If you have looked for a way to get quoted in the press since HARO disappeared, you have probably run into Qwoted. It is one of the platforms that absorbed the audience HARO left behind, and for business and B2B sources it is often the first one worth setting up.
What is Qwoted? Qwoted is a two-sided platform that connects journalists with expert sources. Reporters post what they are working on, sources browse a live feed of those requests, and sources pitch the ones they can speak to. It also carries a media database for direct outreach. It skews toward business, finance, technology, and professional PR, and it has a free tier for sources plus paid plans. This guide covers what it is, how it works on both sides, how to sign up, how to actually win pitches, what the free and paid tiers get you, and how it stacks up against Featured.com and the old HARO.
What is Qwoted, exactly?
Qwoted is a media platform built around a simple exchange. Journalists need expert voices for the stories they are writing. Experts want to be quoted in real publications, both for the credibility and for the coverage. Qwoted sits in the middle and connects the two.
There are two sides to the platform. On one side are journalists, reporters, and content teams posting requests, often called source requests or opportunities. On the other side are expert sources: founders, executives, consultants, analysts, and PR people who respond to those requests with a pitch. When a journalist likes a pitch, they use the quote, and the source typically gets a mention and often a link back to their site.
That structure will feel familiar if you ever used HARO. The difference is delivery. HARO pushed journalist queries to your inbox three times a day. Qwoted works as a live web app: you log in, you see a feed of current requests, and you filter and pitch in real time. There is no waiting for the next email digest.
Qwoted also includes a media database, which is where it goes beyond a plain query service. The database lets you search for journalists and outlets by beat and do direct outreach, rather than only waiting for reporters to post. So Qwoted functions as both a reactive tool, where you respond to requests, and a proactive one, where you reach out yourself.
The platform leans business. Its strongest coverage is in finance, technology, startups, marketing, professional services, and general business news. If that is your world, the requests you see will mostly be relevant. If you sell consumer lifestyle products, you will find fewer that fit, and other platforms will serve you better.
How Qwoted works for journalists
Understanding the journalist side helps you pitch better, so it is worth a moment even if you are only ever going to be a source.
A reporter working on a story signs in and posts a request. A good request spells out the publication, the angle, the kind of expert they want, and the deadline. For example, a fintech reporter might post that they are writing about small-business lending for a named outlet, they want a founder or a lending expert who can speak to approval rates, and they need responses by end of day.
Journalists then receive pitches from sources through the platform. They review the responses, pick the ones that fit, and often follow up with the source for a full quote, a short interview, or extra detail. Because everything runs through Qwoted, reporters can manage a request without handing out their email to a crowd, which is part of why they like it.
The practical takeaway for sources is this: the journalist is busy, on deadline, and scanning many pitches quickly. They are looking for a response they can use with little editing. Everything about how you pitch should make their job easier.
How Qwoted works for expert sources
The source side is where most readers of this guide will live. Here is the loop.
You create a source profile, set the topics you can speak to, and then monitor the feed of live journalist requests. When you find one you can answer with genuine authority, you write a pitch and submit it through the platform. If the journalist chooses your response, you get quoted, usually with attribution and often with a link to your site.
The feed is filterable, which matters because volume is the enemy of consistency. You can narrow to your beats so you are not scrolling past requests you cannot use. The goal is to see the handful of relevant opportunities each day and ignore the rest.
Speed is the other half. Journalists frequently work with the first few strong pitches they receive, so a fast, relevant response beats a slower, more polished one that lands after the reporter has already filled the slot. Checking the feed once a day at minimum, and more often when you can, is what turns Qwoted from a login you forget into a channel that produces coverage.
How to sign up for Qwoted
Getting started as a source is straightforward.
Go to Qwoted and create an account as an expert or source, rather than as a journalist. You will build a profile that describes who you are, your title and company, and the subjects you are qualified to discuss. Treat this profile as your credibility at a glance, because journalists can see it when they weigh your pitch. Fill it out properly: real name, real role, a clear one-line description of your expertise, and links to your site or past coverage.
Set your topics and beats carefully. These drive the requests you see and the filtering you can do. Too broad and you drown in irrelevant opportunities; too narrow and you miss ones you could win. Pick the areas where you can speak with real authority and add depth there.
Once your profile is live, you can start browsing the request feed and pitching immediately on the free tier. There is no need to wait or pay to send your first pitch. The setup takes maybe fifteen minutes, and most of that is writing a profile that actually sells your expertise.
