Affordable PR for small businesses (and bigger ones)

On 18 October a café in an old dry cleaner's on York Street, north Denver, put a Hokkaido menu on. It's called Hot Shot. One of its two owners, Jeff Fierberg, is a food photographer whose pictures turn up in the Michelin Guide's Colorado coverage. Its press kit is on PressWhisper.

Noble & Wild's kit is there too. They're a brother and sister selling wild venison from the Highlands. Fausto, a 148-page cycling magazine from California, has one there as well. DeepReal, which I help run, was paying $15,000 a month for retained PR when it started using us.

People call PressWhisper a startup tool, and I can see why. I built it after agencies quoted my own startup silly money, so the first people through the door were founders like me. But PR for small businesses works exactly the same way. A journalist deciding whether to write about you wants a story and the facts to back it up.

Is PressWhisper only for startups?

No. It's PR for small businesses and bigger ones too: any business with a story a journalist would want, whether that's a sole trader or a firm that already pays an agency.

Everybody starts with the same thing, a press kit. Your story, the key facts, the people behind it, a few talking points, images and how to reach you. It goes live at your own PressWhisper address, it costs nothing, and journalists and AI search can both read it.

The story changes from business to business. Hot Shot's is about a photographer opening a café, so I sent its pitches to journalists who know Jeff's pictures, plus Denver's papers and TV news desks. Noble & Wild's kit spells out exactly where it delivers and what a box costs. When someone asked Perplexity where to get wild venison delivered inside the M25, that's what it quoted back.

vvast, a compliance software firm in Bristol, needed the business press its buyers read. Business News South West made it the top story 48 hours after the kit went out. Fausto skipped the cycling titles completely and went to people who write about print and design.

Every Sunday I build a press kit for a big brand that never asked for one, to see what we'd say about them. Patagonia, Vivobarefoot and Ben & Jerry's have all had one. It's the same builder I used for Hot Shot.

Most PR software has been priced for agencies and big comms teams. PressWhisper starts free. If you run several brands or shops, one £120-a-month Self Serve plan hosts up to 50 live press kits.

Is PressWhisper PR software or a PR agency?

Both, depending on the plan you pick.

Self Serve is software. You build the kit, the engine finds the journalists, and you send the pitches from your own dashboard. White Glove is the agency part without the retainer. We find the story, write the kit and pitch it, you approve everything, and you pay once. You can start on the free plan and decide later.

How big is PressWhisper's journalist database?

More than 100,000 journalists, across 15,982 publications in the UK and the US.

Each one was found on their own publication's website, and we keep what we found: name, job, what they cover and where. Coverage is sorted into 26 areas and nearly 200 topics. Motoring has its own topic, for instance, and outdoor sport has another. An email address gets checked before anyone can pitch it.

It goes a long way past the national papers. The latest journalists we've added write for a parenting magazine in north-east Ohio and a student magazine in Utah.

How does PressWhisper compare to Muck Rack and Cision?

Muck Rack and Cision cost more than six times as much as PressWhisper.

Prezly, a rival, puts Muck Rack at more than 250,000 contacts, and BuzzStream said in 2025 that 190,000 of Cision's contacts were journalists. On price, Vendr tracks what companies actually pay, and the median Muck Rack contract is $13,000 a year. Cision's median is $12,625.

We've got more than 100,000 journalists, all at UK and US publications. A business with one story needs the 20 or so who cover it, and 100,000 is plenty to find them.

Muck Rack's own site says it's built for PR teams, and it monitors 75,000 podcasts for mentions of your brand. Cision owns PR Newswire. If you need media monitoring or a wire service, that's what the $13,000 is for.

If you've got a story and want it in front of the journalists most likely to write it, you don't need either. PressWhisper matches your story to up to 20 journalists whose coverage fits it best and drafts a personal opening line for each one. You send from one dashboard and see who opens and replies. It costs £120 a month.

Why does PressWhisper cap pitches at 20 journalists?

Because journalists get enough irrelevant pitches already, and we'd rather yours wasn't one of them. We rank every match by how closely the journalist's coverage fits your story, and stop at 20.

Journalists notice when a pitch doesn't fit. In Muck Rack's 2026 survey of 897 journalists, 88% said they immediately disregard pitches that don't match what they cover. Cision's 2026 survey found most journalists get more than 50 pitches a week.

Muck Rack also asked PR people. Almost half, 49%, said they pitch more than 20 journalists per campaign, and 71% complained about low response rates. I'd bet they're the same people.

Muck Rack and Cision let you search journalists by what they cover. Ours does the searching for you and picks up to 20 who write about stories like yours.

When we pitched Against The Grain Spirits, the whisky business started by two Scotland rugby internationals, the first reply came back in 4 minutes 55 seconds. TheBusinessDesk Scotland ran the story. Fausto got six yeses in ten hours. We ran both of those through White Glove, so we wrote the pitches.

How much does a PR agency cost per month?

In the UK, an entry-level PR retainer runs £2,000 to £3,500 a month and a typical SME pays £3,000 to £8,000, according to Whito's 2026 benchmarks. In the US, Everything-PR estimates boutique PR firms at $3,500 to $10,000 a month.

When I needed press for AVRE, the jacket brand I started with the historian James Holland and the comedian Al Murray, agencies quoted £3,500 to £5,000 a month for six months. When I pushed them on what I'd actually get, it came down to an email list and an intern.

A year at the rates I was quoted is £42,000 to £60,000. A year of PressWhisper Self Serve is £1,440. One White Glove story, where we do all the work, is £2,000.

