How to Submit Your Startup to Directories, Step by Step
Submitting to one directory takes ten minutes. Submitting to thirty takes a week, and almost none of that week is typing. It goes on resizing the same logo nine ways, cutting the same description to nine length limits and finding out a month later which listings ever went live. Do the preparation once and the rest is mechanical.
Write the kit once, pick directories by the link they give rather than the DR they have, run any launch day first and the listings after it, track every submission in one sheet and check the link on each listing when it goes live. The directories themselves, with the link type of each, are on our where-to-submit page.
Before the first form
The submission, start to finish
- 1
Write the kit once
Name and URL, a tagline of 60 characters or fewer, a summary of 220 characters or fewer, a long description of 500 characters or more, your categories and your pricing model. Then the images: a square logo with a transparent background, a 16:9 screenshot and a 1270x760 one. The table below has the limits that set those numbers.
- 2
Use one inbox for it
Most directories send a verification email, and some send the login you need to edit the listing later. A dedicated address keeps them in one place and out of your personal mail, and it is the address you will look for in six months.
- 3
Pick by the link, not the DR
A DR 80 site that tags your listing nofollow passes less than a DR 50 one whose link is followed. Look at a listing the directory added in the last few weeks, not a big name on its homepage, and read the rel on the link to the product.
- 4
Read the rules before the form
Some directories decline whole kinds of product. BetaList takes pre-launch and beta products only; AlternativeTo declines Coming Soon pages, closed betas and thin wrappers around someone else's AI model; Product Hunt lets only personal accounts post.
- 5
Launch day first, listings after
If you are launching on Product Hunt, do it first: it runs 24 hours from 12:01 AM PST and can be scheduled up to 30 days ahead. Submit to directories in the week after, while the assets are fresh, but start the long queues early: Uneed's free line books dates 30 days to five months out.
- 6
Track every submission
One row per directory: the date, the email and login used, the status, the listing URL, the rel you read on it and whether it needs a badge. Without it you will not know which of thirty listings ever went live.
- 7
Place the badges and keep them
Startup Fame and DailyPings check that their badge is still on your site; Twelve Tools, Turbo0 and Fazier want a link back. Put them where a redesign will not drop them, because a missing badge costs the link without any error.
- 8
Check each listing when it goes live
Open it, read the rel on the link to your product (followed, nofollow, ugc or sponsored), make sure it points at your own URL and note the result in the sheet. That row is the proof the submission was worth the ten minutes.
The limits that shape the kit
Write to the tightest limit first and expand from there. These are the ones that decide most of the kit.
Field limits from a few directories
| Field | Limit |
|---|---|
| Product Hunt tagline | 60 characters at most |
| Product Hunt thumbnail | 240x240, under 3MB |
| Product Hunt gallery | 1270x760, at least two images |
| Product Hunt launch tags | Up to 3 |
| Uneed tagline | 10 to 80 characters |
| ListedAI description | 220 characters at most |
| Tools AI Online description | 500 characters at least |
| Tools AI Online cover | 16:9, JPG or PNG |
| AlternativeTo icon | Square PNG or SVG, 280x280 or bigger, transparent |
Per each directory's own form, help and FAQ pages: Product Hunt, Uneed and AlternativeTo read on 18 October 2026, ListedAI and Tools AI Online as recorded in our guides to them. Product Hunt also needs a personal account, and one account can schedule up to two launches a day.
Picking the directories
The step that decides whether the week was worth it is the second one. A directory is worth a submission when its listings link to you with a followed link, when it fits your product and when its badge or link-back price is one you will keep paying. Domain Rating comes after those, because it describes the site and not the link it gives you.
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 AI tool directories and SaaS directories narrow it to one kind of product. For a shortlist with the reasons, the best startup directories picks twelve, and free startup directories explains what each kind of free listing costs.
Or hand it off
That is the job Submitator does. You pick the directories in the dashboard, each with its DR on screen; we write a unique description for each one to its own limits, cut the images to each site's format, place every badge and keep it live, and send a live link for every completed listing. Most directories are delivered within 24 to 48 hours, and every one within 21 days at most.
Skip the kit: 30 directories for $29
60 for $49, 100 for $79, one-time. You pick each one with its DR on screen.
FAQ
How long does it take to submit a startup to directories?
About ten minutes a form once the kit is written, longer where a site wants an account, a badge or a verification email first. Publication is up to each directory: Twelve Tools reviews within 72 hours, Turbo0 lists within two weeks, Fazier within 30 days, and Uneed's free line books launch dates 30 days to five months out.
Should I use the same description on every directory?
Use the same facts, not the same words. The limits alone force a rewrite, from 220 characters on ListedAI to at least 500 on Tools AI Online, and a description written for each site reads better to the people browsing it than one pasted everywhere.
Do I need a badge to get listed?
Only where a directory makes it the price of a free listing. Startup Fame and DailyPings want their badge on your site, and Twelve Tools, Turbo0 and Fazier a link back. Paid tiers often drop it: Twelve Tools Pro needs no link back, and on Turbo0's Basic plan it is optional.
Is it worth submitting to directories with nofollow links?
For readers, yes; for your link profile, no. Product Hunt's link is ugc and AlternativeTo's newest listings are nofollow, and both still put you in front of people looking for a product like yours. Just don't count them among your followed links.
Where do I find directories to submit to?
Our where-to-submit page lists every directory in our catalog, 160+ of them, with its Domain Rating, link type and badge. The AI tool and SaaS lists narrow it to one kind of product.
Keep reading
A week of forms, or $29 for 30 directories
Pick them, and we write each description, place every badge and keep it live; most directories are delivered within 24-48 hours. $79 for 100, one-time.