Muck Rack vs Semrush AI PR Toolkit (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Muck Rack if

• Fits if you run PR at a mid-size or large company and pitch journalists every week
• Works for agencies pitching reporters for several clients and reporting the coverage back

Look elsewhere if

• Skip it if you want to see a price first, as every plan is quoted by sales on users and add-ons
• Not for you if you want to try it before talking to sales, as no free plan or trial is on record
• Tight if you're on Starter, which limits list exports and leaves out AI journalist recommendations and podcast monitoring
• Pricey if you want custom dashboards or the Inbound Media Manager, which need Premier, where the API is a further add-on
• Watch out: print and broadcast monitoring, social listening and press release distribution cost extra on every plan

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

Muck Rack

• No prices are published: each plan is quoted by sales, based on the number of users and the add-ons chosen.
• Starter limits media list exports and leaves out AI journalist recommendations and podcast monitoring.
• Inbound Media Manager, custom dashboards and Generative Pulse come with Premier; the API is an add-on only Premier customers can buy.
• Print and broadcast monitoring, social listening and press release distribution cost extra on every plan.

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.

Muck Rack

Media database

Search journalists, creators, outlets and their staff by beat, location and keywords. Muck Rack says over 100 people keep the listings up to date.

Pitching

Send or schedule pitches from Muck Rack and track opens, clicks and replies; coverage that follows is linked back to the pitch as a placement.

AI journalist recommendations

A Media List Agent builds lists from a description and suggests contacts to add or drop. Recommendations start on the Standard plan.

Monitoring and alerts

Alerts on online coverage by email and Slack on every plan; podcast monitoring from Standard, and print, broadcast and social listening as add-ons.

Reports and dashboards

Coverage reports with sentiment analysis on every plan; custom dashboards, a PR hit score and Google Analytics data come with Premier.

Generative Pulse

Shows how ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini describe a brand and which sources shape those answers. Included in Premier and also sold as an add-on.

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.

Muck Rack

Pricing could not be confirmed. See muckrack.com.

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.