How Much Does a Press Release Cost? Wire, China and Translation Prices
How much does a press release cost in 2026? A wire release runs 149-805 USD before add-ons, a single Chinese media placement runs 50-3,000 yuan, and translating the text adds 126-270 yuan. Here are the published rates, the add-ons that double the invoice, and three budget scenarios with the arithmetic shown.
Key takeaways
- A wire release costs 149-805 USD before add-ons; word overage adds 195-275 USD per 100 words.
- Chinese placements run 800-3,000 yuan at central outlets, 200-1,500 at provincial portals and 50-500 at commercial portals.
- Translation adds 126-270 yuan for a 900-character release at professional rates.
- A standard launch in China lands near 2,950 yuan; the same announcement on a US national wire lands near 1,130 USD.
- Any quote under 300 yuan for a central outlet is a scraping site or a reseller, not the masthead.
How much does a press release cost? In 2026 the honest answer is a range with three separate lines on it. A wire release costs 149-805 USD before add-ons. A single placement in Chinese media costs 50-3,000 yuan depending on the tier of outlet. Professional translation of the text costs 126-270 yuan. Most quotes that look wrong are wrong because one of those three lines has been folded into another and priced at the top of its band.
This page gives the published numbers, per vendor and per outlet tier, then works three real budgets so you can see where the invoice actually comes from. Every figure below is either a vendor's own published rate or a third-party rate card, and it is labelled as such. Nothing here is an average invented to fill a table.
How Much Does a Press Release Cost on a Wire
Wire pricing is published, which makes it the easiest line to check. The spread across vendors is 30 to 1 for what is mechanically the same act of pushing a document onto a network.
| Service | Published base price | Word limit | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| EIN Presswire | 149 USD per release; 66.60 USD on a 15-release pack | 700-2,500 words by tier | None, capped by tier |
| PRWeb (Cision) | 120-480 USD depending on tier | Tier dependent | Tier dependent |
| eReleases | 399 USD for 400 words | 400 words | 150 USD per extra 100 words |
| PR Newswire | 350 USD local, about 805 USD for a 400-word US national | 400 words national | 245-275 USD per extra 100 words |
| Business Wire | 760 USD for 400 words | 400 words | 195 USD per extra 100 words |
PR Newswire also charges a 195 USD annual membership, or 249 USD if you need invoicing. Business Wire charges 425 USD for the first multimedia attachment and 225 USD for each one after; PR Newswire lists multimedia at about 325 USD per item, a company logo at 495 USD and a PDF attachment at 125 USD.
That is how a 499 USD budget becomes a 1,200 USD invoice. A 700-word release with one image on Business Wire's national circuit prices out at about 1,770 USD once three word blocks and the first attachment are added.
What a Chinese Placement Adds to the Bill
Chinese outlets do not publish rate cards. Placement is bought through agencies, and the agencies' 2026 rate cards cluster by tier of outlet, which is why two quotes for the same headline can differ by a factor of ten.
| Outlet tier | Examples | Rate per placement | What you are buying |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central media | People's Daily, Xinhua, CCTV, China News Service | 800-3,000 yuan | Authority that survives being cited elsewhere |
| Central-affiliated news sites | people.com.cn channels, xinhuanet channels | 300-1,500 yuan | Recognisable masthead, thinner editorial gate |
| Provincial news portals | Provincial party paper sites, city portals | 200-1,500 yuan | Regional search visibility |
| Commercial portals | Sina, NetEase, Tencent, Sohu | 50-500 yuan | Volume and indexable archive |
| Vertical and long-tail sites | Industry sites, syndication farms | 5-30 yuan | A URL, and often nothing else |
Three add-ons move the number. First placement in a category or the front page typically adds 20-50 percent. Expedited handling adds a similar amount. A link inside the body text, rather than an unattributed mention, is priced separately at some outlets and refused outright at others. Any quote that puts a central outlet below 300 yuan is describing a scraping site or a second-level reseller, not the masthead it names.
