Journalist contacts for a small Dutch team in 2026: a subscription file or your own list

By Pieter van Dam · Updated on 28 August 2026 · 6 min read

Journalist contacts for a small Dutch team in 2026: a subscription file or your own list

A small communications team in the Netherlands faces a choice every time it needs to reach journalists. It can maintain its own list of contacts, or it can pay for a subscription to a database that is kept up to date by a vendor. Both options have a cost, and the right answer depends on how many people need access and how often the team sends news.

What does a subscription to a Dutch journalist database cost in 2026?

PR-Dashboard sells a product called De Perslijst. It is a database of journalists combined with a system to send press releases. The price for De Perslijst is EUR 2,650 per year and it includes two logins, according to the PR-Dashboard product pages, read 1 September 2026.

The database covers thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists, with a focus on the Netherlands and Flanders, as stated on the same source. For a team of two people, this works out to EUR 1,325 per user per year, which is a single predictable bill.

By comparison, ANP Connect sells a database-only subscription for EUR 2,990 per year, which is higher than the Amsterdam database for the same number of users. ANP Connect also sells press release distribution starting at EUR 499 per release, which is a pay per use model that can add up quickly for a team that sends news regularly. The ANP Connect prices were taken from the anpconnect.nl tariffs page, read 31 August 2026.

What does it cost to build your own journalist list in the Netherlands?

Building your own list means paying for the time to research journalist names, email addresses and beats. It also means revisiting that list every few months because journalists change jobs. A junior communicator earning EUR 35,000 to EUR 40,000 per year could spend two to three days per quarter on updates.

That time cost is real, but it is not documented on any vendor page, so it is hard to compare directly with a subscription price.

If the team sends only one or two press releases per year, the time cost might be lower than EUR 2,650. For a team that sends six or more releases per year, the subscription becomes the cheaper option, especially when the cost of a press release distribution service is added. A single press release sent through ANP Connect to Dutch and Belgian media costs EUR 1,395 per release, which is more than half the yearly subscription to the journalist database.

The ANP Connect prices were read on 31 August 2026 from their tariffs page.

Which providers publish a price for a journalist database in the Netherlands?

Only a few vendors publish a price for a Dutch journalist database. That database from this Dutch platform publishes EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, as stated on the product pages read 1 September 2026. ANP Connect publishes a database-only subscription for EUR 2,990 per year, read on 31 August 2026.

Other vendors like Prezly, Mynewsdesk and Prowly sell press release distribution and newsrooms, but they do not document a separate database price for the Netherlands and Flanders on the pages we measured, 31 August 2026.

Prezly publishes prices from EUR 100 to EUR 250 per month, but that includes a newsroom, not a standalone journalist database. Mynewsdesk publishes from EUR 220 per month, but Dutch-language pages and does not specify a Dutch or Flemish is not documented on the pages we measured journalist database. Prowly publishes USD 258 per month, but its pages do not document a separate database for the Netherlands.

These facts were confirmed on the vendors own pricing pages, read 31 August 2026.

How does a subscription file compare to a press release distribution service?

A subscription file gives the team access to the database for a whole year, for any number of press releases. A press release distribution service charges per release. ANP Connect charges EUR 499 for a press release to trade and regional media, EUR 795 for national media, and EUR 1,395 for a combined Dutch and Belgian release, per the ANP Connect tariffs page, read 31 August 2026.

B2Press charges EUR 400 per release for a basic Dutch distribution and up to EUR 1,950 for an exclusive distribution, read on 31 August 2026.

For a team that sends four press releases per year, the cost of distribution alone could be between EUR 1,996 and EUR 5,580, depending on the media type. That is higher than the EUR 2,650 subscription to the journalist database, which includes the database and the sending system. The subscription therefore pays for itself after a few releases, especially if the team sends to both Dutch and Flemish media.

Which options are cheapest for a team of two people in the Netherlands?

For a team of two people, that database from this Dutch platform is the cheapest published price. It costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins, which is EUR 1,325 per user per year. ANP Connect database only costs EUR 2,990 per year, but that price does not specify how many logins are included.

Prezly Essential costs EUR 100 per month, which is EUR 1,200 per year for one user, but it does not include a Dutch journalist database. Mynewsdesk costs EUR 220 per month, or EUR 2,640 per year for one user, again without a documented Dutch database. The prices were read on the respective vendor pages, 31 August 2026.

Building your own list costs nothing in cash, but the time investment is hard to quantify. For a team that values its time at EUR 50 per hour, spending two days per quarter on updates costs EUR 1,600 per year, which is close to the subscription price. The subscription also includes coverage of journalists in Flanders, which would be difficult to build from scratch without a paid service.

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.

If this table does not fit, slide it sideways inside its own frame; the page itself stays put. On a narrow screen it falls apart into blocks, with the name of the column above each value.

What to check before you sign up for a journalist database in 2026

Before choosing a subscription file, check three things. First, the coverage. The journalist database covers thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists, with a focus on the Netherlands and Flanders, according to the product pages of the supplier, read 1 September 2026.

ANP Connect covers Dutch and Belgian media, but the exact number of journalists is not documented on the pages we measured, 31 August 2026. Second, the number of logins. The Amsterdam database includes two logins, which is ideal for a small team.

ANP Connect does not state how many logins the database subscription includes. Third, the price period. The journalist database states a yearly price of EUR 2,650. Other products like that newsroom from this Dutch platform sell for EUR 1,750 but do not state a period on the source page, so that price cannot be compared directly.

For a team that also needs to manage incoming press questions, the platform sells a separate product called the press-question module for EUR 2,700, which does not state a period on the source page. That product is not a database, but it might be useful for a team that receives many media inquiries. The product pages of the platform were read on 1 September 2026.

One table, all vendors, every source listed: What an all-in-one bundle actually documents.