Hunter finds an email. Media List finds the journalist. If you already know which reporter you want and where they work, Hunter can find their work email fast and for little money. If you still need to work out who covers your story, Media List starts there and gives you the email at the end.
You can also use both. This page explains the difference, with Hunter's prices checked in October 2026.
Hunter vs Media List for PR at a glance
| What you need | Media List | Hunter |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Find journalists, producers, podcasts and YouTube channels by beat and outlet | Find and verify professional emails at any company2 |
| Where you start | A beat, topic, outlet, media type or US state | A person's name plus their company or domain4 |
| Free way to start | 3-day trial, $0 today, card or PayPal needed | Free tier with 50 credits a month1 |
| Entry price | $99 a month with 2,500 exports | Starter at $49 a month with 2,000 credits1 |
| Cost per email | Higher | Lower, 1 credit per email found1 |
| Yearly discount | Yearly costs 10 times the monthly price | "Pay yearly -30%"1 |
| Size of the data | 31,000+ journalists, editors and producers, with 22,000+ in the US | "150M Professional email addresses indexed"2 |
| Global reach | Focused on US media | Any domain in the world2 |
| Beats, titles and outlet types | Yes, filter by beat, title, outlet, media type and state | B2B company filters, not media beats1 |
| Freelancers and broadcast producers | Listed by title and media type | Needs a company domain to find an email4 |
| Podcasts and YouTube | 1.2 million podcasts and 189,000+ YouTube channels | None |
| Email checks | Every email shows its verification status before you export | Email Verifier and a confidence score on each find1 |
| Users | 1 seat on Basic, up to 3 on Professional, up to 10 on Scale | "Unlimited users" on every plan1 |
| Sending | Campaigns with follow-ups on Professional and up | Sequences on every plan, with more inboxes on higher plans1 |
| Where you work | Web app, Google Sheets add-on and MCP in your AI assistant | Chrome, Firefox and Edge extensions6 |
| Integrations | MCP server, read-only API, Zapier (beta), Google Sheets, Notion, Webflow | CRMs, Zapier, Make, Clay, API, Google Sheets and an MCP server611 |
| If an email bounces | We replace that export at no cost | Each find costs a credit, with its sources shown12 |
Try Media List for 3 days, $0 today, then from $99 a month. No contract. No sales call.
Start 3-day free trial →Hunter finds an email. Media List finds the journalist.
Most PR work starts with a question. Who covers electric bikes in Texas? Which morning show producers book health guests? Which podcasts talk about small business loans?
Hunter does not answer those questions, and it does not try to. It is a general email finder for sales and outreach. Hunter itself explains on Trustpilot that "we require including the company where the person works at to identify the professional email address"4. So you need a name and a company before Hunter can help.
Media List answers the first question. You pick a beat, an outlet type and a state, and you see the people who fit, with their titles and outlets. Then you export the emails you need. Every email shows its verification status before you export, and you can filter to verified emails.
What Hunter does well
Hunter is a strong tool, and it is cheaper per email. Here is what you get, as of October 2026.
- A free tier with 50 credits a month1.
- Starter at $49 a month for 2,000 credits, Growth at $149 for 10,000 and Scale at $299 for 25,0001.
- Each found email costs 1 credit and each verification costs half a credit1.
- Monthly credits "reset monthly and don't roll over"1.
- "Unlimited users" on every plan, so a whole team can share one account1.
- Browser extensions that find emails on any web page, including an article byline6.
Hunter also says it removes contact data after six months if it no longer has public sources2. Each result tells you if the email is a guess or has public sources2.
What Media List adds for PR
- Search by the story, not the name. Filter by beat, topic, outlet, media type, title and US state.
- Reach people with no stable company domain, such as freelancers, and find TV and radio producers by title.
- Add 189,000+ YouTube channels with subscriber counts and 1.2 million podcasts to the same list.
- Check public newsroom pages and journalist pages before you buy.
- Send pitches with follow-ups and open and click tracking on Professional.
- If an exported email bounces, we replace that export at no cost.
Who each tool fits best
Agencies and digital PR teams
- Choose Media List if your team spends hours working out who covers each client's beat. It replaces that research step.
- Choose Hunter if you already build target lists from backlink tools or bylines and only need the emails. Unlimited users help a large team.
- Choose both if you run link building and media pitching side by side.
Solo publicists
- Choose Media List if you need new targets by beat every month.
- Choose Hunter if you work from known relationships and only need an odd email now and then. The free tier or Starter may be all you need.
Founders and startups
- Choose Media List for your first media list, when you do not yet know who covers your space.
- Choose Hunter if you have a short list of reporters from articles you read and want their work emails.
What a year costs
These use list prices as of October 2026. We assume one person for the solo case and three people for the agency case.
| Plan | Solo publicist, one year | 3-person agency, one year |
|---|---|---|
| Hunter | Starter at $49 a month is $588, or $408 yearly1 | Growth at $149 a month is $1,788, or $1,248 yearly, with unlimited users1 |
| Media List | Basic at $99 a month is $1,188, or $990 yearly | Professional at $399 a month for 3 seats is $4,788, or $3,990 yearly |
Hunter costs less, and that is fair to say. The two tools do different jobs. With Hunter you still have to find the right people yourself. With Media List that research is the product, and the email comes with it.
What users say about Hunter
These quotes come from Trustpilot as they appeared in October 2026.
- A reviewer wrote in February 2026, "Hunter.io does exactly what it claims, and that matters."4
- The same reviewer said it gives "clear confidence scores that actually hold up."4
- A reviewer wrote in April 2026, "The inability for Hunter.io to not be able to search by name is a fatal flaw in their product, IMHO."5
- The same reviewer added, "Just not enough Email addresses. Clunky interface."5
Hunter shows 4.2 on Trustpilot from 346 reviews4. Per search results, Capterra shows 4.6 from 707 reviews, which we did not check on Capterra itself7.
On Reddit, one link builder described a common stack as "Ahrefs or Semrush for backlink research, Hunter for finding contacts, and BuzzStream or Pitchbox for managing outreach"8. In a thread asking about a media database for a freelancer, a publicist noted that "a platform can also help with reporting and pulling articles"9.
Use both, a simple workflow
- Build the list in Media List. Filter by beat, outlet, media type and state, and save it.
- Export the contacts you need, with verified emails first.
- For a reporter you read about who is not in your list, use Hunter on their outlet's domain.
- Run any outside list through Hunter's verifier if you want a second check.
- Send from your own mailbox, or from Media List campaigns on Professional.
How to start
You do not need to cancel Hunter to try Media List. If you do cancel later, Hunter says you can cancel "at any time via email to Hunter or in the Settings section of your account's dashboard"3. Its plans "automatically renew unless you cancel"3.
- Start the 3-day trial. It is $0 today, and you need a card or PayPal.
- Search one beat you pitch often, then add outlet and state filters.
- Sort so verified emails come first, and save the list.
- Export up to 25 contacts during the trial.
- Your Hunter leads stay in Hunter, and you can export them as a CSV on any plan1.