Featured vs HARO (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick Featured: it is second in our ranking of link building tools (HARO is third), though HARO grades higher (2.8 against 2.4) on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Featured grades higher on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Featured
AI assistant for PR that finds journalist requests and drafts pitches
Which one is for you
Pick Featured if
- Fits if you're a founder or expert answering journalist requests for press mentions
- Works for agencies watching HARO-style requests for several clients
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, at about 2 to 3 opportunities a week
- Watch out: plans differ only in daily AI allowance, and workflows wait in a queue until it resets
- Not for you if you want pitches sent for you, as it drafts them and you send them
- Pricey if a big team needs it, as Team Pro+ is $1,199 a month on yearly billing, and prices exclude tax
- Skip it if you want earned media only, as it also sells paid article placements and press-release distribution
Pick HARO if
- Fits if you're a founder or expert who wants to pitch reporters without paying anything
- Works for journalists and podcast hosts who need an expert source on deadline
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to search or filter requests, as that's in Connectively, a separate platform
- Too light for PR teams that need to track pitches and replies, as HARO is only an email digest
- Watch out: one spam strike gets an account banned, and requests can't offer guest posts, link swaps or payment
- Watch out: every edition carries paid ads, and there are no weekend editions
- Not for you if you're counting on links, as the journalist picks whom to quote and whether to credit or link back
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFeaturedFair | 2.8GPAHAROGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CLite is $29 a month billed yearly ($39 monthly), between this category's cheaper quarter and its middle. That buys 5 times the free plan's AI use. Pro is $79 and Pro+ $239, and prices exclude tax. | AFree for sources and journalists, with no paid plan at all. The ads in each edition pay for it, so the cost lands on advertisers rather than on you. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan with every feature and no card, but a small daily AI allowance. Featured's own example is 2 to 3 opportunities a week, which is a taste rather than a routine. | AEverything is free: all three weekday editions and every request, with no paid tier holding anything back. |
| Features | BJournalist requests pulled from HARO, Connectively, Substack, X and LinkedIn, a chat that finds podcasts, bylines and awards, scheduled workflows, media monitoring and a check of how AI chatbots describe your brand. It covers the whole job. | DOne narrow function: an email of staff-checked requests three times a weekday, answered by email, plus podcast guest requests and journalist profiles. Search, filters and response tracking sit in Connectively, a separate platform from the same owner. |
| Ease of use | CNo rating on record. You ask in plain English, but you'll set up your expertise and workflows, and once the daily allowance runs out, work waits until it resets. | BNo rating on record, but there's nothing to set up: sign up, the requests land in your inbox and you reply by email. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Results go to Slack or email, and an MCP server connects it to Claude, Cursor and VS Code. | CEmail only, with no app, integrations or API on record. |
| Best for | finding press openings and drafting the pitch | free journalist requests in your inbox |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Featured and HARO. How we grade
Price against what you get
Featured starts at $29 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. HARO has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
Featured scores higher, and starts $29 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other link building tools on the chart, none scores higher than Featured for less, and none scores higher than HARO for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Featured also covers chat assistant, workflow automation and AI search visibility.
- HARO also covers link outreach.
At a glance
| Featured | HARO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly) | Free |
| Free plan | Every feature, including Featured Chat and journalist request matching, on a small daily AI allowance; Featured's example is 2 to 3 opportunities a week. | Free for sources and journalists: three weekday editions of journalist requests and pitching by email, with no charge to receive the newsletter or pitch. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Featured | Featured.com |
| Price read from | featured.com | blog.helpareporter.com |
| Checked | Oct 23, 2026 | Oct 23, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Featured
- Every plan has the same features; plans differ only in a daily AI allowance, and workflows queue until it resets.
- Team Pro+ costs $1,199 a month billed annually ($1,499 monthly); Enterprise is billed by usage at API rates.
- Besides earned media, it sells paid article placements and press-release distribution through newswire partners.
- Prices exclude applicable tax.
HARO
- HARO is an email digest; filtering, search and response tracking are in Connectively, a separate platform from the same owner.
- Each edition carries paid ads, which is how the free service is funded.
- Requests may not ask for guest posts, link swaps or payment, and HARO bans accounts for spam under a one-strike policy.
- Staff review and schedule requests 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MST on weekdays, and there are no weekend editions.
Key features
Featured
- Journalist requests
- Matches live source requests from HARO, Connectively, Substack, X and LinkedIn to your expertise, sorted by deadline, and drafts a response.
- Featured Chat
- Ask in plain language for podcasts, writers, publications taking bylines, speaking slots or awards, and get a list with pitches drafted.
- Workflows
- Scheduled searches that keep watching for new opportunities and deliver results to Slack, email or the app.
- GEO audit
- Checks how ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini describe your brand and which sources they cite.
- Media and competitor monitoring
- Tracks mentions of your brand, people and competitors across news, blogs, podcasts and YouTube.
- MCP server
- Connects Claude, Cursor, VS Code or your own agents to Featured's opportunity search and workflows.
HARO
- Three editions every weekday
- Requests arrive in a Morning (5:35 a.m. ET), Afternoon (12:35 p.m. ET) and Evening (5:35 p.m. ET) email, Monday to Friday.
- Pitching by email
- Sources reply to a request by email. Journalists' real addresses are hidden behind masked ones so they cannot be scraped into pitch lists.
- Reviewed requests
- Staff check each request: outlets need a Domain Authority of 20 or 10,000 monthly visitors, and HARO says it turns down about 32% of requests.
- AI detection on pitches
- Every pitch gets a score from Pangram for how likely it is to be AI-written, and journalists can filter out the ones flagged.
- Journalist profiles
- Reporters can claim a free profile; each request links to it so sources can check who is asking, and verified reporters' requests are listed first.
- Podcast guest requests
- A Podcasts category lets hosts and producers ask for guests, so sources can pitch shows as well as articles.
Plans
Featured
Free$0
All features on a small daily allowance of AI usage, for trying the platform. No card needed.
Lite$29
per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly)
For one person: 5 times the Free plan's AI usage, plus workflows across saved opportunities.
Pro$79
per month, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
5 times Lite's daily usage, for running several workflows and regular drafting.
Pro+$239
per month, billed annually ($299 billed monthly)
20 times Lite's daily usage, for agencies and power users handling several brands.
Team Lite$159
per month for up to 25 members, billed annually ($199 monthly)
One shared usage pool, an admin dashboard showing each member's activity, shared workflows, central billing and SSO.
Team Pro$399
per month for up to 25 members, billed annually ($499 monthly)
5 times Team Lite's shared pool, priority processing, admin controls, team analytics and priority support.
HARO
Free$0
Every edition and every request, for both sources and journalists. The service is paid for by ads placed in the newsletter.
Ways to pay less
Featured
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Featured's pricing page lists a 20% saving on annual billing: Lite is $29 a month billed at $348 a year instead of $39 a month.
HARO
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Featured or HARO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, HARO is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $29 a month for Featured. Featured starts at $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly), and HARO is free.
Which has a free plan, Featured or HARO?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Featured and HARO have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.