What PR costs: ballpark budgets before you take meetings
Use $5,000 to $10,000 a month as a planning range before meetings with a startup-focused PR agency. PressFriendly's published tiers sit at $5,000 a month for Seed and Series A media coverage and $9,500 for a Series B full-service program. External digital PR research falls in the same broad band, with important limits described below. Project, freelance, and large-agency quotes can fall outside it because they buy different scopes.
BuzzStream surveyed about 70 digital PR agency leaders and freelancers or consultants. The average monthly contract was $5,458; 52.5% were below $5,000, and another 38% were between $5,000 and $10,000. The sample was 54% UK and 23% US, covered a broad mix of industries, and included guest-posting providers alongside earned-media services. Use it as a directional digital PR benchmark, not a market average for US startup media-relations retainers.
Within the planning range, compare scope before price. PressFriendly's Starter tier covers media relations for Seed and Series A companies. The Full Service tier adds analyst relations, a messaging workshop, social planning, and an executive thought-leadership program for Series B companies. Consulting and custom projects are quoted separately. The current feature list is on the pricing page.
The step between tiers reflects a different service mix. More money does not guarantee a placement or make weak news publishable. It should buy named capabilities, a larger operating scope, and reporting you can audit.
Settle two things before signing:
- Compare total scope - record the monthly fee, initial term, pass-through expenses, excluded work, meeting cadence, and named team. A posted price makes the first comparison easier; the proposal still controls what you receive.
- Define the evidence - connect the retainer to target outlets, an outreach cadence, activity reporting, and the business goal coverage should support. Do not infer a placement count from the fee because independent editors control publication.
Two adjacent decisions live on other pages. Agency, freelancer, fractional, and in-house options have different delivery and cost structures. PR pricing models covers retainers, projects, pay-for-placement, minimum terms, and cancellation mechanics.
For a scope recommendation matched to your stage, contact us.