Acquired · August 2026
affylist.com
Affiliate programs directory
DR 18
Ahrefs
380+
programs listed
We buy directory websites
affylist.com · alterbase.co · October is open
Sell your
directory
website
You built a directory with real DR. Listings arrive and Google sends traffic. It still does not pay. We buy directories like that, keep them live and connect them to the pipeline that submits our customers' startups. No listing fee. No success fee. No auction.
No listing fee, no success fee
You keep the whole price.
No revenue required
DR, traffic and listings are the asset.
Kept live
We run what we buy. Listings stay up.
Latest buy: alterbase.co, DR 48 · October 2026 is open
Rather talk first?
Closed and running
Our latest deals
Two directories bought since August 2026. The October slot is yours.
Acquired · September 2026
alterbase.co
Software alternatives directory
DR 48
Ahrefs
140+
tools listed
80+
comparison pages
Open · October 2026
[your directory]
Any niche where founders go to be found
Yours
DR
$0
seller fees
Not a marketplace. The buyer.
Who buys directory websites?
We do.
Search for a buyer and you get marketplaces. They list your directory and take a cut when somebody else buys it, and some charge you to list it first. Submitator buys it.
We run a directory submission service. Directories are what our customers pay to get into, so a directory with real DR and real listings is worth more in our hands than in a portfolio. We keep it publishing and send it our customers.
Plenty of submission services own directories. They hide it and pad packages with them. We print it: the directories we own are named on this page with their DR, you pick your directories yourself and we only buy directories worth picking.
150+
directories in our catalogue
380+
startups submitted
$0
seller fees
It starts with the URL
What we look for
The form asks for three things. We start from the URL and ask for the rest once we want to buy.
REAL DR
Ahrefs DR is the authority every followed listing on your directory passes on. We look it up from the URL. Check yours first
REAL LISTINGS
Live products on maintained pages, not a scraped dump.
ORGANIC TRAFFIC
Visitors who arrive from search, not from a launch post you keep repeating.
A NICHE NEXT TO OURS
Startups, SaaS, AI tools, dev tools, affiliate programs, alternatives. Anywhere founders go to be found.
A LINK POLICY WE CAN WORK WITH
Followed listings today, or a codebase we can change.
REVENUE OPTIONAL
Zero is fine. A multiple needs earnings to multiply. We do not.
Built a product for founders instead of a directory? Send that too.
The market's own numbers
How much is my directory
website worth?
Directory websites typically sell for 2x to 4x annual seller's discretionary earnings (SDE). Flippa's valuation guide cites 30 to 45 times monthly net profit for websites, which lands in the same place.
2x to 4x
annual SDE, directory websites
30x to 45x
monthly net profit, websites, per Flippa's guide
1.7x to 5x+
12-month net profit, Empire Flippers list price
Not listed
a directory with no revenue, on Microns or Empire Flippers
What moves the number
Growth over 12 months, more than one revenue stream and a high share of organic traffic push the multiple up. Owner dependency, falling traffic and one big customer pull it down. A directory adds two numbers a website calculator never asks for: how many listings it holds and whether their links are followed.
No revenue? The multiple has nothing to multiply.
Microns turns away pre-revenue projects and lists only startups with paying customers and 5 months of history. Empire Flippers wants $24,000 a year in net profit before it lists you. A directory with DR, traffic and a thousand listings but no revenue is off their menu. It is on ours: we price the asset because we use the asset.
Not sure what your DR is? Check it free
Six steps, any buyer
How to sell a directory website,
step by step
- 1
Pull your numbers
DR, 12 months of traffic from analytics and Search Console, listing count, revenue if there is any and the hours a week the site takes. Every buyer asks for these.
- 2
Decide what is for sale
The whole site (domain, code, database, listings, accounts) or only placements on it. Selling listings keeps the site and adds a sales job. Selling the site ends both.
- 3
Pick the route
A marketplace lists you and takes a success fee. A curated marketplace vets you and has a profit floor. A direct buyer skips both. The table below puts numbers on each.
- 4
Agree the deal in writing
Price, exactly what transfers, how payment moves and how long you help after handover. An asset purchase agreement and escrow are the standard tools.
- 5
Due diligence
The buyer checks analytics, the backlink profile, that listings are real and current and that revenue matches the records.
- 6
Handover
Domain, repository, database, hosting, email and payment accounts move over, then a support window. DirectoryEasy puts that window at 30 to 90 days.
Selling to us starts at step 1 with a URL. We look up the DR ourselves and ask for the rest only when we want to buy.
Send us your directoryTheir fees, their pages
Direct buyer vs marketplace:
what selling costs you
Every marketplace below publishes its fees. Here they are side by side, with what each one takes from a $5,000 sale.
