# Intelligent Relations vs Propel for PR teams, compared on launches, phases and scale

URL: https://www.newsprint.com/compare/intelligent-relations-vs-propel/
Updated: 2026-10-28
First published: 2026-10-28

> On the map, Intelligent Relations and Propel both sit in AI PR assistants and agents [1][2]. Intelligent Relations describes itself as "Your brand belongs in the news. Preston AI puts it there" [1], and Propel as "PR, meet your first AI agent" [2]. Propel is core in Measure, where Intelligent Relations is not [3][4]. Intelligent Relations has 3 dated product launches since April 29, 2025, and Propel has 4 [3][4].

## Intelligent Relations and Propel at a glance

|  | Intelligent Relations | Propel |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Category | AI PR assistants and agents [1] | AI PR assistants and agents [2] |
| Core phases | Discover, Search and Pitch [4] | Discover, Search, Pitch and Measure [3] |
| Partial phases | Measure [4] | None [3] |
| Dated product launches since April 29, 2025 | 3 [4] | 4 [3] |
| Agent launches | 1 [4] | 1 [3] |
| Latest launch | Preston automates journalist list building and drafts outreach in one workflow. Aug. 24, 2026 [5] | Automatic follow-up cancellation when a journalist replies. Oct. 15, 2026 [6] |
| Scale | Tier 2, established. 'Preston is working for 312 companies right now' (homepage, Sept 2026); no institutional funding disclosed. [4] | Tier 2, established. Microsoft, NPR and Real Chemistry named as customers. [3] |
| Price on record | Per month, month to month: free to start; SaaS Platform Only $250; Platform + PR Advisor $999; Managed Service PR Light $4,000 and Full $7,000 (pricing page, read 5 October 2026); Preston is on every plan. [4] | Not published; Essentials, Pro and Premium are gated by seats and alert volume. [3] |
| Site | https://www.intelligentrelations.com/ | https://propel-ai.com/ |

## What each sells

### Intelligent Relations

"Your brand belongs in the news. Preston AI puts it there." Preston, an AI PR agent, reads a company's website, finds journalists covering its space, builds a three-month campaign, drafts pitches and press releases, matches trending stories, and can send outreach itself, with a weekly report by email. Free to start; paid plans add senior PR pros, up to a fully managed service. Began as an AI-assisted PR agency in 2020. [4]

[Intelligent Relations on the PR software map](https://www.newsprint.com/companies/intelligent-relations/)

### Propel

"PR, meet your first AI agent." PR CRM with a 500K+ journalist database, AI pitch drafting sent from Gmail/Outlook, monitoring and ROI reporting; its LLM is trained on 25M pitches. [3]

[Propel on the PR software map](https://www.newsprint.com/companies/propel/)

## Recent launches side by side

The newest five dated product launches on the map for each company, newest first.

### Intelligent Relations

- **Aug. 24, 2026.** Preston automates journalist list building and drafts outreach in one workflow. Preston added an agent workflow that analyzes a brand, builds media lists and drafts personalized outreach. [5]
- **July 13, 2026.** Preston freemium AI PR copilot (daily story matches, journalist flags, pitch drafts). Preston opened free access to a copilot that finds story opportunities daily, flags relevant journalists and drafts pitches for human approval. [7]
- **Aug. 12, 2025.** Preston mobile app. iOS and Android app for Preston with real-time alerts, AI-generated pitches and press materials, and AI contact suggestions. [8]
- **Nov. 9, 2023.** Journalist recommendations, regional coverage analysis and lookalike journalists. Preston added machine-learning journalist categories by topic and region, deep coverage attributes and lookalike journalists. [9]
- **March 13, 2023.** Intelligent Relations PR Platform. Self-serve PR platform for non-PR professionals that spots news trends and recommends story ideas and media outlets. Beta. [10]

### Propel

- **Oct. 15, 2026.** Automatic follow-up cancellation when a journalist replies. If a journalist replies before a scheduled follow-up goes out, Propel cancels the follow-up. [6]
- **Oct. 15, 2026.** Contact notes in the Gmail and Outlook plugin. Notes added to a contact now show in the Propel plugin inside Gmail and Outlook while pitching. [6]
- **Aug. 17, 2026.** PropeLLM (First Large Language Model Built for PR). Propel's own large language model, trained on proprietary PR pitch, article, and journalist data, positioned as the first LLM built for PR. Announced. [11]
- **Oct. 14, 2025.** Signal AI partnership. Signal AI and Propel AI announced a strategic partnership pairing Signal AI's media monitoring with Propel's journalist targeting and outreach. Announced. [12]
- **Nov. 12, 2024.** Propel 2.0 GA, re-marketed as "first AI agent for PR". Propel took Propel 2.0's AI media database and AI-personalized email intros out of beta and re-marketed the release as the "first AI agent for PR." [13]

## PR phases compared

Core means the product is built on that phase. Partial means the phase is there but secondary. Not found means the map did not find it on the company's own site.

| Phase | Intelligent Relations | Propel |
|---|---|---|
| Discover | Core | Core |
| Search | Core | Core |
| Pitch | Core | Core |
| Measure | Partial | Core |

Phase scores come from each company's row on the map [3][4].

