Muck Rack
PR database that profiles 600K+ journalists and sells access to communications teams. Free portfolio tools for journalists — but you are the product.
What should journalists know about Muck Rack?
Muck Rack is the dominant journalist-PR matching platform, used by over 5,000 companies and tracking 600,000+ media sources. Founded in 2009 by Gregory Galant and Lee Semel, the company was self-funded and profitable for 13 years before raising a $180M Series A from Susquehanna Growth Equity in September 2022. It acquired Keyhole (social listening) in September 2024 and Ruepoint (media intelligence, 450+ clients) in January 2025. In May 2025, it launched press release distribution via a GlobeNewswire partnership. In July 2025, it shipped Generative Pulse, a tool that tracks how brands appear in AI-generated answers from ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini — one of the first PR-specific LLMO products. The core tension: Muck Rack gives journalists free portfolios, media alerts, and a verified badge program, then monetizes that journalist data by selling database access, contact details, and outreach tools to PR teams at $5,000–$53,000/year. Journalist profiles are created automatically when Muck Rack ingests articles — no opt-in required. Profiles include name, title, employer, email, phone, social accounts, beat topics, pitch preferences, and published work. Journalists can claim, edit, or hide their profiles, but PR users retain relationship data even after a journalist removes their profile. The platform collects contact lists uploaded by PR customers and uses that data to update the journalist database. This is not a secret — Muck Rack is transparent about the model — but many journalists do not realize the extent to which their professional data is aggregated and sold. The free journalist tools are genuinely useful: media alerts are fast and cover 600K+ outlets, the portfolio is a clean public-facing page, and verified journalists get database search access. The 2026 State of Journalism survey (produced by Muck Rack) found 82% of journalists use AI tools. Muck Rack has a 4.6/5 rating on G2 (270+ reviews). Common complaints: opaque pricing, steep learning curve, limited report customization, and occasionally stale contact data. For journalists, the calculus is straightforward: the free tools are useful, but understand that your profile, contact info, and publishing history are the product being sold. Decide accordingly.
Journalists building a public portfolio. Freelancers who want to be discoverable by editors and PR teams. PR and communications teams running media outreach campaigns. Anyone tracking media coverage across 600K+ outlets.
Journalists who want to minimize their digital footprint or keep contact details out of PR databases. Reporters on sensitive beats where discoverability is a liability. Organizations that need open-source or self-hosted media monitoring.
Security & Privacy
Data is scrambled while being sent to their servers
Data is scrambled when stored on their servers
Where servers are located — affects which governments can request your data
Privacy policy summary
Muck Rack collects journalist data from publicly indexable sources — articles, social media, websites, RSS feeds — and creates profiles automatically without opt-in. PR customers can upload journalist contact lists, which Muck Rack uses to update the database. Collected data includes name, title, employer, email, phone, social profiles, photos, pitch preferences, topics covered, and location. Journalists can claim profiles, edit information, or request full removal by emailing hello@muckrack.com. However, PR users retain relationship data for removed journalists. Data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256). The platform is SOC 2 certified with regular security testing. Muck Rack states it does not sell personal information in the CCPA sense but does share journalist data with paying PR customers as a core business function. Journalists have the right to object to processing for direct marketing and can request data access or deletion under GDPR and CCPA.
How to protect yourself:
Claim your Muck Rack profile to control what information is visible — unclaimed profiles display whatever Muck Rack's automated system scraped. Review and remove any contact details you do not want PR teams to access (personal email, phone numbers). If you want full removal, email hello@muckrack.com with a link to your profile, but understand that PR users who previously saved your data retain their relationship records. Do not use your Muck Rack profile email for sensitive source communication — PR teams and their tools have access to it. If you are on a sensitive beat, consider hiding your profile entirely. Treat Muck Rack as a public-facing professional directory, not a private tool. For media monitoring, the free journalist alerts are useful but route through Muck Rack's infrastructure — if operational security matters, use RSS readers or self-hosted alternatives instead.
Encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256). SOC 2 certified with regular security testing and a responsible disclosure program. No major breaches or security incidents in the public record. The primary risk is not technical — it is data exposure by design. Muck Rack's business model requires aggregating journalist contact details and making them accessible to paying PR customers. Journalists on sensitive beats should treat their Muck Rack profile as a public directory listing. The platform does not offer end-to-end encryption, two-factor authentication documentation is not publicly available, and there are no published data residency options. Adequate for general-purpose journalist portfolio and media monitoring use. Not appropriate for journalists who need to minimize their professional footprint or control who can access their contact information.
Who Owns This
Known issues
Journalist profiles are created automatically from published articles without opt-in — many journalists do not know they have a Muck Rack profile until a PR person pitches them through it. PR users retain relationship data even after a journalist hides or removes their profile. Pricing is opaque and quote-based, with wide variance reported ($5K–$53K/year). Annual contracts only — no monthly option. Some users report stale contact data as journalists change jobs. The learning curve is steep for new PR users. Report customization is limited. Muck Rack's annual State of Journalism survey, while widely cited, is produced by a company whose revenue depends on PR teams reaching journalists — the framing favors the PR-journalist relationship model.
Pricing
Free for journalists: portfolio profile, media alerts (600K+ outlets), verified journalist badge with access to the media database. PR side is quote-based, annual contracts only, no month-to-month option. Reported pricing ranges from ~$5,000/year for a single user to $15,000/year for small teams, with enterprise deals reaching $40,000–$53,000/year for 5–9 users. Three tiers each for brands and agencies. Generative Pulse (LLMO/AI visibility monitoring) is available only on Muck Rack Premier, the top tier.
This is an editorial assessment based on publicly available information as of 2026-04-03, using our published methodology. Independent security review is pending. Security posture can change at any time. This is not a guarantee of safety.
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