Reliability and trustworthiness are hard to build up online, especially for start-ups or small businesses. Knowing where to start can be a daunting task, but that’s why HARO (Help a Reporter Out) was created. To make building credibility easier and to help those businesses gain visibility.
But HARO isn’t the only one that provides this link building service; there are many other alternatives that you can try out and work with, but how do they compare to HARO, and what are the pros and cons of using a HARO alternative?
My ten favourite alternatives to use alongside HARO
1. Terkel
Terkel is a community-based platform that uses knowledge-driven content to connect brands with trusted expert insights. Terkel has thousands of panellists’ insights on various daily questions relevant to their experiences. They are then curated into articles that get published and build expertise online.
Terkel Pricing
Terkel is free to sign up, and then they have three separate tiers that all have different perks and features included, depending on which one you want.
Lite – This is the Free Tier; this allows you to create one account and answer five questions a month; this is the most basic tier as it does not include many other features.
Premium – This Tier is $99 per month and gives you an unlimited amount of answers you can provide per month under one account. This tier also includes additional features, among which are 2-Day Early Access to Questions, Editorial Support, Link Type & Domain Ratings. All of which will help you gain exposure online.
Team – This tier is great for any more established businesses that need more than one account. Costing $199 per month with an extra $30 per seat, you can have three or more accounts set up, unlimited answers per month, and access to all of the features available on Terkel.
Pros & Cons Against Terkel
The Pros
- Unlike HARO, Terkel automatically closes the questions down when they’ve gotten many answers, saving you time and effort. Whereas with HARO, you have to go through each media query as they come in.
The Cons
- Against HARO, Terkel’s free version is little more limited, with 5 responses per month, per account.
- Terkel has some more requirements you must follow for your questions to be published. e.g. a LinkedIn account must be added to be considered, whereas HARO just needs basic info to get started. However, this could also be considered a ‘pro’ as you’re taking that extra step to show the publisher or journalist that you’re legitimate as a source
2. Qwoted
Quoted is all about connecting the journalist with an expert source, so you no longer have to scour the internet to find that perfect guest for your story because Qwoted has done all the hard work for you. With a user-friendly platform that can be customisable to you and your needs, you will be able to get responses to add to your writing in no time.
Quoted Pricing
Qwoted is entirely free to sign up for and has a great free tier that features many features that will allow you to find what you need. But Qwoted also has two paid plans that you can join as well.
https://app.qwoted.com/pricing
Pro – Starting with a two-week trial, the Pro Plan will charge $149.99 per month and is a great option for a small business looking to increase its access across Qwoted’s global media network. With plenty of features and tools, you’ll never run out of fantastic resources with the Pro Plan.
Teams – Great for PR teams managing experts within an enterprise, this Teams Plan starts at $750 per month and can only be joined if you have a particular team size and volume count. As you can see, they have a wide range of features and tools that you can make the most out of.
Pros & Cons Against Quoted
The Pros
- Qwoted has a system where you can mute any conversations you need to, whenever you want. Whereas with HARO, your PR Spam folder will be constantly filled with queries that you may not need or want.
- Qwoted can also filter out any ‘fake personas’ and categorise your needs by gender, geography, and much more so you can make sure an authentic audience reflects your work. However, HARO they have a consistent problem with these ‘fake personas’ and just shifts the blame and responsibility to sort it on to the publishers themselves.
The Cons
- Although Qwoted’s free plan has some great features, it only allows you to access three journalist questions per month. Whereas with HARO, that isn’t the case, and you can get opportunities delivered to your Email three times a day.
- The payment plans don’t give much room for small, start-up businesses that may not be able to spare $149 and above per month on a program. But with HARO, they have payment plans but the cheapest starts as low as $19 per month, making it much more appealing to smaller businesses.
3. Source Bottle
Source Bottle makes finding knowledgeable sources easy. Whether you are a business or a blogger, this easy to use platform bridges the gap between you and the expert and allows the opportunity to gain timely insight into publicity and brand awareness for every client, product, service and everything in between.
