Free, No Badge, Every Link Followed. Bring 250 Words.
Written by Submitator, which submits customers to The Hack Stack. Every figure about The Hack Stack below was read on 25 September 2026.
The Hack Stack is a daily launch board for indie products, running since September 2020 and describing itself as "A community-driven launchpad for indie makers, founders, and early adopters to discover & showcase the best new hacks and products every day." A "hack" here is simply a product. The board holds more than 5,700 of them and took nearly 20 a day through the last month.
It is free. You need an account, and there is no badge to install and no paid tier to decline. What it asks for instead is effort on the form: a description of 250 to 500 words, a featured image at 1240 × 780 px and at least one gallery screenshot.
The return is two followed links. Each listing points to your product from the Visit Website button and again from the sidebar, and on 409 listings read on 25 September 2026 every product link we found was followed, 834 of 834.
| Field | What it wants |
|---|---|
| Product Name | Up to 40 characters, the product's own name only |
| Website URL | Required |
| Tagline | Up to 60 characters |
| Description | 250 to 500 words, rich text, links allowed |
| Featured Image | Required, recommended 1240 × 780 px |
| Gallery screenshots | Required, 1 to 10, 5 MB each |
| Product Logo | Optional, square, about 512 × 512 px |
| Video | Optional YouTube link |
| Categories | Any that apply, parent and subcategory |
| Ownership | Required: yours, or not yours |
On 409 listings, the newest 30 and a fixed-stride sample of the rest, the Visit Website button and the sidebar link both carried only rel="noopener" with no redirect in between, and the links makers wrote into their descriptions carried no rel at all: 834 of 834 followed.
The Hack Stack at a glance
| What you get | The Hack Stack |
|---|---|
| Price to list | Free, account required |
| Badge to install | None asked for |
| Paid options | None on the site |
| Links to your site | Two per listing, both followed |
| Links in the description | Followed |
| Description length | 250 to 500 words |
| Images | Featured 1240 × 780, 1 to 10 screenshots, optional logo |
| Launch board | Daily, since September 2020 |
| Domain Rating | 16 on our checker |
| Filed for you by Submitator | Description written, images cut, from $29 |
Per thehackstack.com, its home page, /latest, /terms, /privacy, robots.txt and 409 listing pages read logged out, and its submit form at /add-product read while logged in to an account the owner of Submitator provided, all on 25 September 2026; nothing was submitted, uploaded, voted on or saved. The 409 listings are the newest 30 plus 379 taken at a fixed stride of 15 through the index of 5,702 listings. On 407 of them the Visit Website button and the sidebar Visit Website link point at the product with rel="noopener", 814 anchors; on the other two the maker's typed URL does not resolve, so neither link reaches the product. Links written inside descriptions, 20 on 15 listings, carry no rel attribute. That makes 834 product links, none with a nofollow, ugc or sponsored value and none through a redirector; each Visit Website href carries ?ref=hackstack. Every listing page read carries meta robots "index, follow", and five pages requested as Googlebot returned the same links. Quoted form text is taken from the page: the name-field warning, "0 words · min 250 · max 500", "Recommended size: 1240 × 780 px", "This image appears as the first slide in your product gallery and as the thumbnail in all listings. Use 16:9 ratio for best results.", "Square image, e.g. 512 × 512 px. If not provided, your product name initials are used as the avatar.", "Add at least 1 screenshot (up to 10) for the carousel on your product page. The main image above stays as the listing thumbnail.", "Select all that apply. You can pick both a parent and its subcategory." and the two Ownership options; the 5 MB per file and 50 MB total limits are in the form's script. 1240 × 780 is a 1.59 ratio, closer to 16:10; a 16:9 image 1240 wide would be 698 tall. No pricing, advertising, featured or upgrade page exists at any of the usual addresses, logged out or logged in. Description lengths are counted on the listings as published: the newest 30 run from 252 to 506 words with a median of about 285. Pace is counted from listing dates across the whole index: 589 listings in the 30 days to 24 September 2026. The domain was registered on 12 September 2020 and the oldest listing is dated 14 September 2020. Domain Rating is Ahrefs' figure via submitator.com/domain-rating-checker, which returned 16. The home-page description is quoted from the site footer. Submitator's founder states that we submit customers to The Hack Stack, write a unique description for each directory and cut cover images to each site's formats; the profile and sync wording is from our own feature list. Starter is $29 for 30 directories, Growth $49 for 60 and Scale $79 for 100, each paid once, with the directories picked in the dashboard; a rejected submission is credited back as one more directory to choose, and refunds follow the 30-day conditions in our terms.
A daily board with six years behind it
The home page is a running log of launches: a Hack of the Day card at the top, then today's batch under a count of how many hacks were stacked that day, then earlier days grouped by date. Each listing gets its own page with a gallery, a Discussion tab, star Reviews and an Analytics tab, plus an optional share card that shows where it placed among that day's launches.
It has been doing this since September 2020 and the pace has picked up: 589 listings in the 30 days to 24 September 2026, or nearly 20 a day. That makes it a followed link from a board that is still active.
The one field with a warning attached
Product Name holds 40 characters, and it is the only field on the form with a penalty printed under it:
"This should be the name of the specific product you are submitting. Not SEO keywords or the name of a product created by someone else. All violations of this will be considered an attempt to scam and result in an immediate ban from using our services."
So no "Acme: best AI invoicing tool 2026" in the name box. Put the product's own name there and let the 60-character tagline do the describing.
250 words is the real work
The description editor counts as you type, "0 words · min 250 · max 500", and the recent listings show people writing to it: the 30 newest on 25 September 2026 ran from 252 to 506 words, with a median of about 285.
