News · ranked shortlist
Best News software for Startups in 2026
20 approved news listings, ordered by published rating with the method stated below rather than assumed. Startups are buying for a headcount they do not have yet, which makes the second and third tier of each ladder more important than the first. Check what the price becomes at ten people.
- Tools ranked
- 20
- Entry price range
- $5-$1,000
- Publish a $0 plan
- 10 of 20
How this ranking is derived
The sort key
Published rating, highest first. Ties break on the number of ratings behind the score, then on product name so the order never depends on what the API happened to return first. That is the whole rule, there is no weighting, no score of our own, and nothing paid: no sponsored slot runs on these pages.
Where the ratings come from
No listing in this set carries a rating, so the order falls back to name. Those scores are aggregated from public sources rather than collected here, Softwr hosts no reviews of its own, which is also why no rating on this page is marked up as ours in structured data.
What the pool is
Approved news listings, capped at 20 per page; 20 came back for this one. It is not the whole market, and a tool being absent means we hold no record of it rather than that it failed a test. The unranked full set is on the news category page.
The ranking
Each entry lists why it sits where it sits, drawn from its own published rating and pricing.
- #1
Agility PR Solutions
Highest rated hereMedia intelligence that drives PR success
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- media monitoring, pr software, media database, analytics
- #2
Apple News
All the news you want. From sources you trust.
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $12.99 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $39.95.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- news app, apple, magazines, premium content
- #3
Arc Publishing
The enterprise publishing platform for news organizations
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- cms, publishing, Enterprise, paywall
- #4A
Artifact
AI-powered personalized news discovery
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- ai news, personalized news, news discovery, machine-learning
- #5
Beehiiv
The all-in-one platform for newsletter creators
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $43 a month.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $96 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- newsletter, monetization, creator-economy, email-marketing
- #6
Brightspot
The headless CMS for digital publishers and media companies
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- cms, headless, publishing, Enterprise
- #7
Business Wire
Global news distribution and regulatory disclosure
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $525 a month.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $1,525.
- Billing
- usage-based
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- press release, newswire, distribution, sec filing
- #8
Buttondown
The easiest way to start and grow your newsletter
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $9 a month, with no free plan.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- newsletter, email-marketing, publishing, markdown
- #9
Chartbeat
Real-time analytics for publishers
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $1,000 a month, with no free plan.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- publisher-analytics, real-time
- #10
Cision
The complete PR and earned media platform
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- pr software, media monitoring, press release, Enterprise
- #11
ConvertKit
The creator platform for digital professionals
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $33 a month.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $66.
- Billing
- freemium
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- email-marketing, creator-economy, automation, landing pages
- #12C
CrowdTangle
Social media insights and content monitoring platform
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Its top tier is unpriced and sold by quote.
- Billing
- quote
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- social-media, monitoring, analytics, viral content
- #13
EIN Presswire
Everyone's Internet News Presswire
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $49.95 a month, with no free plan.
- 3 published tiers, topping out at $249.95.
- Billing
- usage-based
- Published tiers
- 3 tiers
- Tags
- press release, distribution, budget friendly, smb
- #14
Feedbin
A fast, simple RSS reader focused on readability
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $5 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $50.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 2 tiers
- Tags
- rss reader, privacy, newsletters, minimalist
- #15
Feedly
Organize, read, and share content you care about
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Tags
- rss reader, news aggregator, content curation, AI-Powered
- #16
Flipboard
Your personal magazine for news and stories
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- news aggregator, magazine, content curation, social reading
- #17
Ghost
Modern publishing platform with content API and membership support
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $15 a month.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $199.
- Billing
- Model not published
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- publishing-platform, Open Source, content-api, membership
- #18
GlobeNewswire
Worldwide press release distribution network
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Publishes a $0 plan, with paid tiers from $350 a month.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $995.
