Startup directories
Most directories are worth nothing - a page with four hundred outbound links and no editorial standard passes no value. This list is sorted by domain rating so you can start at the top and stop when the returns fall off.
- Directories listed
- 16
- Free to submit
- 14
- Median domain rating
- 74
- Paid or freemium
- 2
- Awesome lists on GitHubfreeFind the awesome-list for your niche and open a PR.DR 96
- Hacker NewsfreeShow HN. Tuesday to Thursday mornings ET.DR 92
- Product HuntfreeSchedule 12:01am PT. Nofollow link, high referral traffic.DR 91
- G2freeBuyer intent traffic. Needs reviews to rank.DR 91
- CapterrafreeBest for B2B software with pricing pages.DR 91
- AlternativeTofreeAdd yourself as an alternative to incumbents.DR 84
- Indie HackersfreeProduct page plus a milestone post.DR 79
- There is an AI for thatAI tools only. Paid fast track.DR 76
- BetaListFree queue is slow, paid is same week.DR 74
- SaaSHubfreeAlternatives pages rank well long term.DR 72
- PeerlistfreeStrong for developer tools.DR 66
- ToolifyfreeAI tools only.DR 63
- UneedfreeDaily and weekly leaderboards.DR 57
- Dev HuntfreeWeekly board for developer tools.DR 55
- FazierfreeDofollow badge once launched.DR 54
- MicrolaunchfreeDaily launch slots.DR 52
Before submitting anywhere, check the page that will actually hold your link: is it indexed, is the link dofollow, and how many outbound links share the page? Under fifty is meaningful, over two hundred is not.
How to judge a directory before submitting
Directory submission is the most over-recommended tactic in launch advice, largely because it is easy to write a list of two hundred URLs and call it a growth guide. Most of those links are worthless: the page holding them is either not indexed, marked nofollow, or carrying so many outbound links that any value is divided into nothing. Working through such a list is an evening spent for no return.
Domain rating is the first filter and the crudest one. It is a third-party estimate of a domain's link strength rather than anything Google publishes, and it tells you roughly how much authority the site has overall - not how much of it reaches the specific page your link will sit on. It is useful for ordering a list and useless as a decision on its own.
The checks that actually decide are on the destination page. Is the page that will hold your link in Google's index at all? Is the link dofollow, or does the site strip value from every outbound link it publishes? How many other links share the page - under fifty is meaningful, over two hundred is not. Does the directory have any editorial standard, or does it list everything submitted?
The realistic value of even a good directory is a link, a small first cohort of users, and something to point at as social proof. Almost none of them send lasting referral traffic, and judging them on that basis will save you a great deal of time. Ten well-chosen submissions beat two hundred indiscriminate ones by a wide margin.
Common questions
- How many directories should I actually submit to?
- Ten to twenty good ones. Beyond that the marginal link is coming from a page nobody indexes and the time is better spent elsewhere.
- Are paid directories ever worth it?
- Occasionally, when the site has genuine editorial standards and real traffic. Pay only after checking the destination page is indexed and the link is dofollow.