A press release costs between $29 and roughly $1,000, and that range is not a failure of research. It is the actual shape of the market. The same three page document, sent through six different distributors, will cost you $29, $120, $149, $399, $475 or $965 depending on which network you are buying and how many words you wrote.
That is the answer most cost articles never give you, because they quote one price per company and stop. The price per company is the least useful number available. What you actually need is the price per release once your real word count, your real image count and your real bundle expiry are in the arithmetic, and that number is frequently double the headline.
Everything below was pulled from each distributor’s own pricing page on 9 September 2026, and I have printed the URL next to every figure so you can check it yourself. Prices in this category move, and a large share of the press release cost articles ranking today are quoting numbers from 2023.
Affiliate disclosure. The eReleases and 24-7 Press Release links on this page are affiliate links and pay this site a commission if you buy through them. The links to PRWeb, EIN Presswire, Newswire.com, Business Wire and PR Newswire are plain links and pay us nothing. Worth saying clearly on a post like this one, because eReleases is the most expensive service here that publishes a price, and for a large number of readers the honest recommendation is one of the ones that pays us nothing. The Shopify, Bizee and Hiscox links in the closing section are affiliate links too and they pay this site.
Every wire priced, on one screen
Here is the whole category, sorted by entry price. Every figure comes from the linked pricing page and was checked on 9 September 2026.
| Service | Entry price | Cheapest per release | Underlying distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-7 Press Release Newswire | $29 per release | $29 | Website posting only at entry, PR Newswire national at the $479 tier |
| PRWeb | $120 per release | $120 | Cision, with PR Newswire powered syndication from the $245 tier |
| EIN Presswire | $149 per release | $66.60 on the 15 release bundle | Its own network, AP News, Nexstar, USA TODAY Network |
| eReleases | $399 per release | Not published, bulk rates start at 2 releases | National Cision PR Newswire |
| Newswire.com | $399 per release | $399 | Digital Journal at entry, AP News from the $659 tier |
| Business Wire | $475 starting price | Not published | Its own national and international circuits |
| PR Newswire | Not published | Not published | The national wire itself |
Two things should jump out of that table. The first is that the cheapest and the most expensive published entry prices differ by a factor of more than sixteen. The second is that the biggest name in the category, PR Newswire, does not publish a price at all, which tells you what tier of buyer it is built for.
What you are actually paying for, which is not a press release
Before the individual price lists, get the category straight, because almost everybody buys the wrong thing on the first purchase.
You are not paying anyone to write a press release, unless you buy a writing service as an add on. You are not paying for coverage. You are not paying for a journalist to read anything. You are paying for your document to be pushed onto a distribution network, where it will appear on some number of syndication sites, sit in some number of newsroom feeds, and be searchable.
The price differences across this category are almost entirely differences in which network. A $29 release goes onto the distributor’s own website. A $399 release on the national Cision circuit goes to the newsroom systems that a large share of American journalists actually have open. Those are not the same product at two prices, and treating them as interchangeable is how people conclude that press release distribution is a scam.
The other half of the price difference is word count, and that is where the published headline stops being the price you pay.
eReleases: $399 to $699, and the add on ladder above it
Verified at ereleases.com/pricing on 9 September 2026. Per release, not a subscription.
| Package | Price | Words | Industry target lists | Images |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eReleases Buzz Builder | $399 | 400 | 1 | 2 |
| eReleases Newsmaker | $499 | 500 | 2 | 2 |
| eReleases PR Pro | $699 | 600 | 3 | 2 |
All three include national distribution through Cision PR Newswire and WireWatch reporting. PR Pro adds the Cision Influencer List, which is a direct email send to journalists rather than a wire placement. eReleases prints a “PR Newswire value” beside each package, $1,145, $1,510 and $1,875 respectively, but those are the company’s own marketing comparison rather than an independent valuation, so do not put weight on them.
The add on ladder is the part that changes the answer to the question in the title of this post. Every one of these is priced per release.
| Add on | Price |
|---|---|
| Additional words, per 100 word block | $150 |
| Additional industry target list | $150 each |
| Local saturation | $150 |
| Cision Influencer List | $150 |
| Image embedding | $150 |
| YouTube video embedding | $200 |
| International distribution, per country | $150 |
| International distribution, global | $1,000 |
| Press release writing service | $300 |
Run an ordinary ecommerce launch release through that. Seven hundred words, because you have specifications and a founder quote, plus a short demo video. On Buzz Builder that is $399 base, plus $300 for three additional hundred word blocks, plus $200 for the video embed. Nine hundred dollars less one, or $899, for a release advertised at $399.
