Product Hunt is often the first place makers think of. It's free, it's big, and a good day there can be worth a lot. It's also a single day, and the Product Hunt team decides whether your launch is featured on the homepage at all.
So "alternatives" doesn't mean replacements. It means other places that run on a different clock, reach a different crowd, or work in a different way. This page compares the launch platforms I looked at most closely, using only what each one says about itself on its own pages. If you want communities like Reddit, Indie Hackers or Dev.to instead, the free launch channels guide covers those.
Prices and rules change. Everything below was checked on October 19, 2026. Click through before you plan around any of it.
The comparison
Numbers in brackets point to the source list under the table. "Not stated" means I couldn't find it on the platform's own pages, not that it doesn't exist.
| Platform | Price to list | How submissions are reviewed or ranked | Audience | API / MCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt | Free [1] | The team reviews each submission and decides which launches are featured on the homepage; not every product is [2]. Homepage rank comes from a score that combines votes, engagement and more [3]. Needs a personal account; company accounts can't post [5] | Makers, technophiles, product people, entrepreneurs, investors, creators and early adopters [1] | GraphQL API (v2). Apps are read-only by default; write access is partial and on request; commercial use needs permission [4]. Publishes an llms.txt [3]. MCP: not stated |
| Hacker News (Show HN) | No fee mentioned [6] | Each Show HN appears on /shownew. Once it clears a small points threshold it moves to /show. It has to be something people can try, and you can't ask friends to upvote [6] | HN readers. The site is for "anything that good hackers would find interesting" [7] | Official public API for reading items and users [8]. Submitting through the API: not documented [8]. MCP: not stated |
| BetaList | Paid only. No free option; full refund if not selected [9] | Editorial team reviews every submission. Looks for pre-launch or recently launched startups on their own domain [9] | Early adopters looking for upcoming and recently launched startups [9] | API access on a case-by-case basis, on request [9]. MCP: not stated |
| Peerlist Launchpad | Not stated (the help pages mention no fee) [10][11] | Verified individual profile and a 100% complete project required. Launches open Mondays. Ranking combines upvotes, comments, views, link visits and traction, with random order for the first two days [10][11]. Projects that break the rules get removed [11][12] | Peerlist community members [11] | Not stated |
| DevHunt | Free listing; a launch costs $19 once, or $49 boosted [13] | Developer tools only. Launches run a full week and signed-in developers (GitHub or Google) vote; most votes at the end of the week win [13]. Review process for new listings: not stated | Developers [13] | Publishes an llms.txt [14]. The platform's code is open source [13]. Submission API: not stated. MCP: not stated |
| Open Launch | Free launch $0 (scheduled up to 180 days out, 5 free slots a day); Premium $9 [15] | Free launches wait in a standard queue [15]; the homepage lists the top projects launching each day [16]. Review process: not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| TinyLaunch | Standard launch free; Premium $39 [17] | Standard launch queue [17]. Launches are moderator-reviewed before going fully live [18] | Not stated | Documented REST API written for AI agents: email code sign-in, create the startup, schedule the launch [18]. MCP: not stated |
| SaaSHub | Free to submit (its submit page calls it "our free tool") [19] | Every product goes through an approval process. Listing competitors and verifying with an email on your domain speeds it up. Waitlist pages and unreleased products are rejected [19] | Software professionals researching tools and alternatives [19] | API for product and alternatives data, with an API key [20]. Submitting through the API: not stated. MCP: not stated |
| Fazier | Basic plan free, but needs a backlink to Fazier on your homepage or footer; paid plans skip that [21] | Free plan: reviewed and listed within 30 days; homepage feature "if selected" [21] | People looking for new products [21] | Not stated |
Sources
- Product Hunt Launch Guide, https://www.producthunt.com/launch
- Product Hunt Featuring Guidelines, https://help.producthunt.com/en/articles/9883485-product-hunt-featuring-guidelines
- Product Hunt llms.txt, https://www.producthunt.com/llms.txt
- Product Hunt API 2.0 docs, https://api.producthunt.com/v2/docs
- How to post a product, https://help.producthunt.com/en/articles/479557-how-to-post-a-product
- Show HN Guidelines, https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html
- Hacker News Guidelines, https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- Hacker News API, https://github.com/HackerNews/API
- BetaList Support & FAQ, https://betalist.com/faq
- Peerlist: How do I launch a project on Launchpad?, https://help.peerlist.io/individual/launchpad/how-to-launch-a-project-on-peerlist-launchpad
- Peerlist Launchpad FAQ, https://help.peerlist.io/individual/launchpad/frequently-asked-questions-about-spotlight-by-peerlist
- Peerlist Launchpad Rules and Guidelines, https://help.peerlist.io/individual/launchpad/guidelines-faqs
- DevHunt FAQ, https://devhunt.org/faq
- DevHunt llms.txt, https://devhunt.org/llms.txt
- Open Launch pricing, https://openlaunch.ai/pricing
- Open Launch homepage, https://openlaunch.ai/
- TinyLaunch pricing, https://www.tinylaunch.com/pricing
- TinyLaunch agent guide (llms.txt), https://www.tinylaunch.com/llms.txt
- SaaSHub: Submit a product, https://www.saashub.com/services/submit
- SaaSHub API, https://www.saashub.com/site/api
- Fazier: Submit, https://fazier.com/submit
What each one does well
Each of these is good at something specific.