A year with a US boutique firm at Everything-PR's estimates is $42,000 to $120,000. A year of Muck Rack at Vendr's median is $13,000. Self Serve on the US site is $160 a month, so $1,920 a year.

Why is PressWhisper so much cheaper than a PR agency?

A lot of what an agency bills for is research, and software does most of that now.

Agencies charge for time becuase somebody has to read everything, keep a contact list up to date, work out who covers what and write the emails. Our engine does the reading and the matching, so you're not paying someone's day rate to do it.

The free plan builds and hosts your press kit, with 15 credits to write your profile and pitch and get them critiqued. You don't need a card.

Self Serve is £120 a month. That buys 100 credits, enough to match and send six pitches, each to up to 20 journalists. Credits count the engine's work: 1 for a critique, 5 to write a pitch for you and 15 to match and send one. Writing your own pitch costs nothing.

White Glove is £2,000 once, or £2,500 with a guarantee. If no journalist runs your story within 90 days of you approving the kit, you get the lot back within 14 days. We only take ten White Glove stories a month.

Our pricing is set to destroy the PR agency industry. Big talk from a man in Cornwall with a pink website. UK PR is worth £7.1bn to the economy, according to CBI Economics, and I'd like the businesses paying for it to keep more of their money.

Can a big company with a PR team use PressWhisper?

Yes, and it'll be the cheapest line in the PR budget.

DeepReal, which makes interactive video, had a retained agency at $15,000 a month. We pitched it through PressWhisper. Puck, the US news site, replied in two and a half days, and the interview's done. PressWhisper cost less than one day of that retainer.

A comms team can use PressWhisper for the stories the agency won't get out of bed for, like the regional angle or the founder's local paper. Or for every story, and keep the retainer money. Each kit is its own page, and Self Serve hosts up to 50.

Can a small business do its own PR?

Yes, if you've got a story. A press kit makes a good story easy to write about.

If your story isn't ready, we'll tell you. White Glove takes no payment until we've said yes to the story, and the kit builder scores what you write before a journalist ever sees it.

Does PressWhisper work for businesses in the US?

Yes. The database covers publications in the UK and the US, and the US site prices everything in dollars, with Self Serve at $160 a month. Hot Shot is in Denver and Fausto is in California.

The free plan is the same on both sites. Build your press kit here.

FAQ

Is PressWhisper only for startups?

No. PressWhisper is for any business with a story a journalist would want, from a single café to a company that already pays a PR agency. Everyone starts by building a free press kit. Self Serve hosts up to 50 live kits, so a business with several brands or sites can run them all from one plan.

How many journalists are in PressWhisper's database?

More than 100,000 journalists across 15,982 publications in the UK and the US. Each was found on their own publication's website, with what they cover and where, and email addresses are checked before anyone can pitch them.

Is PressWhisper a Muck Rack alternative?

Yes. Muck Rack is a media database and toolset built for PR teams, with a median contract of $13,000 a year on Vendr. PressWhisper builds your press kit, matches the story to up to 20 journalists and drafts a personal opening line for each, for £120 a month.

How much does Muck Rack cost?

Muck Rack doesn't publish its pricing. Vendr, which tracks what companies pay for software, puts the median Muck Rack contract at $13,000 a year, based on 80 purchases (February 2026). Cision's median on Vendr is $12,625.

How much does Cision cost?

Cision doesn't publish its prices either. Vendr puts the median Cision contract at $12,625 a year, based on 107 purchases, with deals running from about $3,150 to $30,368 (February 2026).

How much does a PR agency cost in the UK?

An entry-level UK PR agency retainer runs £2,000 to £3,500 a month, and a typical small business pays £3,000 to £8,000 (Whito, 2026). Agencies quoted PressWhisper's founder £3,500 to £5,000 a month for six months, which is why it exists.

What is a PR retainer?

A PR retainer is a monthly fee that buys an agency's time, usually with a minimum term. The quotes behind PressWhisper were for six months at £3,500 to £5,000 a month. PressWhisper has no retainer: Self Serve is a monthly plan and White Glove is paid once.

Are PR agencies worth it for a small business?

Only if you know what you're buying. An entry-level UK retainer costs at least £24,000 a year (Whito, 2026). Ask the agency which journalists it would pitch and what they've written lately. If it can't tell you, start with a free press kit and see who replies.

What do I get on PressWhisper's free plan?

You can build your organisation profile, get it critiqued, create talking points, find your hook and write a pitch, with 15 free credits. One live press kit is hosted free at your own PressWhisper address. You don't need a card.

How much is PressWhisper Self Serve?

£120 a month in the UK, or $160 in the US. It includes 100 credits a month, enough to match and send six pitches, each to up to 20 journalists, plus hosting for up to 50 live press kits.

What is PressWhisper White Glove?

White Glove is the done-for-you version. We find your story, write your press kit and pitch it to the journalists who cover it, and you approve everything. It's £2,000 once, or £2,500 with a guarantee: if no journalist runs it within 90 days of you approving the kit, you get a full refund within 14 days.

Does PressWhisper cover US journalists?

Yes. The database covers publications in both the UK and the US. On the US site, Self Serve is $160 a month.

Why does PressWhisper cap pitches at 20 journalists?

Because journalists get enough irrelevant pitches already. PressWhisper ranks every match by how closely the journalist's coverage fits your story and stops at 20. In Muck Rack's 2026 survey, 88% of journalists said they immediately disregard pitches that don't match what they cover.