B2B SaaS playbook
Directory submission for B2B SaaS
B2B buyers do not impulse-buy software. They research it on G2, Capterra and SaaSHub before they take a demo call. That changes which directories matter and what you do with them: the goal is a profile that converts a researching buyer, not just a backlink. Below is the review-platform play first, then the broader dofollow set.
- 10
- B2B picks
- 8
- Dofollow links
- 4
- DR 90+
- 10
- Free to submit
Updated 2026-06-14 · Domain Rating by Ahrefs
If you only do five things
- 01Claim G2 and Capterra this week. A verified profile with 3 honest reviews already puts you ahead of the majority of B2B SaaS without a listing in your category.
- 02Email 5 to 10 real customers asking for a G2 review. Two sentences. A direct link to the review page. Do this within a week of claiming the profile.
- 03Claim SourceForge. It is DR-92 dofollow, free to list, and takes 20 minutes. The link quality rivals anything you could earn from paid PR at this stage.
- 04Do the free dofollow set in one session: SaaSHub, SoftwareWorld, Alternative.me and SaaSCity. Under 60 minutes total, no approval queue for most.
- 05On AlternativeTo, add yourself specifically as an alternative to your main named competitor. That placement captures buyers with switching intent already formed.
What B2B directory submission actually does
The review-platform play is different from general startup directory work. Here is where the effort pays for a B2B product, and where it does not.
Genuinely worth it for
- +DR-90+ dofollow backlinks from G2, Capterra and SourceForge, among the strongest free links you can earn
- +Buyer-intent traffic from teams actively evaluating software in your category
- +Profile credibility: when a prospect Googles your name plus "reviews", they need to find something real
- +AI assistant citations, since G2 and Capterra are heavily sourced in software recommendation answers
Not a fix for
- -A product with poor retention. Reviews reflect the real experience, and bad ones compound too
- -Instant sales pipeline. Review platform inbound takes months to build, not days
- -Replacing outbound or content. Directories are discovery and validation, not a standalone demand channel
- -Consumer or PLG products with no clear defined buyer role. G2 categories assume a buyer, not mass self-serve adoption
Prepare once, paste everywhere
Your B2B SaaS submission kit
Review platforms and directories ask for the same things in different lengths. Write these once. The review-ask email is the most important one to get right, because no other asset drives G2 placement as directly.
[Product]: [outcome] for [role] at [company type].
Hi [name], we just listed [Product] on G2. If it has helped your team with [outcome], a short review there would mean a lot. It takes about 90 seconds: [G2 review link]. Thanks for being an early customer.
[Product] is [category] for [team type]. Helps [role] [achieve outcome] without [the usual friction]. Pricing from [price]. Try it at [url].
[Product] helps [team type] [primary outcome]. The typical [role] at a [company size] company deals with [the problem]; [Product] solves it by [how, in one line]. Key capabilities: [feature 1], [feature 2], [feature 3]. Integrates with [tool 1] and [tool 2]. Pricing: [free trial detail / from $X per seat / flat per company]. See it at [url].
Have ready before you submit
- +Logo: 512x512 PNG, transparent background
- +Screenshots: 1280x800, showing the core workflow and the dashboard view
- +Use-case description: the exact job title and problem you solve, not marketing language
- +Pricing table: exact tiers, per-seat or per-company, and free trial length if any
- +Integrations list: the tools your B2B buyers already have in their stack
The review platforms
Where B2B buyers research before buying
These are not general directories. They are the platforms enterprise and mid-market procurement teams use to evaluate, compare and validate software decisions. A strong profile here does the work your sales deck cannot: it shows that real customers chose you and stayed.
- 01DR92Sourceforgesourceforge.netdofollowFree + Paid
DR-92 dofollow and one of the most indexed software catalogs on the web. B2B buyers still discover products here through search, and AI assistants cite SourceForge when recommending software by category. The authority-to-effort ratio is exceptional for a free listing: fill it in once and the backlink stays.
