Cision
Cision came first with 4.5 out of 5 and beat Roxhill on every part, including a 5 for compliance. It suits large comms teams that want global coverage, monitoring and distribution from one vendor.
We tested Roxhill for 7 days in October 2026 by looking up the same 100 journalists we use for every tool in our media databases group. We already knew the right email, phone and beat for each one. Roxhill scored 2.5 out of 5 overall and ranked fourth of the 7 tools we tested.
It found 63 of the 100 journalists. Of those, 39 had a valid email, 42 a valid phone number and 38 the right beat and outlet. Half the records we checked were 132 days old or more. That leaves it well behind Cision, which came first with 4.5 out of 5.
Roxhill suits UK PR agencies and in-house teams that pitch mostly British media. If you work across many countries, want monthly billing or want to see prices first, it's a weaker fit.
How we scored it
Roxhill scored 2.5 out of 5 overall. Compliance was its best part at 3.5 and value for money its weakest at 1.5. Each one was held back by a different gap in our results.
Data accuracy2.5
Coverage2.5
Ease of use2.0
Compliance3.5
Value for money1.5
Overall score: 2.5 / 5, the average of the five parts, rounded to the nearest half point.
- Data accuracy (2.5/5): Of the 63 journalists it found, only 39 had a valid email and 38 had the right beat and outlet.
- Coverage (2.5/5): It found 63 of our 100 known journalists, so more than a third of the people we looked for weren't there.
- Ease of use (2/5): Profiles and lists are simple to use, but with about four in ten beats or outlets wrong you'll spend a lot of time checking records.
- Compliance (3.5/5): It passed 5 of our 8 checks on data sources, opt-out and data policy, more than Agility PR Solutions or Muck Rack.
- Value for money (1.5/5): It's sold only on an annual fee with no public prices or monthly option, for contact results that were middling in our lineup.
Best of 2026
See the ranking →
The best media databases
Before you pick Roxhill, see how all 7 tools ranked in the same test.
Roxhill in plain terms
Roxhill is a journalist and media intelligence database for PR and comms teams. You search for journalists, read their profiles and save them to lists for pitching. Its strength is UK media.
Profiles go beyond a name and email. According to a third-party listing, they include contact details, a short bio, recent work, social feeds and each journalist's pitching preferences, so you can see how someone likes to be approached. Roxhill was founded by Alex Northcott, who earlier created Gorkana, and it's a supplier on the UK government's G-Cloud.
One thing to know before you search: the media database lives at roxhillmedia.com. Roxhill.com is a different company that makes web analytics testing software. Like the other tools in our PR and reputation section, Roxhill is a paid database meant to save you the work of finding contacts yourself.
What happens after you sign up
Roxhill keeps things simple, and using it comes down to three steps.
1. Search for journalists. Find journalists and read profiles with their bios, recent work and pitching preferences.
2. Build your lists. Save the contacts you want into lists, ready for your next pitch.
3. Monitor coverage. Monitoring is offered in the same pricing bands, so you can track what lands after you pitch.
What you get
Roxhill's features centre on the journalist profile. We couldn't read the official site in detail, so these come from the research we could confirm, partly from a third-party listing.
Journalist profiles
Each profile has contact details, a bio and the journalist's recent work, so you can check they still cover your topic.
Pitching preferences
Profiles note how journalists like to be pitched, which helps you avoid an approach that gets ignored.
Social feeds
You can see a journalist's social posts on their profile, which helps you spot what they're working on now.
Media lists
Save journalists into lists to organise outreach for each campaign or client.
Monitoring
Monitoring is grouped with the database in Roxhill's pricing bands, so you can buy both from one supplier.
Who gets the most out of Roxhill
Roxhill does its best work on UK media. Users say coverage outside the UK is thin, and it's sold only on yearly fees, so your market and budget decide whether it fits.
A good fit for
- UK PR agencies pitching national and trade press
- In-house teams focused on British media
- Teams that want journalists' pitching preferences
- Public sector buyers who use G-Cloud
Not a good fit for
- Global campaigns, especially in Australia
- Buyers who want monthly plans
- Buyers who want to see prices first
- Teams that need deep media monitoring
Roxhill vs Cision, Muck Rack and free lookups
Roxhill ranked fourth in our test. Cision came first with 4.5 out of 5 and is a global, bigger platform. Muck Rack tied with Roxhill at 2.5 out of 5 and ranked one place higher. None of them publishes prices. Our best media databases list explains the full ranking.
