oliver
9.5 KiB
Directory List — Full Reference
Canonical list of directories organized by tier. DR values are approximate and drift over time — verify via Ahrefs or Moz before building a plan around them.
Column legend:
- DR — Domain Rating (Ahrefs). Higher = more link equity passed.
- Dofollow — Whether the backlink passes SEO value. Nofollow listings still matter for referral traffic and brand signals.
- Cost — Free unless noted.
Tier 1 — Flagship Launch Platforms
Submit only during launch week. These are time-sensitive with limited re-submission windows.
| Directory | DR | Dofollow | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt | 91 | Yes | Free | The anchor event. Requires 3-week warm-up. 2026 algorithm weights comment quality over upvotes. Launch Tue/Wed/Thu at 12:01 AM PT. |
| Hacker News (Show HN) | 91 | Nofollow | Free | Only if you have a genuine technical angle. Post title format: "Show HN: [Product] — [hook]". Moderator death penalty for hype. |
| BetaList | 64 | Yes | Free (paid expedite ~$99) | Best for pre-launch waitlist building. Submission → 2–4 week queue unless expedited. |
| Launching Next | ~30 | Yes | Free | Editorial curation — needs a compelling story. |
| Fazier | ~30 | Yes | Free | Daily ranking with much lower competition than PH. Achievable #1. |
| Uneed | ~40 | Yes | Free | Curated, smaller audience, quality backlink. |
| Microlaunch | ~30 | Yes | Free | Month-long visibility vs one-day spike. |
| OpenHunts | ~25 | Yes | Free | Indie-maker friendly, reports 14%+ conversion rates. |
| DevHunt | ~35 | Yes | Free | Dev-focused. Best fit for developer tools and technical products. |
| PeerPush | ~25 | Yes | Free | Similar to Fazier. Low competition. |
| LaunchVault | ~20 | Yes | Free | Anti-VC positioning. Good for bootstrapped narrative. |
| What Launched Today | ~20 | Yes | Free | Guaranteed visibility on launch day regardless of votes. |
| Firsto | ~25 | Yes | Free tier | Sustained discovery, not one-day spike. |
| GetByte | ~20 | Yes | Free | Lightweight listing + promotional support. |
| Best of Web | ~30 | Yes | Free | Easy fast submission, free dofollow. |
| Tiny Launch | ~20 | Yes | Free | Lightweight, fast approval. |
| PitchWall | ~25 | Yes | Free | Indie-hacker friendly. |
Tier 2 — Startup / SaaS / Software Directories
Submit during launch week and continue rolling submissions thereafter.
| Directory | DR | Dofollow | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AlternativeTo | 79 | Nofollow | Free | Massive SEO value despite nofollow. Submit as alternative to your top 4 competitors. |
| SaaSHub | 77 | Yes | Free | Ranks well for "[tool] alternatives" queries. High intent. |
| G2 | 92 | Yes | Free listing | 10 reviews required for Grid appearance. Paid badges start at $2,999/yr. |
| Capterra | 93 | Yes | Free listing | Owned by G2 (acquired Feb 2026). Reviews drive everything. |
| GetApp | 78 | Yes | Free | Auto-syncs from Capterra in some cases. Owned by G2. |
| SourceForge | 92 | Yes | Free | Legacy but still high DR. Trivial to list. |
| Slashdot | ~88 | Yes | Free | Legacy but high DR. Company profile submission. |
| Startup Stash | ~50 | Yes | Free | Curated, organized by startup need. |
| SideProjectors | ~35 | Yes | Free | Discovery + marketplace. Community-driven. |
| F6S | 65 | Yes | Free | Startup platform used by accelerators. |
| Stackshare | ~60 | Yes | Free | Dev-centric. Show your tech stack. |
| Resource.fyi | ~40 | Yes | Free | Curated for designers/devs/marketers. |
| Shipybara | ~30 | Yes | Free | Shows which companies use your tool. |
| TrustRadius | 72 | Yes | Free | Smaller but respected B2B review platform. |
| Crozdesk | ~55 | Yes | Free | Feeds into Gartner ecosystem. |
Tier 3 — AI Tool Directories
Relevant only for AI-native products. Submit during weeks 1–3.
