Hey Press vs PRWeb in 2026: a discontinued journalist search tool vs pay-per-release wire distribution
Hey Press merged into JournoFinder and no longer sells software of its own. PRWeb is a 25-year-old, Cision-owned distribution service you pay for one release at a time, starting at $120.
Hey Press
PRWeb- Hey Press merged into JournoFinder and no longer sells a product under its own name; hey.press today functions mainly as a PR content and guides hub.
- PRWeb charges per release with no subscription, from $120 (Basic) to $480 (Premium), and account creation is free.
- PRWeb Standard tier and above distributes through the PR Newswire syndication network, reaching 1,200+ partner sites including MarketWatch and Factiva.
- Neither tool includes a journalist database in any meaningful sense today: PRWeb was never built with one, and Hey Press's original database now lives entirely under JournoFinder.
- PRWeb's industry journalist email distribution is locked to the $360 Advanced tier and above, and the list itself cannot be inspected or customized.
- Neither tool offers an API. PRWeb has none documented, and Hey Press's API status now depends entirely on JournoFinder's own platform.
Hey Press and PRWeb never really competed for the same job, and Hey Press folding into JournoFinder has only made the comparison more one-sided. PRWeb is a self-serve press release distribution service: no subscription, no journalist database, just reach, starting at $120 a release and running through the PR Newswire syndication network on its Standard tier and above. Hey Press was a journalist search tool for founders wanting to find contacts, not distribute a release, and today the hey.press domain is mostly a library of PR guides rather than active software. If your need is getting a release indexed and syndicated, PRWeb is the one you can actually buy right now. If you came looking for the original Hey Press journalist search, that product exists today under JournoFinder, not either of these two.
The tools at a glance
Hey Press
Journalist discovery tool for startups, now part of JournoFinder
Hey Press launched as a lean journalist search tool for startup founders, letting them search by topic or beat and get a list of relevant press contacts without paying for an enterprise media database. Over 1,000 PR professionals used it on that single premise.
The product merged into JournoFinder, and hey.press now identifies itself as part of that platform. The active search tool and its pricing structure sit under JournoFinder's domain, while hey.press itself hosts PR guides and comparison content, useful reading on topics like press release distribution and journalist outreach even without using the underlying product.
Set against PRWeb, a distribution service, the two were never solving the same problem even at Hey Press's peak. Hey Press helped you find who to pitch; PRWeb pushes a finished release out to a wire network. Today, one of them still does that job and one does not.
| Feature | See JournoFinder Via JournoFinder |
|---|---|
| Journalist search | Via JournoFinder |
| Contact database | Via JournoFinder |
| PR guides and resources | Free on hey.press |
PRWeb
Self-serve press release distribution to thousands of news outlets and search engines
PRWeb has run for more than 25 years on a simple model: you write a release, upload it, choose a tier, and it gets distributed to a network of news sites, aggregators, and search engines. Owned by Cision, it sits below PR Newswire in the same family, priced per release instead of by annual contract.
Standard tier and above ($245) runs distribution through the PR Newswire syndication network, reaching outlets like MarketWatch, Factiva, and Black Enterprise across more than 1,200 partner sites. Editorial keyword tagging is included on every tier, and Advanced ($360) and Premium ($480) add proofreading plus a blast to an industry-curated journalist email list, though you cannot see or customize who is on it.
There is no journalist database, no CRM, and no pitch tooling of any kind, and reporting after the fact is limited to view counts and syndication pickup totals. PRWeb sells reach on demand, not a relationship-building workflow, and for a company issuing a release a few times a year, that is exactly the trade worth making over a monthly subscription sitting idle most months.
| Feature | Basic $120/release | Standard $245/release | Advanced $360/release | Premium $480/release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PR Newswire syndication (1,200+ sites) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Industry journalist email distribution | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Editorial proofreading | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Journalist database | No | No | No | No |
| API access | No | No | No | No |
| Turnaround time | 48 hours | 48 hours | 24 hours | 24 hours |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | Hey Press | PRWeb |
|---|---|---|
| Standalone active product | No, merged into JournoFinder | Yes |
| Pricing model | N/A, via JournoFinder | Pay-per-release |
| Journalist database | No, now via JournoFinder | No |
| Wire syndication reach | No | Yes, 1,200+ sites (Standard tier and above) |
| Industry journalist email blast | No | Yes, Advanced tier and above |
| Editorial proofreading | No | Yes, Advanced tier and above |
| API access | Depends on JournoFinder | No |
| Free trial or free account | No public pricing on hey.press | Free account creation, no cost until you distribute |
| Starting price | Via JournoFinder | $120/release |
Which should you choose?
PRWebPRWebPRWebThis comparison resolves quickly because the two tools were never really aimed at the same job, and Hey Press's merger into JournoFinder removes what little overlap existed. PRWeb is a working, purchasable distribution service with 25 years of infrastructure behind it and a pricing model, pay per release, that suits companies who do not want a PR platform sitting on the books between announcements. Hey Press, evaluated as software, is not a live alternative to anything right now; its remaining value is the PR guides on hey.press, not a competing distribution or discovery product.
Bottom line
Use PRWeb if you need a press release distributed and indexed without committing to a monthly subscription, starting at $120 for the Basic tier. Treat hey.press as reading material rather than a product option, and go to JournoFinder directly if the original Hey Press journalist search is what you were actually looking for, since that functionality does not exist on the hey.press domain anymore.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hey Press a working alternative to PRWeb for distributing a press release?
Hey Press is not an alternative to PRWeb for distribution since it never offered press release distribution even before merging into JournoFinder; it was a journalist search tool, and today it does not operate as standalone software at all.
How much does PRWeb cost to distribute a single press release?
PRWeb starts at $120 for the Basic tier per release, with no subscription required, rising to $245 for Standard, which adds PR Newswire syndication, $360 for Advanced, and $480 for Premium, and account creation itself is free so you can draft and stage a release before deciding whether to pay.
Does PRWeb include any way to find or contact journalists directly?
PRWeb does not include a searchable journalist database; the closest it offers is an industry-curated email blast on the Advanced ($360) and Premium ($480) tiers, and you cannot see or customize who is actually on that list.
What happened to the original Hey Press journalist database?
The original Hey Press journalist database now operates entirely under JournoFinder after the two companies merged, so there is nothing left to search directly on hey.press beyond PR guides and comparison content.
Is PRWeb as good as PR Newswire for wire distribution?
PRWeb is the budget, self-serve tier of the Cision family rather than a full PR Newswire contract; its Standard tier and above does route through the PR Newswire syndication network and reaches 1,200+ partner sites, but it lacks the direct editorial relationships and premium wire placement that a dedicated PR Newswire contract includes.
Can I track which journalists picked up my release after using PRWeb?
PRWeb only reports view counts and syndication pickup totals after a release goes out; it does not identify which individual journalists or publications ran the story, so teams that need that level of attribution should pair it with a separate media monitoring tool.