Directory review · Launch platform
Is DevHunt free for your dev tool?
DevHunt costs nothing to join, but its free route is slow and links with nofollow. We read its FAQ, About page and queue and checked 190 tool pages on October 7, 2026.
Founder, SaaSCity
Updated
Checked by hand. DR from Ahrefs.
- 65
- Domain Rating
- Followed if paid
- Nofollow free, dofollow paid
- Yes, after a long queue
- Free route
- $19 by its FAQ
- Paid from
Contents (9)
The short answer
Yes, listing a developer tool on DevHunt is free, but as of October 2026 a free launch waits in a queue (its About page puts the average at 6 months) and the link on your tool page is nofollow. A paid launch, $19 by its FAQ, lets you pick the week, adds a newsletter spot and makes the link dofollow; $49 boosts it above $19 and free launches on equal votes. Launches go live every Tuesday, and voters sign in with GitHub or Google.
DevHunt at a glance
- Type
- Weekly launch board for developer tools only
- Run by
- John Rush and a small group of developers; part of the MarsX.Dev family
- Launch day
- Tuesday; voting stays open until the end of Monday (UTC)
- Voting
- Signed-in users only, through GitHub or Google
- Free route
- A launch week from the queue; average wait 6 months, by its About page
- Paid from
- $19 by its FAQ; $49 for a boosted launch
- Link
- rel="nofollow noopener" on free listings, rel="noopener" on paid ones
- Open source
- The site's code is public on GitHub
- Reach
- 41,263 developers signed up and 40,000 newsletter subscribers, by its count
- Domain Rating
- 65 (Ahrefs)
- Website
- devhunt.org
What DevHunt is
DevHunt is a launchpad for developer tools only. It was started by John Rush and a small group of developers and belongs to the MarsX.Dev family, by its footer. The code is public on GitHub. A new batch of launches goes live every Tuesday and stays open for votes for the week. Voting and comments need a GitHub or Google sign-in, and the most-voted tools are that week's winners.
Winners get a feature in the weekly newsletter, a mention on DevHunt's social channels and a winner badge; its About page adds partner discounts and credits. By its own count it has 41,263 developers signed up, 7,134 tools launched, 150K page views a month and 40,000 newsletter subscribers.
It accepts open-source projects, APIs and SDKs, frameworks and libraries, IDEs, CLIs, testing, monitoring, DevOps, databases, auth, AI agents and MCP servers. Tools not made for developers, NSFW tools and fake-engagement services are not accepted, though the queue we looked at still held a masonry contractor and a roofing company.
Is DevHunt dofollow?
Only for paid launches. As of October 2026, DevHunt's FAQ says links on free listings are nofollow and paid launches get a permanent dofollow link. The live pages match: a free tool's Visit website button carries rel="nofollow noopener", a paid one rel="noopener".
Each tool page stores a launch tier in its page data, so we could compare free and paid launches directly. On October 7, 2026 we read the Visit website link on 190 tool pages: this week's 61 launches, the next four weeks of the queue and other tools linked from the homepage. 90 of the 92 free-tier pages had rel="nofollow noopener"; the two exceptions are IndexRusher and ListingBott, both sponsors named in DevHunt's footer. All 97 paid-tier pages had rel="noopener", and so did the one page whose tier we could not read.
Every product link is direct, with ?ref=devhunt added; only the sidebar ads go through DevHunt's own click redirect. Tool pages carry no noindex and point their canonical at themselves, so even a free listing gives you an indexable page about your tool. Links in a tool page's mentions section are nofollow.
Paid launches fill the board. Of this week's 61 launches, 41 were paid. The 14 with the most votes were all on the top paid tier.
The link as rendered on devhunt.org
<!-- Free launch (UtilsDock) -->
<a href="https://utilsdock.com/?ref=devhunt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Visit website</a>
<!-- Paid launch (OneProvider) -->
<a href="https://oneprovider.dev/?ref=devhunt" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit website</a>
Is DevHunt free? Pricing
DevHunt's own pages disagree on the launch price as of October 7, 2026. The FAQ is the most specific, so the first three rows follow it. Checkout sits behind a sign-in, so we could not see which price it charges today.
Its llms.txt describes the paid launch as $49 one time, with a home page spotlight and a dofollow link. The About page says packages are activated by hand after purchase and can be refunded until then; the ad prices it lists ($397 newsletter, $497 home page) differ from the Advertise page.
How to launch on DevHunt
The form sits behind a GitHub or Google sign-in. Steps from its FAQ and upcoming page, as of October 2026:
- Sign in with GitHub or Google DevHunt uses those two providers to filter out bots and fakes.
