Muck Rack review (2026): is it worth it?
Media database, pitching and coverage monitoring for PR teams
Muck Rack report card
Fair · out of 4.0 · graded Oct 23, 2026
Best for PR teams pitching journalists and tracking the coverage
Muck Rack is a database of journalists and outlets with pitching, coverage alerts and reports, sold to PR teams at brands and agencies. No price is published, so you only find out what it costs on a sales call, nothing is free for the people who'd pay, and custom dashboards, the Inbound Media Manager and the API all wait on the top plan, Premier.
Who Muck Rack is for
- 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
Who Muck Rack is not for
- 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
Why Muck Rack gets a 2.0
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- CValue for moneyNo price is published. Every plan is quoted by sales on the number of users and the add-ons you pick, so the price is only given on a sales call. Print and broadcast monitoring, social listening and press release distribution cost extra on every plan.
- FFree plan and trialNothing free on record for PR teams: no free plan and no trial. Journalists use it free, but they're the other side of the deal, not the people paying.
- BFeaturesA journalist and outlet database, pitching with open, click and reply tracking, coverage alerts, reports with sentiment, and tracking of how AI chatbots describe a brand. It covers the PR route to links end to end, though Starter limits exports and leaves out AI journalist picks and podcast monitoring.
- CEase of useNo rating on record. It's a big platform: you build media lists, set up alerts and learn the reports before it pays off, and getting in at all starts with sales.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, with no desktop or phone app. Alerts go to email and Slack, Premier brings Google Analytics data into reports, and the API is an add-on only Premier customers can buy.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Muck Rack's own pages on 23 October 2026. Its pricing page turned our reader away when we checked it again later that day. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/muck-rack#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/muck-rack.svg" alt="Muck Rack: 2.0 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>Where Muck Rack stands among link building tools
Muck Rack's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 13 of the 50 other link building tools we grade, and level with 12.
It stands best on features (B, above 39 of 50) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0).
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 51 link building tools we grade, cut by the letter each got. Muck Rack’s own letter is outlined.
- CValue for moneyAbove 8 of 50, level with 26
- FFree plan and trialAbove 0 of 50, level with 10
- BFeaturesAbove 39 of 50, level with 11
- CEase of useAbove 0 of 50, level with 43
- BPlatforms and integrationsAbove 28 of 50, level with 22
Keep Muck Rack, or make your own?
Keep it
To replace Muck Rack you would be making a network of journalists who post requests for sources. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 25 of the 50 other link building tools grade higher.
What you could make
- Link outreach and reports: an app builder makes these well.
What you could not
- A network of journalists who post requests for sources.
- The same prompts asked of ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google's AI answers every day, and the answers kept.
- It plugs into other products, Slack and Google Analytics among them, and has an API.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Muck Rack’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
What is Muck Rack?
Muck Rack is a web platform for PR and communications teams at brands and agencies. It combines a database of journalists, creators and outlets with email pitching, alerts and reports on coverage, and on its top plan a tracker of how ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini talk about a brand. Journalists use it free; PR teams buy it on a quote from sales.
Worth knowing
- 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.
Key features
- 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.
Muck Rack pricing
We could not confirm Muck Rack’s current pricing from its own site, so we are not listing plans here. See muckrack.com for current prices.
Works with
Muck Rack alternatives
- Muck Rack vs Semrush AI PR Toolkit
Free trial · from $149/mo
- Muck Rack vs Prezly
Free trial · from $120/mo
- Muck Rack vs JournoFinder
Free plan · from $119/mo
- Muck Rack vs Anewstip
Free plan · from $160/mo
Common questions
Does Muck Rack have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. Muck Rack is listed for Web.
Does Muck Rack have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 23, 2026. Muck Rack is listed for Web.
Is Muck Rack open source?
Muck Rack is not described as open source on its own site, as read on Oct 23, 2026.
Does Muck Rack have an API?
Yes. Muck Rack offers a public API, according to its own site.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 23, 2026.