- Needs
- A software listing with category, description, license type, and project homepage
- Approval
- Manual review, typically 2 to 5 days
- 02DR91G2g2.comdofollowFree + Paid
The single most valuable B2B listing available here. DR-91 dofollow, and the platform procurement teams at mid-market and enterprise companies use when comparing software. A real G2 Grid presence also surfaces your product in AI assistant answers for "best [category] software" queries. Build this profile before a prospect asks where your reviews are.
- Needs
- Company profile, verified work email, correct subcategory, then 3 to 5 real user reviews to activate your Grid placement
- Approval
- Manual review, a few days
- 03DR91Capterracapterra.comdofollowFree + Paid
Part of the Gartner Digital Markets network alongside GetApp and Software Advice. One verified Capterra profile populates all three. DR-91 dofollow, with buyer-intent traffic from managers and operators evaluating tools, not developers browsing for inspiration. The category matters: pick the most specific subcategory that matches how a buyer would search.
- Needs
- Vendor profile, product description, correct subcategory, screenshots, and at least one pricing tier
- Approval
- Review, up to a week
- 04DR79SaaSHubsaashub.comdofollowFree
DR-79 dofollow and free. SaaSHub is the default landing page for "alternatives to X" searches. When a prospect researches a competitor, they land here and discover what else exists in the category. You want to appear in those comparison pages before your outbound sequence even reaches their inbox.
- Needs
- A basic listing with description, category, and a working product URL
- Approval
- Fast, 1 to 2 days
- 05DR73SoftwareWorldsoftwareworld.codofollowFree + Paid
DR-73 dofollow with an explicitly B2B buyer audience: procurement, operations and finance teams evaluating business software. Less prominent than G2 but with the same buyer-intent profile, and the listing is free at the base tier. Stack it alongside SaaSHub in the same session.
- Needs
- Vendor profile with description, correct category, pricing tiers, and integrations list
- Approval
- Review, a few days
Broader dofollow coverage
High-authority directories that also work for B2B
Not B2B-specific, but high DR, dofollow, and with audiences that include early adopters and teams evaluating tools. Stack these after the review platforms, not instead of them. The review platforms are where B2B buyers go; these are where your backlink profile gets stronger.
- 01DR91Product Huntproducthunt.comnofollowFree
Nofollow, but B2B SaaS products regularly reach the front page. A strong launch earns press coverage, initial signups and the natural dofollow links from roundups and blog posts that follow. Worth one well-prepared attempt. The mistake is launching before the product, screenshots and onboarding are genuinely ready.
- Needs
- Tagline, 3 to 5 gallery images, a first comment prepared in advance, a maker account at least two weeks old
- Approval
- Instant, but you schedule a specific launch date
- 02DR81Indie Hackersindiehackers.comdofollowFree
DR-81 dofollow and free. Indie Hackers is where SaaS founders and early customers look for products with transparent metrics and honest founder stories. A product page earns a real backlink and puts you in front of an audience that both uses and recommends SaaS tools to their networks.
- Needs
- A product page with description, plus one honest post about what you are building or a recent milestone
- Approval
- Instant
- 03DR79AlternativeToalternativeto.netnofollowFree
DR-79. Placement strategy matters here: list your product as an alternative to the category leader or the closest named competitor. B2B buyers who search "alternatives to [software]" land directly on these pages with switching intent already formed. This is a different buyer intent than a generic directory browse.
- Needs
- Add your product as a software alternative to established competitors in your category
- Approval
- Fast, a day or two
- 04DR75Alternative.mealternative.medofollowFree
DR-75 dofollow and free. A lightweight win that surfaces in "best X software" search results. Reuse the same copy from SaaSHub and submit in the same session. One piece of content, two dofollow links, fifteen minutes.
- Needs
- A software listing in the correct category with pricing and a short description
- Approval
- Fast, typically same day
- 05DR42SaaSCitysaascity.iodofollowFree + Paid
Full disclosure: this is us. A free, permanent dofollow link plus a spot on the live 3D city map. An easy first dofollow win to claim while your G2 and Capterra profiles are working through their review queues.
