Product Hunt alternatives for indie makers, ranked by what you get
LaunchScaler, Uneed, BetaList, SaaSCity, Show HN and Reddit ranked by what each leaves you: a lasting listing, a followed link and visitors, with prices.
LLaunchScaler·Published ·9 min read
The Product Hunt alternatives worth an indie maker's time are LaunchScaler, Uneed, BetaList, SaaSCity, Show HN and the subreddits where your users already talk. Ranked by what you are left with after launch day (a listing that stays indexed, a followed link to your site, and real visitors), LaunchScaler comes first, and every price and term below was checked on each platform's own pages in September 2026.
Product Hunt itself is free, runs on a 24-hour cycle that starts at 12:01 am Pacific, and does not feature every launch. The alternatives below either cost less effort, give you a date you control, or keep something working for you after the day ends.
What do Product Hunt alternatives actually give you?
Three things matter once launch day is over: whether the listing stays up and indexed, whether the link to your site is followed, and whether the platform sends people who might sign up. Most free routes attach a condition (a queue, a badge, a vote threshold), and most paid routes buy a date or remove the badge.
Platform
Cost
Wait for a date
Listing after the day
Link to your site
Audience it states
1. LaunchScaler
Free launch, or Premium launch at $29 one-time
Free: from the day the queue reaches you. Premium: any open day, today included
Permanent, in category and search
1 dofollow link, earned by passing the readiness scan
Not published
Questions, answered
What people ask about this
01
What are the best Product Hunt alternatives?
For a software product, the alternatives worth comparing are LaunchScaler, Uneed, BetaList, SaaSCity, Show HN and relevant subreddits. They differ on price, on how long you wait for a date, on whether the listing stays up, and on whether the link to your site is followed.
Paid only; prices shown at the end of the submission form; full refund if not selected
Depends on the plan
Featured for a day, then moves down the list
Dofollow "Visit Site" button, through a 301
70,000+ newsletter subscribers (boost page)
4. SaaSCity
Free with badge, Quick Pass $19.99, $39.99 plan with launch post, Max $99
Free: about 210 days, then a Monday drop. Paid: live within 24 hours
Listing page and map placement
Dofollow on every plan
410K visitors per 30 days
5. Show HN
Free
None; post when people can try it
The discussion thread
rel="nofollow" on low-scoring posts (seen on the live page)
Not published
6. Subreddits
Free
None
The post, under each subreddit's rules
Not covered here
Varies by subreddit
Which Product Hunt alternatives are best for indie makers?
For most indie software makers the order is LaunchScaler, Uneed, BetaList, SaaSCity, Show HN, then subreddits. LaunchScaler leads because it is the only platform here that checks your site before listing it, and its listing stays permanent whether or not launch-day votes go your way. The rest run from the most structured launch to the most conversational.
1. LaunchScaler: a permanent listing, and a followed link your site has to earn
LaunchScaler is a daily launch board and directory where the URL is the only thing you submit. Before anything is listed, it runs a 156-check readiness scan across 6 of its 7 categories (search, AI visibility, security, compliance, speed and visual, and whether the site works), with no account needed, and it builds the listing from what your site says.
The free launch gives you "your listing from the day the queue reaches you": a permanent listing in category and search, an About section and pros and cons written from your own site, and a community thread. It asks for LaunchScaler's badge on your site, or a one-time fee to skip it.
The Premium launch is $29 one-time. It books any open day, today included, writes the listing for you from your own scan, puts nothing on your site because paying skips the badge, and keeps the listing in the permanent curated index after its standing decays.
Each listing can earn 1 dofollow backlink, and only a passing readiness scan earns it; the pricing page says "The followed link still needs a pass." On the launch board, products climb on community votes, and the readiness score on each card is measured separately and cannot be voted up or bought. LaunchScaler does not publish an audience figure, so judge it on the listing and the link.
2. Uneed: a daily launchpad with a vote threshold on the free line
Uneed puts a new batch live every day at 12:00 AM PST: at least 30 free launches from its waiting line plus every paid launch. The free line assigns your date between 30 days and 5 months out, and free submissions go through moderation and can be declined. Paid launches are never declined.
What stays depends on your upvote score on launch day, which counts each voter's multiplier. On the free line, 20 or more keeps the listing with a dofollow link, 10 to 19 keeps it with a nofollow link, and below 10 sends the product back to your dashboard, unable to rejoin the free line. Fast-track ($14.99) assigns a date about 2 weeks out, always stays published, and is dofollow from a score of 10. Skip the line ($29.99) lets you pick the exact date and keeps a dofollow link for life with no minimum score.
Uneed also sells a Public Review at $147, a blog post about its test of your product that targets "[your_product] review". A Relaunch costs $15 when something significant has changed. The head-to-head is in LaunchScaler vs Uneed.
3. BetaList: paid editorial selection for pre-launch startups
BetaList features "pre-launch and recently launched startups" with their own domain; it does not accept free hosting subdomains such as vercel.app, netlify.app or herokuapp.com, or direct links to app stores. All submissions are paid, current prices appear at the end of the submission form, and if your startup is not selected the refund is automatic and full.
