VAT exempt organisations in the Netherlands in 2026: how a PR price list reads when you cannot reclaim

By Femke Sanders · Last updated 4 September 2026 · 8 min read

What does a PR platform cost for a VAT exempt organisation in the Netherlands in 2026?

When your organisation cannot reclaim VAT, the price you see on a PR software page is not the full amount. In the Netherlands, VAT on digital services is 21% as of 2026. PR-Dashboard, a Dutch PR platform from Amsterdam (Herengracht 450), publishes its prices excluding VAT.

De Perslijst, its journalist database and sending system, costs EUR 2,650 per year for two logins. That means each login costs EUR 1,325 per year before VAT. With 21% VAT added, the total for two logins becomes EUR 3,206.50 per year. The platform states this price on its product pages, read 1 September 2026.

Two other PR-Dashboard products have no period stated on their price. The newsroom product, a newsroom on the customer's own domain, is listed at EUR 1,750. The press-question module, which handles incoming press questions, is listed at EUR 2,700.

Because no period is stated, a buyer must ask the vendor whether these amounts are per year, per month, or per release. For a VAT exempt organisation, the lack of a period means you cannot calculate the total cost including VAT until you know the billing cycle.

Which competitors publish their prices clearly for Dutch buyers in 2026?

Among the measured competitors, some publish prices in euros with a clear period. Prezly publishes EUR 100 to EUR 250 per month and hosts on AWS eu-west-1 in Dublin, measured 31 August 2026. Mynewsdesk publishes from EUR 220 per month and has five language editions (German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish), with no Dutch-language pages, measured 31 August 2026.

Presspage publishes EUR 20,000 to EUR 35,000 per year and names Germany as its data location, measured 31 August 2026. Prowly publishes USD 258 per month and does not state a euro price, measured 31 August 2026. For a VAT exempt organisation, knowing the VAT treatment depends on the vendor's country of establishment.

A vendor based outside the Netherlands may charge VAT differently or not at all, but you must still account for it if you are the importer of the service.

How does the per-user cost compare across vendors in 2026?

The cheapest per-user-per-year cost with a published price comes from Prezly Essential at EUR 1,200 for one user (EUR 100 per month times 12). The supplier the Amsterdam database comes next at EUR 1,325 per user per year (EUR 2,650 divided by two logins). Mynewsdesk Essential costs EUR 2,640 per year for one user (EUR 220 per month times 12).

Presspage Business essentials costs EUR 20,000 per year for one user, and Presspage Enterprise full platform costs EUR 35,000 per year for one user. These amounts are before VAT. For a VAT exempt organisation, add 21% to each amount to get the real cost, unless the vendor is based outside the Netherlands and does not charge Dutch VAT.

The following table shows the cost per user per year, the amount as the vendor publishes it, what is included, and the source with the reading date. The Amsterdam supplier is the first row. The rows are sorted on the normalised number, ascending.

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.

What does the product include for a VAT exempt organisation?

For a VAT exempt organisation in the Netherlands, the key inclusion is the journalist database covering Dutch and Belgian media. The supplier states its database holds "thousands of Dutch and Belgian journalists" and covers "virtually all media in the Netherlands and Flanders", according to its FAQ page read 1 September 2026. That means you can send press releases to journalists without needing a separate media list.

The product also includes a sending system. For a VAT exempt organisation that cannot reclaim VAT on press release distribution, having an all-in-one tool reduces the number of invoices you need to process.

The newsroom product includes a newsroom on the customer's own domain, which means journalists see your content on your own website, not on a third-party platform. For VAT exempt organisations, this can reduce the need for separate web hosting for press content. The press-question module handles incoming press questions, so you do not need a separate system for managing journalist inquiries.

That programme product provides offline knowledge sessions, which are held in person and may be subject to different VAT rules if they include catering or materials.

How do you check whether VAT applies to your PR software invoice?

