The latest articles on DEV Community by Eric (@drdruide). https://dev.to/drdruide https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3218405%2Fc5ab0345-c041-4ff0-9711-e5fb6bafee0c.png https://dev.to/drdruide en Eric Wed, 28 May 2025 14:01:08 +0000 https://dev.to/drdruide/open-launch-31p6 https://dev.to/drdruide/open-launch-31p6 <h2> How I Built an Open Source Alternative to Product Hunt! </h2> <p>I found myself with a month’s free time before starting my final year internship, and instead of watching series, I decided to dive into my first open source project.<br> It didn’t take me long to come up with the idea, and I thought it would be interesting to create a complete alternative to Product Hunt.<br> I’d never really seen one, so I went for it.</p> <h2> Introducing Open-Launch </h2> <p>That’s how Open-Launch was born — the first complete open source alternative to Product Hunt.<br> The functionalities are basic and already seen, but I tried to do it right.<br> I used Next.js, TailwindCSS, Shadcn, Drizzle, Cloudflare and hosted the whole thing on a VPS thanks to Coolify.</p> <h2> Where’s the Project Today </h2> <p>Open-Launch is now functional and available on GitHub under the MIT license. The platform already allows submitting projects, voting, commenting, and offering premium launches.<br> At the time of writing, there are 700+ registered users and 400+ projects launched/scheduled.</p> <h2> What’s Next? </h2> <p>I’m actively working to increase open-launch’s domain rating. This kind of service works much better if creators can get quality backlinks when launching their product.<br> I think this is a big next step that will take some time.<br> But the feedback is great, and we’re at 95 stars on github.</p> <h2> Current Success and Money </h2> <p>I offer a limited amount of free launches per day, and only 9 days after launching the platform, the queue for a free launch has exceeded 1 month!<br> About revenues, I made around $300 in 3 weeks :)</p> <h2> Your turn </h2> <p>If you’re looking to launch your product, don’t hesitate to use Open-Launch, and if you’re a developer, your contributions are welcome!</p> <p><a href="https://open-launch.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Open-Launch</a></p> showdev opensource