Product Hunt launch not featured? What the featuring guidelines say

Not every Product Hunt launch is featured on the homepage. Product Hunt features products that score well on at least one of four criteria (useful, novel, high craft, creative), it does not feature certain formats at all (waitlists without immediate access, directories, templates, boilerplates, courses, services and more), and it avoids vaporware and "minimal, undifferentiated products that seem primarily focused on immediate monetization."

An unfeatured post is not deleted. It stays in the All feed, where it can still collect comments and upvotes, and your product page stays up. The fix is to check your launch against each guideline below, relaunch when you have a significant new iteration, and launch elsewhere in the meantime.

Why wasn't my Product Hunt launch featured?

Because it did not meet Product Hunt's featuring guidelines, or it fell into a format Product Hunt does not feature. Product Hunt's help article on the homepage says featured posts "align with our guidelines, bring value to the community, and are on topic for Product Hunt," and it names content it has restricted from the homepage: blog posts, articles, lists, directories, templates, service offerings, lead magnet pages and guides.

The homepage shows featured launches by default, with a toggle to see all of them. Everything submitted that day is visible in the All feed "by selecting 'See all of today's products' at the bottom of the homepage." The help article does not say how many launches are featured each day or how long the review takes.

What do Product Hunt's featuring guidelines say?

Four positive criteria and two things to avoid. Product Hunt asks how useful, novel, well-crafted and creative a product is, and notes that featured launches do not need to score high in every category, and often spike in one or two of them. Then it rules out vaporware and products focused mainly on immediate monetization. Each one can be turned into a check on your launch.

Featured launches often spike in one or two criteria, so play to your strongest. A tool that is not novel can still be featured for being highly useful or beautifully made; a playful side project can win on creativity. A launch that is ordinary on all four gives the guidelines nothing to reward.

Which products does Product Hunt not feature?

Some formats are excluded whatever their quality. Product Hunt's featuring guidelines list them, and the exceptions they give are narrow: waitlists that provide immediate access, Kickstarter projects that are fully functional at launch, and hardware with a prominent digital component. If your launch is one of these, no amount of preparation will put it on the homepage.

If your product is a waitlist, give launch-day visitors immediate access, even to a limited version. If it is a template, a course or a service, Product Hunt is the wrong main launch, and the platforms in the last section are better fits.

How do you prepare a launch that gets featured next time?

Build the launch around the guideline you are strongest on, and remove every reason to skip it. Product Hunt does not say how its editors weigh each criterion, but its guidelines and launch guide point to the same preparation.

1. Make the product usable on launch day. A visitor who clicks through should reach the product, not a sign-up list, unless you give immediate access. That clears the waitlist and vaporware rules.
2. Show the product, not a promise. Product Hunt requires at least 1 gallery image, recommends 1270x760, and counts 3 or more images toward making a launch stand out; use real screens of the product doing its main job.
3. Write the tagline plainly. Product Hunt asks you to "Say exactly what the product does" and to skip hype like "the best" or "#1", in up to 60 characters.
4. Say what is new in the first comment. Product Hunt suggests who you are, why you built it, what it does, who it is for, what makes it different and what feedback you want, and says to ask for feedback, never for upvotes.
5. Check the details that show craft: a signup that works, no broken links, a fast first page, a link preview with the right image.
6. Hunt it yourself. Product Hunt says you can, and should, hunt your own product, and that who posts it doesn't affect ranking.

None of this guarantees featuring, and Product Hunt says so. It does make sure the decision is about the product rather than a missing piece of the launch.

What happens to an unfeatured Product Hunt post?

It stays live in the All feed. Product Hunt says posts "can still receive comments and gain upvotes even if they aren't featured," and that the community "can continue interacting with it even without it being on the homepage." Your product page, which collects every launch, reviews and awards, stays too.

So an unfeatured day is not wasted if you use it. Reply to every comment, send your list the link, collect the feedback, and build out your Product Page. The people who find the launch through your own channels can still comment and review, and those reviews stay on the product page for your next launch.

Can you appeal a featuring decision?

Rarely usefully. Product Hunt's guidelines say reaching out "is rarely necessary," that providing additional context "does not guarantee" your product will be featured, and that featuring decisions are final in most cases. Spend the effort on the product and the next launch instead.

If you believe a factual mistake was made, for example your product is live but was read as a waitlist, you can contact Product Hunt's support, but plan as if the decision stands.

When can you relaunch on Product Hunt?

When you ship a major update. Product Hunt's launch guide says "You can launch on Product Hunt every time you ship a major feature or update." If your last launch was less than two months ago, you'll be asked to submit a relaunch request: you explain what has changed and why it's worth launching again, and its team reviews the request and emails you the decision.

Product Hunt explains the rule: it was added "because the community asked for it," since back-to-back launches of the same product "made the homepage feel repetitive and made it harder to discover new things." So a relaunch needs to be visibly new: a new core feature, a new platform, a redesign. Before you relaunch, fix the guideline you missed. The guide to relaunching a product covers what counts as new enough and how to present it, and the submission steps are in how to launch on Product Hunt.

Where should you launch in the meantime?

On platforms whose terms fit your product while you build the next iteration. They differ on price, wait, whether the listing stays and whether the link is followed. The list puts first the option whose listing and followed link do not depend on anyone's featuring decision.

1. LaunchScaler: a free launch from its queue, or a Premium launch on any open day for $29 one-time, with a permanent listing in category and search and 1 dofollow link for sites that pass its 156-check readiness scan.
2. Uneed: a daily launch at 12:00 AM PST; the free line assigns a date at least 50 days out, and paid options let you pick a date.
3. BetaList: paid, editorially selected, for pre-launch and recently launched startups on their own domain, with a full refund if not selected.
4. Show HN: free, for something people can try right now; landing pages and sign-up pages are off topic.

The full comparison, including prices and link terms, is in the Product Hunt alternatives.

Launch on your own date with Premium

While you work on the next Product Hunt launch, 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 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 the queue fits your timing.