I wanted a clean list of places to launch a small SaaS, so I merged 11 popular "launch directories" lists from GitHub (516 unique domains) and checked every one on 14 October 2026. Then I read the submit pages of about 250 of them by hand, starting with the most-listed and most-visited.
Short version: the lists are older than they look, and "free" usually has a catch.
What the check found
Out of 516 domains:
- 436 respond. 46 of those sit behind bot walls, so they are probably fine in a normal browser.
- 30 are dead: the domain no longer resolves, is parked or for sale, or now shows something else entirely. One former directory is now a slot-gambling shop, one shows a crypto-wallet download page, and another, still in two lists, is an Indonesian "link alternatif" page.
- 19 are unreachable or erroring (timeouts, TLS errors, Cloudflare 52x).
- 17 redirect to a different site. Some are renames (betapage.co now lands on pitchwall.co, angel.co on wellfound.com), some are not.
A lot of the dead ones are still in several lists at once. theresanai.com, demos.co and launched.io are each in three lists and none of them resolves.
DNS failures were re-checked through Cloudflare DNS-over-HTTPS before I called anything dead, because my first pass used a flaky local resolver and wrongly marked about 120 live sites as dead. If you script this yourself, use a second resolver.
What "free" means
For 173 reviewed directories where the submit page gave a clear answer:
- 113 have a free listing with no strings I could find.
- 18 are free only if you add their badge or link to your site. Examples from the pages: "A backlink to our site is required (on your homepage or footer)", "Free submissions use backlink verification", "Badge must stay on your site permanently".
- 13 are free only after a queue: "Minimum 30-day waiting period", "Enter the queue (30-90 day listing time)", "Free Launch has 70 weekly slots", and my favourite, "Free slots are fully booked into 2027".
- 29 are paid only, from $3 to $249 (mostly one-time, a few monthly).
The badge ones add up. If you accept every badge offer you end up with a footer full of other people's logos, so it is worth deciding once whether you will do that before you start.
How I'd use this
- Start with directories that are live, take a plain free listing, need no account, and have real traffic. I used the Tranco top-1M list as a popularity signal; most of these directories are not in it at all, which tells you something too.
- Then do the ones that need an account but match your category (AI tools, dev tools, SaaS, open source, Mac apps all have their own).
- Decide on badges once.
- Submit to queue directories on day one and forget about them.
- Pay only where the audience matches your buyers. Most paid tiers sell a dofollow link and a faster review, not customers.
- Delete the dead ones from whatever list you are using.
The data
There is also a free checker on the page: paste your own list of directory URLs and it tells you which ones are dead or moved.
The full list of 66 dead, down and moved directories, and a sample of 12 popular ones with a plain free listing, are free here: https://submitcheck.appin60.com
Disclosure: I built that page. The complete sheet (all 516 rows with submit URL, free / badge / queue / paid, lowest price seen, account needed, captcha on the form, popularity rank and check date) is $12 there. The method and the source lists (CC0, MIT and CC BY data) are on the page.
If you maintain one of these lists and want the dead entries for it, comment here and I'll send them.
Top comments (0)