The Four Pricing Models You'll Actually Be Quoted
Flat rate single send: One price, one release, no ongoing commitment. Get The Word Out and EasyPRWire sit here, typically $128.
Pay per release with list selection: Medianet's core model. You pick an audience list and the price scales with its size and specificity. Pricing starts from $125+GST.
Subscription or retainer: Bundles multiple sends, database access and monitoring for a monthly fee, roughly A$350-A$690. This beats pay per release once you're sending three or more releases a month.
Enterprise or custom quote: AAP Newswire, Business Wire and PR Newswire's larger tiers. Priced on reach, word count and multimedia, often exceeding A$1,000 once add ons are included.
An experienced media distribution team working under a subscription plan usually gets more value per dollar than buying single sends on a repeat basis.
GST and What Actually Lands on Your Invoice
Most Australian vendors quote prices excluding the 10% Goods and Services Tax. Medianet's own pricing page states pricing "from $125+GST," a direct signal that the sticker price isn't the final cost.
A release priced at $125 becomes A$137.50 once GST is added. A monthly plan priced at A$690 becomes $759. These are the real totals behind the headline release distribution pricing you'll see advertised.
Overseas businesses without an Australian ABN should confirm GST treatment directly with the vendor, since export and reverse charge rules can change what's billed.
Hidden Add On Fees That Push the Total Higher
Base prices rarely include everything a real send needs.
Embedded images: Often $20-$60 each where not bundled
Video embeds: Frequently the largest single add on, sometimes $100+
Word count beyond the base allowance, usually 400-800 words
Broader or additional audience categories
Multi region or international syndication
PDF or document attachments
Affordable Press Release Distribution Options in Australia
Three options sit at the bottom of the market on genuine value, not just a low headline number, and cover most budget conscious release distribution across Australia. Exploring these specific press release distribution options for Aussie founders gives early stage teams a direct pathway to pitch journalists without burning cash on massive corporate wire retainers.
EasyPRWire at roughly AUD 128 (about US$89) is the lowest all in flat fee with multimedia included.
Medianet's entry tier from A$125+GST works if you accept a narrower list.
Get The Word Out at A$219 trades a slightly higher price for a simpler flat structure. This tier is also where most startups sending a first release should start.
Be careful with wires priced far below these figures. If a vendor can't name a verifiable Australian journalist database, the low fee usually buys a reach nobody reads.
Medianet Pricing Explained
Medianet is the name most Australian comms professionals recognise, and its pricing reflects that position.
Pay per release starts from AUD 125+GST and scales with the audience list chosen, across 200+ curated lists and 36,000+ Australian media contacts. Because these lists are maintained by trained public relations specialists rather than an automated database dump, list selection matters as much as price when comparing quotes.
Monthly Outreach style plans run roughly $350-$690 and bundle multiple sends with monitoring. Its ownership structure, which spans News Corp, Nine, Seven West Media and ACM, gives releases a direct path into AAP and NCA Wire.
AAP Newswire and National Wire Costs
AAP Newswire pricing starts around AUD 300+ for a base send and can climb close to AUD 1,000 with images, PDFs and expanded targeting.
Getting onto the AAP wire doesn't guarantee editorial pickup. Editors still decide what runs. It's the right spend for ASX disclosures, major funding rounds and national breaking news, not for a routine product update better served by a targeted Medianet list.
International Wire Pricing for Foreign Brands Entering Australia
PR Newswire runs on a membership plus per release structure, from roughly US$350 for a local send up to US$805 for national reach, higher again for global distribution. Business Wire starts around US$475 with word count and multimedia extras, and quotes Australian pricing through its sales team.
Both are built for global or regulatory syndication rather than deep local newsroom relationships. A foreign brand targeting only the Australian market usually gets stronger local pickup from releases distributed specifically within Australia through Medianet or AAP than from a global wire's Australia add on.
Choosing the Right Option for Your Budget
Match the spend to the announcement, not the other way round.
Under AUD 150, one off send: EasyPRWire or Get The Word Out
Regular Australian comms, 3+ sends a month: Medianet subscription
ASX disclosure or national breaking news: AAP Newswire
Global or US linked announcement: PR Newswire or Business Wire
Narrow trade or industry story: Medianet pay per release, where you can select the exact outlets and journalists for the send
Many teams naturally question whether press releases deliver ROI for small Australian businesses before committing capital. The short answer is yes, provided the goal centers on direct referral traffic, search indexability, and targeted trade visibility rather than expecting an overnight front page feature in The Australian.
Cutting Costs Before You Pay for Distribution
Good preparation avoids most add on fees before you ever submit.
Stay inside the base word allowance, usually 400-800 words, to dodge overage charges. Structure the release properly: headline, dateline, lead paragraph, body, boilerplate, media contact. Working from a properly formatted example release for the Australian market before writing your own cuts editing time and keeps the send inside free word limits.