Sell to SubmitatorDirect buyer
- Listing fee
- $0
- Success fee
- $0
- Listing period
- None
- Revenue required
- No
- DR lookup
- On us
- After the sale
- Kept live
- Your fee
- $0
Latest deal: alterbase.co · September 2026
| Selling a directory | Submitator | Flippa | TrustMRR | Acquire.com | Microns | Empire Flippers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who buys | Submitator | Whoever bids | Whoever bids | Whoever bids | Whoever bids | Whoever bids |
| Listing fee | $0 | $29 for 60 days | From $29 once | $25 a month | $0 | $0 |
| Success fee | $0 | 10% | 4 to 6% | 8% | 10% | $10,000 flat |
| Revenue floor | None | None published | None published | None published | Profitable only | $24,000 a year profit |
| Fees on a $5,000 sale | $0 | $529 | From $229 | $400 plus $25 a month | $500 | Below their floor |
| Your directory after | Kept live, run by us | Up to the buyer | Up to the buyer | Up to the buyer | Up to the buyer | Up to the buyer |
Published fees, read 13 September 2026. Sources and arithmetic at the foot of this page.
The fee is not the only cost. Empire Flippers holds your listing exclusively for 2 months and reports 125 days to a sale on average. A Flippa entry listing runs 60 days. Microns and Empire Flippers will not list a directory without revenue at all. Selling to us has no listing period, no exclusivity and no revenue floor.
Two different searches
Sell the directory,
or sell listings on it?
Selling a directory can mean selling the site or selling listings on it: featured spots, sponsored slots, banner ads, paid claims, memberships and affiliate links. Listings work. Each one is also a job: outreach, invoices, renewals and a media kit somebody keeps current.
Sell listings
You keep the site and take on ad sales. Income rides on traffic you can prove to advertisers, every month.
Sell the site
The sales job, the hosting bill and the moderation queue leave with the site.
Want the directory to stay yours and still pay? Two ways, next.
Keep it and still get paid
Not ready to sell?
Two ways to make it pay
White label
Your directory already talks to founders who need directory submissions. Sell them submissions under your own brand on our engine: private API, your domain, your customers and no Submitator branding.
See white label →Affiliate program
Put your referral link on your submit page. Every purchase made through it within 60 days earns you 37% commission, with no minimum payout.
Join the affiliate program →Why sell? Grow it first
Same $29.
A 60-day listing there, 30 directories here.
Flippa charges $29 to list a directory for 60 days and takes 10% if it sells. Our Starter plan charges $29 to submit your directory to 30 directories you pick. Build its DR first: it is the first number we look up. Sell it later, or keep it.
Or 100 directories for $79, or every one of our 150 plus every one we add for $149. Join 380+ startups already using Submitator.
October is
open
The next card in our deals is still empty. Send us your directory. If we buy it, its domain goes on that card.
Selling a directory website, answered
How much is a directory website worth?
Directory websites typically sell for 2x to 4x annual seller's discretionary earnings, and Flippa's valuation guide cites 30 to 45 times monthly net profit for websites, which lands in the same range. Growth, several revenue streams and organic traffic push the multiple up; owner dependency and falling traffic pull it down. A directory adds two numbers a website calculator never asks for: listing count and whether those listings are followed. With no revenue there is nothing to multiply, so we price the asset itself.
Can I sell a directory website that makes no money?
Yes. We buy directories for their DR, organic traffic and listings, so revenue is optional. Curated marketplaces will not take one: Microns says it does not accept pre-revenue projects, and Empire Flippers needs $24,000 a year in net profit before it lists anything. Send the URL and we look up the DR ourselves.
How long does it take to sell a directory website?
Empire Flippers reports 125 days to a sale on average, with a 2-month exclusivity on your listing. DirectoryEasy puts directories under $50,000 at 30 to 90 days when priced well, and a Flippa entry listing runs 60 days. A direct sale can move faster: First 100 Users, a no-code directory, was posted for sale on Twitter on 17 June 2024. The buyer sent a DM on 18 June, negotiated for about an hour and paid by PayPal. Selling to us has no listing period and no exclusivity to wait out: you send the URL and we reply by email.
Where can I sell my directory website?
Three places. An open marketplace such as Flippa, Acquire.com or TrustMRR lists it and takes a success fee when someone buys. A curated marketplace such as Microns or Empire Flippers vets it first and turns away sites without profit. A direct buyer skips both. Submitator is a direct buyer for directories: no listing fee, no success fee, no auction.
Should I use a broker or sell my directory directly?