Free journalist lookups cost nothing, but you do all the checking yourself. Roxhill saves some of that work with pitching preferences and recent work on each profile, though in our test many records still needed fixing.
| Option | Price | How it compares |
|---|---|---|
| Roxhill | No public price | UK-focused journalist database sold on an annual fee. |
| Cision | No public price | Global PR suite with a large media database, monitoring and newswire. |
| Muck Rack | No public price | Verified journalist database with coverage tracking and AI search tools. |
| Free journalist lookups | Free | You search outlets and bylines yourself, with no checked contact data. |
How we tested Roxhill over 7 days
We tested Roxhill hands-on from October 24 to October 30, 2026, 7 days in all. Every media database gets the same job: look up a fixed list of 100 journalists where we already know the correct email, phone and beat. The full set-up is in how we test.
Roxhill found 63 of the 100 journalists. So more than a third of the people we wanted to pitch weren't in the database, and you'd need to find them another way.
Next we checked the 63 records against what we knew. 39 had a valid email and 42 a valid phone number, so only about six in ten could be reached by email. 38 had the right beat and outlet, which means about four in ten had something out of date or wrong.
Freshness was a weak spot too. The median record we checked was 132 days old, so half hadn't been updated in more than four months. On data sources, opt-out and data policy, Roxhill passed 5 of our 8 checks.
What stood out was the gap between its profile depth and its data. Pitching preferences and recent work are useful, but they don't help if the email bounces, and in our test 39 of 63 worked.
| What we measured | Result | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Journalists found out of our 100 | Found 63/100 journalists | More than a third of your list may be missing, so plan to find some contacts elsewhere. |
| Valid emails and phone numbers among journalists found | Valid emails 39/63; phones 42/63 | About six in ten emails worked, so expect a fair number of bounces. |
| Beats and outlets correct | Beat/company correct 38/63 | About four in ten records had the wrong beat or outlet, so check before you pitch. |
| Data sources, opt-out and privacy law checks | Source/opt-out/data-policy checks 5/8 | It covers some compliance basics, but misses several checks we expect. |
Roxhill gave us a usable but patchy list. It found 63 of our 100 journalists, only about six in ten of those had a working email, about four in ten had the wrong beat or outlet, and half the records were 132 days old or more. Its profiles are rich, but the contact data underneath needs checking before every campaign.
Tested October 24, 2026 to October 30, 2026.
The good and the bad from our test
Helpful profiles
Profiles show recent work, social feeds and pitching preferences. That helps you tailor a pitch to the 38 of 63 journalists whose beat and outlet were right in our test.
Phones did a little better than emails
42 of the 63 journalists it found had a valid phone number, against 39 with a valid email. If you pitch by phone, that's worth knowing.
Easy to start with
Users often mention easy set-up and finding new contacts as strengths, and that matched our time with it.
More than a third of our list was missing
Roxhill found 63 of our 100 journalists. If your campaign depends on specific reporters, you'll need another way to reach many of them.
Many contacts were out of date
Only 39 of the 63 journalists it found had a valid email and 38 had the right beat and outlet. Half the records were 132 days old or more.
Annual fee only
There are no monthly plans and no public prices. You'll commit to a year before you know whether the data suits your beats.
Pros
- Profiles include pitching preferences and recent work
- Built for UK media
- Phones held up slightly better than emails
- Easy set-up, according to users
- Available through the UK government's G-Cloud
Cons
- Found only 63 of our 100 journalists
- Only 39 of 63 journalists found had a valid email
- Median record age of 132 days
- Thin coverage outside the UK, users say
- Annual fee only, with no public prices
How much Roxhill costs
Roxhill doesn't publish prices. It charges a total annual fee in four bands, Core, Boutique, Enterprise and Premium, and there are no monthly plans. Prices are in GBP and quoted to suit your team, so you'll need to talk to Roxhill to get a figure.
Most small UK teams would start with Core and move up only if they need more. Ask exactly what each band includes, since we couldn't read the details on the official site. We checked pricing on November 3, 2026.
Core
Quote
total annual fee, in GBP
- Journalist database and lists
- No monthly option
Boutique
Quote
total annual fee, in GBP
- Journalist database and lists
- Billed yearly
Enterprise
Quote
total annual fee, in GBP
- Journalist database and lists
- Billed yearly
Premium
Quote
total annual fee, in GBP
- Journalist database and lists
- Billed yearly
There's no free plan, and we couldn't confirm whether Roxhill offers a free trial. Ask for one when you request a quote.
Roxhill doesn't publish refund or cancellation terms, so get them in writing before you sign up for a year.
Roxhill is listed as a supplier on the UK government's G-Cloud, which may make buying simpler for public sector teams.
Prices checked November 3, 2026. Prices can change, so check before you buy.
Is Roxhill safe and compliant to use?
Roxhill holds journalists' contact details, which count as personal data under UK GDPR. You're responsible for using them lawfully when you pitch. In our test Roxhill passed 5 of our 8 checks on data sources, opt-out and data policy, so don't assume it covers every requirement for you.
