Platform Comparison
HARO vs Qwoted vs Featured vs SourceBottle — which actually works?
“HARO is gone. But the principle behind it — that journalists need sources, and being the fastest credible response wins — is more relevant than ever.”
Pro TipSet up email alerts for all four platforms and respond within 60 minutes of receiving a relevant query. Speed is the single biggest differentiator. A mediocre response sent in 30 minutes beats a perfect response sent the next day.— Salva Jovells, Presslei
⌚ 8 min read · 1,824 words
platforms reviewed
After Connectively died in December 2024, the journalist request platform landscape fractured. HARO came back under new ownership. Qwoted grew. Featured absorbed Terkel. SourceBottle and ResponseSource kept doing their thing quietly.
If you’re trying to figure out which platforms to actually use in 2026, this comparison cuts through the noise. I’ve tested or evaluated all of them, and I’ll tell you which ones are worth your time based on what I’ve seen work for reactive PR.
The short version
Free & starting out: HARO + Qwoted free + Featured
Scaling ($149/mo): Qwoted Pro + HARO
UK-focused (£625/yr): ResponseSource + SourceBottle
Time-strapped ($49/mo): PressPulse (AI-filtered queries)
The real play: Build your own journalist database and pitch proactively
In This Article
The Quick Comparison
| Platform | Cost | Volume | Quality | Best For | Geography |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HARO | Free | High (3 digests/day) | Mixed | Volume play, beginners | Global (US-heavy) |
| Qwoted | Free / $149/mo Pro | Medium | High | Targeted, relationship-driven | Global |
| Featured | Free to pitch | Medium | Medium-High | Expert roundups, content | Global |
| SourceBottle | Free | Low-Medium | Medium | Regional coverage | Australia, NZ, UK |
| ResponseSource | From £625/yr | Medium | High | UK media specifically | UK only |
| PressPulse | $49-99/mo | Curated | High | AI-filtered HARO queries | Global |
| ProfNet | ~$500/quarter | Low | High | Enterprise, academic | US-heavy |
HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
Status in 2026: Alive and free. Acquired by Featured.com in April 2025. Relaunched with the classic 3x daily email digest format.
How it works: Sign up as a source. Receive 3 email digests per day with journalist queries across categories. Reply to relevant queries with your expert pitch.
Volume: Highest of any platform. Dozens of queries per digest. You’ll scan 30-50+ queries daily.
Quality reality:
- The good: Major outlets still post queries. Forbes, Business Insider, HuffPost, industry publications.
- The bad: Many queries come from unnamed outlets, content farms, or low-DR blogs.
- The ugly: AI-generated responses have flooded the platform. Journalists get 100-300 pitches per query.
Success rate: 5-10% on average, 15-20% with optimized pitches. Speed is the #1 factor. Respond within 60 minutes or don’t bother.
Free
Cost
High
Volume
Mixed
Quality
My take: HARO is the gym membership of PR. Everyone signs up. Most people stop going after a month. The ones who show up consistently get results. I wrote a full HARO strategy guide with the detailed playbook.
Pro Tip
Personalize every pitch. Reference the journalist most recent article and explain why your story matters to their specific audience.
Qwoted
Status in 2026: Growing. Positioned as the premium HARO alternative.
How it works: Two-sided marketplace. Journalists post queries, experts create profiles. Qwoted’s algorithm matches queries to your profile. Journalists can also discover and contact you directly.
Pricing:
- Free: 2 pitches/month. Requests arrive with a 2-hour delay.
- Pro ($149/month): Unlimited pitches. Instant access. Pitch analytics. Priority listing.
Quality reality:
- Journalist queries tend to be higher quality than HARO. More specific, better-defined outlets.
- Qwoted vets both journalists and sources, reducing spam on both sides
- Bidirectional matching means journalists can find YOU
- Smaller pool = less competition per query
$149/mo
Pro Cost
Medium
Volume
High
Quality
My take: This is where the market is going. HARO is volume. Qwoted is precision. If I had to pick one paid platform for journalist requests, this would be it.
Featured (Formerly Terkel)
Status in 2026: Active. Now also owns HARO.
How it works: Q&A-driven platform. Publishers post specific questions. Experts submit responses. Selected answers appear in roundup-style articles on partner websites.
Pricing: Free to create a profile and pitch.
Quality reality:
- Articles tend to be expert roundups (“10 experts share their advice on X”)
- Outlet quality varies. Some solid publications, others are content sites.
- Your quote appears alongside 5-15 other experts, diluting impact
- Links are usually dofollow, valuable for SEO
My take: Use it as a supplement, not a primary channel. Good for early backlinks. Less impactful for brand authority than an exclusive quote in a major publication.
SourceBottle
Status in 2026: Stable. Quietly effective.
How it works: Similar to HARO with a geographic focus. Journalists post source requests. You receive email alerts by category.
Pricing: Free.
Quality reality:
- Popular in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK
- Lower volume = less competition = better odds
- Queries from regional and national publications in those markets
My take: Niche but effective. If you’re focused on UK coverage (and based on our placement data, the UK is the richest market for reactive PR), pair SourceBottle with ResponseSource.
Key Takeaway
The best pitches answer one question: why should this journalist readers care about this right now?