## What this comparison does not cover

### We did not test either product

This page compares what each vendor says on its own pages and in dated announcements, as recorded on the map. We did not use or test Intelligent Relations or Propel.

### Prices are the map's price notes

The prices here are the map's price notes, from each vendor's own pages or, where marked, third-party estimates. Quotes, discounts and contract terms are not covered.

### Data read on Oct. 23, 2026

The newest source on this page was read on Oct. 23, 2026. Products and prices can change after that day.

## Questions people ask

### Which has an AI agent, Intelligent Relations or Propel?

Both. The map labels 1 agent launch from Intelligent Relations and 1 from Propel since April 29, 2025 [3][4]. Intelligent Relations's latest is "Preston automates journalist list building and drafts outreach in one workflow", dated Aug. 24, 2026 [5]. Propel's latest is "PropeLLM (First Large Language Model Built for PR)" (announced), dated Aug. 17, 2026 [11].

### Which is bigger, Intelligent Relations or Propel?

The map puts both in scale tier 2, established. Intelligent Relations: 'Preston is working for 312 companies right now' (homepage, Sept 2026); no institutional funding disclosed. [4] Propel: Microsoft, NPR and Real Chemistry named as customers. [3]

### What do Intelligent Relations and Propel cost?

Intelligent Relations: Per month, month to month: free to start; SaaS Platform Only $250; Platform + PR Advisor $999; Managed Service PR Light $4,000 and Full $7,000 (pricing page, read 5 October 2026); Preston is on every plan. [4] Propel: Not published; Essentials, Pro and Premium are gated by seats and alert volume. [3]

### Which covers Measure as a core phase?

Propel does [3]. The map scores Intelligent Relations as partial there.

## Sources

1. [intelligentrelations.com](https://www.intelligentrelations.com/). intelligentrelations.com. Read 2026-10-23.
2. [propel-ai.com](https://propel-ai.com/). propel-ai.com. Read 2026-10-23.
3. [Propel on the PR software map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/pr-software/#co-propel). Newsprint. Read 2026-10-23.
4. [Intelligent Relations on the PR software map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/pr-software/#co-intelligent-relations). Newsprint. Read 2026-10-23.
5. [Preston automates journalist list building and drafts outreach in one workflow](https://www.einpresswire.com/article/936577390/intelligent-relations-launches-new-preston-capability-to-automate-journalist-list-building-and-outreach). EIN Presswire (Intelligent Relations release, 24 Aug 2026). Read 2026-10-14.
6. [Automatic follow-up cancellation when a journalist replies](https://propel-ai.com/blog/propel-ai-pr-tool-updates-october-2026). Propel blog. Read 2026-10-19.
7. [Preston freemium AI PR copilot (daily story matches, journalist flags, pitch drafts)](https://www.einpresswire.com/article/926333235/intelligent-relations-opens-freemium-access-to-preston-the-ai-pr-copilot-built-to-execute-earned-media). EIN Presswire (Intelligent Relations release, 13 Jul 2026). Read 2026-10-14.
8. [Preston mobile app](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/08/12/3131727/0/en/Intelligent-Relations-Launches-Mobile-Version-of-Preston-Bringing-AI-Powered-PR-to-the-Palm-of-Your-Hand.html). GlobeNewswire. Read 2026-10-13.
9. [Journalist recommendations, regional coverage analysis and lookalike journalists](https://newswire.com/view/content/intelligent-relations-announces-new-ai-driven-coverage-analysis-and-22166611). Newswire.com (press release, 9 Nov 2023). Read 2026-10-14.
10. [Intelligent Relations PR Platform](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/intelligent-relations-ai-powered-pr-140000905.html). AccessWire (via Yahoo Finance). Read 2026-10-13.
11. [PropeLLM (First Large Language Model Built for PR)](https://propel-ai.com/newsroom/propel-ai-launches-the-first-llm-built-for-pr-professionals). Propel AI newsroom. Read 2026-10-13.
12. [Signal AI partnership](https://propel-ai.com/newsroom/signal-ai-and-propel-ai-announce-strategic-partnership-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-ai-native-communications). Propel AI newsroom. Read 2026-10-13.
13. [Propel 2.0 GA, re-marketed as "first AI agent for PR"](https://propel-ai.com/newsroom/propel-launches-propel-2-0-the-first-ai-agent-for-pr-delivering-unmatched-efficiency-and-media-outreach-accuracy). Propel AI newsroom. Read 2026-10-13.

## Related

- [The PR software map](https://www.newsprint.com/research/pr-software/)
- [All comparisons](https://www.newsprint.com/compare/)