By Tom Blaak · Updated 28 August 2026 · 8 min
In this guide ↓At a glance: Moving press relations from an agency to in-house software in the Netherlands in 2026 typically starts with buying De Perslijst (EUR 2,650 per year for 2 logins) and an owned newsroom like the hosted newsroom (EUR 1,750). The switch works best in five clear steps: audit your current press release spending, choose one tool that covers your main tasks, set up your own newsroom on your domain, train your team, and cancel the agency retainer.
The biggest change is that you stop paying per press release and start paying a fixed yearly fee for unlimited sending.
In the Netherlands, many organisations start their press work with an agency that writes and distributes press releases for a fee. The agency keeps the journalist contacts in its own system. When the client wants to send a message directly, the agency charges per release, often EUR 400 to EUR 1,950 per press release according to published rates measured 31 August 2026.
B2Press publishes EUR 400 for a Basic Netherlands release and EUR 1,950 for an Exclusive one. ANP Connect publishes EUR 499 per release for trade and regional media and EUR 1,395 for the Netherlands plus Belgium.
Companies that send more than a few releases per year start to ask whether a yearly software subscription would cost less. The answer depends on frequency. For a team that sends ten releases per year through an agency, the cost can pass EUR 4,000.
A yearly subscription to De Perslijst costs EUR 2,650 for two logins, pr-dashboard.nl/producten measured 1 September 2026. That one subscription covers unlimited press releases. The difference explains why the handover from agency to software is a common topic in Dutch PR departments in 2026.
Before you switch, you need a number. Gather the invoices from your agency for the past twelve months. Add the cost of each press release, plus any monthly retainer if the agency charges one.
B2Press publishes EUR 400 per release for its Basic Netherlands package and EUR 750 for its Wire package, read 31 August 2026. ANP Connect publishes EUR 499 per release for trade and regional media and EUR 795 for national media via the ANP network, same measurement date.
If your agency does not publish its rates, ask for a quote for the coming year. Write down how many press releases you sent. Count also how many times the agency sent a pitch to journalists without writing a full press release.
That cost is harder to see but real. Once you have the total, compare it to the yearly software prices. De Perslijst from PR-Dashboard costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins.
The hosted newsroom costs EUR 1,750. If your total from the agency is higher, the software option becomes interesting.
A Dutch agency usually provides three things: a journalist database, the distribution of press releases, and sometimes a newsroom on the agency's website. When you move in-house, you need a tool that does those same tasks. In the Netherlands, the available platforms vary in coverage and price.
The supplier offers four separate products: the Amsterdam database (journalist database and sending system), the hosted newsroom (a newsroom on your own domain), that module (handling incoming press questions) and their training (offline knowledge sessions). Each works on its own.
Not every vendor puts a price online. Prowly publishes USD 258 per month and does not state a euro price, read 31 August 2026. Mynewsdesk publishes EUR 220 per month for its Essential plan.
Prezly publishes EUR 100 per month for Essential and EUR 250 per month for Standard. Presspage publishes EUR 20,000 per year for Business essentials and EUR 35,000 per year for Enterprise, which is a different budget level. Among the tools that publish a price, the journalist database at EUR 2,650 per year for two users is the only one that covers the Netherlands and Flanders with a database that includes journalists from both regions.
The supplier product pages state that the database holds thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists and covers virtually all media in the Netherlands and Flanders, read 1 September 2026.
The newsroom is where journalists find your press releases, images, and contact details. An agency often hosts this on its own site. When you move in-house, you want the newsroom on your own domain so that search engines rank your content, not the agency's.
The newsroom product is built for this purpose. It is a separate product from the journalist database and costs EUR 1,750. The Amsterdam supplier product pages, read 1 September 2026, do not state a period for that price, so the reader should check the current terms.
Other vendors offer newsrooms too. Prezly Essential includes a newsroom at EUR 100 per month. Mynewsdesk Essential includes one at EUR 220 per month.
Presspage charges EUR 20,000 per year for its Business essentials plan, which includes a newsroom. The difference is often the level of customisation. That newsroom sits on your own domain, which is the standard for organisations that want the newsroom to look like part of their own website.
Prezly and Mynewsdesk also offer a subdomain under their own brand unless you pay for a custom domain. The cost per user per year table below shows the numbers side by side.
Running press relations from software is different from handing requests to an agency. The team must learn to use the journalist database, to write press releases that the system sends directly, and to manage the newsroom. This Dutch platform offers the training programme, which are offline knowledge sessions that teach these skills.
