Propel review

Propel calls itself the first CRM for PR, and its strength is pitch tracking. Pitches go out through native Gmail and Outlook plug-ins with real-time open tracking, every journalist record keeps the team's past correspondence, and a kanban-style Story Funnel shows where each pitch stands. The AI media database covers 500k+ journalists updated daily, with each journalist's preferred topics and pitching times, and Propel's own model drafts pitches and press releases. Monitoring spans online news, social networks and TV and radio stations, with unlimited alerts, share of voice and sentiment. ROI reports attribute campaigns to traffic, purchases and conversions and can be shared as live dashboards. Propel says it serves over 500 customers, including Microsoft, NPR and Real Chemistry. It publishes no prices, so expect a demo before a quote, and the site quotes different database sizes in different sections, which is worth clarifying during that demo.

Who it is for

Agencies that want a CRM-style pitch pipeline and ROI reports

Price

See vendor pricing (USD check pending).

US price check pending. See the vendor pricing page.

Key features

• AI-powered media database of 500k+ journalists, updated daily
• Pitching from native Gmail and Outlook plug-ins with real-time open tracking
• Kanban-style Story Funnel for tracking the status of each pitch
• Online, social and broadcast monitoring with unlimited alerts
• ROI reporting that attributes PR campaigns to traffic, purchases and conversions

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Stores all past team-wide correspondence with each journalist
• Strength: Shows each journalist's preferred topics and pitching times
• Strength: Over 500 customers, including Microsoft, NPR and Real Chemistry
• Weakness: No public prices; access starts with a demo
• Weakness: Database size claims differ across the site (500k+ journalists in one section, 1M in another)
• Weakness: Built around email plug-ins, so teams outside Gmail and Outlook lose part of the workflow

Key facts

• Journalists: 500k+ in the AI media database
• Customers: Over 500
• Email plug-ins: Gmail and Outlook
• Pricing: Demo and quote

Where it ranks

Propel is No. 5 in our Best PR Software verdict.