Featured.com (formerly Terkel) does one thing well: a curated, low-spam source-request platform where you answer journalist questions — many from Fortune- and Fast Company-tier outlets — and earn quotes, citations, and backlinks. It also now runs the revived HARO. But the complaints are consistent: it works in practice as a pay-to-play SEO link-building tool, where the free plan caps you at ~3 answers a month and the real value sits behind the $7/credit, ~$50/mo Pro, and ~$100/mo Business tiers. You never reach the publisher directly, and its domain-authority filters quietly exclude smaller and niche outlets.
So the real choice is between two different jobs: answering journalist questions and waiting to be picked (HARO, Qwoted, JustReachOut, Source of Sources, Help a B2B Writer) vs. proactively finding and pitching the right journalists yourself. Medialyst sits in that second category and is ranked #1 as best overall — though it's not a source-request service, it's the complement for people who'd rather drive their own outreach. Below, both jobs, compared fairly.
A disclosure up front: we make Medialyst, so we've ranked it first — but be clear-eyed about what that means. Medialyst is NOT a source-request service like Featured; it's a proactive journalist-discovery and outreach tool, a different and complementary category. We rank it #1 as 'best overall' only for buyers who'd rather pitch the right journalists than answer prompts and wait. If your goal is specifically to answer inbound queries the way you do on Featured, the source-request tools below (Qwoted, HARO, JustReachOut, Source of Sources, Help a B2B Writer) are the true like-for-like swaps, and we say so plainly. We evaluated every tool on the things that actually decide this category: query quality and outlet tier, how much real value sits behind the free tier, transparency of pricing, spam and acceptance dynamics, and whether you interact with the publisher directly. Pricing is drawn from public pages and customer reviews (G2, Trustpilot) as of June 2026; where a competitor is genuinely better than us at something, we say so — and Featured's own real strengths (curation, low spam, top-tier publishers, and operating HARO) are acknowledged throughout.
Tool
Best for
Standout
Starting price
Free option
1Medialyst
PR teams, founders, and experts who'd rather proactively pitch the right journalists for their story than answer prompts in a queue and wait to be picked. (Not a source-request service itself — a complementary outreach tool.)
AI reads each journalist's recent coverage and scores fit for your story
From $97/mo (annual) · $149/mo monthly
Free first list · no credit card
2Qwoted
Experts and PR teams who want the closest like-for-like to Featured's curated model — inbound queries from elite, verified outlets with the least spam.
Largest share of DR 80+ outlets among source-request platforms, aggressively anti-spam
$99/mo (annual) or $149/mo monthly, Pro
Free tier (2 pitches/mo, 2-hr delay)
3HARO
Anyone who wants a free, zero-commitment inbound query feed and is willing to scan three emails a day to find a fit.
Free, ad-supported, 1M+ sources — the most recognizable query brand, now with AI-spam detection
Free (ad-supported)
Free (email newsletter)
4JustReachOut
SMBs and DIY founders who want inbound query discovery and the ability to proactively pitch from one tool, with built-in PR education.
Aggregates journalist requests from 20+ sources and pairs them with a 700K-journalist database and AI pitching
$147 / $247 / $497 per month
7-day trial (card required)
5Source of Sources (SOS)
Experts and small teams who want a free, no-frills journalist-query feed and trust the original HARO pedigree.
Built by Peter Shankman, who created HARO — free, email-first, deliberately simple
Free
Free (email feed)
6Help a B2B Writer
B2B founders, SaaS marketers, and subject-matter experts who only want queries from business and trade publications.
Free and tightly niched to B2B/SaaS queries — far less consumer noise
Free
Free
7Connectively
Mostly historical — anyone researching what happened to the old HARO/Connectively. The live product is now Featured's paid tier.
Cision's HARO rebrand that shut down Dec 9, 2024 — now Featured.com's relaunched paid platform
Paid; tiers unverified during relaunch
No standalone free tier (HARO is the free option)
Pricing reflects public pages and customer reviews as of June 2026. Featured itself runs a free tier (~3 answers/mo), $7/credit, a Pro plan around $50/mo, and Business around $100/mo, and now operates the free HARO newsletter. Connectively's relaunch tiers are unsettled — verify at connectively.us. Source of Sources and Help a B2B Writer are free.
The ranked list
The 7 best Featured alternatives.
1
MedialystOur pick5.0/5 on G2
AI-native journalist discovery — story-in, verified list out
Best for: PR teams, founders, and experts who'd rather proactively pitch the right journalists for their story than answer prompts in a queue and wait to be picked. (Not a source-request service itself — a complementary outreach tool.)
