Startup communities, marketplaces and deal sites worth a launch

Our directory list is deliberately short: launch sites and directories with real authority, a submission form, and a listing that goes live. That leaves out a second group of places that are worth your time but do not fit the mould. Some are communities where you write a post rather than fill a form. Some are marketplaces you only qualify for if your product ships in that ecosystem. Some are directories we like but have not mapped a form for.

None of these can be autofilled from a launch package, and that is fine. Budget a morning for each one that matches your product, use the same copy and screenshots you prepared for the directories, and treat the list below as a menu, not a checklist.

Startup communities: write a post, not a listing

These have the largest audiences on this page and the strictest rules. A launch post that reads like an ad gets removed; one that explains what you built, why, and what you learned gets read.

• Reddit (r/SideProject, r/SaaS, r/startups) — the highest-authority domain on the internet for this purpose. Each subreddit has its own self-promotion rules; read the sidebar first, post on a weekday morning US time, and answer every comment.
• dev.to — write the "how I built it" article. Developer tools only. Links are nofollow, but the posts rank and get read.
• Hashnode and Hacker Noon — the same article, published a week apart. Hacker Noon has editors and takes a few days.
• daily.dev — submit your blog as a source and your launch article lands in a developer feed.
• GrowthHackers — a marketing community; post the launch as a case study with numbers.
• Lobsters — invite-only and technical. Only if you have an account and the product is genuinely interesting to engineers.
• WIP — a paid maker community. Post the product to the feed if you are already a member; do not join just to launch.
• Square Town and Made in Europe — small, fun and free. Square Town is a shared favicon wall (paste your URL, claim a square); Made in Europe is a curated club of products built by European teams. Neither moves your search ranking; both put you in front of other makers.

Review sites: claim the profile

• Trustpilot — if you sell to consumers, claim the free business profile before someone reviews you anyway. Do not pay for it.
• SoftwareWorld — a free B2B listing that ranks for category pages. Worth ten minutes, but expect sales follow-ups.

AI tool directories

If your product is an AI tool, this is a second directory circuit with its own audience. The big one, There's An AI For That, is in our main list. These are the rest:

• Toolify — the second-largest AI directory. Free listing exists.
• FutureTools — curated by hand, so approval is not guaranteed. Free.
• Dang.ai and Toolpilot — free with their badge on your site. The high domain ratings come from that badge scheme.
• OpenTools, aitools.inc and toolsfine — smaller lists, quick forms.

Open source indexes

Only if the code is public. All three pull from GitHub, so a well-written README does most of the work.

• Awesome Open Source — indexed automatically from GitHub topics; check that your repository has them.
• OpenAlternative and OpenSourceAlternative.to — position your project as the open alternative to a known commercial product. The "alternative to" framing drives their search traffic.

Deal marketplaces

Not directories at all, but a launch on one can bring more customers than every directory combined. They take a cut and expect a lifetime or heavily discounted deal, so decide whether that fits your pricing first.

• AppSumo — the biggest audience for lifetime deals on software. Revenue share, and a launch takes weeks of preparation.
• PitchGround — smaller, similar model, easier to get accepted.

Startup showcases and galleries

• Launching Next, StartupRanking and StartupInspire — older startup showcases with free profiles. Low traffic, permanent link.
• Startup Resources — a resource directory; fits tools that other founders use.
• One Page Love — a landing page gallery. Submit if your landing page is a single page and looks the part; a feature there sends design-minded traffic.

App marketplaces

If your product ships as an extension, a plugin or an integration, the marketplace for that platform is the single most important listing you will make, and its parent domain outranks every directory above. These are the ones we get asked about:

• Chrome Web Store for browser extensions.
• Apple App Store, Google Play and Setapp for native apps.
• Zapier, Slack and the Google Workspace Marketplace for integrations.
• GitHub Marketplace and the VS Code Marketplace for developer tools.
• Shopify App Store, WordPress.org and Figma Community for platform-specific products.

Marketplace listings have their own review processes and asset requirements, usually stricter than any directory. The launch package checklist covers most of what they ask for.