Press Hunt vs Source of Sources in 2026: Paid journalist database vs free HARO-style query digest
One is a searchable database of 580,000+ journalists you pay $249 a month to query and export. The other is a free email digest of journalist queries built by the person who invented HARO, and it costs nothing to join.
Press Hunt
Source of Sources- Press Hunt is a paid, searchable database starting at $249/month with 580,000+ journalist and 10,000+ podcast profiles. Source of Sources is completely free with no search or database at all.
- Source of Sources was built by Peter Shankman, the founder of the original HARO, and runs as a simple email digest rather than a software platform.
- Press Hunt lets you proactively target specific journalists by beat, outlet, or interest. Source of Sources only lets you react to whatever queries happen to appear in that day's digest, up to three times daily.
- Press Hunt's AI-powered media list generation turns a plain-language description into a targeted contact list. Source of Sources has no filtering or search of any kind; every subscriber gets the identical digest.
- Neither tool offers an API. Press Hunt has no API on any tier, and Source of Sources has no platform to build an API around in the first place.
- Source of Sources enforces a strict no-spam policy: pitch off-topic and Shankman removes you from the list with no appeal. Press Hunt has no equivalent enforcement since you are pitching directly from an exported CSV.
Press Hunt and Source of Sources solve the same broad problem, getting your name or your client's name in front of journalists, from opposite directions. Press Hunt is a paid, searchable database: 580,000+ journalist profiles and 10,000+ podcasts you filter, search, or describe in plain language to an AI list generator, then export to CSV and pitch yourself. Source of Sources flips the direction entirely. Peter Shankman, who built and later left Help a Reporter Out (HARO), runs SOS as a free digest of journalist queries that lands in your inbox up to three times a day; you wait for a relevant ask and reply directly. Press Hunt puts you in control of who you target and costs real money to do it. SOS costs nothing and gives you zero control over who is asking, only whether you happen to fit what they need.
The tools at a glance
Press Hunt
Journalist and podcast database of 580k+ contacts with AI-powered media list generation and bulk CSV export
Press Hunt is built for the side of PR where you already know roughly who you want to reach and just need to find them fast. The database covers 580,000+ journalists and 10,000+ podcasts, and the AI list generator lets you describe a target audience in a sentence, such as "fintech reporters who cover Series A raises," instead of hand-building filters. That precision has a price: $249/month at the Startup tier, with press release distribution locked behind the $499/month Premium plan and no free trial beyond a preview that hides contact details.
What you get for that fee is bulk selection and unlimited CSV export, which is the entire output. There is no outreach, sequencing, or CRM built in, so every list still needs a separate email tool to become a pitch. Compared to a free service like Source of Sources, Press Hunt trades zero cost for actual targeting control: you choose exactly who receives your pitch instead of waiting to see if a relevant query shows up in an inbox digest.
| Feature | Startup $249/month | Premium $499/month | PR Agency Contact for pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journalist database access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Podcast database access | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AI media list generation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CSV export | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Press release distribution | No | 2/month | Custom |
| API access | No | No | No |
Source of Sources
Free daily email digest connecting journalists with expert sources, from the founder of HARO
Source of Sources has no database, no search, and no dashboard, and that is deliberate. Peter Shankman, who created Help a Reporter Out (HARO) in 2008 before selling it to Cision, built SOS as a return to the original format: journalists submit queries, Shankman reviews them by hand, and subscribers get up to three digest emails a day listing what reporters currently need. You reply directly to the journalist with no platform in between.
