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Compare launch platforms

SaaSCity vs Nick Launches

Two free-to-start launch platforms for indie SaaS. Which one gives you the better backlink, the better audience, and the better use of $100 - checked, dated, and honest about the rows we lose.

SaaSCity logo

SaaSCity

The isometric SaaS directory - your listing is a building on a live city map

Nick Launches logo

Nick Launches

Weekly launch directory for indie builders - launch, get upvotes, get a backlink

The short answer

Nick Launches has the stronger domain and SaaSCity has the bigger audience. Nick Launches sits at DR 72 against SaaSCity's DR 56 (Ahrefs, 2026-08-21), so its dofollow link is worth more on paper. SaaSCity pulls 271,969 unique visitors in a trailing 30 days where Nick Launches publishes no traffic figure at all, and its $99.99 Premium tier buys a launch post we research and write for you rather than promotion slots. Both are free to start with a badge, neither demands exclusivity, and the honest recommendation is to list on both in the same week.

Disclosure: Nick Launches buys a permanent sponsor slot on SaaSCity, and SaaSCity appears in the “as featured on” row of nicklaunches.com. Neither paid for this page or saw it before it went live.

Side by side

3 rows to SaaSCity, 6 to Nick Launches, 7 too close to call. Verified 2026-08-21.

SaaSCity and Nick Launches compared across 16 metrics
MetricSaaSCityNick Launches
Domain Rating (Ahrefs)a
56
72
Unique visitors, last 30 daysb
271,969
Not published
Live listingsc
1,364 active
1,000+ launched to date
Free listing
Yes
Yes
Free tier linkc
Dofollow, badge required
Dofollow, badge required
Free tier wait
Queued: 15 slots per Monday
Community waiting period
Cheapest paid tierd
$19.99 Quick Pass
$19 Starter
Top paid tierd
$99.99 Premium
$199 Ultimate
Paid listing goes live
Within 24 hours, reviewed by a human
Instant publish, admin review after
Written launch post included
Yes, on Premium - we write it, 3 dofollow links, within 3 days
No
Newsletter mentiond
No newsletter
Yes, on paid tiers
Social promotion includedd
No
Yes, X post on upper tiers
Submit from an AI agent
Copy-paste prompt for your agent, no MCP server
MCP server plus REST API
Format
Isometric city map - your listing is a building with its own page
Weekly leaderboard with upvotes
Categories
14
40+
Free tools for founders
DR checker, DR badge, directory superlist
Launch-readiness audit, launch directory finder
  1. aBoth Domain Ratings pulled from the Ahrefs free Domain Rating API on 2026-08-21. DR moves; treat it as a snapshot, not a constant.
  2. bSaaSCity figure is Cloudflare unique visitors across the whole site over the trailing 30 days, refreshed at build time. It is raw edge traffic, not filtered sessions, so it reads higher than an analytics-script number would. Nick Launches does not publish a traffic figure; their homepage says "thousands of builders".
  3. cSaaSCity listing count is a direct count of active listings in our database on 2026-08-21. The Nick Launches figure and their badge-for-dofollow rule come from their own site and public reporting, not from data we can query.
  4. dNick Launches paid tiers sit behind a sign-in, so their prices here come from public reporting (Starter $19, Pro $39, Premium $99, Ultimate $199) rather than a first-party page we can read. Check their checkout before you buy.

Full overview

SaaSCity logo

SaaSCity

SaaSCity is a SaaS directory drawn as an isometric city: every approved listing is a building you place on a shared map, with its own indexable page, a launch feed and community votes. 1,364 listings are live. Free listings launch on a booked Monday (15 slots a week) and earn a dofollow link once the badge verifies; $19.99 skips the queue entirely, and $99.99 adds a launch post our editor researches and writes for you.

Nick Launches logo

Nick Launches

Nick Launches is a weekly launch directory for indie and AI builders, run by a solo founder alongside a blog, a directory finder and a launch-readiness audit. Products launch into a numbered weekly leaderboard - week 34 of 2026 carried 106 launches - and paid tiers buy instant publishing plus featured homepage time, a newsletter mention and social promotion. Its MCP server lets a coding agent draft your listing, though a human still has to publish it.

Which one should you pick?