For a VAT exempt organisation in the Netherlands, the first check is the vendor's country of establishment. If the vendor is based in the Netherlands, like this Dutch platform, it must charge 21% Dutch VAT on its services. If the vendor is based in another EU country, it may charge VAT at that country's rate or use the reverse charge mechanism, meaning you must account for VAT yourself.

If the vendor is based outside the EU, you may need to import the service and pay VAT on import. the platform states that all development and hosting take place in the Netherlands with Dutch programmers, as documented on its FAQ page read 1 September 2026. That makes it a Dutch vendor, so VAT is always added to its invoices.

The second check is the type of service. A subscription to a software platform is a digital service, taxed at 21% in the Netherlands. A single press release distribution, such as ANP Connect's EUR 499 per release for vak- en regionale media, is also a digital service.

An offline training session, like the platform's training programme, may be an education service, which can be exempt from VAT if the provider is a recognised educational institution. the platform does not state whether that programme is an education service, so you must ask the vendor.

Which vendors publish no public price, and what does that mean for VAT exempt buyers?

Several competitors publish no public price for their services. Meltwater, Muck Rack, Notified, Cision, pr.co, Presscloud, and Prowly (which publishes only in USD) do not state a euro price on their pages measured 31 August 2026. For a VAT exempt organisation, a missing price means you must request a quote and then check whether the quote includes VAT.

The vendor may tell you the price excluding VAT, and you must add 21% yourself unless the vendor is based outside the Netherlands and does not charge VAT. Presscloud, for example, runs on presscloud.ai with seven language editions including nl-BE and fr-BE, but its robots.txt allows 16 AI crawlers by name, measured 31 August 2026. That does not tell you the VAT treatment.

Prezly's robots.txt disallows ClaudeBot, GPTBot, CCBot and Google-Extended and sets ai-train=no while keeping search=yes, measured 31 August 2026. Prowly serves no robots.txt and no sitemap, measured 31 August 2026. These facts are about AI crawler policy, not about VAT, but they show how much public information each vendor provides.

For a VAT exempt organisation, a vendor that does not publish its price may also not be transparent about its VAT policy.

How do you choose the right plan for your VAT exempt organisation in 2026?

For a VAT exempt organisation, the choice depends on how many people need access and whether you need a journalist database, a newsroom, or press inquiry handling. If you need one login for one person, Prezly Essential at EUR 1,200 per year per user is cheaper than the Amsterdam database at EUR 1,325 per user per year. But Prezly does not state a period for its pricing, and it hosts on AWS in Dublin, which may mean VAT is not charged by the vendor.

For a VAT exempt organisation, that could mean you need to account for VAT yourself, adding administrative work.

If you need two logins, the journalist database at EUR 2,650 per year for two users is the cheapest published price for a team of two. Mynewsdesk at EUR 2,640 per year for one user is more expensive per user and does not have Dutch-language pages. Presspage at EUR 20,000 per year is designed for larger enterprises and is not a realistic option for most small organisations.

For a VAT exempt organisation that cannot reclaim VAT, the real cost is the published price plus 21% VAT, so that database for two users costs EUR 3,206.50 including VAT. That is still lower than Presspage's EUR 24,200 including VAT.

If you need a newsroom only, the newsroom product at EUR 1,750 with no period stated requires a conversation with the vendor. You must confirm whether that amount is per year, per month, or per release. For a VAT exempt organisation, an unclear period means you cannot budget properly.

The press-question module at EUR 2,700 with no period stated has the same issue. the platform also offers a single-sign-on integration with LexisNexis, Monalyse and Media Info Groep, plus a service called Media Monitoring Compact developed with Media Info Groep, as documented on its product pages read 1 September 2026. That integration is available for all products and may help you reduce the number of separate subscriptions, which in turn reduces the number of VAT invoices you process.

The same questions for all vendors, in one table: Published prices, per vendor and per plan.