That is the single most important arithmetic in this category and it is why the answer to “how much does a press release cost” is never the number on the pricing page. I have gone through the full ladder with more worked examples in the eReleases pricing breakdown.
Two things pull the other way and both are real. First time customers save 30 percent, which takes a first Buzz Builder release to $279.30. And bulk pricing exists from two releases upward, although the rates are not published anywhere, so ask rather than assume.
The cheapest published route onto the national Cision circuit
eReleases Buzz Builder is $399 for 400 words, or $279.30 with the published 30 percent first time discount. Keep the release inside 400 words and no add on fires. Distribution buys placement on a wire, never coverage.
PRWeb: $120 to $480, no word counts published
Verified at prweb.com/pricing.html on 9 September 2026. Per news release.
| Package | Price | What it adds |
|---|---|---|
| PRWeb Basic | $120 | Unlimited media assets, editorial keyword tagging, 48 hour turnaround |
| PRWeb Standard | $245 | Adds syndication to a network of more than 1,200 websites powered by PR Newswire |
| PRWeb Advanced | $360 | Adds proofreading, email distribution to one industry curated journalist list, 24 hour turnaround |
| PRWeb Premium | $480 | Adds distribution to Sovrn’s content recommendation network |
PRWeb is a Cision property, which is why PR Newswire powered syndication appears on both its page and the eReleases page. The two products are not the same thing, and the difference matters: PRWeb sells syndication to a website network, eReleases sells the national circuit.
Two honest caveats on PRWeb, both of which cut against making a clean comparison. Word counts are not specified anywhere on that pricing page, so any article comparing PRWeb and eReleases on words per dollar is inventing a number. And no add on fees are listed on that page, which is not the same as saying there are none. Not listed means not listed.
I put the two Cision resellers head to head in the eReleases against PRWeb comparison, which is where the $399 against $120 question gets settled properly.
EIN Presswire: $149 down to $66.60, if the bundle does not expire on you
Verified at einpresswire.com/pricing on 9 September 2026.
| Plan | Price | Releases | Effective per release |
|---|---|---|---|
| EIN Presswire Basic | $149 | 1 | $149 |
| EIN Presswire Pro+ | $499 | 5 plus 1 free on a stated limited time offer | $83.17 with the promotion, $99.80 without |
| EIN Presswire Corporate | $999 | 15 | $66.60 |
That $66.60 is the cheapest genuine per release figure published by any serious distributor in this category, and it comes with a condition that has to be quoted every single time it is used. The plans are valid for 365 days from the date of purchase. If you buy fifteen releases and send nine, you did not pay $66.60 a release. You paid $111.
EIN Presswire describes its distribution identically across all three plans, naming AP News, Nexstar Media Group and the USA TODAY Network, plus major news sites, newswires, targeted journalists and editorial rooms, Bloomberg Terminals, MuckRack, Google News and search engines. That is a real network and it is not the national Cision PR Newswire circuit. Do not treat $66.60 as a like for like substitute for $399, because it is not the same product.
The full structural comparison, including how the expiry clause changes the maths, is in the eReleases against EIN Presswire post.
Newswire.com: $399 to $965, unlimited words
Verified at newswire.com/pricing on 9 September 2026. Per release, with no subscription or monthly plan shown on that page.
| Package | Price | Distribution named |
|---|---|---|
| Newswire.com Starter | $399 | Digital Journal, online news and media network |
| Newswire.com State Distribution | $599 | Regional news outlets, local television, state digital publications |
| Newswire.com Basic | $659 | AP News, Digital Journal |
| Newswire.com Feature | $965 | AP News, Yahoo, Nexstar and major outlets |
The structural difference here is worth its own line. Newswire.com states that its prices cover unlimited words and images. That makes it the only service in this comparison where a long release costs exactly the same as a short one, which flips the arithmetic against eReleases the moment your draft runs past 400 words.
The State Distribution tier is genuinely useful and rarely mentioned. If your news is regional, a $599 state targeted release reaches local television and state publications, which is a different and often better outcome than a national placement nobody local sees. The full comparison is in eReleases against Newswire.com, which prices the same 700 word release through both.
