The Best Startup Directories in 2026, Judged by the Link

Best for a launch day

Product Hunt is still the one launch day that matters: free, a single 24-hour run from 12:01 AM PST that you can schedule up to 30 days ahead, and an audience nothing else here matches. It is not a link. All 17 product pages we read tagged the link to the product rel="ugc", so count it as attention and a page that ranks for your name, which we went through in what a Product Hunt link is worth.

Hacker News is the developer-tool version. It is free, and a new story's link is nofollow until readers vote it past about twenty points; above that, every story we counted was followed. Nobody can buy their way over that line, which is what makes it worth crossing.

Best free listings with a followed link

This is where the value sits, and every one of these charges for its free tier in something other than money.

Startup Fame (DR 83) lists you free once its badge is on your homepage, and a bot checks it. Take the badge down and the free listing is deactivated, followed link and all. Every one of the 47 free listings we read was followed; Highlight costs $19 a month. Fazier (DR 82) asks for a link back on your homepage or footer and lists you within 30 days, and all 40 free launches we read were followed, including ones with single-digit votes. Paid launches start at $29. We don't submit to Fazier; its guide covers the rest.

Twelve Tools (DR 81) also wants a link back, reviews within 72 hours and followed all 44 free listings we read; Pro is $36 one-time for three dofollow links and no link back. Turbo0 (DR 80) requires a link back too and lists within two weeks, and its free listings are followed when your site links back to it.

Uneed (DR 75) reopened its free line on 11 September: you get a launch date 30 days to five months out, and the link is followed once your launch reaches an upvote score of 20. Fast-track is $14.99 and Skip the line $29.99. Uneed closes the free line when submissions pile up, and through Submitator you can always launch there. DailyPings (DR 54) is the low-DR pick that earns its place: free with its badge, which it checks daily, and every one of the 589 listings on its browse page is followed.

Best if you will pay for one listing

There's An AI For That (DR 77) charges a $49 review fee for its basic listing, and the link was followed on all 16 of its newest listings, though it never advertises that. Its $437 tier comes preselected; the $49 one is the listing. Toolify (DR 73) is $99 one-time with no free route, lists within 48 hours and followed its 18 newest listings.

BetaList (DR 76) takes pre-launch and beta products only, charges about $39 (the price appears at the end of its form) and gives a do-follow link if you are featured. We don't submit to any of these three, and each guide shows what the fee buys.

High DR, no link

AlternativeTo (DR 80) is free and worth a listing for the people who use it to find replacements, but its 25 newest listings all carry a nofollow link and its review backlog runs to months. List it for the readers. Futurepedia (DR 72) no longer has a public submission page at all; when it did, $497 bought a nofollow listing.

The rest of the list

This shortlist is twelve sites. Our where-to-submit page lists every directory in our catalog, 160+ of them, with the Domain Rating, link type and badge of each, and two narrower lists split it by product: AI tool directories and SaaS directories. If it is launch days you are after rather than listings, the Product Hunt alternatives compares those.

Submitator submits to the directories in that catalog for you: you pick them in the dashboard, we write a description for each one, place every badge and keep it live, and most directories are delivered within 24 to 48 hours, every one within 21 days at most.