- Submit the tool From your account, add the name, website, description, logo and screenshots. Every tool gets a permanent page at devhunt.org/tool/ followed by its name.
- Take a queue week or buy one Free tools are given a launch week from the queue. A paid launch lets you choose the week.
- Launch on Tuesday New launches go live every Tuesday, and voting stays open until the end of Monday, UTC.
- Bring developers to vote Only signed-in users can vote or comment. The tools with the most votes at the end of the week get the newsletter feature and the winner badge.
Where SaaSCity fits next to DevHunt
DevHunt's free route trades a long queue for a nofollow link. On SaaSCity, our own directory, a free listing's link turns dofollow once our badge is on your homepage. The listing takes the first Monday with one of 15 free slots open, a day before DevHunt's Tuesday launches. Quick Pass ($19.99) skips the queue and the badge after a human review and goes live within 24 hours, on a DR 66 domain. SaaSCity is not developer-only, so DevHunt's voters are still a reason to launch there too.
What DevHunt accepts
From its FAQ, as of October 2026.
Developer tools only
Open-source projects, APIs and SDKs, frameworks and libraries, IDEs and editors, CLIs, testing, monitoring, DevOps, databases, auth, AI agents and MCP servers.
No NSFW or fake engagement
Tools that are not for developers, NSFW tools and services that sell fake engagement are not accepted.
Votes need a login
Voting and comments need a GitHub or Google sign-in, which DevHunt says keeps votes from real people.
Is DevHunt worth it?
For a developer tool, yes, if you pay. The audience is the right one and a launch runs for a week. A paid launch ($19 by its FAQ) buys a chosen week, a newsletter spot and a permanent dofollow link from an indexable page, which is cheap next to most launch sites.
The free route is weak as of October 2026. The average wait is six months by DevHunt's own count, and the upcoming page already fills weeks a year ahead, with 3,058 tools scheduled. The link you get is nofollow. Free launches also sit below paid ones on equal votes; this week's 14 most-voted launches were all on the top paid tier.
Check the price at checkout. The FAQ, the About page and llms.txt describe the $19 and $49 options differently.
Good fit
- APIs, SDKs, CLIs and open-source projects
- MCP servers and AI agent tooling
- Makers who will pay $19 to $49 for a chosen week
Skip it if
- Your product is not for developers
- You need a free dofollow link
- You want to launch soon without paying
DevHunt alternatives
Other places to launch a developer tool, checked on October 7, 2026.
- DR 91
Free, for things people can run or try now; sign-up pages and newsletters are off topic, and asking friends for upvotes is not allowed.
- DR 77
A free weekly launch from a verified personal profile; by its ad page 58% of its audience are software engineers, and only the top five get a ugc link.
- DR 91
Free from a personal account, for any kind of product; the same product normally waits six months between launches.
- DR 83
Daily launches for any software; free with a badge on your site, and every launch we checked had a followed link.
- DR 64
Launches run as 30-day campaigns, and Launch Pro at $39 picks your date.
DevHunt FAQ
- Is DevHunt free?
- Yes. Listing a developer tool is free as of October 2026, and free tools get a launch week from the queue. DevHunt's About page puts the average free wait at 6 months, and a free listing links with nofollow.
- How much does a DevHunt launch cost?
- Its FAQ says $19 for a paid launch (pick your week, a newsletter spot and a dofollow link) and $49 for a boosted one, as of October 2026. Its About page sells Skip the queue at $49, so confirm the price at checkout.
- Is DevHunt dofollow?
- Only for paid launches. On the 190 tool pages we checked in October 2026, free listings linked with rel="nofollow noopener" and paid launches with a followed rel="noopener".
- When do DevHunt launches go live?
- Every Tuesday, as of October 2026. Voting stays open for the week, until the end of Monday UTC. The tools with the most votes win.
- Do I need GitHub to launch on DevHunt?
- As of October 2026, you need a GitHub or Google account to submit, vote or comment. Browsing needs no account.
- What can I launch on DevHunt?
- As of October 2026, tools for developers only, such as open-source projects, APIs, SDKs, CLIs, IDEs, testing, monitoring, DevOps, databases, auth, AI agents and MCP servers. NSFW tools and fake-engagement services are not accepted.
- What do DevHunt winners get?
- As of October 2026, a feature in the weekly newsletter, a mention on DevHunt's social channels and a winner badge for their site.
How we checked
Every fact on this page was read on the site it describes. Last checked on . Prices and rules change, so check the site before you pay.
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SaaSCity runs a launch directory, so we are not a neutral party. Nobody paid for this review, and the facts in it come from the pages listed under How we checked.