Platform Comparison
HARO vs Qwoted vs Featured vs SourceBottle — which actually works?
“The tool doesn’t matter much. Journalists need sources, and the fastest credible response wins — that was true with the old HARO and it’s still true on every platform that replaced it.”
Pro TipSet up email alerts on every platform you join and reply within 60 minutes of a relevant query landing. Speed beats polish — a decent response in 30 minutes beats a perfect one sent tomorrow.— Salva Jovells, Presslei
⌚ 8 min read
platforms reviewed
Connectively — the company running HARO — shut down in December 2024. The journalist-request platform landscape fractured after that. HARO came back under new ownership, Qwoted grew, Featured absorbed Terkel, and SourceBottle plus ResponseSource kept doing their thing quietly in the UK/AU/NZ market.
If you’re trying to figure out which platforms are worth your time in 2026, here’s the honest comparison. I’ve tested or evaluated all six, and I’ll tell you straight which ones actually deliver 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 |
HARO (Help a Reporter Out)
Status in 2026: Alive and free. Featured.com bought it in April 2025 and relaunched the classic three-times-daily email digest.
How it works: Sign up as a source, get three digests a day of journalist queries across categories, reply to the ones you can genuinely answer.
Volume: The highest of any platform here. Expect to scan 30-50+ queries a day.
The quality reality:
- The good: Forbes, Business Insider, HuffPost and plenty of industry trade press still post queries.
- The bad: Many queries come from unnamed outlets, content farms, or low-DR blogs.
- The ugly: AI-generated pitches have flooded the platform. Popular queries pull 100-300 responses.
Success rate: 5-10% on average, 15-20% with an optimized pitch. Speed is the #1 factor — reply 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 showing up after a month. The ones who stay consistent get results. Full playbook here: HARO strategy guide.
Pro Tip
Personalize every pitch. Reference the journalist’s most recent article and explain why your story matters to their specific audience.
Qwoted
Status in 2026: Growing fast, positioned as the premium HARO alternative.
How it works: Two-sided marketplace. Journalists post queries, experts build profiles, and Qwoted’s matching engine connects the two. Journalists can also find and message 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.
The quality reality:
- Queries skew higher quality than HARO — more specific asks, better-defined outlets.
- Qwoted vets both sides, which cuts spam from journalists and sources alike.
- Bidirectional matching means journalists can find you without a pitch.
- Smaller pool means less competition per query.
$149/mo
Pro Cost
Medium
Volume
High
Quality
My take: this is where the market is heading. HARO is volume. Qwoted is precision. If I had to pick one paid platform for journalist requests, it’d be this one.
Featured (Formerly Terkel)
Status in 2026: Active. Now also owns HARO.
How it works: Publishers post specific questions, experts submit written answers, and the best responses get published in roundup-style articles on partner sites.
Pricing: Free to create a profile and pitch.
The quality reality:
- Most placements are expert roundups (“10 experts share their advice on X”).
- Outlet quality is a mixed bag — some solid publications, some content-mill sites.
- Your quote sits next to 5-15 other experts, which dilutes the impact.
- Links are usually dofollow, so it’s a real SEO play.
My take: treat it as a supplement, not your main channel. Good for early backlinks. Weaker for brand authority than an exclusive quote in a major publication.
SourceBottle
Status in 2026: Stable and quietly effective.
How it works: Same idea as HARO with a regional focus. Journalists post source requests, you get email alerts by category.
Pricing: Free.
The quality reality:
- Strongest in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
- Lower volume means less competition and better odds per query.
- Queries come from regional and national publications in those markets.
My take: Niche but effective. If you’re chasing UK coverage, pair it with ResponseSource — research analyzing 5,272 placements from a leading UK digital PR agency (a study that shaped a lot of our own methodology at Presslei) points to the UK as the richest market for reactive PR.
Key Takeaway
The best pitches answer one question: why should this journalist’s 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 the categories that matter to you.
Pricing: From £625/year per topic category. Press release wire from £85/release.
The quality reality:
- Highest journalist quality of any platform here for UK coverage.
- The subscription cost filters out casual users on both sides.
- Strong, long-standing reputation among UK journalists.
My take: If a client needs UK coverage, this isn’t optional. If Reach PLC titles (Express, Mirror, Daily Star) are on the target list, ResponseSource earns its keep fast.
PressPulse
Status in 2026: Growing — an AI-filtering layer on top of HARO-style feeds.
How it works: AI filters HARO-style queries down to the ones that match your profile. Instead of scanning 50 queries a digest, you get 5-10 pre-filtered ones.
Pricing: $49-99/month.
My take: A time-saver, not a game-changer. Worth $49/month if you’re burning too many hours scanning irrelevant HARO queries.
The hybrid strategy: Most successful PR teams run 2-3 platforms at once — one premium platform for high-value opportunities, plus 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
Enough to land your first 10 media placements.
$99-149/month (Scaling Up)
- Qwoted Pro ($149/mo) — unlimited pitches, instant access
- HARO (free) — keep running the volume play
- PressPulse ($49/mo, optional) — AI-filtered queries
£625+/year (UK-Focused)
- ResponseSource (£625/yr per category) — UK journalist requests
- Qwoted Pro ($149/mo) — international queries
- SourceBottle (free) — extra UK/AU coverage
The Real Play: Build Your Own System
Here’s what I actually do at Presslei: these platforms are one channel alongside my own journalist database of 27,000+ contacts. Instead of waiting for someone to post a query, I pitch proactively using 10 proven campaign formats built around data journalists actually want to publish.
Journalist request platforms are reactive by definition — you wait, someone posts, you respond. That’s fine for your first placements. Real scale comes from proactive outreach with your own stories and data.
Best strategy is both: HARO and Qwoted for steady background placements, proactive campaigns for the big wins.
One Metric That Matters
Response time beats everything else. Not pitch quality (that matters too). Not credentials (those help). How fast you reply.
Our data shows the same pattern in direct journalist outreach: pitches sent within 2 hours get 3x the pickup rate. On HARO-style platforms that window is even tighter, because you’re competing with hundreds of other sources on the same query.
If you take one thing from this comparison: set up alerts and reply 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 you build direct journalist relationships and run proactive campaigns. The best coverage 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.
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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.
About the Author
Salvador 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.
