With news that Cision is shutting down Connectively, formerly HARO or Help a Reporter Out, starting on December 9, 2024, digital marketers will be on the hunt for a new platform to source subject matter experts (SMEs) and connect with journalists.
If you haven’t heard of the beloved resource, HARO was an online platform for journalists and marketers to discover SMEs for their stories, who provided linkable information for high-authority pages. In early 2024, HARO rebranded and became known as Connectively (even though many professionals still refer to the platform as HARO).
Whether you’re using HARO/Connectively to source SMEs for a survey or to support your link building strategy, it’s time to discover other options. Here are the 17 best HARO alternatives to start using now to up your company’s marketing and SEO strategy.
Table of Contents
- Source of Sources: Best for Simple Use
- Qwoted: Best for Expert Database
- Muck Rack: Best for Finding Contact Information
- Prowly: Best for PR Needs
- Help a B2B Writer: Best for Tailored Matches to SMEs
- Featured (formerly Terkel): Best for Connecting Directly to SMEs
- SourceBottle: Best for Effortless Connections as an SME
- Hunter.io: Best for All-Encompassing Outreach Platform
- JustReachOut: Best for AI-Powered Outreach
- PitchResponse: Best for Inbound Press Opportunities
- ResponseSource: Best for Reaching the U.K. Press
- Pitchbox: Best for Insight from SEO Experts
- Expertise Finder: Best for Quick Searches for SMEs
- OnePitch: Best for Rapid Media Lists
- NinjaOutreach: Best for Connecting to Influencers
- PitchRate: Best for No Cost Connection to SMEs
- Meltwater: Best for All-Encompassing Data
1. Source of Sources
Price: Free
Best for: Simple use
Source of Sources (SOS) allows you to sign up, receive, and respond to queries from media sources via email. Unlike HARO, SOS is completely free with no external platform or paid model
Knowing how to use Source of Sources can provide you with a great tool similar to HARO but with a different approach. There’s a distinct reason for this similarity — the founder of HARO, Peter Shankman, is also the founder and operator of SOS.
Many popular news outlets, including “The New York Times,” “Forbes,” “The Wall Street Journal,” and more, use SOS to find expert quotes for their queries. This also presents a great opportunity to gain quality backlinks on high-profile news sites.
To sign up for SOS and receive queries in your inbox, just go to their website and subscribe with your name and email address.
2. Qwoted
Price: Free for basic account
Best for: Expert database
Qwoted requires you to register to use their platform, and how you use the resource will depend on the type of account you sign up for:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | 2 pitches/month, 2-hour delay to pitch, real-time alerts, and daily opportunities email |
| Pro | $99/month ($1,188 billed annually) | Unlimited pitches, no pitch delay, pitch intelligence, events and awards database, and profile view intelligence |
| Teams | Contact for pricing | Everything in Pro, plus team management, custom branding, activity reports, admin dashboard, and support and training |
All accounts are free to create and operate on a basic level. For an additional monthly fee, you can access an unlimited number of pitches per month and additional features.
Qwoted also gives users access to an expert database where you can find information about SMEs and contact information to reach out directly.
3. Muck Rack
Price: Starts at around $5,000/year/user
Best for: Finding contact information
Muck Rack is known throughout the digital marketing and SEO industry as a great resource for sourcing journalist contact information. Its media pitching tool makes the platform even more useful by putting you in direct contact with media professionals and providing you with analytics for the specific campaign you’re pitching.
If you need an SME, you can search Muck Rack based on the topic to find journalists who cover a specific beat and their contact information.
Muck Rack is on the pricey side but is a one-stop shop for finding experts, contact information, and pitching.
4. Prowly
Price: 7-day free trial, $258/month for basic plan
Best for: PR needs
Prowly is an award-winning PR platform connecting users to a media database with over 1 million contacts. Digital marketers and SEO professionals can trust Prowly as part of the well-known Semrush company (which is popular for keyword research).
