LaunchScaler vs SaaSCity: free launch or paid listing

SaaSCity has taken only paid listings since 6 November 2026, while LaunchScaler still has a free launch. SaaSCity's Basic listing ($19.99, one-time) is reviewed by hand and goes live within 24 hours with a followed link. LaunchScaler's free launch needs its badge or a one-time fee, and its Premium launch ($29) books any open day, writes the listing for you and needs nothing on your site.

The link rule is where they part. Every SaaSCity listing includes a followed link for as long as it is up; LaunchScaler gives its one dofollow link only to a site that passes a 156-check readiness scan. SaaSCity's terms below come from its homepage and pricing page, read on 9 November 2026, and LaunchScaler's from its own pricing page.

How do LaunchScaler and SaaSCity compare tier by tier?

SaaSCity has two paid plans and no free tier for new listings, and sells a written launch review on the upper one. LaunchScaler has a free launch paid for with a badge or a fee, and a Premium launch that sells writing (the listing). The first table sets the cheapest route on each side by side, the second covers the paid plans.

SaaSCity's paid plans, each a one-time payment:

SaaSCity's pricing page also sells a billboard slot on its city map at $50 for 30 days, and submission to up to 270 other directories from $99.

LaunchScaler's paid launch, on its own:

Does either platform still trade a listing for a badge?

Only LaunchScaler does. SaaSCity's free plan used to list you in exchange for its badge on your site, but its homepage says new listings have been paid since 6 November 2026, and neither paid plan asks for a badge.

LaunchScaler's free launch asks for its badge on your site too, with one difference: you can pay a one-time fee to skip the badge and keep the free launch. (LaunchScaler's public pages do not print that fee.) What the badge does not buy on LaunchScaler is the followed link. That comes only from passing the readiness scan: "Clearing the readiness bar is what earns the followed link."

So the trade now exists on one side only. On SaaSCity a listing costs $19.99 and the followed link comes with it. On LaunchScaler you give a badge (or a fee) and get a permanent listing, and the followed link depends on your site. The guide to launch badges and SEO covers what an outbound badge link does to your own site.

How do the paid plans compare?

The closest match is SaaSCity's Basic listing against LaunchScaler's Premium launch. Basic is $19.99, reviewed by hand and live within 24 hours, and you pick the launch week. Premium is $29, lets you pick any open day including today, removes the badge, and adds a listing written for you from your own scan.

The difference is the link and the writing. Basic includes SaaSCity's followed link with no further condition. LaunchScaler's Premium does not buy a link: "The followed link still needs a pass." What Premium adds instead is the written listing and a place in the permanent curated index after the listing's standing on the daily board decays.

SaaSCity's Premium listing has no LaunchScaler equivalent in the launch itself. At $39.99 it adds a launch review of 3,000+ words, researched and written by its editor and published on its blog within 3 days with 5 links to your site. The nearest LaunchScaler offer to a written post is its separate Review article, an editor-written, labelled review page with 3 links back to your site, sold at $59 on its own. For the question of whether paying to skip a queue is worth it at all, see is a skip-the-line launch worth it.

What does each platform check before listing you?

SaaSCity reviews every listing by hand. Its FAQ says "Every listing gets a human review and goes live within 24 hours." Its pricing page does not publish the criteria the reviewer applies.

LaunchScaler checks the site with software before it is listed. The readiness scan runs 156 checks across search, AI visibility, security, compliance, speed and visual, and whether the site works, and shows a verdict for each. Among them: a live page carrying a noindex directive, a robots.txt rule blocking a page you want ranked, no discoverable XML sitemap, HSTS not enforced, non-essential trackers firing before consent, a primary call to action that does nothing when clicked, and Largest Contentful Paint from real visits. The listing does not wait for a pass; the followed link does.

The two checks answer different questions. SaaSCity's review asks whether your product belongs in its directory. LaunchScaler's scan asks whether your site is ready for the visitors and crawlers a launch sends, which is worth knowing whichever platform you launch on.

Which fits a launch that must go live this week?

Both do. SaaSCity's Basic and Premium listings both promise to be live within 24 hours, and SaaSCity refunds 100% if the listing is not approved, the paid upgrade is not live within 48 hours, or the dofollow link does not pass through. SaaSCity's rounds open every Monday at 00:00 UTC and run for seven days, and when your week opens, your building on the map lights a "Just Launched" beacon. LaunchScaler's Premium launch books any open day, today included, so you can choose tomorrow or a specific day later in the week.

What do both platforms say about traffic?

Neither promises customers, and SaaSCity says so directly: directory listings, its own included, "send modest referral traffic, and anyone promising a flood of signups from one is selling you something." It tells readers to treat the traffic as a bonus and the link as the product. Its pricing page states 60.2K monthly visits (a Similarweb estimate), 22K Google impressions a day and 2,589 startups submitted.

LaunchScaler does not publish an audience figure. Its daily board ranks products on community votes, and the readiness score on each card is measured separately and cannot be voted up or bought. What it adds before the listing is the readiness scan itself, which gives you a verdict on search, AI visibility, security, compliance, speed and visual, and whether the site works.

What are the alternatives to SaaSCity?

The other common launch platforms are Product Hunt (free, one day, starting 12:01 am Pacific), Uneed (a free line at least 50 days out, or paid dates), BetaList (paid, editorially selected, for pre-launch startups) and Show HN (free, for things people can try). Their prices and link terms are compared in best product launch platforms.

Book this week's launch with Premium

If your launch has to happen on a day you choose, LaunchScaler's Premium launch is $29, paid once. It books any open day, today included, writes your listing for you from your own scan, and puts nothing on your site because paying skips the badge. The listing stays in the permanent curated index after its standing decays, and the dofollow link still needs your site to pass the readiness scan. Get Premium, or choose the free launch on the same page if you can wait for the queue.