Featured vs Source of Sources (2026): which should you pick?
As of Oct 24, 2026, we pick Featured: it is second in our ranking of link building tools, though Source of Sources 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
Source of Sources
Free email list of journalist queries looking for expert sources
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 Source of Sources if
- Fits if you want press mentions and don't want to pay anything
- Works for journalists who need an expert quickly, since posting a query is free
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to search or filter queries, as the site describes no search or topic filter
- Too light for PR teams that need a dashboard, tracking or an archive of past queries
- Watch out: one off-topic or salesy reply to a reporter gets you removed, with no appeal
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAFeaturedFair | 2.8GPASource of SourcesGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | ACompletely free for sources and journalists, with no paid plan at all. The site asks you to donate to animal charities instead. |
| 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: up to three emails of queries a day, 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 queries, up to three times a day. The site describes no dashboard, search or archive of past queries, and no way to filter them by topic. |
| 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 sign-up asks only for a name and email address, and queries land in your inbox. There's nothing to set up. |
| 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 queries by email |
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 Source of Sources. 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. Source of Sources 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 Source of Sources 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.
- Source of Sources also covers link outreach.
At a glance
| Featured | Source of Sources | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Everything is free: sources get journalist queries by email up to three times a day, and journalists post queries through a web form. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Featured | Jessa and Waffle, LLC |
| Price read from | featured.com | sourceofsources.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.
Source of Sources
- Queries arrive only by email; the site describes no dashboard, search or archive of past queries.
- Sign-up asks only for a name and email address, and the site does not describe filtering queries by topic.
- One off-topic or salesy reply to a reporter gets a source removed from the list, with no appeal.
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.
Source of Sources
- Query emails
- Up to three emails a day collect queries from journalists, broadcasters and bloggers who need an expert to quote.
- Direct replies to reporters
- Sources answer a query by emailing the journalist directly; nothing sits between the two.
- Reporter submission form
- Journalists file a query with its outlet, category and deadline; it goes out in the next mailing, usually within a few hours.
- Verified journalists
- Queries from an outlet's own email domain go out faster; a first query from a personal address is held until the journalist's identity is checked.
- Urgent queries
- A journalist with a deadline under four hours can ask for the query to be posted on Threads straight away.
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.
Source of Sources
Free$0
Media query emails up to three times a day for sources; free query submission for journalists.
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.
Source of Sources
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Featured or Source of Sources?
As of Oct 23, 2026, Source of Sources 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 Source of Sources is free.
Which has a free plan, Featured or Source of Sources?
As of Oct 23, 2026, both Featured and Source of Sources 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.