Plans include:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Basic annual | $258/month | Access to PR essentials, including the media database, audience insights, email pitching, monitoring tools, and more |
| Pro annual | $416/month | Access to everything in the Basic plan, plus the ability to enact follow-ups, PR reports, and social media listening |
| Enterprise | Contact for pricing | Access to everything in the Pro plan, plus broadcast and print monitoring, historical data, articles behind paywalls, and a dedicated customer success manager |
Whether you’re an in-house team or agency representative, Prowly’s platform lets you connect with journalists and experts for your current campaign, monitor any mentions you gain, craft reports, and more.
5. Help a B2B Writer
Price: Free
Best for: Tailored matches to SMEs
Help a B2B Writer is a HARO alternative that combines the idea behind HARO with a process similar to SOS. Users sign up as either a source or a writer (or both if you’re a writer and subject matter expert).
When you sign up as a source, you’ll be prompted to choose your areas of expertise. From there, you’ll only receive queries from writers in need of your selected expertise.
Signing up as a writer grants you access to unique quotes from SMEs who have identified specific areas of expertise. When you submit your query, you’ll check off the area of expertise you need a quote or insight on, and the system will email only those who match your request.
6. Featured (formerly Terkel)
Price: Free for publishers, free and paid subscriptions for experts
Best for: Connecting directly to SMEs
Featured connects publishers and SMEs directly to one another for shared expert insights. Over 1,000 high-authority publishers currently use Featured, including “Fast Company,” “Fortune,” and “Entrepreneur.”
Publishers can use Featured at no cost. For experts, plans include:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Free | 3 answers/month, tracking answer progress and success rate, and email notifications on 3 keywords |
| Pro | $39.80/month | Unlimited answers, query filtering, answer progress tracking, success rate, and keyword email notifications |
| Business | $79.20/month | Everything in Pro, plus the ability to submit 1 bylined article, 1 full-length interview, and AI recommendations |
Ultimately, the goal with Featured is to create quality and publish-ready content.
7. SourceBottle
Price: Free for publishers, paid subscriptions for experts
Best for: Effortless connections as an SME
SourceBottle is a platform that automatically pitches expert profiles to journalists so you don’t have to reach out yourself. As a digital marketer or SEO professional, you can create a publisher account for you or your client to receive expert insights for your content.
Registering as an expert source does incur a monthly fee, but the pricing information isn’t publicly available. You can also use SourceBottle to locate sponsored giveaways and case studies, but it costs an additional $25/month with the option to cancel at any time.
The platform includes exposure to worldwide publications, with a particular focus on Australian news outlets.
8. Hunter.io
Price: Free and paid subscriptions
Best for: All-encompassing outreach platform
Hunter.io is a well-known tool among digital marketing and SEO professionals for its handy Chrome extension that helps source emails in digital PR link building. What many people don’t know is that Hunter.io’s power goes way beyond emails with an all-in-one outreach platform that features a B2B lead discovery tool.
Now, you can prospect, source contact information, and track progress all in one place. The platform even allows you to filter based on location, industry, company size, keyword, and technology to provide you with tailored searches.
Plans for Hunter.io include:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 25 email searches/month, 50 email verifications/month |
| Starter | $408/year | 6K email searches and 12K email verifications/year, campaign features with 3 connected email accounts |
| Growth | $1,248/year | 60K email searches and 120K email verifications/year, campaign features with 10 connected email accounts |
| Business | $4,188/year | 600K email searches and 1.2 million email verifications/year, campaign features with 20 connected email accounts |
| Enterprise | Contact for pricing | Contact for more information |
9. JustReachOut
Price: 7-day free trial, monthly/annual subscription
Best for: AI-powered outreach
JustReachOut is PR outreach software that boasts a database of over 700,000 journalists. Its target market is PR specialists who conduct media outreach on behalf of their clients with the end goal of having them featured in the press, gaining press mentions, and building relevant links.
