Top 20 SaaS directories and platforms to submit your startup (based on my experience)
I know there are those huge lists with 800+ SaaS directories.
But honestly barely 100 of them are actually worth checking. A lot are dead, have no traffic, or give bad backlinks (that can hurt more than help.)
So if you don’t have time to go through all of them, I’d start with these 20 first.
I kept this list short and only added the ones I’d actually try for getting users/sales, feedback, backlinks or some early visibility.
Some are better for launch traffic, some are useful for SEO, some only make sense for AI or dev tools and a few work because people browsing there already have buying intent.
Here are the ones I’d start with:
- Product Hunt: Good for early reactions, comments, and testing your positioning. Don’t expect magic traffic unless you prep properly. I’d give it at least 1-2 weeks of prep.
- BetaList: Better for early-stage and pre-launch startups. It’s paid, but good products can get featured in the newsletter, so it can be worth it.
- Indie Hackers: Useful if you’re building in public or sharing product updates. Weekly updates usually work better than dropping your link once.
- Peerlist: Good for launching your product and creating a company profile. Also useful if you care about backlinks.
- Uneed: Good for indie products, SaaS tools, and smaller launches. Submit early because there can be a 60-90 day waitlist.
- Tiny Launch: Simple place to submit early-stage products and indie launches. Not huge, but easy enough to add to the checklist.
- Hacker News: A Show HN post can work well if your product is useful for developers, founders, or technical users. I wouldn’t force it for a generic SaaS.
- AlternativeTo: Good for showing up when people search for alternatives to tools in your category. More useful long term than as a one-day launch channel.
- SaaSHub: Useful for comparison pages, category discovery, and being listed next to similar products.
- Micro SaaS Examples: Good fit if your product is a micro SaaS, indie SaaS, or small bootstrapped tool.
- Side Projectors: Better if your product started as a side project or indie tool. Good for another simple listing and some extra exposure.
- G2: Free to create a listing, but it becomes more valuable once you have real users who can leave reviews.
- SourceForge: Useful for software listings, category pages, open-source products, and dev-related tools.
- Promote Project: Easy place to get another product listing and some extra visibility. I wouldn’t expect a huge traffic spike, but it’s low effort.
- There’s An AI For That: Only worth it if your product is an AI tool and you have the budget. Crowded space, but still useful if your positioning is clear.
- DevHunt: More relevant for developer-focused products. It used to be free, but now it’s paid, so I’d only do it if your product really fits.
- Pinterest: Not exactly a SaaS directory, but useful for pins around product pages, blog posts, and feature pages. Can help with long-tail discovery.
- Tool Folio: Has an approval process, so it’s better if your product and design are strong. It’s paid, but they refund you if your product doesn’t get approved.
- Ctrl Alt CC: Small launch platform, but good for a free backlink. They also relaunch good products on their own, so worth trying.
- Open Source Alternatives: Good fit if your product is open source or positioned as an alternative to an existing paid SaaS.
My main takeaway: don’t submit everywhere blindly.
Start with SaaS directories that actually match your product category and audience, then expand from there.
For most products, I’d probably begin with Product Hunt, Indie Hackers, Peerlist, Uneed, AlternativeTo, SaaSHub. After that, add the niche ones depending on whether your product is AI, dev-focused, open source, or indie SaaS.
Would love to hear which directories worked for you, which ones were a waste of time and if there are any underrated ones I should add to the checklist.