We couldn't find any security certifications, data retention terms or reported incidents in the research we could confirm. The official site didn't load fully for us, so ask for this paperwork if your company needs it.
The commercial risk is the annual fee. Users say coverage outside the UK is thin, so a team pitching abroad could pay for a year of data that doesn't suit it.
Test coverage in your target countries before you buy, since users say Roxhill is UK-centric.
What Roxhill users say
There isn't much user feedback to go on. On Capterra, Roxhill has 4.4 out of 5 from 14 reviews, and on G2 it has 3.3 out of 5 from just 2 reviews, both checked November 3, 2026 from search results.
People praise easy set-up and how it helps them discover new contacts. The main complaint is limited contacts outside the UK, with Australia mentioned in particular.
What users praise
- Easy setup
- Contact discovery
What users complain about
- Limited contacts outside the UK, especially Australia
That fits our test. Roxhill was easy to use, but it found 63 of our 100 journalists, and users who find gaps outside the UK suggest coverage may be thinner still for international lists.
Ratings checked November 3, 2026.
Roxhill alternatives worth a look
Roxhill ranked fourth of the 7 media databases we tested. Here's how the higher-placed tools and the next one down compared.
Agility PR Solutions
Agility PR Solutions ranked second with 3 out of 5, scoring higher than Roxhill on accuracy, coverage, ease of use and value. It suits mid-size teams that want hands-on support and billing in USD, CAD or GBP.
Muck Rack
Muck Rack tied with Roxhill at 2.5 out of 5 and ranked third. It suits PR teams that want AI search tools and coverage tracking beside the database.
Listen Notes
Listen Notes scored 2 out of 5 and is a podcast search engine, not a journalist database. It has a free plan and a Pro plan at $200 a month, and suits developers.
Meltwater
Meltwater scored 2 out of 5, below Roxhill on accuracy and coverage. It suits teams that need news and social monitoring more than a precise contact list.
2.5/5
Should you use Roxhill?
Roxhill is a fair choice for UK-focused PR, but not a strong one. It found 63 of our 100 journalists, only 39 of those had a valid email, 38 had the right beat and outlet, and half the records were 132 days old or more. That's why it scored 2.5 out of 5 and placed fourth of 7.
Its profiles are its best feature: pitching preferences and recent work help you write a better pitch. If you pitch mainly British media and are happy with a yearly fee, ask for a quote and test it on your own beats first. If you work internationally or want the most accurate data, Cision and Agility PR Solutions did better.
Roxhill suits UK teams pitching British media on a yearly budget; international teams and anyone wanting the most accurate contacts should look elsewhere.
Still deciding?
Compare media databases →
See how Roxhill compares
Every tool in our media databases test got the same jobs. Our ranking puts the results side by side.
Disagree with our review?
Make your case
If you use Roxhill, or work there, and think we got something wrong, email us. Tell us what you saw and attach screenshots if you have them. We'll take another look and update the review if it changes our findings.
review.now.team@gmail.com
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Frequently asked questions
How much does Roxhill cost?
Roxhill doesn't publish prices. It charges a total annual fee in GBP, in four bands: Core, Boutique, Enterprise and Premium. There are no monthly plans, and each band is quoted to suit your team. You'll need to contact Roxhill for a price. We checked its pricing on November 3, 2026.
How did you test Roxhill?
We looked up the same list of 100 journalists we use for every media database, where we already knew the correct email, phone and beat. Over 7 days we counted how many it found, checked emails and phones, checked beats and outlets, noted how old records were and ran 8 checks on data sources, opt-out and data policy.
Is Roxhill only for the UK?
Roxhill is strongest in the UK. It says it serves more than 11,000 PR professionals worldwide, but users report thin coverage outside the UK, with Australia mentioned in particular. If you pitch international media, ask to test its coverage in your target countries before you commit to a yearly fee.
Does Roxhill have a monthly plan?
No. Roxhill is sold only on a total annual fee, in Core, Boutique, Enterprise and Premium bands. That means you commit for a year. Ask about refund and cancellation terms before you sign, since they aren't published, and check whether a trial is available, which we couldn't confirm.
Is Roxhill the same as roxhill.com?
No. The Roxhill media database is at roxhillmedia.com and is run by Roxhill Media Limited. Roxhill.com belongs to a different company that makes web analytics testing software. Make sure you're on the right site when you look for pricing or a demo, so you don't end up talking to the wrong supplier.
Who founded Roxhill?
Roxhill was founded by Alex Northcott, who is also its chief executive. He earlier created Gorkana, another media database used by PR teams. That background shows in Roxhill's focus on journalist profiles, recent work and pitching preferences, which are meant to help you approach each journalist the right way.
Written by
Grace Sullivan
I've always been interested in how people connect and build communities online. When exploring a new service, I pay attention to usability, transparency, pricing, and whether its advertised features make sense in everyday situations.