Qwoted is worth it in 2026 only if you have real expertise to quote, can answer reporter requests the same day, and will pitch every week. The Pro plan costs $149 a month for 35 pitches, about $4.26 each, while the free tier gives you 2 pitches a month and a 2 hour delay on new requests, according to Qwoted’s own pricing page. If you cannot commit an hour or two a week, skip the paid plan: Featured lists $29 to $79 a month, Source of Sources is free, and Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2026 found 43 percent of journalists say relevant pitches are rare.
The market changed under buyers’ feet. Cision shut down Connectively, the service formerly known as HARO, on December 9, 2024, and pointed customers to CisionOne. That pushed a wave of experts toward Qwoted, Featured, and Source of Sources, and it pushed the question you are asking into search. Alongside them sit the databases that serve professional publicists: Muck Rack, Prowly, Propel, and Meltwater. Each solves a different problem.
Wondering whether the press you earn would actually change what AI engines say about you? Run a free AI visibility check before you spend on any pitching tool.
What does Qwoted actually cost in 2026?
Qwoted has three plans: Basic at $0, Pro at $149 a month, and Teams at custom pricing. The limits sit on pitch volume and speed, not on who you can reach, and every number below comes from Qwoted’s published pricing page.
Basic is free. You appear in the reporter database, get real-time alerts and a daily opportunities email, but you can send 2 pitches a month and you see new requests after a 2 hour delay. Pro is $149 a month, lifts the cap to 35 pitches a month, removes the delay, and adds pitch intelligence, opportunity research, profile view alerts, a templates library, and an events and awards database. Teams offers unlimited pitches, white labeling, weekly activity reports, and an admin dashboard, with pricing on request.
Run the math on Pro. A year costs $1,788 for up to 420 pitches. If your average placement in a relevant trade publication or regional business journal is worth a few hundred dollars in lead value or brand exposure, you need several placements a year to clear the fee. Qwoted does not publish a placement rate or a reply rate, so any claim about how many of those 420 pitches will land is not backed by the vendor. Treat the plan as a tool that raises your at-bats, not one that guarantees hits.
Does Qwoted actually get you press?
It can, for specific kinds of people, because the platform puts you in front of reporters who are already looking for a source. Qwoted describes itself as a platform connecting journalists, PR professionals, experts, and brands, and its site displays outlets such as The New York Times, Associated Press, Forbes, and Daily Mail as users. It does not publish the number of journalists, sources, or publications on the platform, so you cannot judge audience size from the vendor.
What we can say comes from how journalists behave. Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2026 reports that 86 percent of journalists say at least some of their work began with a PR pitch, and 70 percent rank clear relevance to their beat as the top thing they want, ahead of interview access to sources at 58 percent and original data at 40 percent. A source-request platform is built for exactly that ranking: the reporter states the beat and the need, and you answer only if you fit.
That is also the ceiling. Qwoted moves you to the front of a queue for requests that already exist. It does not create a story about your firm, and it does not reach the trade editor who has never posted a request. If your goal is a feature, a profile, or a launch story, you need proactive pitching.
For businesses thinking about AI search, quoted commentary in publications is useful because it creates third-party pages naming you and your expertise. Our breakdown of expert quotes and AI citations covers what that does and does not prove. Whether a specific placement changes what ChatGPT or Perplexity says about you is not something any pricing page tests.
Who should pay for Qwoted Pro?
Pay for Pro only if you fit at least three of these four profiles: a named expert with a documented specialty, a daily inbox habit, something quotable and specific, and a plan to pitch weekly for six months. Below are the buckets we see, sorted by fit.
1. The solo expert with a narrow specialty
A tax attorney who handles one type of dispute, a fertility physician, a structural engineer, a cybersecurity consultant. Reporters need people like this and often cannot find them. Pro’s speed and pitch volume are worth $149 if the person answers within the hour and writes a tight, quotable reply.
2. The in-house marketer feeding one executive
You control the calendar, you know the executive’s three real areas of expertise, and you can turn around a 150 word answer fast. Pro is a fair spend here, particularly at the Teams level if several people share the account.
3. The small business testing whether press moves anything
Start on the free tier for 60 days. If you land even one quote from 2 pitches a month, upgrade. If you cannot find 2 requests worth answering, 35 pitches will not fix that.
4. The founder who wants fast fame
Do not buy. Source platforms reward patience and narrow relevance, not volume.
Who should skip Qwoted and what should they use instead?
Skip it if you cannot respond within an hour on weekdays, if your expertise is broad rather than specific, or if you need coverage in named outlets on a schedule. Those buyers waste the fee. Which alternative fits depends on the gap.
If cost is the issue, Featured lists a Free plan, Lite at $29 a month, and Pro at $79 a month, billed annually, with every plan carrying the same features and differing only in daily AI usage. Its site says it matches journalist requests from HARO and LinkedIn. If cost is the only issue, Source of Sources is free: up to three daily emails of journalist queries, and the founder removes anyone who replies off topic. Both stay far below Qwoted Pro’s $149.
If your issue is the pitching itself, tools like Prowly and Propel help you send and track outreach, and Muck Rack and Meltwater help you find and monitor journalists. Muck Rack does not publish prices; it sells Starter, Standard, and Premier tiers by quote. We compared those in best media databases for PR in 2026, and the rule there holds: under about 20 pitches a quarter, a spreadsheet plus a request platform beats a database.