A broker earns its fee on bigger businesses. Empire Flippers lists nothing under $24,000 a year in net profit and charges a flat $10,000 on any sale up to $66,666.66, so a directory below that profit cannot list. One right at that floor, listed at their lowest multiple, pays close to a quarter of its price in commission. Selling directly keeps the whole price, with no commission and no exclusivity period.
How much does it cost to sell a directory website?
On Flippa, a listing under $10K costs $29 for 60 days plus a 10% success fee. TrustMRR charges from $29 plus 4 to 6%. Acquire.com charges $25 a month plus 8% under $250K. Microns takes 10% from $1K. On a $5,000 sale that is $529 on Flippa and $500 on Microns. Selling to Submitator costs you nothing: we are the buyer, not a platform taking a cut.
What do buyers check during due diligence on a directory?
Traffic in analytics and Search Console and where it comes from, the backlink profile and DR, whether the listings are real and current, revenue records if there are any and the hours a week the site takes to run. For a directory the link policy matters as much as the traffic, because followed listings are what makers pay a directory for.
Does domain rating affect what a directory sells for?
Yes. Flippa's valuation tool names domain authority among the 40+ metrics it reads. For us it is central: a directory's DR is the authority every followed listing on it passes on, and that is what our customers pay for. Check yours with our free DR checker before you send it.
What happens to the listings and backlinks after I sell?
They stay live. We buy directories to run them, not to strip them. AffyList keeps publishing and takes new programs straight from our submission pipeline through a direct API connection. Live listings keep their pages and their links.
Do you only buy directories?
Directories first, because they plug straight into what we sell. We also look at products that serve founders: launch, SEO, indexing and growth tools. Send the URL with "Sell it to us" selected.
How do directory websites make money?
From paid placements on the site: featured and sponsored slots, banner ads, paid claims on listings, memberships and affiliate commissions. Every one of those is a sales job. Somebody finds the advertisers, sends the invoices, chases the renewals and keeps a media kit current. The income rides on traffic you can prove every month. The other way to make money from a directory is to sell it, and the sales job leaves with the site.
Are directory websites profitable?
They can be, once somebody sells what sits on them. Listings bring the traffic, but the revenue only arrives when someone sells featured spots, ads or memberships to the makers that traffic reaches, month after month. A directory with real DR and steady listings can still earn nothing if nobody does that job. That is the directory we buy: we price the DR, the traffic and the listings, not the profit.
Sources, read 13 September 2026 unless dated.
Fees and listing rules:
- Flippa pricing: the Self-Service Entry listing for sales under $10K is a $29 flat fee for a 60-day term, with a 10% success fee.
- TrustMRR: listing fee from $29 one-time, 4 to 6% success fee.
- Acquire.com seller pricing: for asking prices below $250K, $25 a month to list and an 8% closing fee.
- Microns: no listing fees; 10% from $1K, 8% from $10K and 6% from $100K; "We don't accept pre-revenue projects" and "Only profitable startups are accepted", at least 5 months old with paying customers.
- Empire Flippers: $24,000 a year or more in net profit and a 12-month track record to be accepted; list price is 12 months of net profit times 1.7 to 5+; 2-month exclusivity; 125 days average time to sale.
- Empire Flippers seller FAQ: no listing fees; commission $10,000 on sales from $0 to $66,666.66, then 15%.
Revenue floor: "None published" means the marketplace's seller pricing page names no revenue or profit minimum. Fees on a $5,000 sale are each entry tier's listing fee plus its success fee at that price, before add-ons: $29 plus $500 on Flippa, $29 plus $200 to $300 on TrustMRR, 8% plus the monthly fee on Acquire.com and 10% on Microns. At Empire Flippers' own floor the lowest list price is $24,000 x 1.7 = $40,800, which is above $5,000. Its flat $10,000 commission is 24.5% of that price.
Valuation and timing:
- DirectoryEasy: directory websites typically sell for 2x to 4x annual SDE; under $50,000 they often sell within 30 to 90 days; transition support typically runs 30 to 90 days.
- Flippa, How To Value A Website: updated 16 October 2025: a widely cited benchmark of 30 to 45x monthly net profit; its valuation tool reads more than 40 key metrics, domain authority among them.
- First 100 Users, on eBiz Facts: written up 24 June 2024: posted for sale on Twitter on 17 June, the buyer's DM on 18 June, about an hour of negotiation over DMs and payment by PayPal.
Deal figures: Domain Rating is Ahrefs' number, looked up through submitator.com/domain-rating-checker on 13 September 2026. Program and tool counts are the listing pages in each site's sitemap on the same day. The comparison-page count is the comparison pages in AlterBase's sitemap that list at least one tool.