There is no contract for JustReachOut, allowing you to end your subscription at any time. After the seven-day free trial, plans include:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Starter Outreach | Monthly plan $147/month, annual plan $98/month | 1 team member, 1 brand, 100 emails/month, outreach tools, AI for PR and journalist pitch engines |
| Advanced Outreach | Monthly plan $247/month, annual plan $165/month | 2 team members, 5 brands, 300 emails/month, outreach tools, AI for PR and journalist pitch engines |
| Ultimate Outreach | Monthly plan $497/month, annual plan $331/month | 5 team members, 10 brands, 1K emails/month, outreach tools, AI for PR and journalist pitch engines, and narrative building session |
10. PitchResponse
Price: 7-day free trial, monthly subscription
Best for: Inbound press opportunities
PitchResponse aims to solve common pain points both journalists and SMEs feel throughout the outreach process. The platform helps connect businesses and brands to media outlets for press coverage opportunities.
Users have received mentions in high-profile news organizations, including “The New York Times,” “U.S. News & World Report,” and “Fortune.” Additionally, users have been featured on television networks including CNN, NBC, Food Network, and ESPN.
PitchResponse features two different plan options: link building and media database. Link building plans are ideal for SMEs, SEO, and PR professionals seeking inbound press opportunities, while media database plans are ideal for SEO and PR professionals and agencies working on outbound campaigns.
Link building plan pricing includes:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $29/month | 1 project and email account for 1 user, platform-based pitches, keyword alerts, and analytic data |
| Pro | $99/month | 10 projects and 2 email accounts for 3 users, platform-based pitches, keyword alerts, and analytic data |
| Agency | $199/month | 30 projects and 3 email accounts for 10 users, Pro features, link type, pitch analyzer, and tutorials |
Media database plan pricing includes:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| PR Basic | $149/month | 1 outreach project with 1 connected email account for 2 users, ability to send 100 outreach emails |
| PR Team | $299/month | 10 outreach projects with 3 connected email accounts for 10 users, ability to send 300 outreach emails |
11. ResponseSource
Price: Pay-as-you-use plan or bundles
Best for: Reaching the U.K. press
ResponseSource connects SMEs, marketers, and SEOs with the U.K. media. There are three options for ResponseSource users: a journalist enquiry service, press release wire, and Vuelio’s global media database.
Perhaps the most convenient part of ResponseSource is its flexible payment model. The journalist inquiry service and Vuelio media database plans vary depending on use and category.
Plans for the press release wire include:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | Starting at £85 (~$108) | 3 categories included; add more for an additional fee or attach images and files for an additional £20 (~$25.50) |
| 10 Release Bundle | £675 (~$861) | All categories and image and file attachments, 10 press releases |
| 20 Release Bundle | £1,050 (~$1,339.52) | All categories and image and file attachments, 20 press releases |
12. Pitchbox
Price: Monthly plans or pay upfront
Best for: Insight from SEO experts
Pitchbox is an all-in-one platform that showcases over 20 options for prospecting, including the possibility to import data from popular industry tools like Ahrefs and Moz.
Overall, Pitchbox aims to provide you with an endless list of outreach prospects and make it easy to stay in touch with features like automated follow-ups.
Plan pricing includes:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Pro | Monthly plan $195/month or pay upfront $165/month | 2 user emails with 2 email accounts, 2K outreach emails, 1 workspace, 25 campaigns, 1K prospecting searches/month, 100K contacts and 600K data credits |
| Advanced | Monthly plan $495/month or pay upfront $420/month | Unlimited user emails with 6 email accounts, 5K outreach emails, 25 workspaces, unlimited campaigns and prospecting searches, 200K contacts and 200K data credits |
| Custom | Contact for pricing | Unlimited user emails with 50 email accounts, 50K outreach emails, unlimited workspaces, campaigns, prospecting searches, contacts, and data credits |
13. Expertise Finder
Price: Free
Best for: Quick searches for SMEs
Expertise Finder was built and still operates as a search engine specifically for finding experts from universities. Search by name or expertise to discover faculty who can provide expert-level insight into a variety of topics. The search feature is free to use.
To become listed as an expert, you simply fill out the form on Expertise Finder’s website. Listing as an expert is free, but you can also sign up for a premium plan for $5/month.
