Directories worth submitting to, and none of them are dead links
Most “1,000+ directories” lists are a spreadsheet nobody has opened since 2023. Every URL here was requested live on 2026-09-08; anything that failed was deleted rather than counted.
- 2026-09-08
- every URL last checked
- Zero
- dead or parked domains
- Confirmed
- submit links, never guessed
- Curated
- no generic link farms
Every directory on the list
Filter by type, or switch to “Direct submit link” to see only the ones that skip you straight to the form — the rest link to the homepage, where the submit link is almost always in the nav.
Leaderboard
Every URL checked live · submit links confirmed, never guessed#01Launch platforms
The one launch that still moves traffic on its own. Pick the date, line up the first ten comments, go live at 12:01am PT. · producthunt.com
#02Launch platforms
Built for pre-launch and early-access products. The free queue is long; the paid tier is mostly buying a date. · betalist.com
#03Launch platforms
Daily and weekly rankings with a far smaller field than Product Hunt, so a top slot is realistic. · uneed.best
#04Launch platforms
Weekly leaderboard, developer tools only. Small but perfectly targeted if you sell to engineers. · devhunt.org
#05Launch platforms
Indie-scale launch board — low competition on any given day. · microlaunch.net
#06Launch platforms
Project Spotlight runs weekly and the crowd is technical, which suits developer tools. · peerlist.io
#07Launch platforms
Launch board plus an embeddable badge; the listing and the badge both carry a link. · fazier.com
#08Launch platforms
One product a day gets the top slot. Quick to submit, quick to be approved. · tinylaunch.com
#10Launch platforms
Long-running startup feed. Free submission with a paid fast-track. · launchingnext.com
#12Launch platforms
Open-source launch platform with a daily ranking. · open-launch.com
#25Launch platforms
Submits your tool to a batch of smaller directories at once — useful leverage early on. · twelve.tools
#26Launch platforms
Quick approval, reciprocal badge, and it indexes fast. · startupfa.me
#32Launch platforms
Formerly BetaPage — the old betapage.co links now land here. · pitchwall.co
#43Launch platforms
Your whole pitch in ten words. Worth doing just for the exercise. · 10words.io
#45Startup directories
Built around projects for sale, but a live listing is a clean backlink either way. · sideprojectors.com
#46Startup directories
One of the oldest curated startup-tool directories, and still one of the strongest. · startupstash.com
#54Startup directories
Not a launch — a company record. Investors, journalists and buyers all check it, so keep it accurate. · crunchbase.com
#71Startup directories
Dofollow by default, which is rarer than it should be. · dododirectory.com
#100AI tool directories
The biggest AI directory by traffic. Approval is slow and picky; submit early and forget about it. · theresanaiforthat.com
#101AI tool directories
High-traffic AI directory with a free queue and a paid fast-track. · futurepedia.io
#102AI tool directories
Hand-curated by Matt Wolfe — smaller list, much higher bar. · futuretools.io
#154Software & alternatives
Evergreen rather than launch-day: it ranks for “alternatives to <competitor>” forever. Worth doing properly. · alternativeto.net
#155Software & alternatives
Same alternatives-page play as AlternativeTo, easier to get into. · saashub.com
#157Software & alternatives
Only relevant for developer infrastructure, but the “who uses this” pages pull real search traffic. · stackshare.io
#174Review platforms
Slow to approve and review-gated, but it is where B2B buyers actually compare. Start collecting reviews the day you are listed. · g2.com
#175Review platforms
Same buyer-intent traffic as G2, same requirement: you need reviews before the listing does anything. · capterra.com
#176Review platforms
Gartner-owned, shares a back end with Capterra and Software Advice — one submission, three listings. · getapp.com
#187Developer & open source
Only for open-source products, but the “open-source alternative to X” pages rank well. · openalternative.co
#189Developer & open source
The place to be if your product can be self-hosted. · selfh.st
#194API catalogues
Only worth it if your product is an API — but then it is the first place buyers look. · rapidapi.com
#198Design galleries
Paid submission and a real jury. Only enter if the site is genuinely a piece of design work. · awwwards.com
#206Design galleries
Single-page sites only, which most launch pages are. · onepagelove.com
#229Communities
Not a directory — a post. Title it plainly, answer every comment, and expect the front page to be a coin flip. · news.ycombinator.com
#230Communities
The audience is other founders, so the build story outperforms the product pitch. · indiehackers.com
#231Communities
Fastest honest feedback anywhere. Read the rules first — self-promo gets removed on sight in most subs. · reddit.com/r/SideProject
If you only have an afternoon, do these 25
Launch boards spike for a day and go quiet. The evergreen directories — AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, the category sites — rank for “alternatives to <competitor>” for years. Do one of each in the same week so the launch traffic lands while the listings are being indexed.