Pick SaaSCity if

  • You want a listing that keeps getting found after launch week, not a row that scrolls off a leaderboard.
  • You would rather have an article written about your product than a promotion slot.
  • You want the biggest number of eyes on the listing page itself.
  • You want a human to review your listing before it is public, not after.

Pick Nick Launches if

  • Link authority is the only thing you are buying - DR 72 beats DR 56, full stop.
  • You want a newsletter mention and an X post bundled into the price.
  • You want your coding agent to draft the submission over MCP instead of filling a form.
  • You want to be live the minute you pay, with review happening afterwards.

Both have a free tier and neither asks for exclusivity, so the real answer for most founders is both - two dofollow links, two audiences, one badge on your site.

Launch on SaaSCity

Put your product on the map

Free with our badge, $19.99 to skip the queue, $99.99 for the launch post.

  • A building on a live isometric city map, with its own indexable page
  • Dofollow backlink on every free listing that carries our badge
  • Quick Pass listings reviewed by a human and live within 24 hours
  • Premium: a launch post we write, 3 dofollow links, within 3 days
  • Posts built for AI search - question-led headings, summary blocks, schema
  • 1,364 products already listed
Submit your SaaSSee all pricingOr go straight to Nick Launches
FAQ

Got questions? We've got answers.

Is SaaSCity or Nick Launches better for SEO?
Nick Launches, on authority alone. Its domain sits at DR 72 against SaaSCity's DR 56 as of 2026-08-21, and a dofollow link from a stronger domain is worth more. SaaSCity's advantage is volume of traffic to the listing itself and, on Premium, a written launch post carrying 3 dofollow links from an article rather than a directory row. Most founders should list on both: they are not substitutes and both have free tiers.
Do both platforms give a dofollow backlink for free?
Yes, and both attach the same condition: you install their badge on your site. On SaaSCity a free listing with a verified badge gets a dofollow link once it is approved; without the badge you go into a capped queue with a nofollow link. Nick Launches applies the same badge-for-dofollow rule on its free tier.
How much does each one cost?
SaaSCity: free with a badge, $19.99 for Quick Pass (priority review, live within 24 hours, no badge needed), $99.99 for Premium (Quick Pass plus a launch post we write for you). Nick Launches: free with a badge, then paid launch tiers publicly reported from $19 up to $199, which buy instant publishing, featured homepage time, a newsletter mention and social promotion. Their prices are behind a sign-in, so confirm at checkout.
Where does Nick Launches beat SaaSCity?
Four places, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Higher Domain Rating (72 vs 56). A newsletter, which we do not have. An X post on the upper tiers, which we do not sell. And a real MCP server plus REST API, so a coding agent can draft a listing for you - SaaSCity only hands your agent a prompt to fill our form with.
Where does SaaSCity beat Nick Launches?
Traffic to the listing (Cloudflare counted 271,969 unique visitors across saascity.io in the trailing 30 days; Nick Launches publishes no figure), and what the top tier actually delivers. SaaSCity Premium buys editorial work - a launch post researched and written by us, published on our blog within 3 days with 3 dofollow links and AEO markup - where the equivalent spend on Nick Launches buys placement and promotion. The city map format also gives a listing a reason to be revisited after launch week.
Can I launch on both?
Yes, and it is the correct move. Neither platform requires exclusivity, the audiences overlap only partly, and two dofollow links beat one. Nick Launches already lists SaaSCity among the places it is featured, and SaaSCity carries Nick Launches as a sponsor. Founders routinely appear on both in the same week.
How long does approval take on each?
SaaSCity reviews every listing by hand: Quick Pass and Premium are live within 24 hours, free listings go live on their booked Monday. Nick Launches publishes paid launches instantly and reviews after, with free launches held for a community waiting period first.
Is this comparison biased?
It is written by SaaSCity, so read it with that in mind - and Nick Launches pays for a permanent sponsor slot on SaaSCity, which is disclosed on this page. That is exactly why every figure here names its source and its date, and why the rows we lose are marked as losses rather than left out. Verify the two Domain Ratings yourself with any Ahrefs DR checker.

Launch once. Get found for years.

Claim your plot, add the badge, and your product becomes a building people can walk past on 271,969 visits a month.

Submit your SaaS