What the Text Itself Adds
Chinese translation bills per 1,000 Chinese characters, and one English word becomes 1.7 to 2.0 characters. General material runs 100-160 yuan per 1,000 characters, specialist or technical copy 180-300 yuan, and raw machine output 20-30 yuan.
A 500-word release becomes about 900 characters, so professional translation adds 126-270 yuan. Editing a machine translation into publishable Chinese sits at 60-90 yuan per 1,000 characters, or 54-81 yuan for the same piece. Writing the Chinese version from scratch costs more than translating it and less than translating twice.
Three Budgets, With the Arithmetic Shown
| Scenario | What is in it | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Test one market | Translation 200 yuan + 3 commercial portal placements at 200 yuan | 800 yuan |
| Standard launch | Translation 250 yuan + 1 central-affiliated site at 1,200 yuan + 5 provincial portals at 300 yuan | 2,950 yuan |
| Authority push | Translation 270 yuan + 1 central outlet at 2,500 yuan + 8 provincial placements at 400 yuan + 2 vertical sites at 800 yuan | 7,570 yuan |
The same announcement on a US wire, national circuit, with one image: 805 USD at PR Newswire plus 325 USD for the multimedia item, or 1,130 USD. At an exchange rate near 7 yuan to the dollar that is about 7,900 yuan for syndicated copies on domains you do not control. The Chinese placement budget buys named mastheads an editor chose to run.
Where the Invoice Grows Without Warning
- Word overage. 195-275 USD per extra 100 words on the premium wires. Writing to 400 words saves more than any negotiation.
- Images and logos. 150-495 USD per item once logo, PDF and video are added to a wire release.
- Expedited handling. 20-50 percent on Chinese placements, and 25-50 percent on same-day wire distribution.
- Monthly bundles. Chinese agencies discount 20-30 percent for monthly packages, which rewards committing before you know which outlets index.
Ask for the per-item price before the bundle price. A monthly package at 30 percent off is worse than a single placement if the bundle includes four outlets that never get indexed.
What the Number Should Be
If the goal is a public record and a link, 149-400 USD on a budget wire is rational and anything above it is buying reach you cannot measure. If the goal is Chinese-language visibility with a masthead a client recognises, the useful band is 300-1,500 yuan per placement plus 200 yuan of translation, and the cheapest viable test of a channel is three placements, not thirty. For the difference between the two products, see paid versus earned coverage in Chinese media; for how long the result takes to appear, see how long publishing takes in China.
Budget the translation as a fixed cost and the placement as a variable one. The translation is 200 yuan whether you buy one placement or twenty, and it is the line that determines whether the placements read as news or as advertising.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a press release cost in total?
Two separate products. A wire release is 149-805 USD before add-ons. A Chinese media placement is 50-3,000 yuan per outlet plus 126-270 yuan for translation. A standard China launch with one central-affiliated site and five provincial portals prices near 2,950 yuan.
Why is Business Wire more expensive than EIN Presswire?
Business Wire and PR Newswire carry regulated disclosure distribution into terminals and financial feeds, which is what listed companies are buying. EIN Presswire at 149 USD syndicates to sites and news aggregators. The 30-to-1 spread buys network membership and compliance, not better journalism.
Are Chinese media placement prices official?
No. Chinese outlets do not publish rate cards. The ranges here are 2026 agency rate cards and industry surveys, which is why the same headline can be quoted at 300 yuan and 3,000 yuan.
What does a cheap Chinese placement actually buy?
A URL on a scraping or aggregator domain. At 5-30 yuan the site is not a newsroom and the link is not a masthead mention. Anything below 300 yuan quoting a central outlet is a reseller or a second-level mirror.
Can I skip translation and send English?
Not for mainland outlets. Chinese desks publish in Chinese, and an English submission is read as a request for them to do the work. Translation at 126-270 yuan is the cheapest line in the budget.