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Featured vs. HARO
HARO and Featured are run by the same company and do different jobs. HARO is a free email newsletter that sends journalist requests up to three times each weekday. Featured is an AI co-pilot for PR that reads HARO and other sources for you, matches requests to your expertise and drafts the pitch, with a free plan and paid plans from $39 a month. Use HARO if you want the emails. Use Featured if you want the work done.
Updated Prices and plans checked November 10, 2026Sources
The short answer
One company, two products
Featured owns and operates HARO, so this is a comparison of two products from one company, not two competitors.
HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is the original journalist request service, founded in 2008. It is a free email newsletter. Journalists submit requests, and HARO sends them to subscribers in up to three emails each weekday. You read the emails and reply to the requests that fit.
Featured is an AI co-pilot for PR. It pulls journalist requests from HARO, Connectively, Substack, X and LinkedIn into one place, matches them to your expertise, sorts them by deadline and drafts a response. It also finds podcasts, bylined article openings, awards and speaking slots, and it can run any of those searches on a schedule. Featured has a free plan, and paid plans are $39, $99 and $299 a month.
Choose Featured if
- You respond to journalist requests every week and want them filtered to your topics.
- You manage PR for several clients or spokespeople.
- You want requests from more than one source in a single list.
- You want drafts, deadlines and delivery to Slack.
- You want podcasts, awards, bylined articles and speaking as well as press.
Choose HARO if
- You want journalist requests for free, by email, with nothing to set up.
- You have time to scan three emails a day.
- You are a journalist. Submitting a query to HARO is free.
Featured owns and operates all three products named on this page: Featured, HARO and Connectively. The aim here is to help you pick the right one.
Side by side
Featured and HARO at a glance
| Featured | HARO | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | AI co-pilot for PR | Free email newsletter of journalist requests |
| Owner | Featured | Featured, since April 2025 |
| Price | Free plan. Paid plans are $39, $99 and $299 a month | Free |
| Format | Web app with chat and scheduled workflows | Email, up to 3 times each weekday |
| Where requests come from | HARO, Connectively, Substack, X and LinkedIn | Journalists who submit queries to HARO |
| Matching | Matched to your expertise and sorted by deadline | You scan each email |
| Pitch drafting | Yes | No |
| Other opportunities | Podcasts, bylined articles, awards, speaking, creators | None |
| Delivery | In the app, Slack or email | |
| Best for | People who pitch every week or for several clients | Anyone who wants free requests with no setup |
| For journalists | Not built for posting requests | Submit a query for free |
Checked November 10, 2026. Sources are listed at the end of this page.
Definitions
What each one is
What is Featured?
Featured is the AI co-pilot for PR. It is a chat-first product: ask for journalist requests on your topic, podcasts that book guests like you, or awards your company can win, and Featured returns a matched list and drafts the pitch. Workflows run the same searches on a schedule and deliver results to Slack or email. Featured relaunched in this form on June 2, 2026. The company also owns and operates HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and Connectively, which supply many of its journalist requests. Featured is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
What is HARO?
HARO, short for Help a Reporter Out, is a free service that connects journalists with expert sources. Journalists submit queries. HARO reviews them and emails them to subscribers in up to three digests each weekday. Sources reply by email, and journalists choose the responses they want to use. HARO was founded in 2008 by Peter Shankman, became part of Vocus in 2010 and Cision in 2014, and was discontinued by Cision in 2024. Featured acquired HARO in April 2025 and relaunched it as a free email newsletter supported by advertising.
Key differences
Five differences that matter
- 1
HARO is a newsletter. Featured is a product you work in.
HARO arrives in your inbox. There is no dashboard to learn, and you reply to a query the same way you reply to any email. Featured is a web app. You ask it for opportunities, review the matches and act on them, or set up a workflow that does the asking for you.
- 2
HARO is free. Featured has a free plan and paid plans.
HARO costs nothing for sources or journalists. Featured's Free plan includes every feature with a starter daily allowance. Paid plans are Lite at $39 a month, Pro at $99 and Pro+ at $299, with 20% off for annual billing.
- 3
Featured covers more than HARO's requests.
A HARO email contains queries that journalists submitted to HARO. Featured combines those with requests from Connectively, Substack, X and LinkedIn, then adds other kinds of opportunity: podcasts, bylined articles, awards, speaking and creator search.
- 4
Featured filters and drafts. HARO delivers everything.
A HARO email lists the active queries, and you do the matching. Featured's Monitor HARO workflow watches the same queries, keeps the ones that match your criteria and sends them to Slack or email. Featured Chat then drafts the pitch for you to review.
- 5
Journalists use HARO, not Featured, to post requests.
Journalists submit queries through HARO for free. Featured is built for the people answering: founders, experts and PR teams.