24-7 Press Release Newswire: $29 to $479
Verified at 24-7pressrelease.com/pricing on 9 September 2026. Six tiers, per release.
| Package | Price | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 24-7 Press Release Simple Post | $29 | Website posting only, no additional distribution |
| 24-7 Press Release Visibility Boost | $49 | Structured regional online distribution |
| 24-7 Press Release PR Network Plus | $89 | Expanded digital distribution for regional reach |
| 24-7 Press Release Integrated Media Pro | $139 | Digital and traditional media distribution |
| 24-7 Press Release Integrated Media Pro+ | $199 | Extends across United States and Canadian media networks |
| 24-7 Press Release Mass Media Visibility | $479 | PR Newswire national and extended digital distribution |
This is the widest published ladder in the category and the only one where you can genuinely test the mechanics for $29. Be clear about what that $29 buys, which is a posting on the distributor’s own site and nothing else. It is a citable, dated, indexable record of your announcement. It is not distribution in the sense that the $479 tier is distribution.
Word limits are not stated on that pricing page for any of the six packages, so I cannot tell you how long a release each tier allows and neither can anybody else who has only read the pricing page.
Business Wire and PR Newswire: where the published prices run out
The two largest names in the category behave differently from everyone above, and it is worth knowing why before you go hunting for their prices.
Business Wire publishes a starting price of $475 for 400 words on United States domestic local distribution, checked on 9 September 2026. That figure includes unlimited hyperlinks, a linked colour logo, rich text formatting, financial tables, analytics reporting and editorial review. Beyond that single starting figure, the page describes ongoing distribution as something you build a plan for, and directs you to ask about volume discounts. Those rates are not published.
PR Newswire publishes no price at all. The site offers a demo request and a send flow, and the actual cost is quoted. That is not evasiveness so much as a signal about who the product is for. If you are a store owner weighing $120 against $399, PR Newswire’s direct pricing is not the tier you are shopping in, and you would reach the same wire more cheaply through a reseller anyway.
Comparing $399 against $120 on the same page
eReleases runs $399, $499 and $699 per release with national Cision PR Newswire distribution on every tier, plus a 30 percent first time discount. Cheaper services in this post reach different networks, and none of them, including this one, can promise a journalist writes anything.
The four things that change your real price
If you take one thing from this post, take this list. These four variables move the number more than the choice of company does.
Word count. On eReleases, every hundred words past your package allowance is $150. On Newswire.com and, as far as its page states, on PRWeb, length is not priced. A 900 word release and a 350 word release cost the same at some distributors and differ by $750 at others. Write the release first, count the words, then shop.
Bundle expiry. Every attractive per release figure in this category comes from an annual bundle. EIN Presswire states 365 days from purchase. If you will not realistically send fifteen newsworthy announcements in a year, and most single store operations will not, the advertised per release price is fiction for you. Divide the bundle price by the number of releases you will honestly send, not by the number included.
Multimedia. A video embed is $200 on eReleases. Images are included in the eReleases packages but image embedding is also sold as a $150 add on, and the distinction is not obvious from the page. Newswire.com says images are unlimited. If your launch is visual, this line item alone can decide the winner.
Geography. International distribution is $150 per country or $1,000 global on eReleases. Regional targeting is a $599 package on Newswire.com and a $150 local saturation add on at eReleases. If you sell in one metro area or one country outside the United States, national distribution is the wrong purchase at any price.
What a press release cannot buy at any price
This section is why this post exists rather than just the table at the top.
No distributor on this page sells media coverage. Not the $29 one and not the $965 one. You are buying placement on a network. Whether a journalist opens it, cares and writes something is outside every contract in this category, and any service that implies otherwise is selling an outcome it does not control.
The same applies to search rankings. The syndicated copies of a release that appear across aggregator sites are generally not links that carry ranking weight, and buying distribution as a link building tactic is a poor use of $399. What you genuinely get is a dated, citable, searchable record of your announcement sitting in places that journalists, buyers, partners and due diligence processes look. For some businesses that alone justifies the cost. For a store selling its first product, it usually does not.
The honest recommendation for most small store owners is that the first release should not go on a wire at all. It should go, individually, to a short list of writers who cover your category, with a subject line written for them. That approach costs nothing but time and converts far better than a wire placement at any tier. I have laid out how to do that in the six week press coverage timeline for a product launch, and the wire only enters that plan at the end, if at all.