The editors prioritise a clear value proposition, an idea they have not seen before and a well-designed landing page, and they give no individual feedback on rejections. A featured listing's "Visit Site" button is a do-follow link routed through a 301 with ref=betalist added. BetaList generally features each startup once, except that a startup first featured as pre-launch can be featured again when it launches.
A feature lasts a day before the startup moves down the list. After that, a boost at $99 a week or $199 a month adds homepage placement and a newsletter slot; the boost page gives the newsletter as 70,000+ subscribers, its plan cards as 60k+.
4. SaaSCity: a free followed link, paid for with a badge and a wait
SaaSCity's free plan includes a dofollow link from what it calls a DR 64+ domain, but it requires SaaSCity's badge on your site and has an estimated 210-day review queue, with free listings going live on a scheduled Monday drop. Quick Pass costs $19.99 once, needs no badge and goes live within 24 hours.
The $39.99 plan (shown struck through from $99.99) adds a launch post on the SaaSCity blog, researched and written by its editor within 3 days, with 3 links to your site. Max, at $99, lengthens the post to 3,000+ words with 5 links and adds 30 days of billboard, ticker and pinned homepage placement. All paid plans are one-time, with a 100% refund if the listing is not approved.
SaaSCity states 410K visitors per 30 days, and its pricing page is candid: directory listings, its own included, "send modest referral traffic," so treat the traffic as a bonus and the link as the product.
5. Show HN: free, for things people can try right now
Show HN is Hacker News's format "for something you've made that other people can play with." Blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters and lists are off topic, the guidelines say "Don't post landing pages or fundraisers," and they add that the project should be non-trivial, not a quickly generated one-off.
Make it easy to try, "ideally without barriers such as signups or emails," and be there to answer questions. Every Show HN appears on the shownew page, and one that clears a small points threshold also appears on the show page. Asking friends to upvote or comment is not allowed. Reading the show page in September 2026, title links on posts with 10 points or fewer carried rel="nofollow" and posts with 18 or more did not. The full rules are in the Show HN guide.
6. Subreddits: conversations where your users already are
Subreddits for side projects, SaaS and your product's niche can bring feedback from exactly the people you built for. They are not launch platforms: there is no leaderboard or listing, and each subreddit sets its own rules, which may limit self-promotion or links. Reddit's pages could not be read for this article, so check each subreddit's rules on its About page before you post.
Write the post as a question or a story about the problem, disclose that you built the product, and stay in the thread to reply.
Which alternative fits your product?
Start from the constraint you cannot change. A fixed date points to a platform that sells dates, no budget points to the free route whose condition you can meet, and a pre-launch product points to the one platform that wants it. The table maps common situations to the platforms whose published terms fit.
Your situation
Platforms that fit
The term that decides it
You need a date this week
LaunchScaler Premium, SaaSCity Quick Pass, Uneed Skip the line
Any open day today included; live within 24 hours; your exact date
You want a listing that stays, for free
LaunchScaler free launch, SaaSCity free
Badge or one-time fee; badge plus about 210 days
You are pre-launch with a waitlist
BetaList
Product Hunt does not feature waitlisted products unless immediate access is given
Not necessarily. Product Hunt is free, keeps a permanent product page for every launch, and reaches an audience of makers and early adopters, which suits tools that other makers use. What you do not control is featuring, which Product Hunt decides against its own guidelines, or the day's competition. Whether that trade suits your product is covered in is Product Hunt worth it.
You can do both: Product Hunt on one day, and the alternatives on separate days before and after, so each launch gets full attention. The side-by-side of the two models is in LaunchScaler vs Product Hunt, and the wider comparison is in best product launch platforms.
Book your launch day with Premium
If what you want from an alternative is a date you control and a listing that stays, LaunchScaler's Premium launch is $29, paid once. It books any open day, today included, writes the listing for you from your own scan, and puts nothing on your site because paying skips the badge. The dofollow link still depends on your site passing the readiness scan, so fix what it flags before your day. Get Premium and pick the date, or choose the free launch on the same page if the queue fits your timing.
Yes. LaunchScaler's free launch, Uneed's free line, SaaSCity's free plan and Show HN all cost nothing. Each has a condition: LaunchScaler asks for its badge or a one-time fee, Uneed needs an upvote score on launch day, SaaSCity needs its badge and a roughly 210-day wait, and Show HN needs something people can try.
03
Which Product Hunt alternative gives a dofollow backlink?
LaunchScaler gives one once your site passes its readiness scan. Uneed's free line gives one at an upvote score of 20 and Skip the line guarantees it, BetaList's Visit Site button is dofollow if you are selected, and every SaaSCity plan includes one.
04
Is BetaList free?
No. BetaList says all submissions are paid and there is no free option. Prices appear at the end of its submission form, and if your startup is not selected you get a full refund automatically.
05
Can I launch on Reddit instead of Product Hunt?
You can share a project on subreddits that allow it, but each subreddit sets its own rules on self-promotion. Read the rules on the subreddit's About page before posting, and treat Reddit as a conversation rather than a launch platform.
Product Hunt features launches that are useful, novel, high craft or creative, and skips waitlists, templates and services. Check yours, then relaunch.
Most launch-day failures show up the day before: a leftover noindex, broken previews, a failing signup, no UTMs. Each mistake and the check that finds it.