Pricing: From $97/mo (annual) · $149/mo monthly
Free option: Free first list · no credit card
Medialyst is the AI-native media list builder. Instead of handing you a giant static database to filter and verify yourself, it reads hundreds of articles relevant to your specific announcement, surfaces the journalists who actually cover it, scores them 0–100 by fit with reasoning grounded in their recent work, and verifies every email in real time before it reaches you. It runs from a chat box — paste a release, a URL, or a one-line description — and from inside Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor via a public REST API and a hosted remote MCP server. Pricing is public, monthly, and contract-free; your first list is free with no credit card.
Pros
Story-specific relevance scoring grounded in journalists' actual recent articles, not keyword filters
Every email verified in real time before delivery — built to kill the bounce-rate problem of static databases
Public, monthly, contract-free pricing with a free first list
Agent-native: public REST API + hosted remote MCP, usable inside Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor
Upload any competitor CSV and the agent re-verifies and re-scores every contact
Cons
Not a source-request platform — if your goal is specifically to answer inbound journalist questions like you do on Featured, a query feed (Qwoted, HARO) is the closer fit and the two pair well
Newer than the legacy incumbents — not the choice if a recognizable enterprise brand name is itself the requirement
The high-quality, vetted source-request marketplace
Best for: Experts and PR teams who want the closest like-for-like to Featured's curated model — inbound queries from elite, verified outlets with the least spam.
Pricing: $99/mo (annual) or $149/mo monthly, Pro
Free option: Free tier (2 pitches/mo, 2-hr delay)
If you like Featured's curated, low-spam model but want it as a live marketplace, Qwoted is the closest swap. It processes roughly 200 journalist queries a day and, per a BuzzStream study, holds the highest share of DR 80+ high-authority publication requests among source-request platforms — Forbes, CNBC, Yahoo Finance reporters actively asking for sources. It bans AI-pitch spam aggressively, which keeps signal quality high. The honest catches mirror Featured's: the free tier is nearly unusable (2 pitches a month with a 2-hour delay that lets paying users answer first), Pro is a real price step at $99/mo billed annually, and it's inbound-only — you're still responding to queries, not pitching your own story. There's also a recurring Trustpilot pattern of accounts suspended without much explanation, recently including AI-content bans, so be careful if you draft with AI.
Pros
Highest share of high-authority (DR 80+) outlets among source-request tools
Aggressive anti-spam filtering keeps query quality high — like Featured
Surfaces podcasts, speaking, and awards beyond article quotes, plus real networking
Cons
Free tier is heavily limited (2 pitches/mo with a 2-hour delay)
Inbound-only — you respond to queries, you don't pitch your own story
Reports of account suspensions, recently including AI-content bans
The free query newsletter — now run by Featured itself
Best for: Anyone who wants a free, zero-commitment inbound query feed and is willing to scan three emails a day to find a fit.
Pricing: Free (ad-supported)
Free option: Free (email newsletter)
Here's the twist that matters for this list: Featured.com actually operates HARO. It bought the brand back from Cision in April 2025 and revived it as a free, ad-supported email newsletter of journalist requests, sent three times a day to a million-plus sources. So if Featured's free tier feels too capped, HARO is the same company's free front door — same curation philosophy, no answer limits, no payment. In July 2025 it added Pangram AI-detection so journalists can filter out AI-generated pitches, which has helped the spam problem that nearly killed it. The trade-off is everything a broadcast newsletter implies: you're one of hundreds answering the same query, there's no contact data or verification, and it's purely reactive — you can only respond to what journalists happen to ask today. Featured's paid Connectively platform is the upsell from here; HARO is the free version of the same motion.
Pros
Genuinely free with no answer caps — the simplest way to keep doing 'Featured-style' inbound
1M+ sources and 15-year brand recognition means a steady supply of queries
Pangram AI-spam detection (added 2025) has improved query quality
Cons
Broadcast crowd model — hundreds answer the same query, low acceptance odds
No contact data, no verification, no direct publisher relationship
Reactive only — you answer what's asked, you can't proactively pitch
Source requests plus a database and pitching, in one app
Best for: SMBs and DIY founders who want inbound query discovery and the ability to proactively pitch from one tool, with built-in PR education.
