First links
Launch directory links for a new SaaS: the free ones first
Founders keep asking where to showcase a brand-new product. Here is how we would sort the options, and the one paid question worth a hard look.
Treat listings as doors, not as votes
A launch listing is a door. Nothing more. A person browsing the platform may walk through it and try your product, which is useful in launch week. Whether Google counts the link as a vote is a smaller question, since many such links carry a nofollow attribute.
That changes how you spend time. Do the listings where your buyers already browse, skip the ones that exist only to sell you a featured slot, and never judge a directory by its link count alone. A 2026 launch week is busy enough without chasing vanity numbers.
Where the afternoon goes
Submissions take longer than they promise. A form that claims five minutes tends to want a logo in two sizes, a founder bio and a verification e-mail. Block a single afternoon, do three or four properly, and stop.
Revisit in a month and see which ones sent anyone. Keep the winners updated and forget the rest.
Four kinds of place, sorted by what they give you
Launch platforms
Product Hunt and Hacker News's Show HN are the famous ones, and Google indexes both. They can send a spike of visitors for a day or two, and they reward a prepared page, a clear tagline and an active founder in the comments.
Software review sites
G2 and Capterra list tools by category. Buyers do shop there, but getting verified reviews takes real customers, so this comes after launch, not before.
Alternative lists
Sites like AlternativeTo let you appear next to the bigger tool you compete with. It is quiet traffic, yet it matches the comparison-page intent.
Founder communities
Indie Hackers and niche forums let you share what you built. Read the rules first, since self-promotion is often limited to certain threads.
Before you fill in any submission form
- Write the one-line pitch once, then reuse it everywhere so your name stays consistent.
- Prepare one screenshot, one logo and one short description under 200 characters.
- Point every listing at a page built for that visitor, not at your homepage by reflex.
- Log each submission in your spreadsheet with a date, a URL and the link attribute you see in the page source.
- Skip any form that asks for a fee until you have read the paid-listing test below.
The paid-listing test
Would you pay a stranger to hang your poster in an empty shop?
Ask how many real visitors the directory has, not how many members it claims. A week-old directory with a few hundred users cannot return much for a fee, however polished its pricing slide looks.
- Ask for monthly visitor numbers and check them against a third-party estimate
- Look for recent activity, not only launch-day posts
- Pay only if a single buyer visit would cover the fee
Where paid links begin
Once the free doors are open, a few relevant placements on real sites can add something listings cannot: a vote from a page written for people who care about your topic. Our price guide shows the scale.
Not before, though. The launch checklist puts listings on days four and five for a reason.
Small questions about listings
- Is Product Hunt worth it for a bootstrapped product?
- It can be, if you prepare. A launch day brings a burst of visitors, not a lasting ranking effect. Prepare the page, the tagline and replies to comments in advance, and treat it as a day of feedback rather than a growth plan.
- Do nofollow links help at all?
- They can send visitors and confirm that your brand exists, so they are not useless. Google has said it treats nofollow as a hint, which means its handling can vary. Do not count on them as ranking votes.
- How many directories should I submit to?
- Three to five that your buyers genuinely browse. A long list of obscure sites costs an afternoon each and gives very little back. Quality of audience beats count.