How startups use Muck Rack to find journalists and get press coverage
TL;DR
Muck Rack is a journalist database and PR software platform that communications teams use to find reporters, pitch them and track coverage. Journalists use it for free, while the PR software runs on paid plans with custom pricing that you get through a demo. Funded startups with someone doing PR get the most out of it, and bootstrapped founders can still use the public journalist pages for research.
What is Muck Rack?
Muck Rack got its start in 2009 as a home for journalists and their work, and today it calls itself an earned media platform for PR and communications teams. Earned media is the coverage you win by pitching journalists, as opposed to ads you buy.
The product has two sides:
- The journalist side. Reporters claim a free profile, add a portfolio, set their contact preferences and can request verification. Verified journalists get complimentary access to the media database.
- The PR side. Paying customers get a media database covering digital, broadcast, print, podcasts, newsletters and social media, plus pitching tools, media monitoring, reporting and an AI Visibility feature that tracks how frequently a brand appears in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini answers.
Who should use Muck Rack?
Good fit:
- Funded startups with a communications lead who pitches every week.
- PR agencies and freelancers who run launches for several clients.
- Founders who want to see which journalists cover their niche before writing a pitch.
Skip it for now:
- Pre-revenue founders with no PR budget. A demo and a custom contract are heavy overhead for three pitches.
- Anyone looking for a "submit your startup" form. Muck Rack has none: coverage comes from pitching reporters.
How much does Muck Rack cost?
Muck Rack publishes no prices. Its pricing page lists three plans for brands (Starter, Standard and Premier) plus separate agency plans, and every plan leads to a demo request. The price depends on factors such as the number of users, and sales sends a custom proposal. The demo takes about 30 to 45 minutes, with no obligation.
Press release distribution is an add-on: you buy distribution credits through your Customer Success Manager.
How do you get press coverage with Muck Rack?
- Research for free. Journalist profile pages on muckrack.com are public and show the reporter's outlet and recent articles without a login. Shortlist 10 to 20 reporters whose beat matches your startup.
- Decide if you need the software. If you plan to pitch every month, request a demo on the Muck Rack pricing page and ask for a one-user quote on the Starter plan.
- Pitch one reporter at a time. Mention a recent article of theirs, explain in two sentences why your news matters to their readers, and add one data point they can use.
- Follow up once, five working days later. The paid pitching tool tracks this for you; a spreadsheet works too.
Tips to get more out of Muck Rack
- Check the contact preferences on a journalist's profile before you pitch, and follow them to the letter.
- Subscribe to Muck Rack Daily, the daily journalism digest, to see what reporters are writing about this week.
- Pitch only when you have news: a funding round, a product launch or original data from your users.
Our verdict
Muck Rack is one of the strongest tools for finding the right journalist, and its free public profiles already give a bootstrapped founder a solid research base. The paid software pays off once PR becomes a weekly job, so go into the demo with a clear budget and a one-user scope.
More options: see all tech media, blogs and newsletters. Planning the launch around this coverage? The Fe/male Switch startup game walks women founders from idea to first customers.