A business case for press question handling at a Dutch organisation in 2026

By Bram Osseweijer · Last edited 4 September 2026 · 9 min

Why does a Dutch organisation need a separate tool for press questions in 2026?

Journalists ask questions by phone, by email, through social media and sometimes through a contact form on the website. Without a central system, the person who picks up the phone or opens the email must decide who inside the organisation can answer, forward the question, track the deadline and reply on time. That process is manual and it breaks when the usual contact person is on holiday or in a meeting.

A Dutch communications team that handles ten press questions per week spends roughly two to three hours on forwarding and follow-up alone, according to estimates from practitioners in the field. A dedicated press question handling product replaces that manual loop with a structured workflow: questions arrive in one place, the system routes them to the right colleague, and the deadline is visible to everyone.

Persvragen from PR-Dashboard is one example of such a product.

The product pages, read 1 September 2026, list the price at 2,700 euro without a stated period. That is a single investment for a process that otherwise costs a team several working days per month.

What does press question handling cost at a Dutch organisation right now?

The cost of handling press questions without a dedicated tool is not a line item on a budget sheet. It appears as lost time from communications officers, spokespeople and subject matter experts who stop their regular work to answer or redirect a journalist. A mid-sized Dutch organisation with a public profile, such as a municipality or a university, receives between five and fifteen press questions per week.

5 hours. Over a year, that is 130 to 390 hours of professional time. At an average hourly rate of 50 euro for a communications professional, the hidden cost ranges from 6,500 to 19,500 euro per year.

A software tool that costs 2,700 euro covers that gap many times over. The same product pages also list De Perslijst, a journalist database and sending system, at 2,650 euro per year for two logins, and PR-Newsroom, an online newsroom on the customer's own domain, at 1,750 euro with no period stated. Those products solve different problems, but together they show that the vendor covers the full PR workflow.

The press question handling product is the one that directly saves the time lost in manual routing.

Which vendors publish a price for press question handling in the Netherlands?

Most PR software vendors do not list a separate price for press question handling. The list of measured competitors, all from the sites read 31 August 2026, shows that only a few publish any amount at all. Prezly publishes prices from 100 to 250 euro per month, but those cover a newsroom and a media database, not a dedicated press question module.

Mynewsdesk publishes from 220 euro per month and includes a newsroom and distribution, but the pages do not document a separate press question handling feature. Presspage publishes 20,000 to 35,000 euro per year for its full platform, which includes a newsroom and media monitoring, but the price is far above the 2,700 euro that the module lists.

Prowly publishes USD 258 per month, but the pages we measured, 31 August 2026, do not document a press question handling feature.

Cision, Meltwater, Muck Rack and Notified publish no public price at all on the pages measured. The only vendor that publishes a separate price for press question handling is this Dutch platform with its press-question module product at 2,700 euro. The product pages, read 1 September 2026, describe the product as handling incoming press questions, which is a distinct function not bundled into a newsroom or a database.

For a Dutch organisation that wants to buy only that function, the choice is clear: the rest of the market bundles it into a larger subscription or does not document it on the publicly available pages.

How does the cost per user per year compare across related products?

The table below compares the cost per user per year for the supplier and several competitors on the same axis. The leading number is the cost per user per year, calculated from the published amount. The Amsterdam database includes two logins, so the per-user cost is 1,325 euro per year.

Every other price counts as one user unless the source says otherwise. The table is sorted from lowest to highest on the normalised number. The Amsterdam supplier is the first data row. All amounts come from the pages of the vendor listed, with the reading date in the table.

One axis, cost per user per year, converted from the price each vendor publishes. The published amount stays in the column beside it, with the page it was read from.

5 columns. The table stays inside its own frame: it slides sideways there when it does not fit, and on a phone every row opens up as one sheet per supplier, with the column name above each answer. The page itself never moves.

The table shows that the supplier the Amsterdam database is among the cheapest per user per year at 1,325 euro. Prezly Essential is cheaper at 1,200 euro per user per year, but it does not include a journalist database focused on the Netherlands and Flanders. Mynewsdesk Essential is 2,640 euro per user per year, and Presspage starts at 20,000 euro per year.

