HARO (Help A Reporter Out) used to be the go-to service for connecting journalists with expert sources. Answer the right query, get quoted, and you could earn high-quality backlinks and build your authority.
The last few years have been a rollercoaster for HARO. Cision rebranded it as Connectively in 2024, shut Connectively down that December, and then sold HARO to Featured.com, which relaunched it as a free daily email in April 2025.
So HARO is back, but it is far from the only option, and many experts now get better results elsewhere. I have gone through every platform on this list again and removed the ones that shut down, changed direction or stopped being useful.
Updated October 2026: all tools, prices and links below are checked against each tool’s own website. Prices change often, so double-check before you buy.
1. Source of Sources (SOS)
Price: Free.
Source of Sources is run by Peter Shankman, the same person who founded HARO back in 2008. He launched it in 2024 (first as “HERO”) after Cision changed HARO.
It works just like the original HARO: journalist queries land in your inbox up to three times a day, and you pitch the reporter directly by email.
It is completely free and asks for charity donations instead of subscriptions. If you liked the old HARO, start here.
2. Qwoted
Price: Free Basic plan (2 pitches per month). Pro from $149 per month.
Qwoted is one of the most popular HARO alternatives and a marketplace where journalists and experts find each other, with real-time alerts and a daily opportunities email.
In BuzzStream’s 2025 study of journalist request platforms, Qwoted had the highest volume of high-authority requests, which makes it one of the best places to spend your pitching time.
The free plan is limited and has a short delay on new requests, so serious users usually upgrade to Pro.
3. Featured
Price: Free plan available. Lite from $29 per month and Pro from $79 per month (billed annually).
Featured (formerly Terkel) is the company that bought HARO in 2025. Today it calls itself an AI co-pilot for PR.
You describe what you are looking for, and it finds journalist requests, podcasts, speaking events, awards and backlink opportunities, and helps you draft pitches.
It pulls in requests from HARO, LinkedIn and other sources, so it is a good all-in-one option if you want one dashboard instead of several inboxes.
4. Connectively
Price: Free plan (3 answers per month). Paid plans from $19 per month, or $11 per month billed yearly.
Yes, Connectively is back. Featured revived the name in May 2026 as a platform version of HARO, run alongside the free HARO emails.
Instead of answering by email, you browse and answer queries in a dashboard, with AI-suggested answers, an expert profile and bylined articles. Paid users also get early access to HARO queries.
If you prefer working in a platform rather than your inbox, this is the most direct replacement for the old HARO experience.
5. MentionMatch (formerly Help a B2B Writer)
Price: Free.
MentionMatch is the new name for Help a B2B Writer, now run by Superpath.
B2B writers post requests for quotes, data and expertise, and matching experts get them by email. It has more than 9,000 sources.
It is a great fit if you work in marketing, SaaS, SEO or other B2B topics, and it costs nothing to join.
6. SourceBottle
Price: Free plan available. Unlimited pitches from $65 per month, or $25 per pitch with “No Pitch, No Pay”.
SourceBottle publishes media call-outs from journalists, bloggers and podcasters, and lets you sign up for email alerts on the topics you care about.
It is especially strong in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, so it is worth adding if you target media there.
7. ResponseSource
Price: From £625 per year per category (excluding VAT), with a free trial.
ResponseSource is the long-standing UK equivalent of HARO. Journalists send enquiries, and they are emailed to PR professionals and companies subscribed to the matching categories.
It is a paid service aimed at PR agencies and in-house teams, but if UK media coverage matters to you, it is one of the most established options.
8. ProfNet
Price: Pricing on request (depends on your organization and number of users). Free for journalists.
ProfNet is run by Cision and PR Newswire. Journalists submit queries, and subscribed experts and PR people respond with relevant insights.
It has been around for decades and is popular with universities, large companies and PR agencies.
9. PitchResponse
Price: From $29 per month. 7-day free trial, no credit card required.
PitchResponse collects press opportunities from Source of Sources, MentionMatch, X and its own exclusive listings in one place.
You can set up keyword alerts, pitch directly from templates and use its AI pitch assistant, which saves a lot of time if you answer many requests every week.
10. JournoFinder
Price: Free plan (journalist request search and 3 daily email alerts). Paid from $119 per month billed annually.
JournoFinder is a journalist database with journalist request alerts and an AI agent that builds media lists for you.
The free plan is enough to monitor journalist requests, while the paid plans add the full database and reactive PR alerts. It is popular in UK digital PR.
11. JustReachOut
Price: From $98 per month billed annually ($147 billed monthly). 7-day trial on monthly plans.
JustReachOut is AI-powered PR software that helps you find relevant journalists and podcasts and pitch them faster.
It also manages pitch requests in one place. It is a good fit for consultants and small teams that do outreach every week.
12. Muck Rack
Price: Custom pricing (contact sales).
Muck Rack is a full PR platform with a journalist database, pitching, media monitoring and reporting.
It now also tracks how your brand appears in AI-generated answers. It is built for PR teams with a real budget, not for occasional HARO-style pitching.
