100+ free places to launch your startup in 2026 (with dofollow links)

hi, i'm prithvi. i built globwall, and while launching it i ended up submitting it to way more directories than any sane person should. this is the list i wish someone had handed me on day one.

quick honesty first: most launch sites won't send you a flood of users. a few will send a trickle, a handful give you a real dofollow link, and the rest are mostly vibes. so i've tried to group them by what they're actually good for, not just dump 100 urls on you.

before you submit anywhere

get three things ready, it saves hours:

• a one-line tagline (under 60 characters)
• a 2-3 sentence description, written like you'd explain it to a friend
• a square logo, 3-5 screenshots, and a short gif if you have one

keep these in one doc and paste. every site asks for the same stuff in a slightly different order.

also, check if a link is dofollow before you celebrate. open the listing, right-click your link, inspect it. if you see rel="nofollow" or rel="ugc", it won't pass much seo value. still fine for traffic, just know what you're getting.

the big launch days (traffic first)

these are the ones where a good launch day can actually put people on your site:

• show hn on hacker news: nofollow, but a front-page post gets you written about, and those write-ups link back.
• indie hackers: post a story, not an ad. "here's what i built and what i learned" does way better than "check out my product".
• reddit, in the right subs: r/internetisbeautiful for fun stuff, r/sideproject, r/saas. read the rules, every sub is different.
• peerlist launchpad, devhunt, fazier, uneed, tinylaunch: smaller crowds, but they're makers who actually click things.

directories that give real links

this is the seo part. in my experience the ones worth your time are the ones that are curated, indexed by google, and show your link without a nofollow tag.

a few i've personally got live on: startup fame, twelve tools, acid tools, unite list. others worth trying: saashub, alternativeto, launching next, betalist (slow free queue), futuretools for ai stuff.

a lot of directories ask you to add their badge before they'll approve you. that's a trade, not a scam, but decide if you want ten badges in your footer. i didn't.

curated directory list

by niche

• ai tools: futuretools, and any of the big ai directories that still have a free tier. many went paid-only, so skip those, don't pay for a listing.
• dev tools: devhunt, github awesome-lists (open a pull request), dev.to and hashnode for tutorials.
• design stuff: figma community, lottiefiles, dribbble, behance. if you ship anything visual, these are huge and underrated.
• open source: put it on github with good topics, then submit to awesome-lists in your niche.

if you are building a product with visual avatars or cute character design, you might also like our guide on free animated avatars for your app: one img tag, zero design work.

how i'd do it if i started again

• week 1: submit to 10 directories a day, using the doc above. track them in a spreadsheet: url, date, status, dofollow yes/no.
• week 2: do one real launch day (show hn or a launch platform) and spend the whole day replying to every comment.
• week 3+: write. a blog post on your own site that's genuinely useful will earn links long after the directories stop mattering.

the stuff nobody tells you

• approvals take forever. some took a day, some took a month. don't refresh the page, just log it and move on.
• a lot of "free" sites have a paid fast lane. the free lane is fine. patience is cheaper.
• directories alone won't get you to a high domain rating. they're a foundation. the big jumps come from people linking to something you made because it's useful or fun.
• reply to everyone who comments on a launch. it's the cheapest growth hack there is.

a little plug, since you read this far

globwall is a wall of 300 animated glob characters. founders claim one and it links to their product with a dofollow link, forever. it's kind of a million dollar homepage for indie makers. if you're launching something, come claim a glob: https://globwall.lol

i'll keep this list updated as i find more. if a site on here went paid or died, tell me and i'll fix it.

see you on the internet, prithvi (@therealprineur)