- Product Hunt covers tech products of every kind rather than one niche [3], and it says plainly what it will and won't feature. The featuring guidelines are worth reading before you pick a date [2]. It also publishes an llms.txt that tells assistants how its product, alternatives and category pages are laid out [3], which matters if you care about being found later as well as on the day.
- Show HN has no fee in its rules and rewards substance. The rules are short and clear: make it something people can try, without signup barriers if you can, and stick around for the thread [6]. For a developer tool, an honest Show HN thread can teach you more than any number of upvotes.
- BetaList is upfront about being paid, and refunds you automatically if you're not selected [9]. Its FAQ is one of the clearest I've read about what happens after you submit, including how featured links work.
- Peerlist Launchpad shuffles launches randomly for the first two days so early votes don't decide everything [11], and it says outright that only qualitative comments count toward ranking. That's a thoughtful design for a weekly board.
- DevHunt is narrow on purpose: developer tools only, a week-long launch, and voting that needs a GitHub or Google sign-in [13]. Its code is public, so you can see how it works [13].
- Open Launch features free launches on the homepage too [15]. The trade-off is time: the free plan has 5 slots a day and a scheduling window of up to 180 days, while premium launches skip the free queue and get earlier dates [15]. It's all laid out on the pricing page.
- TinyLaunch is the only platform in this table whose own pages document a full submission flow for AI agents: sign in with an emailed code, create the startup, schedule the launch [18]. If you already let a coding agent handle your release chores, that's useful.
- SaaSHub behaves more like a reference catalogue than a launch day. It wants you to list competitors and rewards domain verification [19], so your page ends up next to the tools people are actually comparing.
- Fazier has a free tier with a clear 30-day review window [21], so you know roughly how long you'll wait.
Things I'd check before you submit
- Is it a launch or a listing? Product Hunt, Peerlist, DevHunt, Open Launch and TinyLaunch run on a clock: a day or a week, with votes. SaaSHub is closer to a permanent catalogue entry. Both are useful, but for different things.
- What does free actually include? Some free tiers ask for a backlink (Fazier [21]). Some free plans only drop nofollow if you finish near the top (Open Launch, top 3 [15]), and Peerlist only gives a backlink at all to the top 5 projects of the week [11]. Some free listings stay nofollow unless you pay (DevHunt [13]). None of that is hidden, but you only see it if you read the pricing page.
- What will the listing say a year from now? Write the description as though it will be read long after launch week, by people and by assistants that cite it. Check what you can still edit after submission, and get the basics right first.
- Can a machine read it? If you care about AI assistants recommending your product later, pages that are plain, crawlable text matter more than launch-day theatrics. How AI assistants find and recommend new products goes into this in more detail. On October 19, 2026, Product Hunt, DevHunt and TinyLaunch served an llms.txt at their root [3][14][18]. For the other platforms in the table, /llms.txt returned a 404 or an ordinary HTML page, or the fetch was blocked.
How I'd choose
- Developer tool: Show HN for feedback, DevHunt for a week in front of developers. Add Product Hunt if you have time to be present all day.
- Consumer or prosumer app: Product Hunt, then Peerlist on a Monday.
- Pre-launch startup with a budget: BetaList, which is upfront about being paid and refunds you if you're not selected [9].
- B2B SaaS that people compare against competitors: SaaSHub, so you show up next to the alternatives.
- Want an agent to do the paperwork: look for a documented API first. TinyLaunch has one; this guide on agent submission explains what to look for.
Whatever you pick, spread launches out. You'll learn something from each one and can fix it before the next.
One more option I'm biased about: LaunchSignal, the site this guide lives on, is free to publish on and takes submissions through a form, a JSON API or an MCP tool. If more of your launch chores are run by an agent, it may be worth a look for the next one.