How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- HARO is back: Featured.com bought the brand and relaunched the free email digest in April 2025, with three digests daily.
- Qwoted and Featured are the two strongest paid options, with Qwoted winning on journalist quality and Featured on volume and price.
- Source of Sources and MentionMatch are completely free, created by the original HARO founder and the Help a B2B Writer team respectively.
- Muck Rack and Prowly serve a different need: journalist databases and proactive outreach, not just answering requests.
- The original Connectively platform was shut down in December 2024, so do not sign up for it.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 HARO | free journalist requests by email | Free | Yes |
 Featured | high-volume expert answers | From $29/month (Lite) | Yes |
 Qwoted | curated requests from verified journalists | $149/month ($99 billed annually) | Yes (limited) |
 Source of Sources | free classic HARO-style digest | Free | Yes |
 MentionMatch | free B2B-focused requests | Free | Yes |
 Muck Rack | journalist database and outreach | From ~$5,000/year (custom quotes) | No |
 Prowly | all-in-one PR workflow | $258/month (billed annually) | Free trial (7 days) |
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Starting priceFree
Free planYes
HARO, Help a Reporter Out, is the platform that invented the journalist-source exchange, and it is alive again. After Cision rebranded it as Connectively and then shut it down in December 2024, Featured.com bought the brand and restarted the emails in April 2025. It is free for both sides, needs no login, and sends three digests a day funded by newsletter sponsorship.
The format is the classic one: journalists post queries, you reply with a quotable answer, and the best responses get cited, often with a link. Volume is its strength and its weakness: thousands of sources see the same queries, so speed and specificity win. For anyone starting with reactive PR, HARO remains the first and cheapest place to begin.
What we like- Completely free for sources and journalists
- Three email digests daily
- Huge query volume across industries
Watch out for- High competition per query
- No filtering on the free digest
- Owned by Featured, so upsells exist
Starting priceFrom $29/month (Lite)
Free planYes
Featured began as Terkel, a Q&A platform connecting experts with publishers, and it now owns both HARO and Connectively as standalone products. Editors post specific questions, experts answer them, and the best answers become quotes in published pieces. A free tier allows a few answer submissions monthly, with Lite at $29 per month and Pro at $99 per month, or $49 per seat on annual billing.
The platform's edge is volume and automation: always-on workflows watch for relevant opportunities and notify you. The trade-off is format: the question-and-answer setup favors thought leadership over fast reactive pitching, and the value of each placement depends on which outlet picks you up. For founders building a public profile with steady effort, Featured is the most affordable serious option.
What we like- Owns and operates HARO
- Highest active query volume
- AI workflows monitor opportunities automatically
Watch out for- Q&A format suits thought leadership more than reactive news
- Free tier caps answers
- Link quality varies by outlet
Starting price$149/month ($99 billed annually)
Free planYes (limited)
Qwoted is the closest thing to a premium HARO: journalists post requests, but the matching is curated, the journalists are verified, and an AI score helps reporters spot human-written pitches. Everything happens inside the platform, with pitch tracking, read receipts, and direct messaging. Over 100,000 PR professionals use it.
The free Basic plan allows two pitches a month with a two-hour visibility delay, which in same-day reactive PR is a real handicap. Pro at $149 a month, or $99 a month billed annually, removes the delay and the cap. For finance, tech, and B2B experts who want fewer, higher-quality opportunities, Qwoted justifies the cost.
What we like- Verified journalists and higher-authority queries
- AI scoring filters AI-generated pitches
- Centralized in-platform communication
Watch out for- Free tier allows only two pitches monthly with a two-hour delay
- Lower query volume than HARO
- New profiles take time to gain traction
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
Source of Sources is Peter Shankman's answer to the HARO shutdown: Shankman founded the original HARO, and SOS recreates its email-blast format faithfully. Up to three times a day you get queries from journalists, and you reply directly. It costs nothing, with no pitch caps or tiers.
The rules are strict in the best way: reply off-topic once and you are removed, no appeals. Volume is lower than the revived HARO, and there is no dashboard or tracking. But for purists who liked the original HARO exactly as it was, SOS is the most faithful free recreation, run by the person who invented the category.
What we like- Completely free with no caps
- Run by the original HARO founder
- Familiar email digest format
Watch out for- Smaller query volume than HARO
- Strict anti-spam enforcement
- Fewer platform features
Starting priceFree
Free planYes
MentionMatch, formerly Help a B2B Writer, is the free platform for B2B experts. Writers, largely from the Superpath content-marketing community, post requests in SaaS, marketing, sales, and adjacent verticals. Sources tag their expertise at signup and receive only matching requests by email. Everything is free, supported by the Superpath ecosystem.
The tight focus is the selling point: no lifestyle queries, no noise, just B2B opportunities with genuinely relevant writers. The limitation is scope: if your expertise is consumer-facing, this is not your platform. For B2B founders, consultants, and marketers, MentionMatch offers the best relevance-per-email of any free option.
