renewal to chance. Subscriptions auto-renew and price changes apply from the next period. Get the renewal price and notice process in writing.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Muck Rack cost?

Muck Rack doesn’t publish prices. As of September 2026, its Starter, Standard and Premier plans all say “Contact us,” and it says pricing depends on factors such as the number of users and the modules you choose.

Does Muck Rack have a free trial?

Its pricing page doesn’t mention one. The route in is a personalized demo followed by a custom proposal. Muck Rack’s free tools are for journalists only; the PR platform needs a paid subscription.

Can I cancel Muck Rack and get a refund?

Its terms of service say annual subscriptions are billed in advance and are non-refundable for the period purchased, with no refunds for partial years or downgrades. You cancel an auto-renewing subscription by emailing your Customer Success Manager.

Is Muck Rack free for journalists?

Yes. Muck Rack says “journalists never pay to use Muck Rack,” and it offers free tools for journalists, including profile creation and verification.

What are Muck Rack's add-ons?

As of September 2026 its pricing page lists Print & Broadcast Monitoring, Social Listening, Press Release Distribution, Media Intelligence Services and Generative Pulse, plus the Muck Rack API for Premier customers only.