Source Bottle Pricing
There are two subscription options you can choose from with Source Bottle. One is entirely free to sign up for, which allows you to receive media and query opportunities about all the different topics that come through Source Bottle and the other one is a paid subscription.
Expert Profile – At just $25 per month, the Expert Profile Plan allows you the exclusiveness of having Source Bottle pitch your profile to different people, from journalists to bloggers. Based on your expertise and credentials, they can decide if you’d be a good fit. It gives you that leg up, but the Expert Profile Plan grants you access to many unique features and tools that will make your profile visible.
Pros & Cons Against Source Bottle
The Pros
- Source Bottle is different from HARO because they offer case studies and giveaways for its users to review.
- Source Bottle also allows small, independent businesses, bloggers, podcasters etc., to seek sources for quotes. In contrast, with HARO, you need to meet their criteria to post a query, which is that your website has an Alexa ranking of one million or less.
The Cons
- If you want the extra help, you will need to pay the Expert Profile charge of $25, which, compared to HARO and their subscription fees, you can achieve something very similar for a lot less.
- If you use the free version, you can only send out two ads per email, whereas, with HARO, you can send many emails out at once and wait for replies.
4. Help a B2B Writer
Help a B2B Writer find top-quality sources for writers and allow those expert sources to share their knowledge. Both writers and experts can register with Help a B2B Writer and be matched according to what each person is looking for or an expert in. Help a B2B writer makes the possibility of creating lasting relationships with people in the same industry reality and give your business the coverage it needs.
Help a B2B Writer Pricing
Help a B2B Writer is completely free, and unlike some other HARO alternatives, this one doesn’t have any hidden payment packages you can join or add ons you can buy. Everything is free, so sources don’t have to pay to be on the list, and writers can submit requests at no cost.
Pros & Cons Against Help a B2B Writer
The Pros
- Compared to HARO, Help a B2B Writer is, again, completely free. All features and help you get are of no extra cost, so there’s no explicit pricing structure like with HARO
- With Help a B2B Writer, instead of getting a pile of requests that don’t relate to you or that is not interesting, you can save your inbox by filtering out who you don’t want to hear from or subjects you are not interested in making finding the perfect match way easier.
The Cons
- As you might expect, queries are a little more B2B-specific, but you still absolutely get B2C links and features in there
5. Meltwater
Meltwater is a media engagement, coverage and analysis tool that gives you a comprehensive look into the most relevant journalists and experts to share their knowledge and resources. Meltwater keeps its sources in the know about what is trending on social media, what insights should be pitched, and what angle to be the most successful.
Meltwater Pricing
Meltwater doesn’t have their pricing available on their website or any other third-party site, but from what some sources have said, they offer an annual package that costs around $4000 per year, which would be about $333 per month.
This cost may change depending on your business size, features you want, database regions etc. Unfortunately, how much or less isn’t readily available publicly online.
Pros & Cons Against Meltwater
The Pros
- Meltwater gives out daily or weekly newsletters that provide reporter contact information making for great target databases for business building. In contrast, HARO doesn’t offer this kind of newsletter service in their subscription.
- One of Meltwater’s biggest successes is that they have outstanding media coverage and use that to find the best sources for their clients. HARO doesn’t necessarily offer this.
The Cons
- Not being open with their costs can put people off enquiring about their services, whereas at HARO, they have each plan or tier completely mapped out with what you get and for what price.
- Not catered towards individual writers and sources and look towards more businesses and agencies. But HARO has room for both. Whether you are a successful business or a freelancer, they have accommodations for both.
6. Muck Rack
Muck Rack is a public relations software that allows sources, businesses, journalists and influencers to find and work with each other. Creating exposure by designing alerts for specific keywords associated with different areas of expertise will then send out relevant pitches to a list of interested clients. Journalists and influencers are contactable via the lists sent out with their contact details, so then businesses can reach out right away to the relevant person for the job.