What we like- Completely free
- Strictly B2B, SaaS, and marketing niches
- Expertise-matched requests keep relevance high
Watch out for- B2B only, so consumer brands get nothing
- Smaller writer network than HARO
- Email-only workflow
Starting priceFrom ~$5,000/year (custom quotes)
Free planNo
Muck Rack plays a different game: instead of answering inbound requests, you get a database of journalists who maintain their own profiles, plus pitching, monitoring, and coverage reporting in one platform. It is the standard for PR teams that pitch proactively rather than waiting for queries.
Pricing is custom-quoted, typically starting around $5,000 a year and scaling with team size. That makes it a poor fit for occasional use. But for companies running consistent outreach, the accuracy of journalist-maintained profiles and the unified workflow justify the investment. Free profiles exist for journalists themselves, not for PR users.
What we like- Journalists maintain their own profiles, so data is accurate
- Combines database, pitching, monitoring, and reporting
- Strong customer satisfaction
Watch out for- Enterprise pricing with no public price list
- Overkill for occasional reactive pitching
- No free trial for the PR suite
Starting price$258/month (billed annually)
Free planFree trial (7 days)
Prowly, owned by Semrush, is the all-in-one PR platform for small and mid-size teams: a media database of over a million journalist contacts, email pitching with open and click analytics, media monitoring with Semrush-powered audience insights, and branded online newsrooms. Pricing is transparent at $258 a month billed annually, or $369 monthly, with a 7-day trial.
It is a different purchase from the request platforms above: proactive outreach rather than reactive answers. Some users report stale contacts and bounce issues, so verify lists before big sends. For teams that want one tool covering the whole PR workflow without enterprise contracts, Prowly is the most accessible option.
What we like- Media database, pitching, monitoring, and newsrooms in one tool
- Transparent pricing
- 7-day free trial
Watch out for- Contact data can be stale on lower tiers
- Pricier than request-based platforms
- No free plan
Inbound requests vs. proactive pitching
The tools here split into two strategies. HARO, Featured, Qwoted, Source of Sources, and MentionMatch are inbound: journalists ask, you answer, and you earn quotes. They are cheap or free and great for building authority steadily. Muck Rack and Prowly are proactive: you find journalists and pitch them, which suits product launches and campaigns. Most effective small PR programs run both: answer requests daily for steady coverage, and pitch proactively for big moments.
Start free. Sign up for HARO, Source of Sources, and, if you are B2B, MentionMatch, and answer queries in your genuine area of expertise for a month. If you land quotes and want more volume, add Featured for reach or Qwoted for higher-authority requests. Only consider Muck Rack or Prowly when you need proactive outreach, media monitoring, and reporting, and when PR is a consistent weekly activity rather than an experiment.
Whatever you choose, the tactics are the same: answer fast, be genuinely expert, keep pitches quotable and concise, and never spray irrelevant replies. Journalists remember good sources and bad ones alike. Track every pitch and every placement in a simple spreadsheet so you can see which queries and which platforms actually convert into coverage.
How we chose
We compared journalist-connection platforms using vendor pricing pages, official announcements, and documentation, alongside public reviews on G2, Capterra, and PR industry publications. We weighed query quality and volume, pricing, journalist verification, and fit for small businesses. We did not perform hands-on testing.
Frequently asked questions
Is HARO still around in 2026?
Yes. After Cision shut down Connectively in December 2024, Featured.com bought the HARO brand and relaunched it in April 2025. It is free, sends three email digests daily, and works the way the original did.
What is the best free HARO alternative?
HARO itself is free again, which makes it the obvious first choice. Source of Sources is the most faithful recreation of the original format, and MentionMatch is the best free option specifically for B2B experts.
Is Qwoted worth paying for?
For professionals pitching regularly in finance, tech, or B2B, yes. The verified journalists, curated matching, and no-delay notifications on the Pro plan justify the $99 to $149 monthly cost. Casual users should stick with the free platforms.
How do I get quoted as a source?
Sign up for request platforms, complete your expert profile, and answer queries only in your genuine area of expertise. Respond quickly with a quotable, specific answer, include your credentials and contact details, and follow up politely if quoted to thank the journalist. A brief, well-aimed pitch beats a long generic one every time, and consistency matters more than any single placement.
Do journalists actually use these platforms?
Yes, though participation varies. Qwoted verifies its journalists, Muck Rack's database is maintained by reporters themselves, and HARO's free model attracts high query volume. Response quality matters more than platform choice: specific, useful answers get picked up.
What is the difference between HARO and Featured?
HARO is the classic free email digest of journalist queries, now owned by Featured.com. Featured is the company's Q&A platform where editors post questions and experts submit answers that become quotes in published articles. They share an owner but work differently.
Sources we checked (7)
- https://featured.com
- https://qwoted.com
- https://www.sourceofsources.com
- https://mentionmatch.com
- https://muckrack.com
- https://prowly.com
- https://linkpublishers.com/blog/haro-alternatives-comparison
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.