- Needs
- Product name, logo, and a one-line pitch (about two minutes of setup)
- Approval
- Instant
List your B2B SaaS free, DR 45 dofollow
SaaSCity is one of the crossover picks above. A free, permanent dofollow link plus a spot on the live 3D city map. It takes about two minutes to claim while your G2 and Capterra profiles are working through their review queues.
The honest version
Why the review-platform play is different from startup directories
Most directory submission guides focus on the backlink and the launch spike. Those matter for consumer SaaS and developer tools. For B2B SaaS, the backlink is still real and valuable (DR-91 dofollow from G2 or Capterra is among the highest-DR links you can earn without a PR budget), but the more important mechanism is something else.
A B2B buyer who has already seen your product, received your cold email, or clicked your ad will Google your product name before replying. What they find shapes whether the deal moves forward. An empty G2 profile, or no profile at all, is a conversion-rate problem disguised as a missing task. A profile with ten honest reviews, accurate categories, and screenshots of the actual product changes what happens at the bottom of your funnel.
That is the mechanism the startup submission guide is not built around. The startup guide covers getting your first dofollow links and your first users from a launch. This guide is about the state your profile needs to be in when a procurement manager does due diligence on you six months from now. Start building it before you need it.
There is also the AI layer. G2 and Capterra are among the most frequently cited sources when AI assistants respond to "what is the best [category] software for [role]" queries. Being listed, correctly categorized, and with visible reviews raises the odds you appear in those answers. It is not a guarantee, but it is a real signal that adds to your broader directory footprint.
What to expect
A realistic timeline
- Week 1
Claim your SourceForge, G2 and Capterra profiles. Each takes 15 to 30 minutes to complete properly. They go into a manual review queue and come back live within a few days, starting your DR-90+ backlink clock before you have done anything else.
- Weeks 2 to 4
Email your first 5 to 10 real customers asking for a G2 and Capterra review. Two honest sentences from an actual user. Link to the exact review page, not the homepage. In the same window, do the free set: SaaSHub, SoftwareWorld, Alternative.me and SaaSCity. Under 60 minutes total.
- Month 2 to 3
Review volume starts to move your G2 Grid placement within the category, which updates quarterly. Listings index across the board and referral traffic stabilizes. Run one Product Hunt launch, fully prepared, to earn press and organic links while the review base builds.
- Month 4+
The review base compounds. Each new G2 review improves your category placement, which brings more buyer-intent traffic, which surfaces your product to more researching buyers. The AlternativeTo and SaaSHub pages accumulate long-tail comparison searches. At this point the directory foundation runs without active management.
Avoid these
Mistakes specific to B2B SaaS listings
- -Listing in the wrong G2 subcategory
G2 has hundreds of granular subcategories. The wrong one puts you alongside irrelevant competitors and buries you in a page buyers are not searching. Research where your three closest competitors sit, then match it. Recategorizing later requires a manual support request and a review period.
- -An empty profile for the first 30 days
A G2 or Capterra listing with zero reviews looks abandoned. It also ranks at the bottom of every category sort, below products with even one honest review. Email your first five actual customers within a week of going live. The ask is simple: three honest sentences about what the product helped them do.
- -Using incentive-based review schemes
Paid review generation services and review-swap arrangements violate G2 and Capterra terms of service and result in profile suspension. Only real users, asked honestly, count. G2 does permit disclosed gift card incentives under their policies, but the reviewer must acknowledge the incentive in their review, and the profiles are verified by their team.
- -Writing for developers, not buyers
B2B buyers are often operators, finance leads, HR managers or growth teams, not engineers. Technical implementation language drops your conversion rate on review platforms. Replace stack descriptions with outcomes: "automates monthly reconciliation" beats "API-first transaction pipeline" for every buyer who is not writing the integration themselves.