13. Meltwater
Price: Custom pricing (contact sales), usually on annual contracts.
Meltwater offers media monitoring, social listening, a media relations database and influencer tools.
Like Muck Rack, it is an enterprise platform. It is a good choice for organizations that want to monitor coverage and manage media relations at scale.
14. Semrush AI PR Toolkit (formerly Prowly)
Price: From $149 per month billed annually. 7-day free trial.
Prowly is now the Semrush AI PR Toolkit. It includes a media database, pitching, press release tools, media monitoring and competitor benchmarking.
It also highlights media that AI tools cite, which is handy if you want coverage that improves your visibility in AI search. If you already use Semrush, it fits neatly into your workflow.
15. Forbes Councils
Price: Membership fee after approval (not listed publicly).
Forbes Councils is a vetted, paid network for senior professionals. You apply, and if you are accepted, you can contribute to expert panels and publish articles on Forbes.com.
Keep in mind that this is paid membership, not earned media, so the value comes more from credibility and visibility than from link building.
16. #JournoRequest on X, LinkedIn and Bluesky
Price: Free.
Journalists often post requests on social media with the hashtag #JournoRequest. You can follow the hashtag on X, LinkedIn and Bluesky and reply or send a DM when a request fits your expertise.
It is less structured than a dedicated platform and you need to move quickly, but it is free and many requests never appear anywhere else.
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What Is HARO, and What Happened to It?
HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is a free service that connects journalists with expert sources. Journalists submit queries, and sources receive them by email and pitch the journalist directly.
Here is a short timeline of what has happened to it:
- 2008: Peter Shankman starts HARO. It later becomes part of Cision.
- Early 2024: Cision rebrands HARO as Connectively, replacing the free email digests with a platform and pay-per-pitch limits.
- December 2024: Cision shuts Connectively down.
- April 2025: Featured.com buys HARO and relaunches it as a free email service with up to three digests every weekday.
- May 2026: Featured also revives Connectively as a paid platform version alongside the free HARO emails.
Today, HARO is free for both journalists and sources and is funded by ads in the newsletter. It also has stricter rules against AI-generated pitches.
Is HARO Still Worth Using?
HARO can still get you great links and mentions, but there are a few things to know before you rely on it.
The good: it is free, it reaches a huge network of journalists, and a single good placement can earn you a link from a very authoritative site.
The not-so-good: competition is fierce, and writing good pitches takes time. BuzzStream’s 2025 study also found that more than a third of the relaunched HARO’s requests came from low-authority sites, so not every placement is worth chasing.
My advice is to use HARO together with one or two of the alternatives above, like Source of Sources and Qwoted, and only pitch requests from sites you would actually be proud to be featured on.
Other Ways to Get Backlinks and Expert Quotes
What if you decide that using one of these platforms is not for you? Are there other ways to get backlinks and expert quotes?
Of course! Let’s look at two of the main ways to do just that.
SEO Companies + Digital PR Agencies
One of the best ways to get high-quality links and expert quotes is to partner with SEO companies or digital PR agencies. They have their own networks and can make sure your backlinks are high quality.
However, their link-building services can be pricey, and even the smallest packages may be out of budget if you are just starting out.
Create High-Quality Content for Organic Links
Another way, and one that is entirely free, is to create high-quality content. If you publish content that is genuinely useful, other websites will link to it naturally.
The better your reputation and the more great content you have out there, the faster this happens, just like a snowball!
I do recommend using a backlink monitoring tool, though, since you are likely to pick up spammy backlinks along the way. One of my favorites is Ahrefs Free Backlink Checker. It is powerful and very easy to use.
Wrap-Up
HARO is back, but it is no longer the only game in town. Whether you want a free email list like Source of Sources, a platform like Qwoted or Connectively, or a full PR suite like Muck Rack, there is an option that fits your budget.
Just remember that a lot of your website’s authority depends on your reputation, so keep creating high-quality content as part of your link-building strategy, and keep an eye out for spammy backlinks that could drag you down.
To keep up with the latest SEO best practices, check out these SEO podcasts.
FAQ
Does HARO still exist?
Yes. HARO was shut down as Connectively in December 2024, but Featured.com bought it and relaunched it as a free email service in April 2025. You can sign up at helpareporter.com.
Is HARO free to use?
Yes. HARO is free for both journalists and sources and is funded by ads in its newsletter. Connectively, its platform version, has a free plan and paid plans from $19 per month.
What is the best free HARO alternative?
Source of Sources, run by HARO founder Peter Shankman, is the closest free alternative. MentionMatch is free and great for B2B topics, and Qwoted and Featured both have free plans.
How do I get backlinks from HARO?
Sign up as a source, watch for queries that match your expertise, and send a short, specific pitch quickly. If the journalist uses your answer, you may get a mention or a backlink.
What happened to Connectively?
Cision shut Connectively down in December 2024. Featured.com revived the Connectively name in May 2026 as a platform version of HARO.