Features
Featured vs. HARO: feature comparison
| Feature | Featured | HARO |
|---|---|---|
| Requests | ||
| Journalist requests from HARO | Yes | Yes |
| Requests from Connectively, Substack, X and LinkedIn | Yes | No |
| Matched to your expertise | Yes | No. You scan each email |
| Sorted by deadline | Yes | No |
| Help with the work | ||
| AI-drafted pitches | Yes | No |
| Scheduled workflows | Yes. Includes a Monitor HARO workflow | No |
| Delivery to Slack | Yes | No |
| Beyond journalist requests | ||
| Podcasts, bylined articles, awards, speaking | Yes | No |
| Media monitoring | Yes | No |
| AI visibility audit | Yes. GEO Audit | No |
| Access | ||
| Price | Free plan. Paid plans from $39 a month | Free |
| What you need | A Featured account | An email address |
| Posting a request as a journalist | No | Yes. Free |
Both products are run by Featured. Feature details are from featured.com and helpareporter.com as of November 10, 2026.
Pricing
Featured vs. HARO: pricing
HARO is free. Featured has a free plan, and its paid plans differ only by how much AI usage you get each day.
Featured pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Billed annually | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | Every feature, with a starter daily allowance |
| Lite | $39 | $29 a month ($348 a year) | 5x the AI usage of Free |
| Pro | $99 | $79 a month ($948 a year) | 5x the usage of Lite |
| Pro+ | $299 | $239 a month ($2,868 a year) | 20x the usage of Lite |
| Team Lite | $199 | $159 a month ($1,908 a year) | Up to 25 logins sharing one usage pool |
| Team Pro | $499 | $399 a month ($4,788 a year) | 5x the pool of Team Lite |
| Team Pro+ | $1,499 | $1,199 a month ($14,388 a year) | 20x the pool of Team Lite |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Unlimited members, usage billed at API rates |
Every Featured plan includes every feature. Plans differ only by daily AI usage. Source: featured.com/pricing.
HARO pricing
| What | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| HARO newsletter, for sources | Free | Up to 3 emails of journalist requests each weekday |
| Submitting a query, for journalists | Free | Your request is reviewed, then sent to HARO's sources |
HARO is supported by newsletter advertising. Source: helpareporter.com/about.
How they fit together
HARO is the source. Featured is the layer on top.
Every HARO request is available in Featured, alongside requests from other networks. It makes sense to start with the HARO newsletter and move to Featured when scanning emails takes too long or when you start pitching for more than one person.
Connectively is the third option from the same company: a platform where you answer HARO queries and publisher questions and keep a public expert profile. See Featured vs. Connectively and Connectively vs. HARO.
FAQ
Featured vs. HARO: frequently asked questions
Is Featured the same as HARO?
No. HARO is a free email newsletter of journalist requests. Featured is an AI co-pilot for PR that includes HARO's requests along with other opportunities. Featured owns and operates HARO.
Does Featured own HARO?
Yes. Featured acquired HARO in April 2025, after Cision discontinued it, and relaunched it as a free email newsletter.
Is HARO free?
Yes. HARO is free for both journalists and sources. It is supported by newsletter advertising.
Do I need a Featured account to use HARO?
No. You can subscribe to HARO with an email address and reply to queries by email. A Featured account is optional.
Do I need HARO if I use Featured?
No. Featured includes HARO's journalist requests. You can keep the HARO emails as a backup.
How do I monitor HARO queries automatically?
Use Featured's Monitor HARO workflow. It checks HARO queries against your topics on a schedule and sends matches to Slack or email.
What is the difference between HARO, Connectively and Featured?
All three are run by Featured. HARO is a free email newsletter of journalist requests. Connectively is a platform where experts answer journalist and publisher requests and keep a public profile. Featured is the AI co-pilot for PR: it finds and drafts across both of them and across podcasts, bylined articles, awards and speaking.
Is Featured still a Q&A platform for experts?
That product now lives on Connectively. In May 2026 Featured moved its original expert Q&A platform to the Connectively brand, and on June 2, 2026 Featured relaunched as the AI co-pilot for PR.
Sources
Sources and how we checked
Featured owns and operates Featured, HARO and Connectively, and wrote this page. Facts come from each product's public site and press releases, checked on November 10, 2026.
- Featured pricing (plans, prices, usage multipliers)
- Featured features (feature list and data sources)
- Featured workflows (workflow templates)
- About HARO (history, format, cost, ownership)
- HARO Statistics (2026) (Featured press room, August 31, 2026)
- Featured.com Revives Connectively, Launches AI Co-Pilot for PR (GlobeNewswire, May 26, 2026)
Featured, HARO and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at support@featured.com and we will correct it.
Let Featured read HARO for you
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