- Billing
- usage-based
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- press release, newswire, distribution, affordable
- #19
Google News
Comprehensive news coverage powered by Google
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Free, no paid tier is published at all.
- Billing
- free
- Published tiers
- 1 tier
- Tags
- news app, google, AI-Powered, Free
- #20
Ghost CMS
Modern platform for professional publishing
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $18 a month, with no free plan.
- 4 published tiers, topping out at $199 plus a tier sold by quote.
- Billing
- subscription
- Published tiers
- 4 tiers
- Tags
- cms, publishing, newsletter, membership
What news software costs
Counted from the published pricing of the 20 listings on this page. A tool counts as free only where it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence or a starting price of zero.
- Cheapest paid plan
- $5Feedbin
- Median entry price
- $33across 11 priced
- Dearest entry price
- $1,000Chartbeat
- Publish a $0 plan
- 10of 20
Paid news plans in this set start anywhere from $5 a month for Feedbin to $1,000 for Chartbeat. The median entry price across the 11 tools that publish one is $33, half of them start below that figure and half above it.
Entry price is not the ceiling. The dearest published tier anywhere in this category is Business Wire's at $1,525 a month, 1.5× the highest entry price on the page. Read the top of each ladder as well as the bottom, because that is where you land after two years of growth.
10 of 20 publish a $0 plan, and 5 of those charge nothing at all. 6 tools have no free tier of any kind.
6 of 20 keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote, which in practice means the number you end up paying at the top end is not on this page or on theirs.
How these vendors bill
The billing model each of the 20 news listings publishes, counted. Two tools at the same headline price are not the same purchase if one of them charges per seat.
- subscription
- 5
- quote
- 4
- free
- 3
- usage-based
- 3
- freemium
- 2
Separately, 6 of 20 publish at least one tier with no price attached. Those are sold by quote, so the top of the ladder is negotiable, and unknowable, until you talk to sales.
What comes as standard, and what you pay extra for
Every capability named in a published pricing tier by any of the 19 news tools here that break their plans down, counted once per vendor. This measures what vendors choose to advertise as a selling point, not everything the software does, an absence below is silence, not a missing feature.
Named most often
- Advanced analytics , 4 of 19
- Priority support , 4 of 19
- API access , 2 of 19
- Basic analytics , 2 of 19
- Enhanced analytics , 2 of 19
Named by fewer
- Full wire coverage , 2 of 19
- International reach , 2 of 19
- National distribution , 2 of 19
- Online posting , 2 of 19
- Social listening , 2 of 19
Named by exactly one vendor: A/B testing, Campaign analytics, Email automations, surveys, advanced analytics, Industry targeting, Open-source Ghost CMS, Team collaboration. Those are differentiators rather than table stakes.
What “News” covers in practice
The subject tags that recur across these 20 listings, with the number of tools carrying each. A category label is a filing decision; this is the closer read of what is actually filed under it.
- Enterprise4
- press release4
- publishing4
- cms3
- distribution3
- email-marketing3
- newsletter3
- affordable2
- AI-Powered2
- analytics2
- automation2
- content curation2
Carried by a single tool: ai news, content-api, indie, magazines, monitoring, paywall, productivity, smb. If one of those is the reason you are here, the category page is the wrong lens, go straight to that product.
How to choose between them
Four things the numbers above should change about your shortlist.
Start with the free tiers if there are enough of them
10 of 20 news tools here publish a $0 plan, which is enough to run a real trial without a purchase order. A free tier is worth more than a free trial when you are evaluating: a trial expires on the vendor's schedule, a free plan expires when you outgrow it. The thing to check before you commit is which of the capabilities below sit above the free line, starting with advanced analytics, the single most frequently named capability in this category's published tiers.
Read the spread before you read the features
$5 to $1,000 is a $995 spread on entry price alone, and a spread that wide is never about polish, it is about who the vendor built for. Tools at the bottom of this ladder are priced for one person or a small team; tools near $1,000 are priced for a department with a procurement process. Decide which of those you are before you compare capability, or you will shortlist four tools that were never competing for the same buyer.
