Media List is a media database you can buy online today. Plans start at $99 a month, with no contract and no demo. Muck Rack is a larger PR suite with monitoring and coverage reports, and it is sold by annual quote after a demo.1 In 2025 and 2026 buyer reports, one Muck Rack seat cost about $4,400 to $6,000 a year.5621 Vendr puts the median Muck Rack deal at $13,000 a year.3
Media List and Muck Rack side by side
Prices and facts below were checked in October 2026. Each Muck Rack fact links to its source.
| What you get | Media List | Muck Rack |
|---|---|---|
| Price shown on the website | Yes. Basic is $99, Professional $399 and Scale $999 a month | No. "Pricing depends on a few factors specific to your team including the number of users"1 |
| Reported cost of one seat | $99 a month on Basic | About $4,400 to $6,000 a year in 2025 and 2026 buyer reports5621. The Vendr median across all deal sizes is $13,000 a year3 |
| Billing | Monthly. No annual contract | Annual billing cycle, renewed each year2 |
| Cancelling | Anytime from your billing page. Your plan runs to the end of the period you paid for | Email your Customer Success Manager. Fees for the current annual cycle are not returned2 |
| Trial | 3-day trial, $0 today, card or PayPal, up to 25 exports | No trial for PR users1 |
| How you buy | Self-serve checkout. Start the same day | "Request Demo", then a quote from sales1 |
| Journalists | 31,000+ journalists, editors and producers, 22,000+ of them in the US | Muck Rack is bigger. Its ads say "400K+ Contacts in 60 Countries"17 |
| Countries | Strongest in the US, with every state plus DC | Muck Rack goes wider, with contacts in 60 countries per its ads17 |
| YouTube and podcasts | 189,000+ YouTube channels and 1.2 million podcasts in every plan | "2.4M+ podcasts indexed" for podcast monitoring16. Influencers outside its rules can be added as custom contacts11 |
| Exports | 2,500, 10,000 or 25,000 new contacts a month. Re-downloads never count again | Starter exports are "Limited". Standard and Premier exports are unlimited1 |
| Cost per exported contact | About $0.04 at full use of a plan | Not published |
| Email status | Every contact shows its verification status before you export. You can filter to verified emails | A green verified badge for journalists with bylines at verified outlets "within the last 30 days"19 |
| If an email bounces | Bounced exports are replaced at no cost | You can press "Request Update" to ask its team to research a contact11 |
| Media monitoring | Not included. Media List is for finding and pitching | Online news on every tier. Print, broadcast and social listening are add-ons122 |
| Sending pitches | Campaigns with follow-ups and open and click tracking on Professional and up | Sends from your own Gmail or Outlook12. "Up to 3,000 contacts can be added to a pitch"14 |
| Seats | 1 on Basic, up to 3 on Professional and up to 10 on Scale, all included in the price | Priced per named user. "Generic or shared emails cannot be used for accounts"2 |
| API, MCP and integrations | MCP server, read-only API, Zapier (beta), Google Sheets add-on, Send to Notion and Send to Webflow | Gmail and Outlook sending12. The API is a Premier add-on for coverage data15 |
| Support | Email support from the Media List team | Live chat on every tier with "Tiered response times"1 |
| Onboarding | Self-serve. Start the same day, with no onboarding call | Starter is "self-led". Standard and Premier are "instructor-led"1 |
| Reviews and proof | Public newsroom and journalist pages you can check before you buy | Capterra shows 4.2 out of 5 from 25 reviews9. G2 shows about 4.5 out of 5 from hundreds, per search results, not checked on G210 |
Try Media List for 3 days, $0 today, then from $99 a month. No contract. No sales call.
Start 3-day free trial →Who each tool fits best
The two tools solve different jobs. Media List is a contact database with sending built in. Muck Rack is a full PR platform, and you pay for the whole platform.
Choose Media List if
- You are a solo publicist or freelancer and want to pay month to month. Muck Rack's own pricing FAQ says sporadic users "may find alternatives better suited".1
- You are a founder or startup that needs a press list this week. You can start a trial today, with no sales call.
- You run a small agency and want seats included. Professional has 3 seats and Scale has 10, at one price.
- Your clients need podcast hosts and YouTube creators as well as reporters. Both come in every plan.
- You work inside Claude or another AI assistant. The Media List MCP server lets it search the contact database for you.
Choose Muck Rack if
- Your agency needs media monitoring and coverage reports in the same tool as its lists.