Treat it as a short article. Say who the product is for, what problem it removes, how it works in practice and what it costs, and the words arrive on their own. The editor has a link button, and links written into the description are followed like the main one, so one link to a docs or pricing page does real work.
Images to the pixel
The featured image is the one everybody sees: "This image appears as the first slide in your product gallery and as the thumbnail in all listings." The recommended size is 1240 × 780 px, and the same note says to use a 16:9 ratio. Those two do not quite agree, since 1240 × 780 is closer to 16:10, so build it at 1240 × 780 and keep anything important away from the top and bottom edges.
At least one gallery screenshot is required and up to ten are allowed, 5 MB each. A square logo of about 512 × 512 px is optional, and without one your product's initials stand in for it. A YouTube link is optional too.
Categories and ownership
Categories are checkboxes rather than a single pick: "Select all that apply. You can pick both a parent and its subcategory." The last question is Ownership, with two answers, "I do not own this hack or product" and "A company I work for or myself owns this product". Pick the one that is true; the name rule above applies either way.
We write the 250 words and cut the images
A form like this is where filing by hand gets expensive, because the next directory wants something different: one line, a hundred characters, no screenshots at all. So we do the form's work for you. For The Hack Stack we write a unique description to its 250 to 500 word rule and cut your cover image to its 1240 × 780 format, and the other directories you picked get their own descriptions and their own crops the same way.
What you keep is one profile in our dashboard, "Your startup data in one place. Edit name, description, screenshots, and links anytime. Changes sync across all pending submissions automatically."
The Hack Stack review: the short answer
Submit. It is free, it asks for no badge, it has been taking launches since September 2020 and every product link we read on 409 listings was followed, twice per listing. The price is the form, 250 words and a proper image set, so do it once and do it properly.
How to submit to The Hack Stack, step by step
- 1
Open an account before you start
The submit page sends you to log in first. Sign up with an email and password you will keep, because the listing lives under that account.
- 2
Enter the product's own name, and nothing more
Forty characters, and the only field with a ban printed under it. No keywords, no slogan, no other product's name. The tagline next to it has sixty characters for the pitch.
- 3
Paste the full https address, without a trailing slash
The site adds its own ?ref=hackstack to whatever you type, so a clean https://yourproduct.com gives the cleanest link. Check it opens before you move on.
- 4
Write the 250 words before you open the editor
Draft it somewhere else first: who it is for, the problem it removes, how it works and what it costs. Add one link to a docs or pricing page if it helps a reader, then paste it in and watch the counter pass 250.
- 5
Export the featured image at 1240 × 780
It is your thumbnail everywhere on the site. Keep text and faces away from the top and bottom edges, add at least one gallery screenshot under 5 MB and add the square logo so your initials do not stand in for it.
- 6
Tick every category that fits, then the true ownership answer
Parent and subcategory can both be ticked. For your own product the answer is "A company I work for or myself owns this product".
- 7
Or have it written, cut and filed for you
We write a unique description to the 250 to 500 word rule, cut your cover to 1240 × 780 and submit it here together with the rest of your plan, where each directory gets its own description and its own image size.
Two hundred and fifty words here. A single line on the next. $29 writes and files all thirty.
One payment, thirty directories picked in the dashboard with the Domain Rating on each card, a unique description for each one, covers cut to every site's format and a rejection credited back as another directory.
Free and followed. The form is the fee.
The Hack Stack is a daily launch board running since 2020, free to join, with no badge and no paid tier. Each listing links to your product twice and all 834 product links read on 25 September 2026 were followed. The form wants 250 to 500 words, a 1240 × 780 featured image and at least one screenshot. We write the description, cut the images and file it with the rest of your plan, from $29. The whole catalog.
FAQ
Is The Hack Stack dofollow?
Every product link we read was. Each listing links to the product twice, from the Visit Website button and from the sidebar, and on 409 listings read on 25 September 2026 those links carried only rel="noopener". Links makers wrote into their descriptions carried no rel at all, so all 834 product links we counted were followed. The site itself makes no promise either way.
Is The Hack Stack free?
Yes. You need an account, and there is no badge to add and no paid option anywhere on the site: no pricing page, no featured slot and no boost.
How long does The Hack Stack's description have to be?
Between 250 and 500 words. The counter above the editor reads “0 words · min 250 · max 500”, and the placeholder repeats it. The newest listings on the board sit close to the floor: a median of about 285 words across the 30 most recent on 25 September 2026.
What size image does The Hack Stack want?
A featured image at a recommended 1240 × 780 px, which becomes the first gallery slide and the thumbnail in every listing, plus at least one gallery screenshot and up to ten. A square logo of about 512 × 512 px is optional; without one, your product name's initials are used. Files are capped at 5 MB each.
Can I list a product I did not build on The Hack Stack?
The form allows for it: the Ownership question offers “I do not own this hack or product” next to “A company I work for or myself owns this product”. The name rule still applies either way, which is that the name must be the product's own and not keywords or another product's name.
What gets you banned from The Hack Stack?
Misusing the name field, in their words: “This should be the name of the specific product you are submitting. Not SEO keywords or the name of a product created by someone else. All violations of this will be considered an attempt to scam and result in an immediate ban from using our services.”
What is The Hack Stack's Domain Rating?
Ahrefs puts it at 16, read through our checker on 25 September 2026. The domain dates from September 2020 and the board has taken more than 5,700 listings since.
Does Submitator submit to The Hack Stack?
We do, and we do the form's work as well: a unique description written to their 250 to 500 word rule and your cover image cut to their 1240 × 780 format. You keep one profile in our dashboard and we file it here along with the other directories you pick, from $29 for thirty.
More submit-to guides.
The Hack Stack is free. Thirty directories are $29, each one measured.
Pick the directories in the dashboard, keep one profile and we file it everywhere you chose. A rejection comes back as another directory.