Pricing: $147 / $247 / $497 per month
Free option: 7-day trial (card required)
JustReachOut is the most full-featured swap if you want more than a query feed. Post-HARO it built a curated press-opportunity finder that aggregates journalist requests from 20+ sources and updates throughout the day — and it pairs that inbound discovery with a 700,000-journalist database, AI-drafted pitches, and sending from your own Gmail or Outlook, so you can both answer queries and proactively pitch from one place. It's also unusually good at teaching, with a PR Academy aimed at solopreneurs. The honest limits: it's pricier than the pure feeds ($147–$497/mo, contract-free with a 7-day card-required trial), the database search is recency-biased and skews US-heavy, the UX feels dated to some reviewers, and it's candid that real results take three to six months. For a Featured user who wants to expand beyond answering prompts without jumping to a full database tool, it's a sensible middle path.
Pros
Combines source-request discovery with a database and proactive pitching
Strong PR education (PR Academy) for DIY founders and small teams
Contract-free monthly pricing, sends from your own inbox
Cons
More expensive than the pure query feeds ($147–$497/mo)
Recency-biased, US-skewed database search and a dated UX
Honest that meaningful results take three to six months
Best for: Experts and small teams who want a free, no-frills journalist-query feed and trust the original HARO pedigree.
Pricing: Free
Free option: Free (email feed)
Source of Sources is the closest thing to 'classic HARO,' built by Peter Shankman — the person who invented HARO in 2008 before selling it to Vocus/Cision. After HARO's various shutdowns and relaunches, SOS reopened the original playbook: a free email feed of journalist source requests you can answer to earn quotes and citations. It's deliberately stripped-down — no dashboard, no AI co-pilot, no subscription — which is exactly the appeal for people burned by the platformization (and pricing) of the Featured/Connectively era. The trade-off is the same one every broadcast query feed has: you're answering in a public crowd, spam and low acceptance rates are real, and there's no contact data, no verification, and no proactive discovery. As a free, credible inbound feed to run alongside HARO, it's a sensible pick; as a replacement for Featured's curated, vetted publisher network, it's lighter-weight and noisier.
Pros
Genuinely free, with the credibility of HARO's original founder
Simple email-first model with no platform to learn or subscription to manage
A reasonable free complement to HARO and Qwoted for inbound coverage
Cons
Broadcast crowd model — you compete with everyone who got the same query
No vetting, no contact data, no verification, and historically prone to spam
Reactive only: no way to proactively find or pitch specific journalists
Best for: B2B founders, SaaS marketers, and subject-matter experts who only want queries from business and trade publications.
Pricing: Free
Free option: Free
Help a B2B Writer (from the team behind the Superpath content-marketing community) is a free source-request service with one sharp differentiator: it only carries B2B queries. Where HARO and Featured cast across consumer, lifestyle, finance, and B2B all at once, Help a B2B Writer filters to business, SaaS, and trade-publication requests, so a B2B expert wastes less time scrolling past irrelevant consumer prompts. Requests arrive by email and you respond directly to the writer. It's free and well-regarded for relevance within its lane. The limits are scope and scale: query volume is much lower than HARO/Featured because it's niche by design, it's useless if you need consumer or general-interest coverage, and like every query feed it's reactive, broadcast, and offers no journalist contact data or verification. For a B2B audience specifically, the higher signal-to-noise can beat Featured's broader queue.
Pros
Free, with a B2B-only focus that strips out consumer-query noise
Higher relevance-per-query for SaaS, fintech, and trade-press experts
Simple email workflow with direct replies to the writer
Cons
Niche by design — much lower query volume than HARO or Featured
No use at all for consumer or general-interest coverage
Reactive broadcast feed with no contact data, verification, or discovery
Discontinued, then revived as Featured's own paid platform
Best for: Mostly historical — anyone researching what happened to the old HARO/Connectively. The live product is now Featured's paid tier.
Pricing: Paid; tiers unverified during relaunch
Free option: No standalone free tier (HARO is the free option)
Connectively is mostly here to clear up confusion, because it's a moving target. It was the name Cision gave HARO when it rebranded in March 2024 — then Cision discontinued it entirely on December 9, 2024. The brand didn't stay dead: Featured.com revived Connectively on June 2, 2026 as its own separate paid platform, a live journalist-request feed with an AI co-pilot. So 'Connectively' as a standalone alternative to Featured no longer makes sense — it IS Featured now, sitting one tier above the free HARO newsletter. If you're evaluating it, you're really evaluating Featured's paid product under a different name, and its pricing is unsettled during the relaunch (sources cite both $49 and $149/mo). For most people the practical choice is HARO (free) or one of the vetted feeds above.