Launch platforms
The one launch that still moves traffic on its own. Pick the date, line up the first ten comments, go live at 12:01am PT.
- BetaList02
Launch platforms
Built for pre-launch and early-access products. The free queue is long; the paid tier is mostly buying a date.
- Uneed03
Launch platforms
Daily and weekly rankings with a far smaller field than Product Hunt, so a top slot is realistic.
- Dev Hunt04
Launch platforms
Weekly leaderboard, developer tools only. Small but perfectly targeted if you sell to engineers.
- Peerlist06
Launch platforms
Project Spotlight runs weekly and the crowd is technical, which suits developer tools.
- Fazier07
Launch platforms
Launch board plus an embeddable badge; the listing and the badge both carry a link.
Launch platforms
One product a day gets the top slot. Quick to submit, quick to be approved.
Launch platforms
Submits your tool to a batch of smaller directories at once — useful leverage early on.
Startup directories
Built around projects for sale, but a live listing is a clean backlink either way.
Startup directories
One of the oldest curated startup-tool directories, and still one of the strongest.
Startup directories
Not a launch — a company record. Investors, journalists and buyers all check it, so keep it accurate.
AI tool directories
The biggest AI directory by traffic. Approval is slow and picky; submit early and forget about it.
Software & alternatives
Evergreen rather than launch-day: it ranks for “alternatives to <competitor>” forever. Worth doing properly.
Software & alternatives
Only relevant for developer infrastructure, but the “who uses this” pages pull real search traffic.
- G221
Review platforms
Slow to approve and review-gated, but it is where B2B buyers actually compare. Start collecting reviews the day you are listed.
- Capterra22
Review platforms
Same buyer-intent traffic as G2, same requirement: you need reviews before the listing does anything.
Communities
Not a directory — a post. Title it plainly, answer every comment, and expect the front page to be a coin flip.
Communities
The audience is other founders, so the build story outperforms the product pitch.
Communities
Fastest honest feedback anywhere. Read the rules first — self-promo gets removed on sight in most subs.
How to work the list without wasting a week
Write the assets once
Name, URL, a 60-character tagline, a 200-word description, a square logo and two screenshots. Nearly every form asks for the same six things, so keep them in one file and each submission drops to about two minutes.
Do the evergreen ones first
Launch boards spike for a day. AlternativeTo, SaaSHub and the category directories rank for "alternatives to <competitor>" for years. The boring listings are the ones still sending traffic next quarter.
Check dofollow before you pay
A nofollow listing still sends referral traffic but passes no link equity. If a directory charges for placement, the link attribute is the thing to check first — plenty of paid tiers are still nofollow.
Keep the badges up
Reciprocal directories re-crawl. Pull their badge and the backlink quietly disappears a few weeks later. One footer component rendered site-wide is the cheapest way to keep every one of them satisfied.
Skip the generic link farms
The 2005-era "free web submission" directories that accept anything are deliberately absent from this list. They send no traffic, carry no relevance, and a page full of them is a pattern search engines already discount.
Re-check before you republish
Small directories get abandoned and their domains lapse into parking pages. This list was rechecked on 2026-09-08 — if you fork it into your own tracker, re-run the check before you trust it.
Questions worth answering first
How many startup directories should I actually submit to?
Do the shortlist properly before doing the long tail. A handful of high-traffic launches plus the evergreen "alternatives to X" directories will out-earn a hundred small listings. The long tail is worth working through afterwards, in batches, because each one is a link and a few of them index unusually well.
Do directory backlinks still help SEO in 2026?
Relevant ones do. A listing on a directory that covers your category, sends real referral traffic and links with a dofollow attribute is a normal, defensible link. Bulk submissions to generic link farms are the ones search engines discount, and they are exactly the entries this list leaves out.
What is a reciprocal badge exchange?
Many smaller directories give you a dofollow link on the condition that you display their badge on your own site. They re-crawl to check. If the badge disappears, the link quietly goes with it — so put the badges somewhere that renders on every page, like the footer.
What do I need before I start submitting?
Almost every form asks for the same six things: product name, URL, a 60-character tagline, a 150-200 word description, a square logo and two screenshots. Write them once and each submission drops to about two minutes.
This site is a directory too
Submit your tool and it goes into the launch feed, the category pages and the comparison pages — with a link from DR 30 if you run the badge exchange back to us.