B2B SaaS directory submission FAQ
- Is G2 or Capterra more valuable for B2B SaaS?
- Both are DR-91 dofollow, so the backlink value is the same. G2 carries more weight in active B2B sales cycles: the G2 Grid ranking is shared in procurement conversations, and "best X software" results on G2 drive direct inbound. Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice share the same Gartner backend, so one Capterra profile populates all three. In practice, claim both within the same week. They serve overlapping but distinct buyer research patterns, and having both closes the gap for buyers who start on either platform.
- How do I get reviews on G2 without paying for them?
- Email your real users directly, keep the request to two sentences, and link to the exact review page on G2, not the homepage. A short personal email from the founder converts better than an automated campaign. G2 permits disclosed incentives like gift cards under their terms, but only when the reviewer acknowledges the incentive in their review. The safest approach is a direct honest ask with no reward attached: customers who got real value from your product will respond at a reasonable rate, and those reviews carry more placement weight than any other source.
- GetApp and Software Advice are not in this list. Should I submit there separately?
- No separate submission is needed. GetApp and Software Advice are both part of the Gartner Digital Markets network. Claiming and verifying a Capterra vendor profile automatically populates both GetApp and Software Advice with the same product data, pricing, screenshots and reviews. You also get the same DR-91 backlink network from a single entry point. Treat Capterra as the one profile that covers all three.
- How is this page different from the general startup submission guide?
- The startup guide focuses on launch buzz, Product Hunt timing and getting your first dofollow links as a new product with no backlink history. This guide is specifically about the B2B buyer research journey: the review platforms where procurement teams and business buyers evaluate software before purchasing, how to claim those profiles correctly, how to seed honest reviews, and why the "alternatives to X" placement on SaaSHub and AlternativeTo matters more for B2B than for consumer or PLG products. The mechanisms are different, not just the directory list.
- Do B2B SaaS directories actually drive paying customers?
- G2 and Capterra drive paying customers at meaningful scale for mid-market and enterprise products. The buyer-intent traffic on those platforms is distinct from general directory browsing: a buyer searching "best project management software for finance teams" on G2 is actively evaluating options, not passively browsing. There are 4 directories in this guide with DR 90 or above, which also makes them among the highest-authority backlinks a B2B SaaS can earn without a PR budget. The two benefits, buyer traffic and link equity, compound together.
Full reference: 15 B2B-relevant directoriesopenclose
| Directory | DR | Link | Price | Submit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sourceforge sourceforge.net | 92 | Dofollow | Free + Paid | Visit |
Capterra capterra.com | 91 | Dofollow | Free + Paid | Visit |
G2 g2.com | 91 | Dofollow | Free + Paid | Visit |
Hacker News news.ycombinator.com | 91 | Nofollow | Free | Visit |
Product Hunt producthunt.com | 91 | Nofollow | Free | Visit |
Indie Hackers indiehackers.com | 81 | Dofollow | Free | Visit |
AlternativeTo alternativeto.net | 79 | Nofollow | Free | Visit |
SaaSHub saashub.com | 79 | Dofollow | Free | Visit |
Peerlist peerlist.io | 76 | Nofollow | Free | Visit |
Alternative.me alternative.me | 75 | Dofollow | Free | Visit |
BetaList betalist.com | 75 | Dofollow | Free | Visit |
SoftwareWorld softwareworld.co | 73 | Dofollow | Free + Paid | Visit |
TrustMRR trustmrr.com | 67 | Dofollow | Free | Visit |
Startup Stash startupstash.com | 65 | Nofollow | Free | Visit |
SaaSCityThat's us saascity.io | 42 | Dofollow | Free + Paid | Submit free |
Showing 15 of 15. DR = Domain Rating by Ahrefs.
Domain Rating by Ahrefs. For the complete list across all categories, see the SaaS directory list or the high-DR directory rankings.
Get your B2B SaaS listed in two minutes
Claim a free, permanent dofollow listing on SaaSCity while your G2 and Capterra profiles are in review.