The Best SaaS Directories to Submit Your Startup

G2 is the review platform B2B buyers open before they book a demo, so a claimed profile here works more like a sales asset than a backlink. The link is dofollow off a DR 91 domain, the profile is free to claim, and the paid tiers buy category placement and lead data rather than the link itself. Skip the spend if you are pre-revenue: reviews are gated behind real customers, and an empty profile does little for you.

Best for

B2B SaaS where buyers read reviews before a demo

Cost

Free to claim; paid tiers for placement and lead data

Skip if

You are pre-revenue with no customers to review you

Capterra, part of the Gartner network, ranks for thousands of 'best [category] software' searches, which is exactly the intent you want to sit in front of. Claiming the listing is free and dofollow off a DR 91 domain, while the paid side is pay-per-click placement inside category pages. It shares its review pool with GetApp and Software Advice, so one push covers several properties. It does little for consumer apps or developer-only tools whose buyers never visit software review sites.

Best for

B2B software in an established category

Cost

Free listing; pay-per-click for category placement

Skip if

Your buyers are consumers or solo developers

SourceForge is the highest-DR site on this list and still carries weight for downloadable and open-source software. The listing is free with a dofollow link, and the domain ranks well for comparison and alternative queries. Its audience skews toward IT and ops, so a pure marketing SaaS will get the link but little relevant traffic. Worth it mainly for the authority and the niche fit if you ship something people install.

Best for

Open-source, downloadable, or infrastructure tools

Cost

Free listing; paid promotion optional

Skip if

You sell a no-download, marketing-only SaaS

Product Hunt is a launch-day event, not a backlink play. The links are nofollow, so do not submit it for SEO; submit it for the traffic spike and the second-order coverage a strong launch can attract. Timing and a prepared audience matter more than the listing itself. If you have nobody to mobilise on launch day, a quiet post sinks, and you are better off waiting until you can rally support.

Best for

A coordinated launch day with an audience ready

Cost

Free

Skip if

You have nobody lined up to upvote and comment

AlternativeTo captures people actively shopping for a replacement for a competitor, which is high-intent traffic even though the outbound link is nofollow. Getting listed as an alternative to a well-known tool can send a steady trickle of qualified visitors for years. Treat it as a discovery channel, not a DR builder. If no popular incumbent maps to what you do, the listing will mostly sit unseen.

Best for

Capturing 'alternative to [competitor]' demand

Cost

Free

Skip if

No well-known incumbent maps to what you do

SaaSHub is one of the better free dofollow listings here, a DR 79 domain with a real audience that ranks for alternative and comparison queries. It is an evergreen submission rather than a launch moment, so you add it once and it keeps working. The free tier gives the dofollow link, and paid placement is optional and rarely needed early on. There are few good reasons to skip this one if you sell SaaS.

Best for

An evergreen dofollow link with relevant traffic

Cost

Free dofollow; paid placement optional

Skip if

Rarely worth skipping for a SaaS product

Indie Hackers is a community first and a directory second, so the value is the audience of founders plus a dofollow link from a DR 81 domain that comes with a real profile. Drive-by listings get ignored here; people who post milestones and join discussions get traffic and the occasional customer. If you will not show up and take part, the link alone is a weak reason to bother.

Best for

Bootstrapped founders who will actually engage

Cost

Free

Skip if

You want a listing you never have to touch

BetaList is aimed at pre-launch and early-stage products looking for first users and feedback. The link is dofollow from a DR 75 domain, and the free queue works, though it can be slow; paid options jump the line. It fits best before or right around launch, when new and early is the actual hook. A mature product with traction will look out of place and get less from it.

Best for

Pre-launch and early products seeking first users

Cost

Free slow queue, or paid to skip ahead

Skip if

Your product is established with real traction

StartupFA.me is one of the highest-DR dedicated startup directories that still gives a dofollow link, which is why the paid submission is defensible for a lot of founders. You are paying for a permanent link off a DR 83 domain, not a stream of traffic, so treat it as a link-building line item. At that authority a one-time fee usually pays for itself over time. Skip it while you still have free DR 70+ dofollow listings sitting unclaimed.

Best for

A permanent high-DR dofollow link

Cost

Paid submission

Skip if

You still have free DR 70+ dofollow listings unclaimed

Fazier works as both a launch platform and an evergreen DR 82 dofollow listing, so it earns a place on either count. The free tier gets you the link, while paid placement buys visibility around launch. It has become a common stop for indie launches, so the audience is real but also crowded; do not expect Product Hunt numbers. A low-risk free submission for almost any SaaS.

Best for

A dofollow link plus optional launch visibility

Cost

Free dofollow; paid for launch placement

Skip if

You need launch-day scale, not a backlink

MicroLaunch is a free dofollow listing at DR 58, which makes it one of the easier mid-tier links to bank at no cost. It runs daily and weekly product rankings, so an active push can win a little extra exposure. The traffic is modest, so set expectations: this is a clean link and a small visibility bump, not a growth channel. Reasonable to include in any free-first batch.

Best for

A free mid-DR dofollow link

Cost

Free

Skip if

You only have time for the very top sites

OpenAlternative lists open-source alternatives to popular paid software, so it is a precise fit if your product is open source and a poor one if it is not. The dofollow link comes free off a DR 51 domain, and the niche focus means the few visitors it sends are well targeted. For a closed-source SaaS there is no real angle here. For an open-source tool it is one of the more relevant listings you can get.

Best for

Open-source alternatives to known paid tools

Cost

Free

Skip if

Your product is closed-source

The 'submit to 500 sites' approach feels productive and mostly produces nofollow links on pages nobody visits. Ten relevant DR 50+ dofollow listings will outperform two hundred random ones.

Plenty of directories advertise dofollow, then apply nofollow on render or reserve dofollow for paid tiers. Inspect a real listing before you submit or pay.

Dozens of free dofollow directories sit on this page. Spending money while those go unclaimed is backwards. Finish the free ones, then pay only where the DR or audience clearly earns it.

Identical copy across every listing reads as spam to moderators and visitors alike. A tagline and description tuned to each audience get approved more often and convert better.

A DR 90 link from a directory whose audience never buys your kind of product is mostly a vanity link. Niche fit often beats a couple of extra DR points when you care about real customers.

Product Hunt and Hacker News are nofollow. Submitting them for SEO while skipping the launch-day prep wastes your one shot at their traffic. Use them for reach, not link equity.