Launching a startup used to mean one big day on Product Hunt. In 2026 that is one option among many, and for a lot of founders it is not the best first one. Product Hunt only puts the launches its team features on the homepage, Hacker News is unforgiving to anything that sounds like marketing, and some directories have queues that run for weeks or months.
This guide compares the places worth your time, as of October 2026: what each costs, how long you wait, who you reach and what you get afterwards. We list what each platform is best at so you can pick the right mix for your product.
Tinkerfeed Launchpad is our product. We've listed what each platform is best at so you can choose.
How we compared them
We looked at five things that matter to a founder on launch week:
- Cost: is there a real free option, and what does paying buy?
- Wait time: how long between submitting and going live?
- Guaranteed visibility: does every launch get seen, or only the ones a team selects?
- Audience: who is actually reading?
- What lasts: do you keep a product page after launch day?
1. Tinkerfeed Launchpad
Best for: founders who want a free launch with a known date, a permanent product page and no launch-day leaderboard fight.
Tinkerfeed Launchpad is a daily launch board inside Tinkerfeed, a publishing platform for people who build and write about software. New launches go live every day at 00:01 Pacific time and stay in a permanent catalog afterwards, organised by category.
- Free launch: upvote 3 live products and leave one helpful comment, then automated checks run and you get a launch date at least 7 days out. No wait of weeks or months.
- Every approved launch appears on the board on its day. There is no editorial "featured or not" gate for the free plan.
- Permanent product page with your logo, screenshots, description, comments and related products.
- Paid plans are coming soon: Priority ($9) to skip the community step and choose your date, Featured ($25) for 7 days of featured placement, and Spotlight ($49) for the Tinkerfeed homepage widget and weekly digest. One-time payments, shown in rupees for visitors in India. Paid placements are always labelled and never buy upvotes or rank.
- Honest limits: Tinkerfeed Launchpad is newer and smaller than Product Hunt, and listing links are nofollow, so it is a source of visitors and feedback rather than search ranking power.
Launch your product on Tinkerfeed · See pricing
2. Product Hunt
Best for: products with an existing audience you can bring on launch day.
Product Hunt is still the largest launch platform. As of October 2026 launching is free, launches go live at 12:01 am Pacific, and the same product or domain can launch roughly once every six months unless the team approves a relaunch for a major update. The catch: the Product Hunt team decides which launches are featured, and only featured launches show on the homepage by default. The rest sit in a "see all" feed. Product Hunt's rules also forbid asking people directly for upvotes.
- Cost: free.
- Wait: you pick your date.
- Visibility: only featured launches reach the homepage.
- What lasts: a permanent product page with reviews.
3. Hacker News (Show HN)
Best for: developer tools, open-source projects and technically interesting products.
A "Show HN" post is free and can send a large burst of very technical visitors if it reaches the front page. It works best for things people can try immediately, with a plain, factual title and a founder ready to answer hard questions in the comments. Marketing language and sign-up walls tend to do badly.
- Cost: free.
- Visibility: depends entirely on community votes in the first hours.
- What lasts: the discussion thread, which often ranks in search for your product name.
4. Peerlist Launchpad
Best for: products for developers, designers and other tech builders.
Peerlist runs a weekly launch cycle: the launch window opens on Monday and projects collect votes through the week. You need a verified Peerlist profile to launch, and launching is free. Top projects are featured in Peerlist's weekly emails and social channels.
- Cost: free.
- Wait: the next Monday.
- Visibility: all launches appear for the week; ranking comes from votes.
5. Uneed
Best for: founders happy to wait for a guaranteed homepage day, or pay to launch sooner.
Uneed guarantees every accepted product a day on its homepage, but it launches a limited number of products per day, so the free queue can mean waiting a long time. A paid option lets you skip the waiting line and choose an earlier date; Uneed says this does not change ranking or votes.
- Cost: free queue, or paid to skip it.
- Wait: can be months on the free queue.
6. BetaList
Best for: early-stage startups looking for early adopters before or just after launch.
BetaList features early-stage startups to an audience of people who like trying new products. Free submissions go into a review queue that founders commonly report takes weeks; a paid priority option shortens it. Check the current price on BetaList before paying, as reported prices vary.
- Cost: free queue, or paid priority.
- Wait: typically weeks on the free queue.
7. Indie Hackers and Reddit
Best for: sharing the story behind your product and getting candid feedback.
Neither is a launch board, but a genuine post about what you built, why, and what you learned often does better than a launch listing. Each subreddit has its own self-promotion rules, so read them first. Lead with the story and the lesson, not the link.
Which mix should you choose?
- No audience yet: start with Tinkerfeed Launchpad for a guaranteed date and permanent page, add Peerlist if you build for developers or designers, and write an honest Indie Hackers post.
- Technical product: add Show HN, timed for when you can answer comments for several hours.
- Existing audience: plan a Product Hunt launch and bring your community on the day.
- Pre-launch with a waitlist: BetaList is built for this stage.
Space launches a week or two apart so you can show up properly for each one.
Questions
What is the best place to launch a startup?
There is no single best place for every product. Tinkerfeed Launchpad is the best fit if you want a free launch with a guaranteed date and a permanent product page. Product Hunt has the biggest audience but only featured launches reach its homepage. Hacker News suits technical products. Most founders get the best result by launching on several platforms in the same few weeks.
Is launching a startup on these platforms free?
Tinkerfeed Launchpad, Product Hunt, Hacker News, Peerlist and Indie Hackers are free to use. Uneed and BetaList have free queues plus a paid option to launch sooner. Prices change, so check each platform before you pay.
Should I launch on several platforms at once?
Yes, but spread them over a few weeks. Each launch needs you present to answer comments, and staggering them gives you several moments of attention instead of one.
Do launch platforms give you a backlink?
Some do, many don't. Product Hunt, Peerlist and Tinkerfeed Launchpad mark listing links as nofollow, so they send visitors rather than search ranking value. Treat launch platforms as a source of users and feedback, not as an SEO tactic.