How to win pitches on Qwoted
This is the part that separates people who get quoted from people who log in, send a few pitches, hear nothing, and quit. The tools are easy. Winning consistently is a craft, and it comes down to a few habits.
Be fast. Set aside a daily slot to check the feed, ideally more than once. The first strong, relevant pitches usually win, so speed on the requests you can answer is worth more than perfection on the ones you cannot.
Be relevant. Only pitch requests you can answer with genuine authority. A journalist can tell the difference between an expert and someone stretching to be included, and stretching burns your credibility for the next request. Fewer, sharper pitches beat a scattershot spray.
Be specific and useful. Give the reporter something they can drop straight into the article. Generic soundbites get skipped. A concrete detail, a number, a real example, or a clear contrarian take gets used.
Be human. Write like a person, not a press release. No buzzwords, no throat-clearing, no pitch about your product. Answer the question first, and let your credibility do the selling.
An example pitch structure
Here is a simple three-part structure that works. Keep the whole thing to a few short paragraphs.
1. Direct answer. Open with a straight answer to the exact question the journalist asked. No preamble. If they asked how small businesses should think about cash-flow forecasting, your first line answers that.
2. Proof. Follow with one concrete detail that shows you actually know the subject: a number from your own operations, a specific example, or a pattern you have seen firsthand. This is what makes the quote worth using.
3. Attribution line. Close with one line on who you are and why you can speak to this: your name, title, and company. This gives the journalist the credential they need to attribute the quote.
A worked example for a request about cash-flow forecasting for small businesses:
Most small businesses forecast on a monthly cycle, which is too coarse to catch the gaps that actually sink them. A weekly rolling 13-week forecast is the single change I recommend, because it surfaces a shortfall while there is still time to act on it rather than after payroll bounces.
When we moved our own clients from monthly to weekly forecasting, the number who hit an unexpected cash crunch dropped noticeably, because they could see a tight week three or four weeks out and adjust collections or spend ahead of it.
Roman Sydorenko, founder of [your company], where we help small businesses tighten cash-flow planning.
Notice what that pitch does not do. It does not open with “Great question.” It does not pad with adjectives. It does not pivot into a sales pitch. It answers, proves, and attributes, and it hands the reporter a quote they can paste in with almost no editing. That is the whole game.
Qwoted free vs paid
Qwoted operates on a freemium model for sources, and you should understand the shape of it before you decide what to pay for. Pricing and exact limits change over time, so treat the specifics below as the general structure and check the current plans on Qwoted’s site before committing.
The free tier lets expert sources create a profile, browse the live feed of journalist requests, and send a limited number of pitches per period. For a lot of people, this is enough to run a real campaign. If you are selective about which requests you pitch, a capped number of high-quality pitches goes further than an unlimited stream of weak ones.
Paid plans raise the pitch cap and open up more of the platform, typically including the media database and direct outreach tools, plus features aimed at heavier PR and agency use. The paid tiers make sense when you are hitting the free pitch limit regularly, when you want to do proactive outreach rather than only responding to requests, or when you are running Qwoted across multiple clients or brands.
The honest advice: start free. Set up your profile, pitch selectively for a few weeks, and see whether the free cap actually constrains you. If you are consistently running out of pitches on requests you genuinely can win, upgrading is worth it. If you are not hitting the cap, paying does not help, because the bottleneck is the number of relevant requests, not your pitch allowance.
Qwoted vs Featured.com vs the old HARO
These three come up together constantly, so here is how they actually differ.
| Platform | Format | Best for | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwoted | Live request feed + media database | Business, finance, tech, PR | Active, freemium |
| Featured.com | Q&A published into articles | Founders, execs, thought leadership | Active, freemium |
| HARO | Three daily email digests | General, all niches | Shut down Dec 2024 |
HARO is the reference point everyone knows, and it no longer exists. Cision retired the Help a Reporter Out brand in 2024, folded it into a platform called Connectively, and then shut Connectively down entirely on December 9, 2024. If you are choosing a tool today, HARO is not on the table. The only useful comparison is between the platforms that replaced it. For the full story, see what replaced HARO.
Qwoted vs Featured.com is the real decision for most people. Qwoted is a live query feed: you react to journalist requests in near real time, and you also get a media database for outreach. It is strongest in business, finance, tech, and professional PR. Featured.com works differently. Journalists and content teams post questions, experts write short written answers, and the best answers get published inside articles and expert roundups, often with a link back. Featured rewards people who can write a genuinely good, specific answer and are happy to build a body of published contributions over time. Qwoted rewards speed and relevance on live requests.
