Product Hunt alternatives for side projects (12 launch sites I actually looked at)
I run a small launch directory called IndieDaddy, so I spend more time than is healthy reading the rules of other launch sites. People keep asking me the same thing: "where should I launch if not Product Hunt?"
Product Hunt is still the biggest board. It's also one day, one shot, and you're up against teams who line up hundreds of supporters before midnight. If your launch goes quiet, you can't really redo it on the same listing.
So here's the list I send people. I've included mine and tried to be as fair about it as the rest. I checked everything on 4 November 2026, and these sites change their rules a lot, so look again before you submit.
The short version
| Platform | Format | Cost to start | Backlink | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peerlist Launchpad | Weekly, opens Monday 00:00 UTC | Free | Varies | Builders with a decent profile |
| Dev Hunt | Weekly, GitHub sign-in | Free | Varies | Dev tools, APIs, open source |
| Show HN | One text post | Free | Not a backlink thing | Technical stuff, blunt feedback |
| Uneed | Daily board + newsletter | Free queue, pay to pick a date | Dofollow above an upvote threshold | A calmer launch day |
| Fazier | Daily leaderboard | Free, paid boost | Dofollow on paid | Being seen on a smaller board |
| Microlaunch | A month of exposure | Free | Varies | Early feedback |
| BetaList | Curated pre-launch | Free queue, paid expedite | Varies | Building a waitlist |
| TinyLaunch | Weekly | Free, paid premium | Dofollow on premium | A weekly cohort |
| Smol Launch | Seven-day window | Free tier | Varies | Indie SaaS |
| Launching Next | Reviewed listing | Free, paid faster review | Reported dofollow | A listing that sticks around |
| IndieDaddy | Weekly launch + reviewed directory | Free | Dofollow while our badge is on your site, nofollow without | Indie founders |
| Indie Hackers | Community posts | Free | Not a launch board | Slow, long-term stuff |
If you built a dev tool
Start with Show HN. Write a plain post: what it is, why you made it, what you want feedback on. Don't write marketing copy and don't ask anyone to upvote. People will tell you exactly what they think, which hurts a bit and is worth it.
Dev Hunt is a weekly board only for developer tools. Votes need a GitHub login, so the crowd is developers and the votes are harder to fake.
Peerlist Launchpad runs for a full week and ties your launch to your profile. I like that a slow first morning doesn't kill you there.
If you want a calmer launch day
Uneed has a daily board and a newsletter. On the free plan you wait in a line, sometimes for weeks, so join early. You can pay to pick your date.
Fazier is smaller, which is kind of the point. A modest launch can still end up near the top.
TinyLaunch and Smol Launch group launches by week. Attention gets spread out instead of all landing on whoever woke up first.
If you care about the long tail
Launch traffic is mostly gone after two days. What's left is the listing, and a listing that stays indexed keeps sending a few visitors and helps Google trust your domain a little.
Launching Next reviews submissions and keeps the page up. Microlaunch gives you a month, which suits you better if you want feedback than if you want a spike.
On IndieDaddy, a free listing gets a followed link while our small badge is on your site, and a nofollow link if you'd rather not add it. It's a new site, so it won't send you Product Hunt numbers. The bit developers seem to like is that it has a public API and an MCP server, so you can do the submission from Claude Code or Cursor:
claude mcp add --transport http indiedaddy https://indiedaddy.com/api/mcp Then ask your agent to check your site and prepare a draft. It can't publish or pay by itself. You look at the draft and send it.
About those "dofollow backlinks"
Most directories that advertise a dofollow link attach a condition. Usually it's one of these: keep their badge on your site, hit some upvote number, or pay for premium.
That's fine, just know which one you're signing up for. You can check any listing yourself: right-click your link, Inspect, and look at the <a>. If rel has nofollow, ugc or sponsored in it, it isn't passing ranking credit. (noopener doesn't matter, that one's about security.)
Ten relevant links do more than a hundred random ones. I'd rather see someone on fifteen good directories than eighty bad ones.
How I'd spread it out
- About three weeks before: get into the queues (BetaList, the free Uneed line). Put your listing on one or two reviewed directories and add whatever badge you need so the link actually works.
- Launch day: one main board, Product Hunt or Peerlist, plus Show HN if it's technical. Answer every comment.
- The week after: smaller boards like Fazier, TinyLaunch or Smol Launch. You'll have better copy by then because of the day-one feedback.
- The month after: a few evergreen directories each week. Not forty in one afternoon.
Also, before any of it, fix your page title, meta description and share image. Directories pull them, social sites show them, and AI assistants read them. I built some free tools for this on IndieDaddy, no signup: a meta tag and share preview checker, an AI crawler checker and a where to launch finder.
Should you skip Product Hunt then?
I wouldn't. It's still where the biggest crowd is. I just wouldn't put the whole launch on one day there. Pick two or three places where your users already hang out and watch which one actually brings sign-ups.
There's a longer version with sources and 15 platforms on the IndieDaddy blog.
Where did your last launch actually get users from? I'm always looking for ones I've missed.