Is Medium or Cision better?

Neither clearly leads. Medium starts at Free and Cision at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Medium or Cision?

Medium has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Medium and On request for Cision.

Does Medium or Cision run on more platforms?

Medium runs on Web, Mobile. Cision runs on Web, Ios, Android.

Can I use Medium for free?

Yes. Medium has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cision starts at On request.

What is Medium best used for?

Medium is most often used for publishing articles without running your own blog, reading long-form writing across technology, culture and news, earning from writing through the medium partner program. Of those, publishing articles without running your own blog and reading long-form writing across technology, culture and news are not what Cision is typically brought in for.

What can Medium do that Cision cannot?

Medium covers Story publishing, Member program, Earning potential, Reading time estimates. Cision covers Media monitoring, PR Newswire distribution, Media database, Analytics & reporting. Both handle Web support.

News & Media · head to head

Medium vs Cision

Medium

News & Media

The best place to read and write stories on the internet

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Cision

News & Media

The complete PR and earned media platform

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Medium has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
They diverge on capability: Medium covers Story publishing, Cision covers Media monitoring.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Medium and Cision actually diverge.

Attributes where Medium and Cision differ
Attribute	Medium	Cision
Starting price	Free	On request
Pricing model	freemium	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	Web, Mobile	Web, Ios, Android
Founded	2012	1867

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (News & Media).

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 Medium

Story publishing
Member program
Earning potential
Reading time estimates
Clap reactions
Highlighting & annotations
Story recommendations
Following system

Only in Cision

Media monitoring
PR Newswire distribution
Media database
Analytics & reporting
Influencer identification
Salesforce
Google Analytics
Slack

Both cover

Web support

What people use each for

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

Medium

Publishing articles without running your own blognot Cision
Reading long-form writing across technology, culture and newsnot Cision
Earning from writing through the Medium Partner Programnot Cision

Cision

Press release distributionnot Medium
Media monitoringnot Medium
PR measurementnot Medium
Media outreachnot Medium
Crisis communicationsnot Medium

Where each one falls short

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

Medium

Unlimited access to stories requires a paid Medium membership
Audio versions of stories are a member-only feature
Earning money from writing requires joining the Medium Partner Program rather than being automatic
The iOS app requires iOS 17.0 or later

Cision

Nothing recorded yet. See the Cision review.

Pricing, plan by plan

Medium

Free

FreeFree
- Unlimited reading
- Publishing platform
- Story drafts
Medium Membership$5/month
- Unlimited access
- Exclusive stories
- Member earnings

Cision

On request

Cision Communications CloudFree
- Media monitoring
- Media database
- PR analytics
EnterpriseFree
- Full platform access
- PR Newswire distribution
- Custom integrations

Which should you pick?

Choose Medium if

You need story publishing.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Mobile.
You also want member program.

Medium review

Choose Cision if

You need media monitoring.
You work on Web, Ios, Android.
You also want pr newswire distribution.

Cision review

Questions people ask

Is Medium or Cision better?: Neither clearly leads. Medium starts at Free and Cision at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Medium or Cision?: Medium has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Medium and On request for Cision.
Does Medium or Cision run on more platforms?: Medium runs on Web, Mobile. Cision runs on Web, Ios, Android.
Can I use Medium for free?: Yes. Medium has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cision starts at On request.
What is Medium best used for?: Medium is most often used for publishing articles without running your own blog, reading long-form writing across technology, culture and news, earning from writing through the medium partner program. Of those, publishing articles without running your own blog and reading long-form writing across technology, culture and news are not what Cision is typically brought in for.
What can Medium do that Cision cannot?: Medium covers Story publishing, Member program, Earning potential, Reading time estimates. Cision covers Media monitoring, PR Newswire distribution, Media database, Analytics & reporting. Both handle Web support.

ShareX LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

Medium vs Cision

Medium

Cision

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Medium

Only in Cision

Both cover

What people use each for

Medium

Cision

Where each one falls short

Medium

Cision

Pricing, plan by plan

Medium

Cision

Which should you pick?

Choose Medium if

Choose Cision if

Questions people ask

Related pages

More on Medium

More on Cision

Keep looking

Other head to heads