Can You Buy an Article in Forbes?
It is one of the most common questions we hear from small business owners. You see other companies featured in Forbes, and you want the same credibility for yours. So, can you simply buy an article in Forbes?
The honest answer is no, not the kind most people mean. But there are two real paid routes connected to Forbes, and there is also a grey market built around this exact question that costs buyers real money every year. Here is how it actually works.
What cannot be bought
Forbes editorial coverage is not for sale. The articles written by Forbes journalists and staff writers exist because an editor decided the story was worth telling. No payment, gift, or favour changes that, and anyone who tells you they can arrange a journalist-written Forbes article for a fee is not telling you the truth.
This matters because the logo is only valuable if readers trust it. The moment editorial coverage could simply be purchased, it would stop meaning anything. Forbes protects that line strictly, and it applies to everyone, from large companies down to small businesses like yours.
The two paid routes that are real
There are two legitimate ways money changes hands for content connected to Forbes. Both are open about being paid, and both carry clear labels.
The first is Forbes Councils. This is a paid, application-based membership programme. Members who are accepted can publish articles under their own name on the Forbes site, in sections reserved for council contributors. These pieces are clearly labelled as coming from a council member, not from Forbes editorial staff. It is a real programme run by Forbes, but it is a membership with an application process and ongoing participation, not a single article you buy once and own.
The second is BrandVoice, which is Forbes' own paid content studio. Through BrandVoice, a company pays Forbes to produce and publish content on the Forbes platform, and that content is clearly labelled as paid. It is the official advertising route, aimed mostly at larger brands with substantial budgets, and Forbes controls how it works from start to finish.
Notice the pattern in both routes: the paid nature is disclosed, on the page, for every reader to see. That is how legitimate paid content works everywhere, not just at Forbes.
The offer you should walk away from
Because so many businesses want a Forbes feature, a grey market has grown up around the demand. Sellers in forums, marketplaces, and cold emails offer things like a "dofollow guest post on Forbes" or a "permanent Forbes article with links" for a one-time payment.
These offers break Forbes' terms. The placements are typically arranged through compromised contributor accounts or side deals that Forbes never approved. When Forbes finds them, and it does find them, the articles are removed or stripped of any value. The seller keeps the money. The buyer is left with a dead link, no refund in most cases, and nothing to show a customer who clicks through to check.
If a seller promises you editorial-style Forbes coverage, with links, at a simple one-time price, with no label and no application, that is the trap. Walk away from it.
What we do not sell
We will be plain about our own position. PressFeature does not sell Forbes placements, and Forbes is not in our directory. We get asked, and the answer stays the same, because there is no honest version of that product for us to offer you.
What we arrange instead is booked, permanent article placements on real US news outlets, agreed in writing before you pay. But that is our service, and it is a different thing from Forbes, so we will not dress it up as anything else.
What to do instead
Ask yourself what you actually want the Forbes name for. For most small businesses, the real goal is not the logo itself. The goal is that when a customer searches your business before buying, they find a proper article about you on a news site they recognise and trust.
You can get that result today, without the application process, the membership, or the grey-market gamble. A booked placement on a real news outlet your own customers actually read gives you a live article you can link to, share, and point to for years. It is labelled honestly, it stays live, and it is yours from the day it publishes.
If you would like to see which outlets are available, our homepage directory lists them, and you can pick the ones that fit your business.
The short version
Forbes editorial coverage cannot be bought, full stop. The real paid routes are Forbes Councils, a paid membership for labelled contributor pieces, and BrandVoice, Forbes' own labelled paid content studio. Anyone selling you a quiet, unlabelled "dofollow guest post on Forbes" is selling something that breaks Forbes' terms and tends to disappear, taking your money with it. And to be clear about us: PressFeature does not sell Forbes placements. What a small business can honestly buy is a permanent, booked article on a real news outlet its customers read, and that is usually what the business wanted all along.