Free dofollow directories

1. 01Find a live, published listing on the directory. Pick a product that has been on the site for a few months, not a brand-new entry, so the link is fully indexed.
2. 02Right-click the outgoing link to that product's website and select Inspect or View Source. Locate the anchor tag pointing to the product URL.
3. 03Check the rel attribute on that anchor tag. A dofollow link either has no rel attribute at all, or the rel value does not include "nofollow". Seeing rel="nofollow" or rel="ugc nofollow" means the link is nofollow, regardless of what the directory advertises.
4. 04For a faster bulk check, paste the directory domain into Ahrefs Site Explorer and open the Outgoing Links report. Filter for dofollow to see how the directory links out across all its listings.
5. 05Sample at least two or three listings, all from the same submission tier you plan to use. Some directories apply dofollow only to featured or paid entries and silently nofollow the free ones.

You can verify any domain's authority using our free Domain Rating checker. Domain Rating by Ahrefs, last refreshed 2026-06-14.

1. 01Free status: a directory only makes this list if the free or freemium submission path results in a live dofollow link. Paying for a faster review slot is fine, but the dofollow must be available without payment.
2. 02Dofollow verification: the rel attribute on a real published listing is checked, not the directory's marketing copy. Several directories advertise SEO-friendly links while quietly setting every outbound href to rel="nofollow".
3. 03Domain Rating: every figure is pulled from the Ahrefs free DR API and stored with the record. The number you see is measured from a live crawl, not guessed from domain age or traffic. Domain Rating by Ahrefs.
4. 04Freshness: the dataset draws on the launchdirectories source plus manual additions and is re-checked on a rolling schedule. This view was last refreshed on 2026-06-14.

Domain Rating shown per directory. Domain Rating by Ahrefs, last refreshed 2026-06-14.

1. 01

   Sourceforgesourceforge.net

   DR92
   dofollowFree + Paid

   At DR 92 with a free dofollow path, SourceForge is the best authority link in this entire set. Traffic from it will be thin, and the audience is not modern SaaS buyers, but for raw link equity at zero cost almost nothing else on this page competes. Build the project description carefully because the listing goes through a manual review before it goes live.

   Best for

   Pure link authority with no budget

   Gate

   Manual review of the project listing

2. 02

   Capterracapterra.com

   DR91
   dofollowFree + Paid

   A DR 91 free dofollow profile that sits inside the Gartner-owned software review network. The visitors here arrive mid-comparison with budget already approved, so the listing converts better than a generic directory. Consumer apps and developer tools can skip it. B2B SaaS should claim it early because the link and the buyer traffic reinforce each other.

   Best for

   B2B tools that get compared before purchase

   Gate

   Vendor profile review

3. 03

   G2g2.com

   DR91
   dofollowFree + Paid

   The same DR 91 authority as Capterra with a second benefit: G2 is one of the sources AI answer engines pull from when comparing software categories. A few real customer reviews turns the listing from a backlink into an active discovery asset. Consumer apps can skip this; B2B SaaS should treat G2 and Capterra as a pair.

   Best for

   B2B SaaS that needs review velocity and AI citation coverage

   Gate

   Verified work email, then seed a few genuine customer reviews

4. 04

   Dang AIdang.ai

   DR81
   dofollowFree

   DR 81, fully free, dofollow, and no paid tier to navigate around. If your product is AI-related, this is a two-minute submission with no catch. The directory has genuine browse traffic from people hunting for tools rather than crawlers padding a link farm.

   Best for

   AI tools seeking a free dofollow with no friction

   Gate

   No queue, no paid tier

5. 05

   Indie Hackersindiehackers.com

   DR81
   dofollowFree

   Free and dofollow at DR 81. A bare product page here collects dust because the community ignores listings with no context. Post a real build update or a first-month revenue number alongside the product page and the listing starts earning attention. Founders who treat Indie Hackers as a link drop get nothing from it.

   Best for

   Bootstrapped products with a real story to tell

   Gate

   Instant, no queue

6. 06

   SaaSHubsaashub.com

   DR79
   dofollowFree

   A DR 79 free dofollow that ranks for a large volume of "[product] alternatives" queries and appears regularly in AI answer citations. One of the most consistently useful free dofollow listings available, with almost no friction in the submission process. It is a clean, five-minute win for essentially any SaaS product.

   Best for

   Showing up in alternatives searches and AI answer citations

   Gate

   Light review, fast approval

7. 07

   Alternative.mealternative.me

   DR75
   dofollowFree

   DR 75, free, dofollow, and chronically undersubmitted. AlternativeTo gets most of the attention in this category because it is larger, but alternative.me is often ignored entirely. That means instant acceptance with essentially no competition. The traffic volume is modest, but the link is clean and the submission takes five minutes.