If your issue is time, meaning no one can write pitches and watch requests, a paid platform is the wrong purchase because it adds work. You are buying labor, and the comparison below makes the differences visible.
| Option | Published cost | What you get | Where it falls short | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwoted Basic | $0 | 2 pitches a month, 2 hour delay | Delay costs you same-day requests | Test for 60 days before paying |
| Qwoted Pro | $149 a month | 35 pitches a month, no delay, pitch tools | No published reply or placement rate | Best for named experts who pitch weekly |
| Featured | $0, $29, or $79 a month, billed annually | Request matching from HARO and LinkedIn, AI drafting, podcast leads | Higher plans raise AI usage, not reach | Best for low budgets |
| Source of Sources | Free | Up to three daily query emails | Email only, no tracking, off topic replies get you removed | Best for tight budgets and patient pitching |
| Muck Rack | Quote only, tiers named Starter, Standard, Premier | Journalist database, monitoring, reporting | Priced for teams that pitch at volume | Best for PR teams pitching national press |
| Prowly or Propel | Varies by plan | Outreach, tracking, contact management | You still write every pitch | Best for teams pitching 20 to 100 outlets |
| Agency or freelancer | Retainer or per project | Someone else pitches, writes, and follows up | Costs more than any software | Best when you cannot spare the hours |
How does Qwoted compare with a proactive approach?
A request platform is reactive and a campaign is proactive, and that difference decides what you get. On Qwoted you wait for a reporter to post a request that fits. In a proactive campaign someone builds an angle, picks the outlets, and pitches editors who never posted anything.
The difference shows in the size of the prize. Request answers usually land as a sentence or two of quoted commentary inside someone else’s story. Proactive pitching can produce a contributed article, a profile, or a data story where you are the subject. The Pew Research Center’s March 2025 tracking of 900 U.S. adults found people clicked a traditional result on 8 percent of Google visits with an AI summary versus 15 percent without, so being named in the sources AI engines read matters as much as ranking. Which type of placement earns more AI citations is not something a public study has isolated, and we will not pretend otherwise.
Our guide to the cheapest way to get press coverage walks through the tiers from free to agency. If you get quoted regularly and want to move from commentary to features, an agency such as Subscribe PR, which places clients in magazines and publications and also does AI search visibility work, is one path; see how it works on the press placement page.
What should you do before you pay for anything?
Run a 60 day test on free tiers, count results, and buy only what the count justifies. Write down your three narrowest areas of expertise. Sign up for Qwoted Basic and Source of Sources. Answer every request that fits, using under 200 words, because Muck Rack reports 69 percent of journalists prefer pitches under 200 words and 62 percent prefer a one to one email. Track requests seen, replies sent, and quotes published in a simple sheet.
At day 60, decide. If you sent at least 8 replies and landed one or more quotes, Pro is likely worth trying for three months, because the delay is what hurts you. If you sent replies and landed nothing, the problem is fit or answer quality, and more pitches will not fix it. If you never found time to reply, no plan will help, and you should either hire the work out or drop press for now.
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwoted free?
Qwoted has a free Basic plan that lists you in its reporter database, sends real-time alerts and a daily opportunities email, and allows 2 pitches a month with a 2 hour delay on new requests. The paid Pro plan is $149 a month for 35 pitches a month with no delay. Teams pricing is custom. All figures come from Qwoted’s pricing page.
Is Qwoted legitimate?
Qwoted is a working platform where journalists, PR professionals, and experts connect, and its site lists major outlets among its users. It does not publish member counts or placement rates, so you cannot verify results from the vendor. Judge it by a free trial: answer relevant requests for 60 days and see whether reporters quote you.
What happened to HARO?
Cision discontinued Connectively, the service formerly called HARO, on December 9, 2024, saying it would focus on CisionOne. Cision’s announcement gave that reason. Experts looking for similar request feeds moved to platforms such as Qwoted, Featured, and Source of Sources, each with different pricing and different reporter coverage.
How many pitches does it take to get quoted?
No platform publishes a reliable number, and we will not invent one. Muck Rack’s State of Journalism 2026 found 43 percent of journalists say relevant pitches are rare, which means tight relevance matters more than volume. Answer fewer requests with better fit, keep replies under 200 words, and track your own ratio over 60 days.
Is Qwoted better than Featured?
Neither is better across the board. Qwoted Pro at $149 a month offers 35 pitches, no delay, and pitch research tools. Featured costs $0, $29, or $79 a month billed annually and adds AI drafting and podcast leads. Named experts who pitch weekly may prefer Qwoted, while budget buyers should start with Featured or Source of Sources.
Can Qwoted replace a PR agency?
Only for one job: answering existing reporter requests. It does not build angles, pitch editors who have not posted requests, or produce feature coverage. If you want commentary quotes and have the hours, Qwoted covers that. If you want bylines, profiles, or a coordinated campaign, that is agency or specialist work priced separately.
So is Qwoted worth it?
For the right person, yes, and for most others, not yet. If you are a named expert who will answer requests within the hour every week, $149 a month for 35 pitches is a fair test, and the free tier will tell you in 60 days whether you are that person. If you are short on time, short on specific expertise, or want coverage in named outlets on a schedule, the fee buys you nothing that free tools and a spreadsheet do not.
Start with the free plans, count what happens, and spend only when the count says so. Want to know which of your existing mentions AI engines already pick up? Get a free AI visibility audit and see what to build next.
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