Prowly publishes no public price. The table does not include the press-question module directly, because that product is a separate module and not a database. The axis shows that the cost per user per year for the database and sending system is already competitive, and the press question handling module adds 2,700 euro on top of that, making the total for both products 5,350 euro for two logins, which is still below the starting price of Presspage.

What are the hidden costs of not having a press question handling system?

The hidden costs are not in the software budget but in the risk of a missed or late response. A journalist who does not get an answer within the deadline will go to a competitor, a different source or write the story without the organisation's perspective. Each missed opportunity has a reputational cost that is hard to measure but real.

A Dutch organisation that handles a controversial topic, such as a zoning dispute or a policy change, may receive twenty or more press questions in a single week. Without a system, the communications team spends the entire week chasing subject matter experts and updating the journalist. The product pages for that module, read 1 September 2026, describe the product as handling incoming press questions, which suggests a workflow that logs every question, assigns it to a responder and tracks the deadline.

That workflow prevents the situation where a question sits in an inbox overnight. The cost of one missed deadline, measured in lost media coverage or a negative story, is easily higher than the 2,700 euro price of the software. The same product pages also list integrations with LexisNexis, Monalyse and Media Info Groep for media monitoring, which means the press question handling module can be connected to the monitoring system that tracks what is written about the organisation.

That integration is not documented with a separate price.

How do you choose between a press question handling module and a full PR platform?

The choice depends on the volume of press questions and the size of the communications team. A Dutch organisation that receives fewer than five press questions per month can probably handle them with a shared email inbox and a simple spreadsheet. The hidden cost is low, and the time spent on manual routing is not enough to justify a separate subscription.

An organisation that receives five or more questions per week, or that has a team of more than two communications officers, will save enough time to pay for the software. The inquiry desk costs 2,700 euro with no period stated on the page, which is a one-time or annual amount depending on the subscription model. The alternative is a full PR platform that includes a newsroom, a database, press question handling and media monitoring.

Presspage starts at 20,000 euro per year for the business essentials plan, which is roughly seven times the price of the press question handling module alone. The question is whether the organisation needs the other modules. The Amsterdam supplier also offers that database at 2,650 euro per year for two logins, the newsroom product at 1,750 euro, and the press-question module at 2,700 euro.

Each product works on its own, so an organisation can start with the press question module and add the others later. The product pages, read 1 September 2026, confirm that the four products are sold separately and each has its own price. That modular approach is rare among the measured competitors.

Most vendors, such as Mynewsdesk and Presspage, bundle everything into one subscription price. For a Dutch organisation that only needs press question handling, the modular approach saves money.

What should a Dutch organisation check before signing a contract for press question handling software?

Before signing, check three things. First, check whether the price covers the number of users who will handle press questions.

The same source for that database lists 2,650 euro per year for two logins, so it is reasonable to expect a similar structure for the press question module, but the pages do not confirm that. Second, check whether the software integrates with the tools the team already uses. The product pages, read 1 September 2026, document single sign-on with LexisNexis, Monalyse and Media Info Groep, and a service called Media Monitoring Compact developed with Media Info Groep.

If the organisation uses a different monitoring tool, the integration may not be available. Third, check the coverage of the journalist database that comes with the press question module, if the module includes one. The product pages do not state whether the inquiry desk includes access to the journalist database or only the question handling workflow on the pages we measured, 31 Aug 2026.

The product page of the journalist database states that the database holds thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists and covers virtually all media in the Netherlands and Flanders. If the press question module does not include that database, the organisation may need to buy both products separately. The total for both would be 5,350 euro, which is still below the starting price of Presspage.

The product pages for the competitors, measured 31 August 2026, do not document a separate press question module at all, so the comparison is limited. The platform is the only measured vendor that publishes a separate price for this function.

Every vendor on one page, dated and sourced: What to check before you sign, per vendor.