In practice, many serious sources run both. They are not mutually exclusive, and they catch different opportunities. If you have to pick one to start, choose Qwoted if you want to react to live press requests in business and tech, and choose Featured.com if you would rather write thoughtful answers to evergreen questions as a founder or executive building thought leadership.
Qwoted pros and cons
No platform is perfect. Here is the honest ledger.
Pros. The live feed beats waiting for an email digest, so you can move on time-sensitive requests fast. Coverage in business, finance, tech, and PR is strong and mostly relevant if that is your niche. The media database adds proactive outreach on top of reactive pitching, which few free query tools offer. And the free tier is genuinely usable, so you can test the whole thing without spending anything.
Cons. It leans business and B2B, so consumer, lifestyle, and wellness brands will find fewer relevant requests. The free pitch cap means you have to be selective, which is good discipline but a real limit. And like every source platform, it rewards consistency, so the value only shows up if you actually check the feed and pitch regularly. Log in twice and forget it, and you will conclude it does not work, when the truth is it was never really used.
Who should use Qwoted?
Qwoted is a strong fit if you are a founder, executive, marketer, consultant, or in-house PR person in business, finance, technology, SaaS, or professional services. Those are the beats where journalists post the most requests, so your effort converts. Agencies also use Qwoted heavily on behalf of clients, running it as one channel in a broader digital PR program.
It is a weaker fit if your brand is consumer lifestyle, health and wellness, parenting, or local retail. You can still catch the occasional relevant request, but you will get more from platforms like SourceBottle that skew consumer, plus social media source requests. The smart move there is to run Qwoted alongside one or two of those, not instead of them.
If you are unsure, the free tier answers the question for you. Set up a profile, watch the feed for a couple of weeks, and count how many requests you could genuinely pitch. If it is several a week, Qwoted earns its place in your stack. If it is one every fortnight, your audience is elsewhere.
Want Qwoted run for you?
Everything in this guide is doable yourself. Qwoted is free to start, and nothing here requires special access. The real cost is time and consistency: checking the feed every day, drafting sharp pitches under deadline, and keeping it up for months so the wins accumulate. That is the part most people quietly drop after a few weeks, which is exactly why their coverage stalls.
If the bottleneck is time rather than expertise, a done-for-you service handles the monitoring and pitching so you only show up to approve quotes and give interviews. Our HARO-style link building service runs Qwoted, Featured.com, Help a B2B Writer, and the other successor platforms on your behalf, drafts pitches in your voice for approval, and reports on the editorial links you actually earn. We work white-hat only, target DR40+ dofollow placements, and you pay for qualified links rather than activity. If you would rather talk it through first, get in touch and we will tell you honestly whether running Qwoted yourself or handing it off makes more sense for your situation.
Either way, the opportunity is real. Journalists still need experts, Qwoted is where a lot of them look, and a source who shows up consistently with sharp, specific pitches earns coverage that money cannot buy directly. You just have to be that source, or hire one.
Frequently asked questions
What is Qwoted? Qwoted is a two-sided platform that connects journalists with expert sources. Reporters post what they are working on, and sources browse a live feed of those requests and pitch the ones they can speak to. It also includes a media database for direct outreach. It skews toward business, finance, technology, and professional PR, and it became a main successor after HARO and Connectively shut down in December 2024.
Is Qwoted free? Qwoted has a free tier for expert sources that lets you browse journalist requests and send a limited number of pitches per period. Paid plans raise that cap and add features like the media database and outreach tools. Pricing changes over time, so check the current plans on Qwoted’s site, but you can run a real campaign on the free tier alone.
Is Qwoted better than HARO? Qwoted does the same core job HARO did, connecting sources with journalists, but through a live web feed instead of three daily emails. HARO no longer exists, so the practical question is which successor to use. For business, finance, tech, and PR, Qwoted is usually the strongest single pick. For founders building thought leadership through written answers, Featured.com is a close alternative.
How do you win pitches on Qwoted? Be fast, relevant, and specific. Check the feed daily, only pitch requests you can answer with real authority, and keep each pitch to three short parts: a direct answer to the question, one concrete detail or number that proves expertise, and a single line on who you are. No fluff, no attachments, no sales pitch.
Who should use Qwoted? Founders, executives, marketers, and in-house PR people in business, finance, technology, SaaS, and professional services get the most out of Qwoted. Agencies use it on behalf of clients. Consumer and lifestyle brands can still find coverage but will get more from platforms like SourceBottle.