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Social Media · head to head

Khoros vs Muck Rack

Khoros logo

Khoros

Social Media

Enterprise social media management and branded community platform, now owned by IgniteTech

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Muck Rack logo

Muck Rack

News

The new standard in PR software

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Khoros igniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.; Muck Rack no specific prices published; all pricing is based on customized proposals based on team size and user count
  • They diverge on capability: Khoros covers Branded communities, Muck Rack covers Media database.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Khoros and Muck Rack actually diverge.

Attributes where Khoros and Muck Rack differ
AttributeKhorosMuck Rack
Pricing modelquotesubscription
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, Browser-extension
CategorySocial MediaNews
FoundedUnknown2009

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), 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 Khoros

  • Branded communities
  • Community gamification
  • Social publishing
  • Social customer care
  • Moderation tooling
  • Listening and analytics
  • Aurora and Iris AI
  • Knowledge deflection

Only in Muck Rack

  • Media database
  • Journalist profiles
  • Media monitoring
  • Pitching platform
  • Coverage reporting
  • Slack
  • Salesforce
  • Google Analytics

What people use each for

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

Khoros

  • A telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volumenot Muck Rack
  • A consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissionsnot Muck Rack
  • A games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing featuresnot Muck Rack
  • A bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same SLA framework as its email and chat queuesnot Muck Rack

Muck Rack

  • Finding and pitching journalists from a media databasenot Khoros
  • Monitoring coverage and measuring PR resultsnot Khoros

Where each one falls short

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

Khoros

  • IgniteTech, part of ESW Capital, acquired Khoros in May 2025 and around 116 staff were made redundant within weeks, and ESW has a documented pattern of running acquired software on minimal cost bases, so support responsiveness and roadmap delivery are legitimate contract-negotiation issues rather than theoretical risks.
  • Community migration is genuinely hard: moving years of threads, accepted solutions, member reputation and SEO-bearing URLs off Khoros later is a project measured in quarters, which makes the switching cost far higher than the annual licence suggests.
  • Pricing is not published and the platform is sold on annual enterprise contracts with substantial implementation and design services, so the first-year cost is materially higher than the recurring licence and hard to benchmark.
  • The publishing and listening side inherited from Spredfast has been outpaced by dedicated social suites, so social-first teams frequently find themselves keeping a second tool for scheduling and analytics and paying for overlapping capability.
  • The product is the result of merging two large codebases and has now changed private-equity owner twice, and reviewers consistently report that community administration and social management still feel like separate systems sharing a login rather than one product.
  • Khoros Community Classic is being sunset in favour of the new Aurora AI community platform, so existing customers face a forced migration of an already hard-to-move asset, on the acquirer timetable rather than their own.

Muck Rack

  • No specific prices published; all pricing is based on customized proposals based on team size and user count
  • Starter plan has limited features compared to Standard and Premier (no podcast monitoring or curation engine)
  • Sentiment analysis on Starter uses basic NLP, while Premier uses AI-powered analysis

Pricing, plan by plan

Khoros

On request
  • Khoros$undefined/year
    • Branded communities
    • Social publishing and governance
    • Social customer care queue

Muck Rack

On request
  • ProFree
    • Media database
    • Media monitoring
    • Pitching tools
  • EnterpriseFree
    • All Pro features
    • Team management
    • SSO integration

Which should you pick?

Choose Khoros if

  • You need branded communities.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want community gamification.
Khoros review

Choose Muck Rack if

  • You need media database.
  • You work on Web, Browser-extension.
  • You also want journalist profiles.
Muck Rack review

Questions people ask

Is Khoros or Muck Rack better?
Neither clearly leads. Khoros starts at On request and Muck Rack at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Khoros or Muck Rack?
Khoros starts at On request and Muck Rack at On request.
Does Khoros or Muck Rack run on more platforms?
Khoros runs on Web, iOS, Android, API. Muck Rack runs on Web, Browser-extension.
What is Khoros best used for?
Khoros is most often used for a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume, a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions, a games publisher running player forums where moderation load and volunteer moderator tooling matter more than publishing features, a bank that needs social service messages tracked against the same sla framework as its email and chat queues. Of those, a telecommunications operator that wants a public support community whose accepted answers measurably deflect contact centre volume and a consumer brand consolidating a dozen regional social accounts under one publishing approval workflow with regional role permissions are not what Muck Rack is typically brought in for.
What can Khoros do that Muck Rack cannot?
Khoros covers Branded communities, Community gamification, Social publishing, Social customer care. Muck Rack covers Media database, Journalist profiles, Media monitoring, Pitching platform.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Khoros: Who owns Khoros now?

IgniteTech, an ESW Capital company, acquired Khoros on 27 May 2025. Vista Equity Partners, which created Khoros by merging Lithium and Spredfast, is no longer the owner.

Muck Rack: How are Muck Rack plans priced?

Muck Rack pricing is not published. The platform offers three tiers (Starter, Standard, and Premier) with customized pricing that depends on several factors including team size and number of users. Interested customers must contact sales for a personalized quote.

Source
Khoros: Why does the website say khoros.ai?

The company moved its corporate domain from khoros.com to khoros.ai as part of an AI-first relaunch under IgniteTech, centred on its Aurora and Iris AI capabilities.

Muck Rack: What features does Muck Rack Standard plan include?

Muck Rack Standard includes media monitoring and alerts, podcast monitoring, AI visibility badges, AI journalist recommendations, full media list exports, and NLP-based sentiment analysis. It is marked as the most popular plan on their pricing page.

Source
Khoros: Is pricing published?

No. Khoros quotes privately on annual enterprise contracts, and implementation services are a significant separate cost.

Muck Rack: What is unique about Muck Rack Premier plan?

Muck Rack Premier is the highest tier and adds the Curation Engine and AI-powered sentiment analysis (versus basic NLP). It includes Muck Rack API access and is targeted at enterprises and advanced teams.

Source
Khoros: Should the ownership change affect my decision?

It should affect your contract. Ask for written roadmap commitments, named support staffing and exit or data-export terms before signing a multi-year community deal.

Muck Rack: What add-ons are available for Muck Rack?

Muck Rack offers multiple add-ons with pricing not specified: Print and Broadcast Monitoring, Social Listening, Press Release Distribution, Muck Rack API (Premier tier), Media Intelligence Services, and Generative Pulse.

Source
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