Featured vs Semrush AI PR Toolkit (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick Featured: it is second in our ranking of link building tools, and it grades higher too, 2.4 against 1.8.
Checked Oct 23, 2026 · graded Oct 23, 2026 by ToolGPA
Featured grades higher on value for money, the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on features and ease of use.
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
Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Media database, pitching and monitoring, formerly Prowly
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 Semrush AI PR Toolkit if
- Fits if you're new to PR and want one place to find and pitch journalists
- Works for agencies comparing several brands' coverage, on the Business plan
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you just want to pitch, as Base is $149 a month with no monitoring or contact exports
- Tight if a team shares it, as each plan has one user and every extra one is $20 a month
- Watch out: add-ons stack up, with 200 more exports at $149 a month and 1,000 more emails at $29
- Not for you if you want a real trial, as sending, contact details and exports stay locked until you pay
- Watch out: the pricing page shows yearly billing, while Semrush's help center gives the same figures as monthly prices
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFeaturedFair | 1.8GPASemrush AI PR ToolkitWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | DBase is $149 a month billed yearly for one user, the start of this category's dearest tenth. It doesn't monitor coverage or export contacts; that's Pro at $279. Each extra person is $20 a month. |
| 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. | DNo free plan. There's a 7-day trial of any plan, but sending emails, seeing contact details and exports stay locked until you pay, so you can't actually pitch anyone with it. |
| 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. | BA media database of 600,000+ journalists and outlets, a finder for the outlets AI models cite, AI pitch and press release writing, tracked sending and, from Pro, media monitoring. It covers the whole PR job, though Base stops short of monitoring. |
| 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. | CNo rating on record. It's aimed at people new to PR, but you'll still set up sending from your own domain, build lists and write your angle before the first pitch goes. |
| 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. | CWeb only, with no apps, integrations or API on record. It's sold as part of Semrush now. |
| Best for | finding press openings and drafting the pitch | pitching journalists from inside Semrush |
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 Semrush AI PR Toolkit. 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. Semrush AI PR Toolkit starts at $149 a month and scores 2.3.
Featured scores higher and starts $120 a month lower. Of the other link building tools on the chart, none scores higher than Featured for less, and 4 score higher than Semrush AI PR Toolkit 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, AI search visibility and journalist requests.
- Semrush AI PR Toolkit also covers reports and link outreach.
At a glance
| Featured | Semrush AI PR Toolkit | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly) | $149 per month, billed annually |
| 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial of any plan; sending emails, seeing contact details and exports are locked until you pay |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Featured | Semrush Holdings |
| Price read from | featured.com | semrush.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.
Semrush AI PR Toolkit
- Prowly itself no longer takes new subscriptions or trials; new customers are pointed to this Semrush toolkit.
- Each plan includes one user; extra users cost $20 a month each.
- Base cannot export contacts or monitor media; 200 more exports cost $149 a month and 1,000 more emails $29.
- The pricing page shows annual billing; Semrush's help center gives the same figures as monthly prices.
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.
Semrush AI PR Toolkit
- AI-cited media finder
- Lists the media outlets in your industry that AI models cite in their answers, with journalists to pitch at each.
- Media database
- Profiles of more than 600,000 journalists and outlets, searchable by keyword and location; Pro adds audience and traffic data per outlet.
- AI pitch and press release writing
- Drafts pitches and press releases with AI on every plan, ready to send from the toolkit's mailing tool.
- Email outreach and analytics
- Sends pitches from your own authenticated domain and tracks engagement. Pro adds scheduled follow-ups and shows which pitches led to coverage.
- Media monitoring
- From Pro, watches online news, blogs and forums for mentions, filters out reprints and duplicates, and sends alerts with AI summaries.
- Competitive intelligence
- Business tracks where competitors get coverage and benchmarks your share of voice, sentiment and reach against theirs.
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.
Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Base$149
per month, billed annually
1 user, AI-cited media finder, media database, AI pitch writing, 250 contacts added and 500 emails a month. No monitoring or exports.
Pro$279
per month, billed annually
Adds media monitoring (3,000 mentions a month), follow-ups, outlet audience data, 500 contacts, 150 exports and 1,250 emails a month.
Business$499
per month, billed annually
Adds competitor tracking, benchmarking and gap ideas, with 50,000 mentions, 1,000 contacts, 500 exports and 3,500 emails a month.
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.
Semrush AI PR Toolkit
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Featured or Semrush AI PR Toolkit?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Featured is cheaper to start with: $29 a month, against $149 a month for Semrush AI PR Toolkit. Featured starts at $29 per month, billed annually ($39 billed monthly), and Semrush AI PR Toolkit starts at $149 per month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Featured or Semrush AI PR Toolkit?
As of Oct 23, 2026, only Featured has a free plan. Semrush AI PR Toolkit does not, though it has a free trial.
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.