   Best for

   Comparison traffic from a listing most founders skip

   Gate

   Instant

8. 08

   BetaListbetalist.com

   DR75
   dofollowFree

   A DR 75 free dofollow aimed at an audience that actively signs up for new products. The free path goes through a review queue rather than going live instantly, so submit early if you are building toward a specific launch date. The link and the audience both hold value here, which is a combination this set does not offer often.

   Best for

   Pre-launch and early-access products building a waitlist

   Gate

   Free review queue, typically days to weeks

9. 09

   Future Toolsfuturetools.io

   DR68
   dofollowFree

   DR 68, free, dofollow, and actually browsed by people looking for AI tools to use. The editorial bar is real: thin products or generic wrappers get rejected. For a genuine AI product this is one of the better free dofollow links available. For anything that is not meaningfully AI-native, this directory is not the right fit.

   Best for

   AI tools with genuine depth, not thin wrappers

   Gate

   Manual editorial review, real rejection risk

10. 10

    MicroLaunchmicrolaunch.net

    DR58
    dofollowFree

    DR 58 with a free dofollow and very little submission friction. The authority is mid-pack, so treat this as a low-effort addition to a launch batch rather than a headline link. Five to ten minutes of form-filling for one more indexed dofollow pointing at your domain is a reasonable trade when you are stacking submissions.

    Best for

    A fast additional dofollow during launch week

    Gate

    Light review

11. 11

    Open Alternativeopenalternative.co

    DR51
    dofollowFree

    A DR 51 free dofollow with an audience specifically looking for open alternatives to closed software. If your product is open-source or developer-facing, this is a relevant link from a relevant audience. If you are a closed-source SaaS selling to non-technical buyers, the audience fit is wrong and the submission is not worth the time.

    Best for

    Open-source projects and developer tools

    Gate

    Reviewed for open-source fit

12. 12

    SaaSCitysaascity.io

    DR42
    dofollowFree + Paid

    This directory is ours, and being in this set is not a conflict: the free tier gives a permanent dofollow link and a spot on a live 3D city map with no payment required. We publish our real Ahrefs DR rather than inflating it. Submit it alongside the others rather than skipping it because we built it.

    Best for

    A permanent free dofollow with two-minute setup

    Gate

    Instant, no card required

When you reach that point, work from a structured list rather than a generic bundle. The directory submission services comparison is an honest look at paying someone to handle it, and the complete submission guide covers the full sequencing from free to paid.

What are free dofollow directories?

Free dofollow directories are listing sites that require no payment to submit your product and confirm that the resulting backlink carries a dofollow rel attribute. Dofollow means the link passes SEO authority from the directory to your domain, contributing to your Domain Rating and organic search ranking. The 83 directories on this page meet both criteria simultaneously: zero cost to submit AND confirmed dofollow link type.

How is this page different from the free directories list and the dofollow directories list?

The free directories page covers all no-cost submissions regardless of link type, so it includes nofollow-only platforms like Product Hunt (DR 91) and Peerlist (DR 76) that pass no authority to your domain. The dofollow directories page covers every confirmed dofollow listing regardless of price, so it includes paid-only entries like There's An AI For That and Turbo0 that require payment for the dofollow link. This page is the strict intersection: only directories where the free or freemium submission path results in a confirmed dofollow. If your budget is zero and you want links that actually move Domain Rating, this list is the starting point.

How do I verify a directory link is actually dofollow?

Find a live listing on the directory, right-click the outgoing link to that product's website, and inspect the anchor tag. A dofollow link either has no rel attribute or does not include "nofollow" in the rel value. If you see rel="nofollow" or rel="ugc nofollow", the link is nofollow. For a bulk check, paste the directory domain into Ahrefs Site Explorer and filter the Outgoing Links report for dofollow. Sample listings from the same submission tier you plan to use, because some directories apply dofollow only to paid or featured placements and nofollow the free ones.

Are low-DR free dofollow directories worth submitting to?

Returns drop off sharply below DR 30. A link from a DR 8 directory that nobody visits or links to adds almost nothing to a modern link profile, and Google is good at discounting directories that exist mainly to distribute links. The practical approach is to work through the DR 50 and above entries first, then evaluate whether the time below DR 30 is better spent on content or outreach. For most products, stopping around DR 30 is the right call rather than grinding through the full list to the bottom.

How long before free dofollow directory links affect Domain Rating?

Most founders see measurable DR movement within six to twelve weeks of a concentrated submission batch. Ahrefs indexes new backlinks on its own crawl cycle, which adds some lag regardless of how fast the directory approves your listing. Submitting to ten or more DR 50 and above free dofollow directories within the same two-week window tends to produce the clearest signal. Spreading submissions out over several months slows the visible effect even when the links eventually get indexed.

Where does the Domain Rating data on this page come from?

Every DR figure is pulled from the Ahrefs free DR API and stored with the directory record. Domain Rating by Ahrefs. Free status and dofollow flags are verified by checking the rel attribute on real published listing pages, not by reading the directory's self-description. This view was last refreshed on 2026-06-14.