- You pitch outside the US a lot. Muck Rack's ads claim contacts in 60 countries.17
- You want to pitch from your own Gmail or Outlook inbox inside the app.12
- Your team wants live chat support on every tier and a named success manager on higher tiers.1
- You need a much bigger journalist database. Its ads claim 400K+ contacts.17
What a year costs for two common buyers
Media List prices here are the live prices on our pricing page. Muck Rack does not publish prices, so its side uses buyer reports and Vendr data. Every figure is a yearly total.
A solo publicist with one seat
- Muck Rack. Buyers reported one-seat quotes of about $4,400 to $6,000 a year, billed by the year.5621 One buyer was first asked for $10,000, and the lowest offer was $6,000.21
- Media List Basic, paid monthly. Twelve months at $99 comes to $1,188 at the October 2026 price.
- Media List Basic, paid yearly. A yearly plan costs 10 times the monthly price, which is $990 today.
Assumptions. The publicist exports up to 2,500 new contacts a month and does not need monitoring. At full use, Basic works out to about $0.04 per exported contact.
A 3-person agency
- Muck Rack. One buyer reported a "$10k/year plan" for 3 seats.5 Vendr puts teams of 1 to 5 users at $10,000 to $25,000 a year.3
- Media List Professional, paid monthly. Twelve months at $399 comes to $4,788 at the October 2026 price. All 3 seats are included.
- Media List Professional, paid yearly. That is $3,990 today.
Assumptions. The agency exports up to 10,000 new contacts a month and sends its own campaigns with follow-ups. Muck Rack's price also buys monitoring and coverage reports. If your team would use those every week, count them in.
What buyers say about Muck Rack
These are short quotes from public reviews and forums, with dates. They show both praise and complaints.
- "Its accuracy is far superior to its competitors." A reviewer on Capterra, January 2026.9
- "MuckRack is definitely most expensive, but I think it's the most up to date and accurate database." A Reddit user, November 2025.8
- "I'd love it if we could pay monthly." A reviewer on Capterra, January 2026.9
- "It is wildly expensive, and I don't feel like I use it enough to justify the cost." A Reddit user, February 2025.20
The pattern is clear. People like Muck Rack's data and support. The common complaint is the price and the yearly lock-in, most of all for small teams.
Journalists and creators in one search
Many launches today need more than reporters. A beauty brand may want podcast hosts and YouTube reviewers as well as magazine editors. A software founder may want tech newsletters next to trade press.
Media List puts all of these in one database. Every plan includes 31,000+ journalists, editors and producers, plus 189,000+ YouTube channels and 1.2 million podcasts. You search them with the same filters and export them in the same file.
Muck Rack indexes podcasts for monitoring.16 Its database FAQ says influencers outside its rules can be added as custom contacts.11 If creators matter to your clients, test the same search in both tools.
Built for the way small teams work
Media List is made for people who want to start fast and stay flexible. You see the price before you sign up. You can start the same day and cancel anytime from your billing page.
It also fits the tools you already use. The MCP server lets Claude and other AI assistants search the contact database. The read-only API, Zapier (beta), the Google Sheets add-on, Send to Notion and Send to Webflow move lists where you work.
On Professional and up, you can send campaigns with follow-ups and open and click tracking. On Scale, you get private-label reports to share with clients. If an exported email bounces, we replace that export at no cost.
How to switch from Muck Rack
Muck Rack bills by the year. Its terms say "To cancel, email your Customer Success Manager."2 Fees for the year you are in are not returned, so the best time to switch is at renewal.
Find your renewal date on your order form. Start a Media List trial about a month before it. Then run the searches you use most in both tools and compare the contacts you would really pitch.
Start with your own notes and the contacts you added yourself. Muck Rack's terms limit copying its database for another service, so do not upload Muck Rack exports into a new tool. Rebuild those lists in Media List with filters instead.
- Pick a beat, such as technology, health or finance.
- Add the outlets you care about, or choose a media type such as TV, print, podcast or YouTube.
- Filter by US state if you pitch local news.
- Turn on the verified emails filter.
- Save the list, then export it or send a campaign on Professional.
Is Muck Rack free?
Muck Rack is free for journalists. Muck Rack says journalists "never pay for Muck Rack access".1 For PR teams it is a paid product, and there is no trial for PR users.1
The closest way to test Media List is the 3-day trial. It costs $0 today and needs a card or PayPal. You can search everything and export up to 25 contacts before you decide.
Is Muck Rack worth it?
For an agency that pitches every day and uses monitoring, it can be. One Reddit user summed up the choice this way. "If the journalist database is more important, choose Muck Rack."18
For a solo publicist who only needs contacts, the math is harder. One freelancer said they wanted to spend "under $300 per month".7 Media List Basic is $99 a month, with no yearly bill.