Muck Rack Pricing
Again their pricing information isn’t easily accessible, but they are estimated to charge annually and at around $5000 per year, around $416 per month. This pricing is targeted at higher-end businesses and established journalists and influencers.
For this pricing, you get many features and tools such as pitch analysis and performance export, which will help businesses and influencers find each other and grow their visibility.
Pros & Cons Against Muck Rack
The Pros
- Using industry keywords to get alerts for different opportunities is a great feature. One that HARO doesn’t outwardly promote or say they offer as part of their deals.
- Their media query list is kept updated for you and catered precisely to the client’s needs. HARO has the time-consuming element of going through all the media query lists yourself every time.
The Cons
- Not being open with their costs can put people off enquiring about their services, whereas at HARO, they have each plan or tier completely mapped out with what you get and for what price.
- When sending out the lists of journalists’ and influencers’ contact information, some contact info is missing, making the system a bit confused. HARO has everyone’s contact details ready and available at all times and is a requirement before signing up.
7. ProfNet
ProfNet is run by Cision, the same company that owns HARO, so in many ways, ProfNet works very similarly to HARO, but they differ in specific ways. ProNet is not just connecting journalists to experts but also PR agencies with journalists to the experts, helping them all gain exposure and get published via an email-based model that sends out the queries for the experts to then comment on.
ProfNet Pricing
ProfNet is free to use for any reporters or journalists, but businesses or PR agencies will have to pay a varied amount depending on the type of organisation, the number of ‘seats’ occupied, and the number of ProfNet industry categories they want to subscribe too.
The standard ProfNet Package starts at $1,500 and includes five seats, unlimited expert profiles and the chance to submit an unlimited amount of expert alerts and responses to daily topics.
Pros & Cons Against ProfNet
The Pros
- ProfNet is a seasoned pro at what they do and has been around since 1992, perfecting their craft, HARO, on the other hand, was established in 2008 and so hasn’t got the same amount of years of experience under their belt.
- Due to ProfNet’s great sources, journalists and PRs can always get leads and successful matches. Whereas with HARO, you could be waiting months at a time to get a response back from potential matches.
The Cons
- There is no free option for business or PR agencies that could put many businesses off if they can’t even try a free trial before committing to such a high price. Whereas HARO has a free option, so even if they just wanted to test it out, they can at no cost with HARO.
- One thing that draws ProfNet back slightly is that the information inputted by the journalists is self-selected, so certain pieces of information could be missed out. HARO has everyone’s contact details ready and available at all times and is a requirement before signing up.
8. NinjaOutreach
NinjaOutreach has a deep database complete with CRM that connects journalists and influencers to experts. You can sift through to the right industry you’re interested in through their keyword selection. NinjaOutreach takes some of that boring admin off your plate with automated management, reporting, and analysis features.
NinjaOutreach Pricing
NinjaOutreach has two available plans that you can choose from, and whether you decide to be billed monthly or yearly, the prices vary. But the great thing about NinjaOutreach is that all plans come with a 7-Day Risk-Free Trial, so you can test it out first before committing to anything.
Flex – The Flex Plan is priced at either $389 per month or $115 a month, billed yearly. It gives you exposure to all types of influencers across all platforms. Not only that, but you can send around 10,000 emails a month to get your visibility out there.
The flex plan is excellent for an individual or a freelancer, along with all the various features and tools to help you out.
Pro – The Pro Plan is priced at either $649 per month or $259 a month, billed yearly. Great for pros or agencies of any kind and will give you exposure across all social media platforms; with three seats available, you can have your team working on your visibility all day long.
With 15,000 emails available each month and all of the features and tools included, you will be well on your way to finding some great leads.
Pros & Cons Against NinjaOutreach
The Pros
- Using industry keywords to get alerts for different opportunities is a great feature. One that HARO doesn’t outwardly promote or say they offer as part of their deals.
- NinjaOutreach has great sources; journalists and PRs can always get leads and successful matches. Whereas with HARO, you could be waiting months at a time to get a response back from potential matches.
