Softwr

News · head to head

Meltwater vs Onclusive

Meltwater logo

Meltwater

News

Media intelligence and social listening platform

From
$15000/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Onclusive logo

Onclusive

Marketing

Media monitoring, journalist database and PR measurement assembled from six acquired companies

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Meltwater real-time accuracy issues reported, particularly for niche industries or non-English content; Onclusive onclusive was assembled from at least six acquired companies inside about a year, and users still encounter different interfaces, inconsistent data definitions and separate support paths depending on which module they are in, so training and internal reporting are harder than a single-product vendor.
  • They diverge on capability: Meltwater covers Media monitoring, Onclusive covers Global media monitoring.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Meltwater and Onclusive actually diverge.

Attributes where Meltwater and Onclusive differ
AttributeMeltwaterOnclusive
Starting price$15000/yearOn request
Pricing modelUnknownquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android, API
CategoryNewsMarketing
Founded2001Unknown

Identical on both: 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 Meltwater

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

Only in Onclusive

  • Global media monitoring
  • Broadcast monitoring
  • Media contacts database
  • Newsroom and press office
  • Sentiment and tone analysis
  • Share of voice reporting
  • Crisis detection
  • AI brand visibility

Both cover

  • Social listening

What people use each for

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

Meltwater

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

Onclusive

  • A multinational communications team that needs print, broadcast and online coverage across twenty markets reported in one dashboard rather than through three regional vendorsnot Meltwater
  • A public affairs team that must evidence share of voice against named competitors for a quarterly board reportnot Meltwater
  • A PR agency running press office and media enquiry workflow for several client brands from one systemnot Meltwater
  • A corporate affairs function that needs early warning on a coverage spike outside its own time zone, with broadcast clips retrievable for legal reviewnot Meltwater

Where each one falls short

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

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

Onclusive

  • Onclusive was assembled from at least six acquired companies inside about a year, and users still encounter different interfaces, inconsistent data definitions and separate support paths depending on which module they are in, so training and internal reporting are harder than a single-product vendor.
  • Pricing is not published and is scoped by market coverage, source count and user seats, which makes competitive benchmarking difficult and means renewal increases are hard to challenge without a parallel quote from Cision or Meltwater.
  • Broadcast monitoring coverage is uneven by country, so a global contract can look complete on paper while a specific market you care about has thin local radio or regional television coverage; verify your priority markets by name before signing.
  • The company carries private-equity ownership and acquisition-related debt financing, which historically in this category has meant pressure on support headcount and above-inflation renewal pricing rather than product investment.
  • Automated sentiment classification on news copy remains error-prone, especially for irony, quoted criticism and industry jargon, so teams reporting sentiment to executives generally need a human review step that erodes the labour saving the tool was bought for.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Onclusive

On request
  • Onclusive$undefined/year
    • Global media monitoring
    • Broadcast and print coverage
    • Onclusive Social listening

Which should you pick?

Choose Meltwater if

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

Choose Onclusive if

  • You need global media monitoring.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, API.
  • You also want broadcast monitoring.
Onclusive review

Questions people ask

Is Meltwater or Onclusive better?
Neither clearly leads. Meltwater starts at $15000/year and Onclusive at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Meltwater or Onclusive?
Meltwater starts at $15000/year and Onclusive at On request.
Does Meltwater or Onclusive run on more platforms?
Meltwater runs on Web, iOS, Android. Onclusive runs on Web, iOS, Android, API.
What is Meltwater best used for?
Meltwater is most often used for media monitoring, influencer research, brand tracking, crisis management. Of those, media monitoring and influencer research are not what Onclusive is typically brought in for.
What can Meltwater do that Onclusive cannot?
Meltwater covers Media monitoring, Influencer discovery, Sentiment analysis, Competitive intelligence. Onclusive covers Global media monitoring, Broadcast monitoring, Media contacts database, Newsroom and press office. Both handle Social listening.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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
Onclusive: Is Onclusive one product or several?

Several. It was formed from Kantar Reputation Intelligence, PRgloo and the original Onclusive in January 2022, then absorbed Critical Mention and Digimind later that year, and the modules retain distinguishable lineages.

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
Onclusive: Who owns it?

Symphony Technology Group, a US private equity firm, with debt financing on the Critical Mention acquisition from Stellus Capital Management.

Meltwater: What languages does Meltwater support?

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

Source
Onclusive: What happened to Digimind?

Digimind was acquired in July 2022 and rebranded as Onclusive Social in October 2022. If social listening is your main requirement, that is the platform you are evaluating.

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
Onclusive: Does it publish pricing?

No. Contracts are annual and quoted according to markets monitored, sources covered and seat count.

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 Meltwater

More on Onclusive

Keep looking

Other head to heads