14. OnePitch
Price: All access for $50/month or $510/year
Best for: Rapid media lists
OnePitch provides tailored media lists for every pitch within five seconds. This tool was built for publicists by publicists but can be used by other professionals to connect with journalists. Simply submit a press release for your brand or client and receive your tailored media list of relevant contacts.
Instead of offering a tiered subscription, OnePitch gives you access to everything you need at one price. This tool is best for campaigns that require a quick turnaround or for agencies who want a one-stop shop tool for digital PR.
15. NinjaOutreach
Price: 7-day free trial, monthly or annual subscription
Best for: Connecting to influencers
NinjaOutreach allows marketing professionals to search for and connect with 120 million influencers and content creators on Instagram and YouTube. The platform operates like a search engine, where users can find influencers by username or keyword.
Plan pricing includes:
| Plan | Price | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze Ninja | Monthly plan $149/month or annual plan $49/month | Contact 100 influencers/month through 2 campaigns |
| Silver Ninja | Monthly plan $299/month or annual plan $99/month | Contact 300 influencers/month through 10 campaigns |
| Gold Ninja | Monthly plan $499/month or annual plan $199/month | Contact 500 influencers/month through 20 campaigns, plus social media tracking and e-commerce integration |
This is ideal for clients or companies seeking influencer digital PR promotion of their product or service. Many influencers are also considered SMEs and can provide insight into topics as needed.
16. PitchRate
Price: Free
Best for: No cost connection to SMEs
PitchRate is a free PR tool used to help build connections between journalists and SMEs. Users will register as either a journalist or an expert.
If you register as a journalist, you’ll receive pitches from experts responding directly to any requests you send. Registering as an expert will provide you with access to media requests via your inbox; all you have to do is respond with your insight.
As a digital marketer or SEO professional, you can use PitchRate to find SMEs to add a credible source to articles and pitch pieces to journalists. Use this as part of your strategy for link building services offered to clients.
17. Meltwater
Price: Contact for pricing
Best for: All-encompassing data
Meltwater began as an online media monitoring company and now offers a full suite of solutions for media intelligence and relations, social listening and analytics, social media management, consumer intelligence, influencer marketing, sales intelligence, and data and API integration.
For marketing, PR, and communications, Meltwater is a custom platform that can meet your specific needs. This includes multi-channel client mention monitoring and building relationships in the outreach process.
Meltwater’s outreach segment includes a relationship management system and media database to help users build connections and keep accurate track of their conversations.
HARO Alternatives FAQ
Are you new to digital PR and wondering how journalists, digital marketers, and SEO and PR professionals used HARO? Discover answers to some frequently asked questions about HARO alternatives below.
What Were the Benefits of Using HARO?
How you used HARO depended on your role and what you signed up for when creating your account. As a content marketing tool, HARO had plenty of benefits, which are available in many of the HARO alternatives listed above.
Who Used HARO?
A variety of professionals used HARO as a sourcing platform and content marketing tool. This included:
- Journalists used HARO to discover expert sources for stories.
- Bloggers used HARO to learn more about topics from expert sources.
- Influencers used HARO to share experiences and connect with expert sources.
- Brands used HARO to connect with high-authority media outlets for exposure.
- Public relations specialists used HARO to find opportunities for their clients to be featured.
- Marketers used HARO as a strategic digital PR link-building tool for clients.
Are There Other HARO Alternatives To Connect With SMEs and Journalists?
If you’re in need of an SME to add insight to an article or a journalist to pitch a piece to, you can simply do a Google search to find names and then dig for their contact information. This process is usually more time-consuming than utilizing a HARO alternative platform.
You can also find journalists can also on social media platforms. When seeking sources for active articles, many will use #JournoRequest in their post. Searching this hashtag can provide you with the most recent uses, which you can scour for an opportunity.
Gain Quality Backlinks With the Right Link Building Strategy
When building links, the goal is to land relevant authority placements. However, those are often the hardest to acquire, and using Google search operators can only get you so far. If your team has been stuck garnering the same low-quality links each month, consider adding HARO alternatives to your link building strategy.