Pros
Live request feed with an AI co-pilot, backed by Featured/HARO's network
Useful if you specifically want Featured's paid platform under its Connectively brand
Spans journalists, podcasts, speaking, and awards in one feed
Cons
Discontinued by Cision on Dec 9, 2024 — the original is dead
Now just Featured's own paid tier, not an independent alternative
Pricing unsettled during the relaunch (cited at both $49 and $149/mo)
Paste a story. Get your journalist list in minutes.
Drop in a press release, your website URL, or a one-line description of your news. Medialyst reads what's relevant, finds reporters who actually cover it, scores them by fit, and verifies every email — your first list is free, no credit card.
First list free · No credit card
FAQ
Featured alternatives — common questions.
What is the best Featured.com alternative in 2026?
It depends on which job you're hiring a tool for. If you want to keep answering inbound journalist questions the way you do on Featured, Qwoted is the closest like-for-like — vetted, low-spam, with the highest share of high-authority outlets — and HARO (which Featured itself now runs) is the best free option. If you'd rather stop waiting to be picked and instead find the right journalists for your specific story and pitch them directly, Medialyst is the best overall pick: it reads recent coverage to find on-beat reporters, scores them by fit, and verifies every email in real time, starting at $149/mo with a free first list. Medialyst is a proactive outreach tool, not a source-request service, so many people run it alongside a query feed.
Why do people look for a Featured alternative?
The most common reasons: Featured functions in practice as a pay-to-play SEO link-building tool, where results scale with spend; the free plan caps you at roughly three answers a month; you never interact with the publisher directly (you submit into a queue and hope to be selected); and its domain-authority filters exclude smaller and niche outlets. None of that means Featured is bad — it's genuinely curated, low-spam, and tied to Fortune- and Fast Company-tier publishers — but those frictions push people to either a different query feed or a proactive outreach tool.
Is Featured the same as HARO now?
They're related but not identical. Featured.com bought HARO back from Cision in April 2025 and revived it as a free, ad-supported email newsletter of journalist requests, sent three times a day. Featured's own platform (and its paid Connectively tier) is a separate, curated product with free and paid plans. So Featured operates HARO, but HARO is the free newsletter while Featured/Connectively is the curated platform. If Featured's free caps frustrate you, HARO — from the same company — is the no-cost version of the same inbound motion.
Are there free alternatives to Featured?
Yes, several. HARO is free again (run by Featured.com itself) as an email newsletter. Source of Sources, built by HARO's original founder Peter Shankman, is a free query feed. Help a B2B Writer is a free feed carrying only B2B/SaaS queries. All three are reactive broadcast feeds with no contact data or verification — fine for inbound quotes, not for proactive outreach. Medialyst isn't free, but your first list is free with 300 credits and no credit card, so you can test proactive outreach before paying.
What's the real difference between answering source requests and proactive outreach?
Source requests (Featured, HARO, Qwoted, Source of Sources, Help a B2B Writer) are reactive: a journalist posts a question, and you answer it alongside everyone else who saw it, then wait to be selected. You can only respond to what's asked today. Proactive outreach (Medialyst) is the opposite motion: you have a story, and the tool finds the journalists who actually cover that topic, scores them by fit, verifies their emails, and lets you pitch them directly — on your timeline, with no queue to win. They're complementary, not mutually exclusive; a lot of teams answer queries for easy quotes and run proactive outreach for the stories that matter.
What happened to Connectively?
Connectively was the name Cision gave HARO when it rebranded in March 2024. Cision then shut it down entirely on December 9, 2024. The brand was revived on June 2, 2026 by Featured.com as its own separate paid platform — a live journalist-request feed with an AI co-pilot, sitting one tier above the free HARO newsletter. So the original Connectively is gone; the name now belongs to Featured's paid product, with relaunch pricing still unsettled (cited at both $49 and $149/mo).
Can I use Featured and Medialyst together?
Yes — that's the common pattern, because they do different jobs. Keep using Featured (or HARO/Qwoted) to answer inbound queries for easy quotes and citations, and use Medialyst when you have a specific story to push and want to proactively pitch the right journalists rather than wait for a matching prompt. If you already keep a media list anywhere, you can upload the CSV and Medialyst re-verifies and re-scores every contact against your story.
Product names and logos are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only for purposes of comparison. Medialyst is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the tools listed. Pricing and feature claims are based on public documentation and customer reviews as of June 2026; please verify with each vendor.