Tier 3A — Flagship AI directories
| Directory | DR | Monthly Traffic | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| There's An AI For That (TAAFT) | 76 | 2M+ | Largest AI directory. Task-based search. Worth the effort to list well. |
| Futurepedia | 70 | 1M+ | 5,000+ tools, 54 categories. Matt Wolfe YouTube (2M+ subs) drives traffic. |
| Toolify.ai | 71 | 500K+ | 26K+ tools, 450+ categories. Tracks traffic trends. |
| Future Tools (futuretools.io) | 69 | 400K+ | Curated by Matt Wolfe. Smaller but influential. |
| AI Tools Neilpatel | 91 | n/a | Highest DR free AI directory. |
| Good AI Tools | 66 | n/a | Curated, quality over quantity. |
| NewTools.site | 51 | n/a | Dofollow backlink for every approved submission. |
Tier 3B — Mid-tier AI directories
| Directory | Est. DR | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| aitools.inc | ~66 | "10x your output" positioning. |
| AIStage | ~66 | Includes open source + news. |
| AItrendytools | ~69 | Comprehensive listing. |
| Grabon AI Directory | ~70 | High DR, broad audience. |
| TopAI.tools | ~60 | Task-based search similar to TAAFT. |
| Supertools | ~61 | Clean interface, good categorization. |
| AI Tools Directory (aitoolsdirectory.com) | ~55 | Curated; featured placement available. |
| AI Tools Love | ~25 | Comparison-focused. |
| AIChief | ~35 | Business-focused. |
| LogicBalls | ~40 | 3,500+ verified tools. |
| SaasAITools | ~30 | SaaS + AI crossover. |
| PoweredByAI | ~35 | Growing directory with newsletter reach. |
| TheAISurf | ~30 | Newer, actively promoting submissions. |
| Aixyz | ~30 | 1,500+ tools, smart filters. |
| AI Pedia Hub | ~40 | "Largest directory, updated daily." |
| Dofollow.Tools | ~30 | Explicitly free dofollow backlinks. |
| AIBacklinkList | ~25 | Aggregated list of 2500+ AI backlink opportunities. |
| AI Scout | ~25 | Emerging, less competition. |
| AiMatchPro | ~20 | Use-case search. |
Tier 4 — AI Agent & MCP Server Registries
Relevant only if the product exposes agent capabilities or MCP servers. These are a real moat for AI-native tools — traditional SaaS products cannot list here.
| Directory | Category | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| AI Agents List (aiagentslist.com) | Agents | Hosts the 593+ MCP server directory. |
| Glama.ai MCP servers | MCP | 20K+ security-graded MCP servers. A/B/C/F grades matter — optimize for a good grade. |
| APITracker MCP directory | MCP | 110+ servers, 90 official integrations. |
| Linux Foundation MCP Registry | MCP | Canonical registry (PR-based submission, low volume but high signal). Anthropic donated MCP to LF in Dec 2025. |
| AI Agent Store | Agents | Compare agents, platforms, frameworks. |
| AI Agents Base | Agents | All-in-one directory. |
| AI Agents Directory | Agents | Specialized, updated daily. |
| AI Agents Verse | Agents | Curated directory. |
| AgentHunter | Agents | "Discover the best AI agents." |
| Add AI Directory | Agents | Catalogs agents + tools. |
| AI Agents Live | Agents | Discovery + sharing. |
| AI Agents Marketplace | Agents | Organized by 300+ human role equivalents. |
Tier 5 — No-Code Directories
Relevant for no-code platforms and builder tools.
| Directory | Est. DR | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| NoCodeFinder | ~45 | Accepts submissions. |
| No Code MBA Tools Directory | ~55 | Categorized by project type. |
| We Are No Code Tools Repository | ~40 | Curated. |
| NoCodeList | ~30 | — |
| NoCodeDevs | ~25 | — |
| NoCode.Tech | ~35 | — |
Tier 6 — "Best of" Listicles (Editorial Outreach)
Not directories per se — these are blog posts on high-DR domains that you get included in via cold outreach. Often more valuable than directories because they combine a dofollow backlink with editorial trust + in-market buyer traffic + AI citation weight.
Search patterns to find opportunities:
"best [category] tools" 2026"best [competitor] alternative""top AI [category]""[category] tools review"
Outreach template (short):
Hey [name], saw your post on [best X tools]. We launched [product] recently — thought it might be worth a mention. Happy to give you a free account + credits for readers. Here's a 60s demo: [link]. No worries if not a fit.
Target: 10 inclusions in 30 days. Each = dofollow backlink from DR 40–70 + referral traffic + AI citation fuel.
Tier 7 — Integration Marketplaces
Only relevant once the product has integrations. These are the highest-DR backlinks available — worth engineering effort just to land them.
| Directory | DR | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Zapier App Directory | 91 | Requires working Zapier integration. |
| HubSpot App Marketplace | 93 | Requires HubSpot app. |
| Slack App Directory | 89 | Requires Slack integration. |
| Airtable Marketplace | 82 | Requires Airtable integration. |
| Notion Integrations Gallery | 88 | Requires Notion integration. |
| Make (Integromat) | ~70 | Requires Make module. |
| Pipedream | ~70 | Requires Pipedream action. |
Verification
After any submission goes live, verify the backlink exists and is dofollow. You can:
- Manual: Open the listing, right-click your product link, "Inspect" → check for
rel="nofollow"orrel="ugc". If absent, the link is dofollow. - curl:
curl -sIL https://directory.com/your-listing | grep -i link - SEO tools: Ahrefs Site Explorer → Backlinks → filter by this directory's domain.
Re-verify quarterly. Directories sometimes change all outbound links to nofollow without warning — if DR stops moving, check whether your biggest inbound links have silently flipped.