PR and media monitoring · September 2026 Edition
Muck Rack vs Meltwater
Eight of twelve models named Muck Rack first on the direct prompt; one named Meltwater. Both were named by all twelve models and Muck Rack carries 53 labels and Meltwater 56, so the shares are not directly comparable.
New York City, United States, founded 2009. Named in one category this edition.
By Meltwater Group, San Francisco, founded 2001. Named in four categories this edition.
First-choice share24%4%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate17%43%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#1#7A position in a field of 13; printed, not drawn.
Labels5356A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Muck Rack reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.Semrush AI PR Toolkit was named alongside these two in eight of the twelve direct answers. Muck Rack vs Semrush AI PR Toolkit · Muck Rack vs Awario · Muck Rack vs Brand24
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the PR and media monitoring page.
By framing
How many of the twelve models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Muck RackFirst choices, of twelve modelsMeltwater
Direct814 against Meltwater
Paraphrase302 against Muck Rack · 8 against Meltwater
Comparative26
Budget-constrained003 against Muck Rack · 4 against Meltwater
Scale-constrained11
Negative204 against Muck Rack · 8 against Meltwater
Bars are first choices, 0 to 12 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to twelve.
Across every category in the September 2026 Edition, Muck Rack and Meltwater were named in the same answer 117 times, of the 131 answers naming Muck Rack and the 208 naming Meltwater. In those answers Meltwater took the first choice twenty-three times and Muck Rack twenty-one.
Every model, every framing
The seventy-two answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Muck Rack and Meltwater stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | | |||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | | ||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | | |
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | |||
| Grok 4.1 Fast | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | | | |
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | | |||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | | ||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | |
Muck Rack Meltwater first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Muck Rack on the left and Meltwater on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Muck Rack and Meltwater stood in it.
Both were the first choice
1 of 12 modelsThe answer named them together, and the judge labeled each a first choice.Kimi K2Meltwater, Muck Rack alternatives: Brand24, Mention, Semrush AI PR Toolkit, Talkwalker
Muck Rack first, Meltwater an alternative
7 of 12 modelsMeltwater was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.Claude Haiku 4.5Muck Rack alternatives: Brand24, Cision, Meltwater, Mention
GPT-5.4 miniMuck Rack alternatives: CisionOne, Meltwater
Gemini 3.5 FlashMuck Rack alternatives: Meltwater, Propel PRM, Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Grok 4.1 FastMuck Rack alternatives: Agility PR Solutions, Brand24, Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Mistral SmallMuck Rack alternatives: Brand24, CisionOne, Onclusive, Semrush, Semrush AI PR Toolkit
DeepSeek V4 FlashMuck Rack alternatives: Agility PR Solutions, Meltwater, Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Qwen 3.7 FlashAgility PR Solutions, Muck Rack alternatives: Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Neither was the first choice, one was named
3 of 12 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Perplexity SonarSemrush AI PR Toolkit alternatives: Brand24, Cision, Meltwater
Llama 4 MaverickAgility PR Solutions alternatives: Muck Rack, Semrush
GLM 4.7 FlashXAgility PR Solutions alternatives: Muck Rack, Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Neither was named
1 of 12 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.MiniMax M2.5Agility PR Solutions, Brand24 alternatives: Critical Mention, Mention, Respona
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Muck Rack leads by four points.
Muck Rack4%#5 of 11Meltwater0%#11 of 11Mid-marketThe figures above
Muck Rack leads by twenty points.
Muck Rack24%#1 of 13Meltwater4%#7 of 13Enterprise
The order flips: Meltwater leads at enterprise.
Meltwater57%#1 of 9Muck Rack4%#4 of 9What the models said about Muck Rack
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Avoid: Enterprise platforms like Meltwater, Cision, or Muck Rack” Kimi K2 · budget prompt · hard negative
“Other options include Muck Rack, Meltwater, and Agility PR, but they are more expensive and may be more suitable for larger companies.” Llama 4 Maverick · paraphrase prompt · soft negative
“Its journalist database skews toward business, technology, and trade press, and it lacks strong competitor benchmarking.” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“Muck Rack is a media relations platform ... popular with mid-market agencies and in-house teams that prioritize media relations workflow efficiency” Claude Haiku 4.5 · direct prompt · first choice
“Widely considered the most modern and intuitive UI... Highly recommended if pitching and relationship management are your main goals.” Gemini 3.5 Flash · scale prompt · first choice
“identify Agility PR Solutions and Muck Rack as the two strongest contenders for the mid-market segment” Qwen 3.7 Flash · direct prompt · first choice
What the models said about Meltwater
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Meltwater is notorious for its aggressive auto-renewal clauses... they will legally lock you into another full year” Gemini 3.5 Flash · negative prompt · hard negative
“rely on opaque pricing, aggressive contract terms, and bundling to maximize revenue... avoid the all-in-one suites” Kimi K2 · negative prompt · hard negative
“Avoid Meltwater and Cision unless you have specific needs that outweigh their significant contract risks” Mistral Small · negative prompt · hard negative
“Enterprise PR + social in one place → Meltwater or Cision ... Standout Strength: Widest source coverage and best PR-social integration” DeepSeek V4 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Often considered the industry leader for pure media monitoring... Best archive of TV, Radio, and Print news.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Meltwater | Enterprise brands needing deep social listening | 300K+ news sources, AI-powered insights” GLM 4.7 FlashX · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Muck Rack vs Semrush AI PR ToolkitMuck Rack vs AwarioMuck Rack vs Brand24Muck Rack vs Agility PR SolutionsMuck Rack vs MentionSemrush AI PR Toolkit vs MeltwaterAwario vs MeltwaterBrand24 vs MeltwaterAgility PR Solutions vs MeltwaterMention vs MeltwaterAll twenty-one head-to-head pages and the full PR standing
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.