Check which tier you actually land on
8 of 20 tools here publish three or more tiers, and the median vendor in this category ships 2 of them. The advertised price is the first rung, and the things teams tend to need, advanced analytics, priority support, api access, are named in higher plans far more often than in entry ones. Price your shortlist at the tier that contains what you need, not at the tier on the pricing page's left edge.
The billing model matters more than the headline number
This category splits across 5 billing models: subscription on 5 listings, quote on 4, and 3 other arrangements across the rest. A per-user price and a flat subscription at the same headline figure are not the same purchase, the first one grows with headcount and the second does not. Multiply by your real team size before you compare two numbers side by side.
Compare news tools directly
Every pairing below is a full comparison: the same checklist applied to both, so a gap in one is a gap in the other.
- Agility PR Solutions vs Apple News
- Apple News vs Arc Publishing
- Arc Publishing vs Artifact
- Artifact vs Beehiiv
- Beehiiv vs Brightspot
- Brightspot vs Business Wire
- Business Wire vs Buttondown
- Buttondown vs Chartbeat
Go straight to the numbers
- Agility PR Solutionspricingalternatives
- Apple Newspricingalternatives
- Arc Publishingpricingalternatives
- Artifactpricingalternatives
- Beehiivpricingalternatives
- Brightspotpricingalternatives
Questions people ask about news software
Answered from the listings on this page, and nowhere else.
- How is this news ranking decided?
- Mechanically. The 20 approved news listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.
- Is this list re-ordered for startups?
- No, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. The catalogue records no data about which team sizes or roles each tool suits, so the ranking is the same published-rating order as the unsegmented list. What the startups framing changes is which of the figures below matter most. Startups are buying for a headcount they do not have yet, which makes the second and third tier of each ladder more important than the first. Check what the price becomes at ten people.
- How much does news software cost?
- Across the 20 news tools listed here, paid plans start between $5 and $1,000 a month, with a median entry price of $33. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $1,525 a month (Business Wire). 10 of 20 also publish a $0 plan.
- What is the cheapest news software?
- 5 of the 20 tools listed here cost nothing at all. Among the ones that charge, Feedbin has the lowest published entry price at $5 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.
- Is there free news software?
- Yes, 10 of 20 tools in this category publish a plan priced at $0. 5 of them are free outright, with no paid tier above. A tool is only counted as free here when it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence, or a starting price of zero, a free trial does not count.
- What features should news software have?
- Judging by what vendors put in their own published pricing tiers, the most frequently named capabilities in this category are advanced analytics (4 of 19 tools that publish plan detail), priority support (4) and api access (2). Treat those as the category baseline. Anything named by only one vendor, such as a/b testing or campaign analytics, is a differentiator rather than a standard, so it is worth deciding whether you need it before it narrows your shortlist to one.
- How is news software usually billed?
- subscription (5), quote (4), free (3), usage-based (3), plus 1 less common arrangements, counted across the 20 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not. 6 of 20 tools also keep at least one tier unpriced and sold by quote.
- What does news software actually cover?
- The 20 tools on this page do not describe themselves the same way. The subject tags they carry most often are enterprise (4), press release (4), publishing (4), cms (3), distribution (3). That spread is the honest answer to what the category means in practice: it is not one product shape, and two tools filed under news may overlap on very little.
- How many pricing tiers do news tools offer?
- 19 of 20 tools here publish a plan breakdown, and the median one has 2 tiers. 8 of 20 publish three or more. More tiers is not generosity, it usually means the capability you are buying for sits two rungs above the advertised price, so price your shortlist at the tier that contains it.
- How many news tools are listed on Softwr?
- 20 approved news listings appear on this page, including Agility PR Solutions, Apple News, Arc Publishing, Artifact. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/news, which ranks the same set by published rating.