Directory guide ยท Startups
Startup directories are where you submit your startup once and keep being found: by early adopters browsing new products, by investors and journalists looking you up, and by search engines following the link back to your site. Not all of them are worth an afternoon. These are, with what each one is actually good for.
The startup directories worth submitting to are Lifto (free, shown as a demo, pick an open launch day, do-follow link), Product Hunt for a big launch day, BetaList for a pre-launch waitlist, Launching Next and MicroLaunch for free listings, Uneed, Fazier, Peerlist Launchpad and Tiny Launch for launch boards with a smaller crowd, and Crunchbase and Wellfound for the company profile investors and candidates look up. Submit to five or six within two weeks, with the same name, tagline and description everywhere.
Video-first launch feed with a capped launch day
Best for: Startups that want a launch date in days and a listing that keeps working
The largest daily launch community
Best for: Teams with an audience ready to show up on launch day
Pre-launch waitlist directory
Best for: Collecting early-access signups before public launch
Long-running startup directory
Best for: A free listing with a backlink
Launch platform for indie makers
Best for: Indie founders looking for a focused community
Daily launch board with a curated audience
Best for: Indie SaaS that can rally votes on launch day
Daily launch platform for early-stage products
Best for: Founders who want a smaller, less competitive launch day
Weekly product launches for the Peerlist community
Best for: Developers and designers showcasing portfolio-grade products
Bite-sized launch directory
Best for: Micro-SaaS, side projects and small tools
Company database used by investors and press
Best for: Being findable when investors, journalists or partners look you up
Startup jobs and company profiles, formerly AngelList Talent
Best for: Startups that are hiring or want a profile candidates check
Write it once and reuse it everywhere: your product name, a one-line tagline under 60 characters, a 160-character description, a longer 200 to 300 word description, your logo, three to five screenshots, a 30 to 60 second demo video, your pricing and one category.
Keep the wording identical across directories. Search engines and AI assistants piece together what your startup does from every listing, and the same description in ten places tells them the same thing ten times.
Track every submission in a spreadsheet with the date, the listing URL and whether the link is do-follow, so you can see later which directories actually sent visitors.
Before launch, use BetaList to start a waitlist. In launch week, launch on Lifto and one launch board such as Product Hunt, Uneed or Fazier, so each launch gets your full attention on its day.
In the two weeks after, add the free listings: Launching Next, MicroLaunch, Tiny Launch. Create your Crunchbase and Wellfound profiles at any point; they are about being found when someone looks you up, not about launch-day traffic.
Submission services promise to list you on hundreds of directories at once. Most of those directories get almost no visitors, and a sudden burst of links from low-quality sites does nothing for your rankings at best.
Ten relevant directories you submit to yourself beat two hundred you have never heard of. The ones above take an afternoon between them.
Free to submit. At most 10 launches a day, each shown as a demo, and every approved product keeps a do-follow link to its site. Submit your product.