Where can you launch a startup besides Product Hunt?
Each platform is linked to the page we checked. "None stated" and "Not stated" mean the page doesn't say, not that the answer is no. Audience figures are each site's own claims.
| Platform | What it is | Cost | Link back required? | Dofollow? | Login | Cadence | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt | The general tech launch platform; editors pick which launches are featured | Free ("Launching costs nothing") | None stated | Not stated | Yes, a personal account | Daily; live at 12:01 AM Pacific, schedule up to 30 days ahead | Broad tech audience; featured launches compete for Product of the Day |
| Hacker News (Show HN) | A Show HN post for something people can try, discussed in the comments | Free | None stated | Not stated | Yes ("You have to be logged in to submit") | Any time; every Show HN appears on /shownew, then /show after a small points threshold | Developers and technical readers. No landing pages, sign-up pages or fundraisers |
| BetaList | Hand-edited listings of new startups for early adopters, pre-launch or live | Paid only; prices shown at the end of the form, full refund if not selected | None stated | Yes, via a 301 redirect; "does not use rel=nofollow" | Account created when you submit | Editorial review, then featured on your plan's timeline | Early adopters, founders and investors; it claims 500,000+ pageviews a month |
| Peerlist Launchpad | A weekly launchpad on a professional network for builders | No fee mentioned in its help docs | None stated | Only the top 5 projects of the week get a backlink | Yes, a verified personal profile; companies can't launch | Weekly; the window opens on Monday and the launch runs for the week | Developers and designers |
| Indie Hackers | A founder community with a products database and a daily Build Board for updates | Free account | None stated | Not stated | Yes, a free account | Build Board voting resets daily | Indie and bootstrapped founders |
| Uneed | A daily launchpad with upvotes, a leaderboard and a newsletter | Free waiting line; $14.99 fast-track (about 14 days); $39.99 to pick your date | None stated | Yes, from a 75 DR site: free launches need an upvote score of 20, guaranteed when you skip the line | Yes, to save the listing | Daily; at least 30 free launches a day plus paid ones | Founders and indie hackers; it claims 125K monthly visitors and 30,000 newsletter subscribers |
| Fazier | A daily product launch platform | Free (reviewed within 30 days); $29 Lite; $49 Premium | Yes on the free tier (homepage or footer); not on paid | Guaranteed DR 83+ backlink on Premium; top 3 daily products on Lite | Not stated | Daily; paid launches can go live now or be scheduled | Product discovery for makers and early users |
| DevHunt | An open-source launchpad for developer tools only | Listing free; a launch costs $49; optional super boosts $99 to $199 | None stated | Free listings nofollow; paid launches get a permanent dofollow link | Yes, sign in to submit (GitHub or Google to vote) | Weekly; launches run for a whole week | Developers |
| Launching Next | A startup directory with a weekly founders newsletter | Free; $99 to be considered within 1 business day | None stated | Not stated | No; a form with your name and email | Submissions reviewed every day | It lists 45,000+ startups and side projects |
| SaaSHub | An independent software alternatives marketplace | Free | None stated | Not stated | Not stated; the form starts with your URL | Approval queue; listing competitors and verifying with a domain email speed it up | Software buyers comparing alternatives. No unreleased products or waitlist pages |
| AlternativeTo | A crowdsourced "alternative to" software directory | Free; optional paid priority review (usually 1 to 2 business days) | None stated | No: "Links to apps' websites are nofollow unless our editors decide otherwise" | Yes, with a verified email | Review backlog of several thousand apps; no promised timeline | People searching for alternatives to a named app |
| Twelve Tools | A curated directory adding twelve new tools a day | Free; $36 one-time Pro | Yes on free (homepage or footer); not on Pro | Yes: 1 dofollow link free, 3 on Pro | No account step in its submit flow | Daily; free reviewed within 72 hours, Pro within 24 | Startups and web tools, hand-picked |
| TinyLaunch | A launch competition for small products with top-3 badges | Free standard queue; $39 Premium launch skips it | Yes, a badge, for the dofollow link | Top 3 (with the badge) or guaranteed on Premium | Yes (submit redirects to sign-in) | Recurring launch periods; live on the homepage for multiple days | Indie makers; it claims 30,000+ users |
| OpenHunts | A weekly launch platform for indie makers | Free (20 slots a week, about a 60-week queue); $19 Premium | Only to skip the free queue | Free: top 3 only. Premium: guaranteed | Not stated | Weekly; launches go live Mondays at 8:00 AM UTC | Indie makers; it reports 161,287 visits in 12 months |
| Microlaunch | A launch platform with 30 days of visibility per launch | Launch Pro $49 ($39 with its code); a free option isn't stated on that page | None stated | Launch Pro lists "DR64+ Do-follow Backlinks" | Not stated | Pick your launch date; 30 days of visibility | Founders; it claims 30k+ unique visitors a month |
| PeerPush | Product discovery for people and AI assistants, with an MCP server and API | Free (waits behind paid); $39 instant launch | None stated | Not stated (paid: "Permanent listing link to your website") | Yes, a free account | Continuous, with daily, weekly and monthly awards | Builders; it claims 59,000+ |
Checked November 4, 2026 on each linked page. Prices change often, and several sites show sale prices; we give the price as shown that day. We left out sites whose terms we couldn't read on their own pages that day, including Reddit's r/SideProject and Startup Fame.
How do you choose where to launch?
- Start from your audience, not the domain rating. A developer tool belongs on Show HN, DevHunt and Peerlist, where readers are developers. A consumer app gets more from Product Hunt, BetaList and the general launchpads.
- Check that you're eligible. Show HN wants something people can try now, not a sign-up page. SaaSHub rejects unreleased products and waitlist landing pages. BetaList takes pre-launch startups, but only on a paid plan. Peerlist only lets individuals launch, not company profiles.
- Read the link-back rules. Fazier's and Twelve Tools' free tiers require a link to them from your homepage or footer, and TinyLaunch's dofollow link needs its badge. Decide whether you want a row of badges on your site before you submit.
- Count the wait. Free queues can be long: OpenHunts showed about 60 weeks for a free slot, and Fazier reviews free listings within 30 days. If the date matters, the paid tiers ($14.99 to $99 here) buy a date, not a result.
- Use directories for the long tail. AlternativeTo and SaaSHub don't give you a launch day. They put you on "alternatives to X" pages that people find for months. AlternativeTo's links are nofollow, so list there for visitors, not SEO.
- Never ask for upvotes. Product Hunt, Hacker News and Peerlist all forbid it, and it's the fastest way to have a launch removed.
What does a launch week plan look like?
One main launch, then a week of smaller ones, works better than a single day on ten sites. The Product Hunt launch guide covers the main event in detail; this is how the alternatives fit around it.
- Two weeks beforePick your main platform (Product Hunt, Show HN or a niche launchpad) and one or two secondary ones. Read each one's rules: several reject waitlist pages, and some need a badge on your site.
- One week beforeWrite the tagline and description once, then adapt them per site. Make your gallery images and launch video. Schedule the dates that can be scheduled.
- Launch dayLaunch on your main platform, reply to every comment, and share with people who already know you. Don't ask anyone to upvote; most of these sites forbid it.
- The week afterPost on the weekly launchpads (Peerlist on Monday, DevHunt or OpenHunts for their week), then submit to the directories: AlternativeTo, SaaSHub and the rest.
The same assets work everywhere: a 60-character tagline (see tagline examples), a short description, gallery images and a launch video. Product Hunt says about 53% of Product of the Day winners since 2021 had a video (Product Hunt, checked November 2, 2026). For everything else to prepare, use the product launch checklist.