ResponseSource
Status in 2026: Stable. The UK standard.
How it works: UK journalists post categorized, deadline-tagged media requests. You subscribe to relevant categories.
Pricing: From £625/year per topic category. Press release wire from £85/release.
Quality reality:
- Highest journalist quality of any platform on this list for UK coverage
- The subscription cost filters out casual users
- Strong reputation among UK journalists
My take: If your clients need UK coverage, this is non-negotiable. If Reach PLC titles (Express, Mirror, Daily Star) are targets, ResponseSource is essential.
PressPulse
Status in 2026: Growing as an AI-enhanced layer on top of HARO.
How it works: AI filters and curates HARO-style queries, delivering only relevant opportunities based on your profile. Instead of scanning 50 queries per digest, you get 5-10 pre-filtered ones.
Pricing: $49-99/month.
My take: A time-saver, not a game-changer. Worth the $49/month if you’re spending too long scanning irrelevant HARO queries.
The hybrid strategy: Most successful PR teams use 2-3 platforms simultaneously. One premium platform for high-value opportunities + free platforms for volume. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Platform Picker
Answer these questions to find your ideal platform mix.
What’s your monthly PR tool budget?
$0 → HARO + Qwoted free + Featured (all free)
$50-100 → Add PressPulse ($49) for AI-filtered queries
$150+ → Add Qwoted Pro ($149) for unlimited high-quality pitches
Where is your target audience?
US/Global → HARO + Qwoted (strongest US journalist pools)
UK → ResponseSource (£625/yr) + SourceBottle (free)
Australia/NZ → SourceBottle (free, strong in AU/NZ)
What type of coverage do you want?
Expert quotes in major outlets → Qwoted Pro (best query quality)
SEO backlinks from roundups → Featured (free, dofollow links)
Volume of mentions → HARO (highest query volume, free)
My Recommended Stack by Budget
$0/month (Getting Started)
- HARO (free) — volume play, 5-10 pitches/week
- Qwoted (free tier) — 2 high-quality pitches/month
- Featured (free) — roundup placements for early backlinks
This is enough to land your first 10 media placements.
$99-149/month (Scaling Up)
- Qwoted Pro ($149/mo) — unlimited pitches, instant access
- HARO (free) — continue volume play
- PressPulse ($49/mo) — AI-filtered queries (optional)
£625+/year (UK-Focused)
- ResponseSource (£625/yr per category) — UK journalist requests
- Qwoted Pro ($149/mo) — international queries
- SourceBottle (free) — additional UK/AU coverage
The Real Play: Build Your Own System
Here’s what I actually do at Presslei: I use these platforms as one channel alongside my own journalist database of 27,000+ contacts. Instead of waiting for journalists to post queries, I pitch proactively using 10 proven campaign formats with data stories journalists want to publish.
Journalist request platforms are reactive by definition. You wait. Someone posts. You respond. That’s fine for building initial placements. But real scale comes from proactive outreach with your own stories and data.
The best strategy is both: use HARO and Qwoted for steady background placements while running proactive campaigns for the big wins.
One Metric That Matters
Across all platforms, the single metric that predicts success is response time. Not pitch quality (though that matters). Not credentials (though those help). How fast you respond.
Our data shows the same pattern in direct journalist outreach: pitches sent within 2 hours have 3x the pickup rate. On HARO-style platforms, that window is even shorter because you’re competing with hundreds of other sources.
If you take one thing from this comparison: set up alerts and respond fast. Everything else is optimization.
Key takeaway
Journalist request platforms are the entry point to earned media, not the whole strategy. Use them for steady background placements while building your own journalist relationships and running proactive campaigns. The best PR comes from pitching your own stories, not waiting for someone to ask.
Presslei is a reactive PR agency based in Zurich. We combine journalist request platforms with proactive data-driven campaigns to earn media coverage at scale. See our approach or get in touch.
About the Author
Salva Jovells
Founder of Presslei. 12+ years in ecommerce SEO across international markets. After a decade of link buying for Hockerty and Sumissura, I reverse-engineered 5,272 earned media placements and founded a reactive PR agency that builds authority through data-driven stories journalists actually want to publish. Based in Zurich.
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DO
- Set up profiles on 2-3 journalist request platforms
- Respond to relevant queries within 2 hours of posting
- Provide specific data points and named spokesperson quotes
- Track which platforms generate the highest-quality placements
- Use platform responses as a supplement to direct outreach
DON’T
- Respond to every query regardless of relevance
- Send generic template responses without personalization
- Rely on platforms as your only source of PR opportunities
- Ignore the journalist’s specific requirements in the query
- Submit responses after the stated deadline
Frequently Asked Questions
Which platform is best for beginners?
Featured.com is the most beginner-friendly because the query volume is high and the response format is structured. Start there to build confidence, then layer in HARO as you get faster at crafting expert responses.
Can you get results on the free plans?
Yes. The free tiers give you enough access to generate a handful of placements per month if you’re selective and fast. Test free for 60 days before committing to a subscription.
How many queries should you respond to weekly?
10–20 per week across all platforms without quality suffering. Pick 5–8 queries where your expertise is genuinely strong and write specific, credible responses. Quality beats volume every time.
