Every launch guide we read before shipping said the same thing: submit to directories. None of them said which ones would take our kind of product, what the form would ask for, or what happens after you press submit.
So we kept count. Over our last few launches we made 435 directory and launch platform submissions ourselves, and in September 2026 we went back and tallied what they actually asked of us. A few numbers changed how we plan a launch.
57% asked for a badge
More than half of the 435 directories wanted their badge or a link back on our site before they would list us, or before their link to us became a followed one.
That turns a footer into infrastructure. If your site has nowhere to put a row of badges, you find out on the first submission and end up hacking one in under time pressure. Leaving room for them before launch day is a five minute job.
It is also a standing obligation. Several directories re-check the badge and quietly drop the listing, or the followed link, when it disappears. A badge you add for one submission and delete a month later costs you the thing you submitted for.
75% needed an account
Three out of four submissions needed an account on the directory before the form would open. Some offer Google or GitHub, some want an email and password, a few only take one social provider.
Two things follow from that. First, pick the email you submit under before you start, per product, and make sure somebody reads it: that is where every confirmation link lands. Second, budget time. A submission that looks like a two minute form is often a sign up, an email confirmation, an onboarding screen and then the form.
106 of 150 live listings link with dofollow
Of the listings that went live, 106 of 150 link to us with a followed link. That is better than the reputation directories have, but it is not the number on their marketing pages either, and it moves: some links only become followed after a badge check, and some free lanes are nofollow while the paid lane is not.
If links are the reason you are submitting, check the rel attribute on the live listing rather than trusting the pitch. If discovery is the reason, a nofollow listing that real people browse can be worth more than a followed one nobody visits.
Most checklists are too long for your launch
The thing that annoyed us most was not the directories. It was the checklists. A browser extension maker reads App Store advice. A developer tool gets told to make a demo video. The more thorough a list tries to be, the less of it applies to you, and there is no way to tell which items are yours.
So we built the list we wanted: Product Launch Checklist. 47 core items across eight phases, from "before you launch" to the first month after, plus 19 that only appear for the launch type you pick. Every item says why it matters, and many say when you can skip it. Pick what you are launching (SaaS, mobile app, AI tool, browser extension, open source, developer tool) and the list gets shorter, not longer. No account, no email, no ads; your ticks stay in your browser.
It is also readable by AI assistants: the whole checklist is available as Markdown, and there is a no-auth MCP server at https://productlaunchchecklist.com/mcp with get_checklist, get_item and list_launch_types, so an assistant can walk you through your own launch one item at a time.
If you have launched something recently, I would like to know which step you nearly forgot.
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