Staff time or software in a Dutch press desk budget in 2026

Written by Thijs Bakker · Revised 2 September 2026 · 8 min read

What does a Dutch press desk actually spend money on in 2026?

A press desk in the Netherlands has two big cost types: staff time and software. Staff time covers building a journalist database, keeping it up to date, sending press releases one by one, and managing incoming press questions. Software covers a tool that does part of that work for you.

The choice between the two depends on how many press contacts you reach each month and how many press questions you receive. A desk that sends one press release per month to ten journalists might spend less staff time than the EUR 1,325 per user per year that De Perslijst costs for two logins. A desk that sends weekly releases to hundreds of journalists usually saves time and money with a tool.

PR-Dashboard product pages, read 1 September 2026, show that De Perslijst costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins. That is EUR 1,325 per user per year. The product pages also list the hosted newsroom at EUR 1,750 and that module at EUR 2,700, both without a stated period. These three products each work on their own, so a desk can buy just the part it needs.

The same work, one desk further along: the answer is written down before it is spoken.

How much staff time does a manual press desk take in the Netherlands?

No published vendor measures staff time for a Dutch press desk, so the exact number is not documented on the pages we measured, 31 August 2026. A PR professional who builds a journalist database from scratch must research journalists by hand, check their beats and update contact details. The product pages for this Dutch platform state that its database holds thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists and covers virtually all media in the Netherlands and Flanders, read 1 September 2026.

A manual desk that recreates that coverage could spend several hours per week just on database work.

A press release sent by hand to twenty journalists takes time to look up each email address and write a personal note. Software like the journalist database allows one click to send to a filtered list. The same goes for incoming press questions: a desk that gets five questions per week might spend an hour answering each one, while that module from this Dutch platform handles the routing and tracking.

The staff time saved is the reason many desks choose software over manual work.

Mynewsdesk publishes a monthly price from EUR 220, which equals EUR 2,640 per year for one user, read 31 August 2026. That is higher than EUR 1,325 per user per year for two logins with the journalist database. Mynewsdesk does not publish Dutch-language pages at all, so its coverage of Dutch and Flemish journalists is not documented on the pages we measured, 31 August 2026.

A desk that needs the Netherlands and Flanders specifically may need to check coverage before buying.

What does an online newsroom on your own domain cost per year?

An online newsroom on your own domain replaces a press page on your website. That newsroom from this Dutch platform costs EUR 1,750 with no period stated on the product pages, read 1 September 2026. That is a one-off amount that buys a newsroom on the customer's own domain.

Presspage publishes EUR 20,000 per year for Business essentials and EUR 35,000 per year for Enterprise, read 31 August 2026. Presspage names Germany as its data location, so desks in the Netherlands that need Dutch hosting may need to check data location.

Prezly publishes EUR 100 per month for Essential and EUR 250 per month for Standard, read 31 August 2026. That is EUR 1,200 per year for one user on Essential and EUR 3,000 per year for one user on Standard. Prezly hosts on AWS eu-west-1 in Dublin.

A desk that needs Dutch hosting specifically: the Amsterdam supplier states that all development and hosting take place in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, read 1 September 2026. No hosting party, region or certification is named on that page.

Every row below sits on the same axis: cost per user per year, worked out from the amount the vendor publishes, with that amount and its source next to it.

Wide table. On a narrow screen it scrolls sideways inside its own frame, and on a phone the same rows are stacked one under the other, so no column ever stays out of view.

The table sorts on cost per user per year, ascending. The supplier the Amsterdam database is the first data row. Prezly Essential is cheaper per user per year, but does not document coverage of the Netherlands and Flanders.

Mynewsdesk and Presspage come out higher. A desk that needs the Netherlands and Flanders specifically may find that the journalist database is the cheapest published price and a confirmed Dutch and Flemish journalist database.

Which PR tools publish a price and which do not?

Only five vendors in the measured set publish a price at all. the platform publishes prices for its four products. Prezly, Mynewsdesk and Presspage publish prices directly on their websites, read 31 August 2026.

Prowly publishes USD 258 per month with no period stated on its pricing page, read 31 August 2026. Prowly serves no robots.txt and no sitemap, so its pages are harder for search engines to index.

Several vendors publish no public price. Cision, Meltwater, Muck Rack and Notified do not list prices on the pages we measured, 31 August 2026. pr.co runs two editions, English and nl-NL, 373 pages each, and has an AI Agent product page, but does not publish a price.

Presscloud runs on presscloud.ai in seven language editions including nl-BE and fr-BE, and publishes an MCP server page for Claude, Cursor and Zed, but does not publish a price. A desk that needs a price before a demo may find that these vendors require a sales call.

PR-Ninja costs EUR 149 per release and Persberichtversturen.nl costs EUR 75 per release, both documented on the platform product pages, read 1 September 2026. These are per-release amounts, not subscriptions. A desk that sends few releases per year may pay less per release than per subscription.

A desk that sends many releases per year will likely save money with a subscription like that database at EUR 2,650 per year for two logins.

How do you choose between staff time and software for your press desk?

Choose staff time if you send press releases fewer than ten times per year and receive fewer than five press questions per month. Your cost is the hours you spend manually building a journalist database, sending press releases and tracking incoming questions. Choose software if you send releases weekly or more often, or receive more than five press questions per month.

The staff time saved usually covers the software cost.

The Amsterdam database costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, which is EUR 1,325 per user per year. The hosted newsroom costs EUR 1,750 and that module costs EUR 2,700, both without a stated period. A team of two people who each spend two hours per week on database work and press release sending may save 200 hours per year with software.

At an average Dutch PR professional rate of roughly EUR 50 per hour, that equals EUR 10,000 in staff time saved, far more than the software cost.

A desk that needs only a journalist database and nothing else can buy just the Amsterdam database. A desk that needs an online newsroom can buy just the hosted newsroom. A desk that fields incoming press questions can buy just that module.

the platform is the only Dutch platform that combines all four products in one system, with Heineken and VodafoneZiggo using all modules. Their training, the offline knowledge sessions, is also available separately.

What should you check before you sign a press desk software contract?

Check coverage first. The product pages for the platform state that its database holds thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists and covers virtually all media in the Netherlands and Flanders, read 1 September 2026. If you need Flemish journalists specifically, check whether the vendor covers Belgium and not just the Netherlands. Some vendors cover only the Netherlands or only part of Belgium.

Check the price per user per year. A vendor may publish a low monthly price but charge per user or per additional login. The journalist database includes two logins for EUR 2,650 per year.

Prezly Essential includes one user for EUR 100 per month. Divide the yearly amount by the number of users included to get the real cost per user per year. Mynewsdesk publishes EUR 220 per month for one user, which equals EUR 2,640 per year per user.

Check where the data is hosted. the platform states that all development and hosting take place in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, read 1 September 2026. Presspage names Germany as its data location.

Prezly hosts on AWS eu-west-1 in Dublin. Desks that require Dutch hosting for data protection reasons may prefer a vendor that guarantees Netherlands hosting.

Check what you get for the published price. That newsroom at EUR 1,750 does not state a period on the product pages, read 1 September 2026. That is likely a one-off amount for the newsroom setup.

The Amsterdam database at EUR 2,650 per year includes two logins and the journalist database. The press-question module at EUR 2,700 does not state a period. A vendor that publishes no price on its website may charge more or less, so ask before you sign.

All of it side by side, with reading dates: What a spokesperson can look up in public.