So what should you actually spend
Four situations cover almost everybody who reads a post like this.
You have never sent a release and you want to see the mechanics. Spend $29 with 24-7 Press Release. You get a live, indexed, dated release and you learn the submission flow without risking real money.
You have real news and one release to send. The choice is between $120 at PRWeb and $399 at eReleases, and it turns on whether you need the national Cision circuit or syndication is enough. With the 30 percent first time discount, eReleases at $279.30 narrows that gap considerably for a single purchase.
You will send releases regularly all year. EIN Presswire’s Corporate bundle at $999 for fifteen is the cheapest published per release rate available, provided you will genuinely use them inside the 365 day window. Ask eReleases for its bulk rate before you decide, because that rate is not published and may change the comparison.
You are announcing something a lawyer, an investor or a regulator will look at. Buy the national circuit and stop optimising. eReleases at $399 is the cheapest published route onto it. Business Wire at $475 starting is the other published option.
For a ranked view of the same services by what their distribution actually is rather than by price, the best press release distribution services breakdown goes distributor by distributor.
Running the business behind the store
Distribution money is only well spent if there is a margin behind it worth announcing. Our list of high ticket niches is where most store owners should start before they spend anything on press.
If the model itself is still new to you, the guide to what high ticket dropshipping actually is covers the margins and why they survive where thin margin dropshipping does not.
Having something worth announcing usually comes down to supplier relationships. Our step by step guide to finding high ticket suppliers covers sourcing, approval and terms.
Before your company name appears in a boilerplate paragraph, make sure the company is properly formed. Our guide to business formation for high ticket dropshipping covers entity choice and filings.
The stack behind most of the stores we work with is simple. Shopify runs the storefront. Bizee handles the LLC filing and the registered agent.
Once real orders are moving, Hiscox is the general liability cover most small stores settle on.
If you would rather skip the build entirely, we run a done for you high ticket dropshipping build and launch service.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a press release cost in 2026?
Published prices run from $29 per release at 24-7 Press Release Newswire to $965 per release at Newswire.com Feature, with Business Wire starting at $475 and PR Newswire not publishing a price at all. The most common real world spend for a small business is between $120 and $499 per release, and the true figure depends heavily on word count and add ons.
What is the cheapest press release distribution service?
By entry price, 24-7 Press Release Newswire at $29, though that tier is a posting on the distributor’s own site rather than network distribution. By effective per release price on a bundle, EIN Presswire at $66.60 on the fifteen release Corporate plan, provided you use all fifteen inside the 365 day validity window.
Why does eReleases cost $399 when PRWeb starts at $120?
Both are Cision related, but they sell different distribution. eReleases includes national Cision PR Newswire distribution on all three of its packages. PRWeb’s PR Newswire powered syndication reaches a network of more than 1,200 websites and starts at its $245 Standard tier. The extra money buys a different circuit, not a bigger version of the same one.
Do press release prices include the writing?
No, at every service on this page you are paying for distribution of a document you supply. eReleases sells a press release writing service as a $300 add on. The other services on this page do not list a writing fee on their pricing pages, which does not mean they do not offer one.
Are the cheap bundles really cheap?
Only if you use them. EIN Presswire states that releases may be issued within 365 days from the date of purchase. Buying fifteen releases at $999 and sending eight means you paid $124.88 a release, not $66.60. Divide by the number you will honestly send.
Will paying more get me media coverage?
No. Price buys circuit reach, not editorial attention. No distributor at any tier guarantees that a journalist reads your release or writes about your business, and every service on this page is selling placement rather than outcomes.
When the national circuit is what the announcement needs
$399 for 400 words, $499 for 500 and $699 for 600, all with national Cision PR Newswire distribution, and 30 percent off a first release. Bulk rates exist from two releases but are not published, so ask. Coverage is never guaranteed by any wire.
Related Articles
Best Press Release Distribution Services 2026: Ranked by What the Wire Actually Is
eReleases Pricing 2026: The Add On Ladder That Doubles the Headline
eReleases vs Newswire.com 2026: Two $399 Entry Prices, Two Different Circuits
eReleases Alternatives 2026: Same Wire, Very Different Prices
How to Write a Press Release for an Ecommerce Store That a Journalist Will Open
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
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