Softwr

LMS · head to head

Degreed vs Meltwater

Degreed logo

Degreed

LMS

Learning experience platform that indexes skills and third-party content rather than hosting courses

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Meltwater logo

Meltwater

News

Media intelligence and social listening platform

From
$15000/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Degreed pricing is entirely quote-based with no public rate card, and third parties report annual floors around 25,000 USD and licence minimums as high as 150 seats, so a mid-sized organisation frequently cannot buy it at any sensible price.; Meltwater real-time accuracy issues reported, particularly for niche industries or non-English content
  • They diverge on capability: Degreed covers Content aggregation, Meltwater covers Media monitoring.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Degreed and Meltwater actually diverge.

Attributes where Degreed and Meltwater differ
AttributeDegreedMeltwater
Starting priceOn request$15000/year
Pricing modelquoteUnknown
CategoryLMSNews
FoundedUnknown2001

Identical on both: free tier (No), platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Degreed

  • Content aggregation
  • Skills framework
  • Pathways and plans
  • Skill gap analytics
  • Career mobility
  • Learning records
  • Academies
  • Integrations with content providers

Only in Meltwater

  • Media monitoring
  • Social listening
  • Influencer discovery
  • Sentiment analysis
  • Competitive intelligence
  • PR analytics
  • Report automation
  • Crisis monitoring

What people use each for

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

Degreed

  • A large enterprise that already spends heavily on Coursera and LinkedIn Learning and cannot tell which of it is used or usefulnot Meltwater
  • An organisation planning a workforce transition and needing a defensible view of which skills exist internally before it hires externallynot Meltwater
  • A company running compliance training in an LMS that wants a separate, voluntary development experience employees actually choose to opennot Meltwater
  • A group building internal mobility, matching people to open roles and stretch projects on evidenced skills rather than job titlesnot Meltwater

Meltwater

  • Media monitoringnot Degreed
  • Influencer researchnot Degreed
  • Brand trackingnot Degreed
  • Crisis managementnot Degreed

Where each one falls short

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

Degreed

  • Pricing is entirely quote-based with no public rate card, and third parties report annual floors around 25,000 USD and licence minimums as high as 150 seats, so a mid-sized organisation frequently cannot buy it at any sensible price.
  • Degreed is a layer, not a replacement: you keep paying for the learning management system that runs compliance training and for the content subscriptions it indexes, so the licence is a third line on top of two you already have.
  • The skills data leans heavily on employee self-assessment, and self-rated skill is a weak signal; if managers do not validate ratings consistently the workforce capability picture that justified the purchase is not reliable enough to make hiring or redeployment decisions on.
  • Adoption is voluntary in most deployments, so unless the organisation ties learning to something consequential, usage decays after the launch campaign and the platform becomes an expensive search box.
  • Integrations with content providers vary in depth: some surface full metadata and completion write-back while others index only titles, so the unified record of learning the business case assumed can be patchy in exactly the sources employees use most.

Meltwater

  • Real-time accuracy issues reported, particularly for niche industries or non-English content
  • Limited media contact database at 380,000-400,000 contacts compared to competitors like Cision
  • Cumbersome dashboard navigation and reporting interface requiring multi-step menu access for data exports
  • Annual contracts with limited ability to scale down; risky for businesses with fluctuating needs

Pricing, plan by plan

Degreed

On request
  • Degreed for Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Content aggregation across internal and third-party sources
    • Skills framework and gap analytics
    • Pathways, plans and academies
  • Degreed Free (individual)Free
    • Personal learning profile
    • Track learning from any source
    • For individuals rather than organisations

Meltwater

$15000/year
  • Essentials$15000/year
    • Core media monitoring
    • Brand mention tracking
    • Industry trend monitoring
  • Suite$25000/year
    • Media monitoring
    • Social listening
    • Cross-department analytics

Which should you pick?

Choose Degreed if

  • You need content aggregation.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want skills framework.
Degreed review

Choose Meltwater if

  • You need media monitoring.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want social listening.
Meltwater review

Questions people ask

Is Degreed or Meltwater better?
Neither clearly leads. Degreed starts at On request and Meltwater at $15000/year, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Degreed or Meltwater?
Degreed starts at On request and Meltwater at $15000/year.
Does Degreed or Meltwater run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, iOS, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
What is Degreed best used for?
Degreed is most often used for a large enterprise that already spends heavily on coursera and linkedin learning and cannot tell which of it is used or useful, an organisation planning a workforce transition and needing a defensible view of which skills exist internally before it hires externally, a company running compliance training in an lms that wants a separate, voluntary development experience employees actually choose to open, a group building internal mobility, matching people to open roles and stretch projects on evidenced skills rather than job titles. Of those, a large enterprise that already spends heavily on coursera and linkedin learning and cannot tell which of it is used or useful and an organisation planning a workforce transition and needing a defensible view of which skills exist internally before it hires externally are not what Meltwater is typically brought in for.
What can Degreed do that Meltwater cannot?
Degreed covers Content aggregation, Skills framework, Pathways and plans, Skill gap analytics. Meltwater covers Media monitoring, Social listening, Influencer discovery, Sentiment analysis.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Degreed: Does Degreed replace our LMS?

No. It is a discovery and skills layer over content. Compliance training, assignment and certification records generally stay in the LMS, and you pay for both.

Meltwater: How much does Meltwater cost?

Meltwater does not publish pricing; all quotes require a sales call and annual contract. Median annual cost is approximately $25,000, with mid-market PR teams typically paying $15,000-$40,000 depending on users, coverage volume, and features.

Source
Degreed: What does Degreed cost?

It is quote-only. Third-party reports put annual floors around 25,000 USD with licence minimums that can reach 150 seats.

Meltwater: What sources does Meltwater monitor?

Meltwater monitors 200M+ online publications, 400,000+ traditional media sources, 20,000+ podcasts, TV/radio across all 210 US DMAs, and social platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, WeChat, and Weibo.

Source
Degreed: Is the skills data trustworthy?

Only as far as your validation process is. It is built on self-assessment plus peer endorsement, so without manager validation it should not drive redeployment decisions.

Meltwater: What languages does Meltwater support?

Meltwater provides global multilingual support with consistent accuracy across 100+ languages for sentiment analysis and content classification.

Source
Degreed: Can individuals use it free?

Yes, Degreed offers a free personal profile for tracking your own learning, separate from the enterprise product.

Meltwater: Does Meltwater include journalist/media contact information?

Meltwater's media database includes approximately 380,000-400,000 contacts, smaller than competitors like Cision (1.1M). Media database and GenAI Lens are separate paid add-ons.

Source
Meltwater: Can I export Meltwater reports?

Yes, Meltwater generates custom dashboards and reports tailored to stakeholders. Mira AI assistant can generate summaries and insights from monitoring data.

Source
Share

Related pages

More on Degreed

More on Meltwater

Keep looking

Other head to heads