I kept finishing small projects and then staring at a list of "100+ places to launch your startup" that turned out to be half paid, half dead, and the rest wanting a badge on my homepage before they'd list me.
So I went through them one by one and wrote down what each one actually costs, who reads it and what it asks for. These are the ones that still have a real free way in, checked on November 4, 2026. Free tiers and waits change often, so check each site's current terms before you submit.
Before you start
Have these ready and you can do most of the forms in a single sitting:
- A one-line description under 100 characters. Say what it does and who it's for.
- A short (about 50 words) and a long (about 200 words) description.
- A square logo and two to four screenshots.
- A pricing label: free, freemium, paid or open source.
- Three to five category tags, in the words people would search for.
How to pace it
Submitting everywhere on one day mostly gets you a spike that's gone by the next morning. What's worked better for me: one or two launch sites a week, all the directories in one sitting, and community posts only where you already take part.
Launch sites
Expect most visitors on launch day, and expect most of them to be other makers.
- Product Hunt. Free with a personal account (company accounts aren't allowed). You can schedule up to a month ahead, and not every launch is featured on the homepage. Schedule for just after midnight Pacific to get the full day, and use your first comment to ask for feedback, not upvotes.
- Hacker News (Show HN). Free. It has to be something people can try; blog posts, sign-up pages and newsletters don't qualify. Make it usable in one click without signing up, explain how and why you built it in the first comment, and never ask friends to upvote.
- Indie Hackers. Free account, posted in the Show IH group. Write it as a short build story with a real number or lesson, and put the link at the end.
- Uneed. Free, but you join a waiting line and Uneed picks your date. On launch day a free launch needs a minimum upvote score or it's taken down, so have a few people ready to look at it that day. Paid options skip the line.
- Peerlist Launchpad. Free, but you need a verified profile with your real name and photo, and a complete project page. Launch weeks start Monday.
- DevHunt. Free and for developer tools only. Voters log in with GitHub.
- TinyLaunch. Free queue with an unpublished wait, and no badge required.
- StartupBase. Free queue of 10+ weeks, or about 4 to 5 weeks if you link to them from your site.
- SaaSCity. Free weekly slots, but their badge has to be on your homepage when you submit.
- Fazier. Free plan is listed within about 30 days and needs a link or badge to Fazier on your homepage or footer.
- Launching Next. Free short form. You only hear back if it gets published.
Directories and software listings
These are slower, but people land on them while searching for a tool, sometimes years later.
- AlternativeTo. Free account, then "Suggest new application." Approval takes a few days to a week. Pick the well-known apps yours really replaces, because that's how people find the "alternatives to" pages.
- SaaSHub. Free, approved by hand. You need an email on your product's domain. Listing at least one competitor moves you up the queue.
- Capterra. Free basic profile for business software with a real signup, trial or demo. Can take six weeks or more.
- G2. Free profile for business software that's out of beta. Not for consumer apps.
- Future Tools. Free, AI tools only, reviewed by hand with no promise of inclusion.
- Open Source Alternative. Free waitlist of six months or more, for real open-source projects only.
Communities
The best feedback and the strictest rules. Read each one's self-promotion rules before you post.
- r/SideProject. Frame the post around what you built and the feedback you want, then stay and answer comments.
- r/indiehackers. Posts that share a lesson or real numbers fit better than plain announcements.
- r/alphaandbetausers. Say what kind of tester you need and what you want them to tell you.
- DEV and Hashnode. Write the build story with real stack details instead of an announcement.
The trade to watch for
A lot of free tiers now ask for something back: a badge on your homepage, a link in your footer, or a minimum number of upvotes on the day. That's a fair trade for some projects and not for others. Decide before you start, because a few of them check for the badge the moment you submit.
One more, which I run
I also run Project Radar, a free directory for independent projects. You submit a name, a link and a sentence. Projects that fit get a published Project Note and a public page. Placement is never sold.
The full version of this list, with a few more entries and the exact requirements for each, is here: Free places to submit your side project. If you know a free place I missed, tell me in the comments and I'll check it.
Top comments (0)