The Cons
- The system is a little clunky with a very rigid UX flow, and editing templates can be complicated. HARO has a great template system that flows nicely and gives a great customer experience.
- The customer service could be better, although there is the support it isn’t the best. On the other hand, HARO has support ready and willing to help with every step and query that you may have.
9. SeoSamba
Ideal for small businesses and multi-location enterprises, SeoSamba is a cloud marketing software that uses high-performance tools to build a powerful marketing presence online. It also takes advantage of its SEO tools, Google, social media tools, email marketing, and more to get the best possible exposure to you and your business.
SeoSamba Pricing
When using SeoSamba, you can have a 14-day free cloud trial to look around and test out all of the different features available on the free version to get a feel for how it works and whether or not it’s right for you.
After the free trial, you can choose a payment plan billed yearly or monthly. Costing $99 per month when billed yearly or $109 per month on the monthly option, this package is jam-packed with over 250 contacts on-premise SeoToaster CRM Ultimate License and many varying features and tools you can take full advantage of.
Pros & Cons Against SeoSamba
The Pros
- SeoSamba is supported by way more platforms than HARO from Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android; SeoSamba can reach a much larger audience. In comparison, HARO is only compatible with Saas.
- When needing any training, SeoSamba has got you! From webinars, live online, in person or through documents, SeoSamba can reach you in various ways. On the other hand, HARO only has in-person training, which can’t be accessed by everyone.
The Cons
- The payment plans don’t give much room for small, start-up businesses that may not be able to spare $99 and above per month on a program. But with HARO they have also had payment plans but the cheapest starts as low as $19 per month, making it much more appealing to smaller businesses.
- Not catered towards individual writers and sources and look towards more businesses and agencies. But HARO has room for both; whether you are a successful business or a freelancer, they have accommodations for both.
10. Respona
From sending highly personable pitches to get press coverage to building quality backlinks for your landing pages and blog posts, Respona attracts top journalists to your industry and connects you with relevant bloggers and influencers to promote what your business does.
By using Artificial Intelligent technology, Respona has its own AI Assistant that can study content created by influencers and help you personalise each pitch for even higher response rates.
Respona Pricing
Respona has two different packages available, one for smaller businesses and the other catered to agencies. Each one has a monthly and yearly billing option and a 30-day money-back guarantee that will give you peace of mind if you decide this isn’t the right program.
Respona – Either billed monthly at $99 per month or yearly at $79 per month, this package gives you everything. With unlimited campaigns, unlimited workspaces, unlimited users and 250 monthly person lookups, you will be well and truly set to start your content discovery.
Respona For Agencies – Starting at either being billed monthly or yearly at $995 or more per month. Respona for Agencies has bulk limits ideal for more prominent agencies and larger companies.
With bulk email accounts, bulk person lookup credits, unlimited campaigns, users and workspaces, your business will be well looked after and have everything it needs to get started.
Pros & Cons Against Respona
The Pros
- Respona allows you to do any training needed online instead of HARO, which is strictly in-person, giving you flexibility and power over when you want to learn.
- It has its own AI Assistant to help study content and media coverage. HARO uses public relations solutions to pitch smarter media coverage.
The Cons
- Respona doesn’t offer any free versions or trials; it does have a money-back guarantee but put it against HARO, which has a free version they can try first; people may sway towards HARO.
- Respona doesn’t have any videos that their clients can watch to gain more insight into them and how they work. In contrast, HARO offers a few different videos in their Video Series that people can take advantage of.
Should you just use multiple platforms together?
Yes, you absolutely should. The best approach to using HARO and similar platforms for link building is not only rely on one singular approach.
For example, whilst I call it a HARO link building service, my team uses Help A Reporter Out alongside many of the other sites, sources and platforms in this guide to ensure that there are no response opportunities being missed.
It’ll be personal preference as to which you like more than others, but I’d also say it’s best to try out at least a few different ones to find your preferred option.
