Start with your customer, not the tool
Know your avatars, find where they are, then get in front of them. Work out which titles, newsletters, podcasts and creators your customers read first. The tools only help with the finding and the following up.
A lot has changed since 2021. HARO closed and came back under new owners, Gorkana became CisionOne, ResponseSource is now part of Pulsar, and reading #JournoRequest live on X now needs a paid plan. Here’s what works now. We checked every price on the tool’s own pricing page on 15 October 2026. Most show US dollars only.
1. Find journalist requests
Journalists ask for experts every day. Answer fast, answer properly, and you get quoted with a link. These are free or cheap, so start here.
| Tool | What it does | Price | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mention Match | Emails B2B writers’ requests for quotes and data, including marketing, ecommerce and DTC | Free for sources | B2B only, and each publication can send three requests a week at most |
| HARO | Free email of journalist queries, three a day. Now owned by Featured | Free | Featured reports that 35% of journalists block AI-written answers |
| Featured | Gathers requests from HARO, Substack, X and LinkedIn and helps you draft pitches | Free; Lite $39 a month | Daily AI limits on every plan |
| Qwoted | Matches journalists with expert sources | Free (2 pitches a month); Pro $149 a month | The free plan sees requests two hours late |
| ResponseSource | UK journalist enquiries straight to your inbox | Price on request | No public price |
| Source of Sources | Free email of journalist queries, up to three a day | Free | One off-topic pitch and you’re removed |
2. Build your media list
A media database tells you who writes about what, and how they like to be pitched. They’re built for PR teams that pitch every week, and most hide their prices.
| Tool | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Roxhill | UK media database with journalist bios and pitching preferences, plus monitoring | Price on request |
| CisionOne (formerly Gorkana) | Journalist database, monitoring and press release distribution | Price on request |
| Vuelio | UK media and political database with monitoring and distribution | Price on request |
| Muck Rack | Journalist database with pitching, monitoring and reporting | Custom proposals |
| Semrush AI PR Toolkit (formerly Prowly) | Media database, pitching and coverage tracking, now part of Semrush | Not shown |
The cheaper route for a small brand: build your own list. Note who already writes about your category, follow them, and keep a simple sheet of names, titles and topics.
3. Find contact details
Be polite with these. One relevant, personal pitch beats a hundred templates.
| Tool | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Hunter.io | Finds and checks work email addresses, with email sequences built in | Free (50 credits a month); Starter $49 a month |
| Apollo.io | Contact database and email sequences, built for B2B sales | Free plan; paid prices not shown |
4. Spot trends to newsjack
| Tool | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Google Trends | What the UK is searching for right now | Free |
| Exploding Topics | Fast-growing topics and products, before they peak | From $39 |
| BuzzSumo | The day’s most shared content, plus journalist research | From $199 a month, billed yearly |
| Featured | Watches breaking news in your area and suggests an angle | Included from free |
5. Send and track pitches
| Tool | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| BuzzStream | Outreach for digital PR and link building: press lists and pitch tracking | Price not shown |
| Pitchbox | Outreach, email finder and link monitoring in one | From $210 a month, billed yearly (one-year minimum) |
| Hunter Sequences | Simple email sequences | Included in Hunter plans |
6. Track coverage and links
Coverage only counts if it links to the right page. Check which pieces earned a link, and whether brand searches rose after they ran.
| Tool | What it does | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Google Alerts | Emails you new mentions of a keyword | Free |
| Featured monitoring | Brand mentions across news, blogs, podcasts and YouTube | Included from free |
| Mention | Social, web and review monitoring with sentiment | Custom plan |
| Meltwater | Media monitoring, social listening and AI visibility | Quote only, usually a 12-month minimum |
| BuzzSumo PR & Comms | Media lists and coverage reports | From $299 a month, billed yearly |
7. AI for PR
We don’t shy away from AI. We make the decisions, and AI makes sure we don’t miss a trick.
AI does the heavy lifting well: research, finding angles in data, first drafts, cleaning lists and tracking how AI answers describe your brand. Featured, Muck Rack and Meltwater all now track AI visibility.
AI can’t build the relationship, and journalists can spot a templated answer. Use AI to get faster, then add the expert view only you can give.
Our stack by budget
- Free: Mention Match, HARO, Google Trends, Google Alerts and a simple media sheet.
- Under £100 a month: add Featured Lite and the Hunter free plan, then Exploding Topics when you newsjack every week.
- Pitching every week: a media database (Roxhill, CisionOne or Muck Rack), an outreach tool (BuzzStream or Pitchbox) and proper monitoring.
Stack by budget
Know your avatars, find where they are, then get in front of them.