Softwr

Marketing · head to head

Roxhill vs Swydo

Roxhill logo

Roxhill

Marketing

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Swydo logo

Swydo

Marketing

Automated client reporting for marketing agencies, priced per data source rather than per client

From
€69/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Swydo pricing by data source punishes agencies with many small clients: forty clients on two connections each costs more than the headline EUR 69 suggests, and the per-source rate only starts falling after ten sources.
  • They diverge on capability: Roxhill covers Journalist database, Swydo covers Multi-platform connectors.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Roxhill and Swydo actually diverge.

Attributes where Roxhill and Swydo differ
AttributeRoxhillSwydo
Starting priceOn request€69/month
Pricing modelquotePer month by data source count
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: 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 Roxhill

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

Only in Swydo

  • Multi-platform connectors
  • Report templates
  • Goal and budget tracking
  • White label delivery
  • Client portal
  • Scheduled distribution

What people use each for

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

Roxhill

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

Swydo

  • A performance agency with a dozen retainer clients that each need a branded monthly PDF without an analyst rebuilding itnot Roxhill
  • An in-house team reporting on paid search and paid social to a board that will not open a Looker Studio linknot Roxhill
  • An agency that wants unlimited internal users because juniors, account managers and the finance team all need accessnot Roxhill
  • Replacing a per-client reporting tool when the client roster is small but each client runs many channelsnot Roxhill

Where each one falls short

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

Swydo

  • Pricing by data source punishes agencies with many small clients: forty clients on two connections each costs more than the headline EUR 69 suggests, and the per-source rate only starts falling after ten sources.
  • There is no data warehouse or SQL layer, so any calculation the interface does not offer natively cannot be built, and complex attribution reporting has to happen elsewhere.
  • Historical data lives with the connection, so removing a departed client destroys the reporting history for that account unless it was exported first.
  • The connector list is around forty sources and skews to mainstream ad platforms, so agencies serving niche verticals with bespoke platforms will still need manual data entry or Google Sheets bridges.
  • Report design is template-driven rather than free-form, so agencies that sell on the polish of their deliverables often find they cannot match a designed InDesign or Canva output.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

Swydo

€69/month
  • Swydo$69/month
    • Ten data sources included
    • Unlimited clients, users, dashboards and reports
    • White labelling and custom sending domain

Which should you pick?

Choose Roxhill if

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

Choose Swydo if

  • You need multi-platform connectors.
  • You also want report templates.
Swydo review

Questions people ask

Is Roxhill or Swydo better?
Neither clearly leads. Roxhill starts at On request and Swydo at €69/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Roxhill or Swydo?
Roxhill starts at On request and Swydo at €69/month.
Does Roxhill or Swydo run on more platforms?
Roxhill runs on Web, iOS, Android. Swydo runs on Web.
What is Roxhill best used for?
Roxhill is most often used for a uk in-house press office that needs journalist contacts with current pitching preferences rather than a scraped byline list., an agency tracking forward features across uk trade and consumer titles to place clients into planned coverage months ahead., a communications team monitoring named spokespeople and measuring their share of voice against competitors in uk media., a uk public sector body procuring through g-cloud that needs eea-hosted media monitoring with a published framework price band.. Of those, a uk in-house press office that needs journalist contacts with current pitching preferences rather than a scraped byline list. and an agency tracking forward features across uk trade and consumer titles to place clients into planned coverage months ahead. are not what Swydo is typically brought in for.
What can Roxhill do that Swydo cannot?
Roxhill covers Journalist database, Journalist profiles, Media lists and distribution, Media requests and alerts. Swydo covers Multi-platform connectors, Report templates, Goal and budget tracking, White label delivery.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Swydo: Does Swydo charge per client?

No. Clients, users and reports are unlimited. You pay a base fee plus a per-data-source charge above ten sources.

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.

Swydo: What is a data source?

One authenticated connection to one platform for one account, so one client with Google Ads and GA4 is two sources.

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.

Swydo: Is there a free plan?

No, only a fourteen day trial. Billing starts at EUR 69 per month.

Roxhill: Can I buy monthly?

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

Swydo: Can clients log in themselves?

Yes, clients get live dashboard access at no extra seat cost.

Share

Related pages

More on Roxhill

More on Swydo

Keep looking

Other head to heads