The tradeoff for Press Hunt's cost and control is that SOS gives you neither. You cannot search for a specific beat or outlet, you cannot filter by industry, and you have no way to know in advance whether a relevant query will appear today, tomorrow, or next month. What you get instead is a genuinely free channel with a real enforcement mechanism: pitch off-topic once and Shankman removes you with no appeals, which keeps the signal-to-noise ratio higher than most free source-request lists.
| Feature | Free $0 |
|---|---|
| Daily journalist query digest | Yes |
| Direct journalist reply | Yes |
| Search or filtering | No |
| Dashboard or analytics | No |
| API access | No |
Head-to-head feature comparison
| Feature | Press Hunt | Source of Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Core model | Outbound: you search and pitch | Inbound: journalists query, you respond |
| Journalist database | Yes, 580,000+ journalists | No, digest only |
| Podcast database | Yes, 10,000+ shows | No |
| Search / filtering | Yes, multi-attribute search | No, identical digest for every subscriber |
| AI-assisted list building | Yes, plain-language list generation | No |
| Outreach tracking | No | No |
| Cost to join | $249/month minimum | Free |
| Enforcement against spam | No formal enforcement | Yes, off-topic pitchers removed with no appeal |
| API access | No | No |
| Starting price | $249/mo | $0 |
Which should you choose?
Press HuntSource of SourcesPress HuntSource of SourcesPress HuntSource of SourcesPress Hunt and Source of Sources are not really fighting for the same subscription dollar; they are two different postures toward PR outreach. Press Hunt costs money because it gives you control: you decide who you want to reach and it hands you a list. SOS costs nothing because it gives up control entirely: you wait for a journalist to need something in your area of expertise and hope it lands in that day's digest. A PR consultant running client work on a budget will lean on Press Hunt for anything that needs precise targeting and treat SOS as a free supplementary channel that occasionally produces a placement for zero incremental cost.
Bottom line
Pay for Press Hunt if your PR work depends on reaching specific journalists or podcasts on a deadline and $249/month is a real budget line, not an experiment. Sign up for Source of Sources if you have no PR budget at all and are willing to wait for the right query to show up in your inbox, since it costs nothing and takes thirty seconds to join. Most working PR practitioners end up running SOS in the background regardless, since there is no reason to skip a free channel just because a paid one already exists.
Frequently asked questions
Is Press Hunt worth $249 a month compared to the free Source of Sources?
Press Hunt is worth the cost only if you need to search for and target specific journalists or podcasts rather than wait for a matching request; Source of Sources cannot do that because it has no search or filtering of any kind. For anyone who just wants a free, no-effort channel that occasionally produces a placement, Source of Sources costs nothing and takes thirty seconds to join, making the two tools complements rather than direct substitutes.
Can I use Source of Sources to actively find journalists in a specific niche?
No, Source of Sources has no search or filtering, so you cannot look for journalists covering a specific niche; every subscriber receives the identical digest and you simply watch for queries relevant to your expertise. If you need to actively target journalists by beat, industry, or outlet, Press Hunt's multi-attribute search is built for that and Source of Sources is not.
Does Source of Sources replace HARO now that HARO has been shut down?
Source of Sources is the closest replacement to the original HARO model because it was built by Peter Shankman, the same person who founded HARO in 2008 before selling it to Cision. It recreates the free, email-digest format that made HARO useful, though it runs as a smaller, independently operated version rather than the acquired, commercialized platform HARO became.
Does Press Hunt include podcast contacts the way Source of Sources does?
Press Hunt includes a searchable database of 10,000+ podcasts alongside its journalist database, letting you filter and export podcast contacts directly. Source of Sources has no dedicated podcast category; its digest includes whatever queries journalists submit, which occasionally touches podcast producers but is not something you can search for specifically.
Which tool has better data quality, Press Hunt or Source of Sources?
Press Hunt describes its contact data as verified through automated processes, though accuracy still varies and some bounce rate is normal on large exports. Source of Sources has no data quality question in the same sense since queries come directly from journalists who submit them for that day's digest and are manually reviewed by Shankman before inclusion, which functions as its own quality filter.
Can a PR agency use Source of Sources for client work the way it uses Press Hunt?
Source of Sources is not built for agency-scale client work since it has no way to segment, filter, or manage multiple clients within a single account, unlike Press Hunt, which supports bulk list building and export at scale. Agencies typically use Press Hunt as the primary paid tool for client campaigns and treat Source of Sources as a free supplementary channel run by individual practitioners rather than managed as a client deliverable.