Facts checked on Product Hunt's own site,
The Product Hunt alternative for a listing that outlives launch day
A Product Hunt launch is one day, decided by votes and by an editor's choice of what reaches the homepage. outclimbed is the other shape: a place on a public leaderboard that is still there next month, with the price of every position published.
Disclosure: outclimbed is ours.
- Price
- Free to launchFrom $10, paid once. Always on Today is optional at $30 a month
- How long you are seen
- One launch day, midnight to midnight Pacific. The product page stays afterPaid: for good. Free: a month, then kept by the badge or any payment
- Link to your site
- Straight to your site with ?ref=producthunt. Product Hunt does not say whether it is followedStraight to your site, nofollow, or dofollow with a one-time upgrade
The short version
Product Hunt is free and can bring a large crowd for one day, if you have people to rally and the team features you. outclimbed costs money, brings far fewer people on any one day, and keeps your product on the wall for good. They answer different needs, and many products want both.
The platform
What Product Hunt is
Product Hunt is a daily leaderboard of new tech products. A launch goes live at 12:01 AM Pacific and runs until midnight, and the community upvotes and comments through the day. Rank is by points rather than raw votes: Product Hunt weighs engagement and how authentic the votes look, and says outright that one upvote does not always equal one point.
Anyone with a personal account can post a product, their own included, once the account is a week old; company accounts cannot post, vote or comment. A launch is scheduled for a day from tomorrow to 30 days ahead. The homepage is curated: the team reviews every launch and features the ones that make it, and a launch that is not featured stays live but off the homepage.
Product of the Day, Week and Month are awarded from the rankings. Weekdays bring more traffic and more competition; weekends are quieter.
What it costs
Product Hunt pricing
Launching is free, and there is no paid way to be featured or to rank higher. Advertising is sold separately and cannot run on your own launch day.
Launch
Free
A launch day on a date you schedule, up to 30 days ahead
Self-serve ads
$5,000 to $10,000 budget
Display campaigns, not tied to a launch
Managed ads
From $10,000
Campaigns run with Product Hunt's team
The reasons
Why founders look for a Product Hunt alternative
- A launch day rewards whoever brings the most people on the day. Without a following to mobilise, a launch tends to sink by mid-morning.
- Featuring is an editorial decision, and not every launch reaches the homepage, which is where the traffic is.
- It is one shot. The same product, or another on the same domain, can only post again after at least two months and a significant update.
- You may not ask people directly to upvote, so the rules limit the one lever a small team has.
- The audience is makers, developers and designers. A product for anyone else is shown to the wrong room.
- Nothing about the day lasts: the next morning the board starts again, and the launch becomes an archive page.
Side by side
Product Hunt vs outclimbed
| Compared | outclimbed | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A daily launch board, voted on by its community | A permanent public leaderboard of products. No launch day |
| How long you are seen | One launch day, midnight to midnight Pacific. The product page stays after | Paid: for good. Free: a month, then kept by the badge or any payment |
| What decides the order | Community points from upvotes, weighted. The homepage is hand-picked | Points: $1 buys one, and each new visitor your share link sends earns one for 30 days |
| Price | Free to launch | From $10, paid once. Always on Today is optional at $30 a month |
| Free option | Yes, launching is free | Yes, for a month, through a daily queue |
| Getting on | Schedule a day up to 30 days ahead. The homepage is not guaranteed | Paid: on the wall when the payment clears. Free: a daily queue. No review |
| Link to your site | Straight to your site with ?ref=producthunt. Product Hunt does not say whether it is followed | Straight to your site, nofollow, or dofollow with a one-time upgrade |
The honest answer
Which one to choose
Choose Product Hunt if
- You have an audience to bring on the day: a newsletter, a following, a community.
- Your product is for makers, developers or designers.
- You want comments and feedback from people who try new tools for fun.
- You have no budget at all and are ready to spend the day on it.
Choose outclimbed if
- You want a listing that is still there next month, not one day of attention.
- You would rather pay a known price than hope to be featured.
- You have no launch-day crowd, but you can share a link over weeks.
- You already launched on Product Hunt and want somewhere that keeps going.
Or use both. They do not compete for the same day. Launch on Product Hunt when you have an audience ready, and put the product on outclimbed before or after, so there is something that stays when the launch page drops into the archive. Sharing your outclimbed link during launch week also turns the same attention into points.
Sites like it
Other Product Hunt alternatives
The sites like Product Hunt that founders compare most, each with its own page here. Which fits depends on who your product is for and whether you want a launch day or a place that stays.
BetaListLaunch platformsAn editor-picked feed of early-stage startups. Paid only, featured for one day, around twenty a day.
UneedLaunch platformsA daily launch board ranked by votes. Free with a waiting line of a month or more, or $14.99 to $39.99 to go sooner.
TinyLaunchLaunch platformsA weekly launch board for indie makers, ranked by upvotes. Free with a weeks-long queue, or $39 for next Monday.
MicrolaunchLaunch platformsLaunches run as 30-day campaigns on weekly and monthly boards. Paid plans from $49 list, often discounted.
There's An AI For ThatAI tool directoriesThe largest AI tools directory. AI only, staff-reviewed, from $49 to list, newest tools placed highest.
FuturepediaAI tool directoriesAn editor-curated AI tools directory, now part of HubSpot. No public submission page when we checked.
SaaSHubSoftware directoriesA software marketplace of alternatives pages. Free to list after approval; featured placement $99 a month.
- Every startup directoryThe full list of launch platforms and directories, with each one's link type and Domain Rating.
The other shape
How a place on outclimbed works
List a website or an X profile: free for a month, or from $10 to stay for good.
A paid entry starts with 10 points, and every dollar above the minimum is one more. Bought points never expire, and the price of every rank is public.
Every listing gets a share link. Each new person it brings to the wall is worth a point for 30 days, so rank can be earned as well as bought.
Keeping the outclimbed badge on your site adds 30 points for as long as it stays.
The rules have every number, pricing shows what each rank costs today, and the FAQ answers the rest.
Asked often
Product Hunt alternative questions
- What is the best Product Hunt alternative?
- It depends on what you wanted from Product Hunt. For another launch day, Uneed runs a daily voted board with a free lane. For early adopters before launch, BetaList. For a place that does not end at midnight, a leaderboard like outclimbed, where a listing starts at a published price and stays.
- Is Product Hunt free?
- Yes. Launching on Product Hunt costs nothing, and there is no paid way to be featured. What it costs is the work of the day: preparing the launch and bringing people to it, without asking them directly for upvotes, which its rules forbid.
- Can I launch on Product Hunt again?
- Only after a significant update, and at least two months after the last post of the same product or another product on the same domain. A new design or a price change does not count as significant.
- What happens if my Product Hunt launch is not featured?
- It stays live and can still be found, but it is not on the homepage leaderboard, where most of the day's traffic is. Product Hunt says a product that was not featured can be resubmitted after six months.
- How is outclimbed different from Product Hunt?
- Product Hunt ranks a single day by votes and is free; outclimbed ranks by points, bought at $1 each or earned through a share link, and the place does not end. A paid listing starts at $10, once.
Put your product where it stays.
Every position on outclimbed has a public price, and a share link moves you up without spending again. No launch day, no votes, no review.