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Marketing · head to head

CleverTap vs Roxhill

CleverTap logo

CleverTap

Marketing

Mobile-first engagement and retention analytics billed on monthly active users

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Roxhill logo

Roxhill

Marketing

UK-focused journalist database and media monitoring, founder-owned and annual only

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CleverTap the platform assumes the mobile app is the main surface, so teams whose lifecycle runs mostly through the browser or through long B2B email sequences pay for capability they will not use.; Roxhill the database is UK-centric by reviewers’ own account, with weak US, Australian and broader Asian journalist coverage, so any multi-market programme needs a second vendor and the single-vendor cost case disappears.
  • They diverge on capability: CleverTap covers Cross-channel journeys, Roxhill covers Journalist database.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CleverTap and Roxhill actually diverge.

Attributes where CleverTap and Roxhill differ
AttributeCleverTapRoxhill
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, REST APIWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Marketing).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in CleverTap

  • Cross-channel journeys
  • Product analytics
  • TesseractDB
  • Clever.AI
  • Experiments
  • Web and app personalisation

Only in Roxhill

  • Journalist database
  • Journalist profiles
  • Media lists and distribution
  • Media requests and alerts
  • Media monitoring
  • Bespoke newsletters
  • Historical search
  • Journalist Assistant

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

CleverTap

  • A consumer app with millions of installs but low monthly activity that does not want to pay for dormant profilesnot Roxhill
  • Reactivating lapsed users with push and WhatsApp sequences triggered by behaviour rather than by list membershipnot Roxhill
  • Running holdout tests to prove that lifecycle messaging causes retention rather than correlating with itnot Roxhill
  • Consolidating a separate analytics tool and a separate messaging tool into a single event pipelinenot Roxhill

Roxhill

  • A UK in-house press office that needs journalist contacts with current pitching preferences rather than a scraped byline list.not CleverTap
  • An agency tracking forward features across UK trade and consumer titles to place clients into planned coverage months ahead.not CleverTap
  • A communications team monitoring named spokespeople and measuring their share of voice against competitors in UK media.not CleverTap
  • A UK public sector body procuring through G-Cloud that needs EEA-hosted media monitoring with a published framework price band.not CleverTap

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

CleverTap

  • The platform assumes the mobile app is the main surface, so teams whose lifecycle runs mostly through the browser or through long B2B email sequences pay for capability they will not use.
  • Billing on monthly active users is cheaper for dormant-heavy bases but more expensive for products with high activity rates, and the definition of an active user is set in the contract rather than by you.
  • Event volume caps sit alongside the user caps, so a chatty instrumentation plan can trigger overage charges that are negotiated rather than published.
  • Deliverability support for email is thinner than at dedicated email providers, and teams sending high email volumes often keep a separate ESP for the largest campaigns.
  • Segmentation quality depends entirely on the event taxonomy, so without an owner who governs event naming the reports and segments diverge from reality within a couple of releases.

Roxhill

  • The database is UK-centric by reviewers’ own account, with weak US, Australian and broader Asian journalist coverage, so any multi-market programme needs a second vendor and the single-vendor cost case disappears.
  • Contact records go stale: reviewers report old email addresses and phone numbers, distribution bounces, and there is no self-serve verification step before you send.
  • At roughly 200,000 to 300,000 journalists it is far smaller than the million-plus figures Cision and Prowly claim, with repeated complaints about thin trade, academic and journal coverage.
  • Selling is annual only with no monthly plan and a trial functionally restricted to around two weeks, so you cannot genuinely pilot before a twelve-month commitment, which is a poor fit for project or retainer agency work.
  • Licence bands are 1, 3 and 5 seats, and extra logins, workspaces, smart folders, historical search, share of voice and the spokespeople platform are all chargeable add-ons, so a team of eight to fifteen pays well above any headline band.
  • Search behaviour is described as counter-intuitive and sometimes returns implausibly few results, which means a null result cannot be trusted and lists need manual cross-checking.
  • Monitoring accuracy takes time to settle after switching, so coverage is missed in the first weeks after a cutover, which is a real gap risk if you time the migration badly.