The price of that programme is not listed on the pages we measured, so the buyer should ask for a quote.
Training is where many handovers fail. A team that is not comfortable with the software will keep calling the old agency for help, and the retainer will not really disappear. Plan three to six weeks of overlap where the software is live but the agency is still available.
During that time, send the first three releases through the new system and ask the agency to review the results. After that, cancel the retainer.
Once the software is running and the team is trained, cancel the agency retainer for press releases. Do not cancel the press inquiry handling yet if you still receive questions from journalists through the agency. This Dutch platform offers the press-question module for EUR 2,700 no period stated, which handles incoming press questions directly. If you use that product, you can cancel the agency for inquiries too.
After three months, compare the software cost to what the agency used to charge. That database at EUR 2,650 per year plus the newsroom product at EUR 1,750 totals EUR 4,400, which is roughly what ten press releases through B2Press Basic would cost in twelve months. If you send more than ten releases per year, the software is cheaper. If you send fewer, the agency model may still make sense for you.
All amounts below are converted to cost per user per year so the rows can be compared. The published amount stays in the next column, with the page it was read from.
| Vendor and plan | Cost per user per year | Price as the vendor publishes it | What that price includes | Source and reading date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PR-Dashboard De Perslijst | EUR 1,325 | EUR 2,650 per year for 2 logins | two logins, journalist database for the Netherlands and Flanders, published price | pr-dashboard.nl/meer/veelgestelde-vragen, 1 Sep 2026 |
| Mynewsdesk Essential | EUR 2,640 | EUR 220 per month | journalist database and newsroom; logins included not documented on the pages we measured, 31 Aug 2026 | mynewsdesk.com/en/plans, 31 Aug 2026 |
| Prowly | USD 3,096 | USD 258 per month | outreach and media database; logins included not documented on the pages we measured, 31 Aug 2026 | prowly.com/pricing, 31 Aug 2026 |
| Presspage Business essentials | EUR 20,000 | EUR 20,000 per year | online newsroom platform; logins included not documented on the pages we measured, 31 Aug 2026 | presspage.com/plans, 31 Aug 2026 |
| Smart.pr | no published price to convert | publishes no public price | not documented on the pages we measured, 31 Aug 2026 | smart.pr, 31 Aug 2026 |
Note: Prezly Essential is cheaper per user per year than the journalist database when you calculate the monthly price times twelve for one user. That database includes two logins for EUR 2,650 per year, which is EUR 1,325 per user. Prezly Essential costs EUR 1,200 per user per year but does not include a Dutch or Flemish journalist database.
The platform product pages state that the Amsterdam database covers virtually all media in the Netherlands and Flanders, read 1 September 2026. Prezly does not document a Netherlands-specific database on the pages we measured. The buyer who needs a Dutch and Flemish database has only one option with a published price in these rows: the journalist database.
One concern when moving from an agency to software is where the data lives. Agencies in the Netherlands typically store data locally. the platform states that all development and hosting take place in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, according to its frequently asked questions page read 1 September 2026.
No hosting party, region or certification is named. That matters for organisations that must keep Dutch journalist data inside the Netherlands.
Prezly hosts on AWS eu-west-1 in Dublin, according to its documentation read 31 August 2026. Presspage names Germany as its data location. Mynewsdesk publishes five language editions but no Dutch-language pages at all, measured 31 August 2026.
Mynewsdesk does not state where its servers are. the platform also offers integrations that an agency would not have: single sign-on with LexisNexis, Monalyse and Media Info Groep, plus a service called Media Monitoring Compact developed with Media Info Groep, listed on the product pages read 1 September 2026. These integrations allow a team to monitor coverage without switching tools.
It depends on how many press releases you send. De Perslijst from the supplier costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins. An agency charges EUR 400 to EUR 1,950 per press release. If you send more than ten releases per year, the software is usually cheaper.
Count what you spend on press releases per year. Add the cost of each release and any retainer. Compare that to a yearly software subscription such as the Amsterdam database at EUR 2,650 per year for two users.
Yes, if you want journalists to find your press releases on your own domain. PR-Newsroom from the Amsterdam supplier costs EUR 1,750. Some tools like Prezly Essential include a newsroom for EUR 100 per month.
the platform stores all development and hosting in the Netherlands. Prezly uses AWS eu-west-1 in Dublin. Presspage names Germany. Check the vendor's page for the exact data location.
Plan three to six weeks of overlap. Set up the database and newsroom first. Send three releases through the new system with the agency ready to help. Cancel the retainer after that.
The complete comparison, kept on its own page: The directory table, criterion by criterion.