Pricing, plan by plan

CleverTap

On request
  • Essentials$undefined/year
    • Billed on monthly active users rather than stored profiles
    • Push, in-app and web messaging
    • Standard segmentation and analytics
  • Advanced$undefined/year
    • Adds email, SMS and WhatsApp channels
    • Journey orchestration and experiments
    • Higher event and MAU allowances
  • Cutting Edge$undefined/year
    • Full AI and personalisation modules
    • Extended data retention
    • Dedicated technical account management

Roxhill

On request
  • Core$undefined/year
    • 1 licence
    • Standard database access
    • Journalist Assistant
  • Boutique$undefined/year
    • 3 licences
    • Adds press release distribution
    • 3 workspaces, 6 smart folders, 10 spokespeople, 3 newsletters
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • 5 licences
    • 5 workspaces, 10 smart folders, 5 newsletters
    • Spokespeople platform
  • Premium$undefined/year
    • Everything in Enterprise
    • Insights analysis and bespoke reporting
    • Competitor share of voice

Which should you pick?

Choose CleverTap if

  • You need cross-channel journeys.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, REST API.
  • You also want product analytics.
CleverTap review

Choose Roxhill if

  • You need journalist database.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want journalist profiles.
Roxhill review

Questions people ask

Is CleverTap or Roxhill better?
Neither clearly leads. CleverTap starts at On request and Roxhill at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CleverTap or Roxhill?
CleverTap starts at On request and Roxhill at On request.
Does CleverTap or Roxhill run on more platforms?
CleverTap runs on Web, iOS, Android, REST API. Roxhill runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is CleverTap best used for?
CleverTap is most often used for a consumer app with millions of installs but low monthly activity that does not want to pay for dormant profiles, reactivating lapsed users with push and whatsapp sequences triggered by behaviour rather than by list membership, running holdout tests to prove that lifecycle messaging causes retention rather than correlating with it, consolidating a separate analytics tool and a separate messaging tool into a single event pipeline. Of those, a consumer app with millions of installs but low monthly activity that does not want to pay for dormant profiles and reactivating lapsed users with push and whatsapp sequences triggered by behaviour rather than by list membership are not what Roxhill is typically brought in for.
What can CleverTap do that Roxhill cannot?
CleverTap covers Cross-channel journeys, Product analytics, TesseractDB, Clever.AI. Roxhill covers Journalist database, Journalist profiles, Media lists and distribution, Media requests and alerts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CleverTap: Does CleverTap charge for users who stopped opening the app?

No. Billing is on monthly active users, so a dormant account stops counting without you deleting anything, which is the opposite of contact-based email pricing.

Roxhill: How much does Roxhill cost?

Not published on the vendor site, but the UK G-Cloud 14 listing discloses £6,450 to £25,000 per instance per year. Use that as your anchor.

CleverTap: Can it replace a product analytics tool?

For funnels, cohorts and retention it usually can. For exploratory analysis across many custom properties, teams tend to keep a warehouse copy and query it directly.

Roxhill: Is Roxhill owned by Cision or Access Intelligence?

No. Companies House shows a single individual holding over 75% of shares and no corporate PSC. It is founder-controlled and unfunded. Note the founder previously sold Gorkana to Cision, so ask for a change-of-control clause.

CleverTap: What happened to Leanplum customers?

CleverTap acquired Leanplum in 2022 and migrated customers onto its own platform, so Leanplum contracts are not a live option.

Roxhill: Is it usable for US or APAC media relations?

Not well. Reviewers describe US, Australian and Asian coverage as materially weaker than UK. Budget for a second database.

Roxhill: Can I buy monthly?

No. Contracts are annual, sales-gated, with a trial of around two weeks.

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