SourceForge Alternatives in 2026: 16 Code Hosts, Download Sites and Software Directories Checked

Everything here was checked on the live sites between November 4 and November 7, 2026, together with our October 7, 2026 review-site and open-source promotion audits. Across SourceForge and the 16 alternatives below, we read each site's pricing, submission and rules pages, checked robots.txt, and inspected the raw HTML of more than 160 project and product pages for the website link's href, rel attribute, meta robots tag and canonical URL. Domain Ratings are Ahrefs figures from our directory dataset, refreshed by our crawler. Sites change their rules without notice, so verify the page before you commit.

Quick answer: You need a different SourceForge alternative depending on which half of SourceForge you are replacing. For open-source code hosting and release binaries, use GitHub (DR 97, free, 2 GiB per release file, nofollow links), GitLab (free up to 5 users per top-level group with 400 CI compute minutes a month, followed project link) or Codeberg (non-profit German e.V. running Forgejo, strictly for free and open-source software). For distributing apps to end users, use Flathub on Linux (3,760 desktop apps, followed website link), F-Droid on Android (followed website link in package metadata) and FossHub (which stopped hosting files in September 2026 and now links to publishers' official downloads, with a followed homepage link). For software discovery and "alternatives to X" searches, use AlternativeTo (DR 82), OpenAlternative (DR 61) and SaaSHub (DR 81, free followed link once verified). For B2B software reviews replacing SourceForge's 128,800-product directory, claim G2 (DR 91, which also manages Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice from one account), TrustRadius (DR 85), Gartner Peer Insights (DR 92, free followed link for enterprise software) and SaaSCity ($19.99 one-time for a permanent listing with a followed link, which is ours).

Most roundups of SourceForge alternatives get the site wrong because they write about only one half of it. To a developer who started writing code before 2015, SourceForge is where open-source projects hosted Subversion and Git repositories, mailing lists and Windows installers. To a SaaS founder or B2B marketer in 2026, SourceForge is a commercial software review directory run by Slashdot Media, sitting alongside G2 and Capterra on comparison queries and selling enterprise lead generation.

Both halves live on sourceforge.net today, under separate URL trees (/projects/ and /software/) and separate sitemaps. A maintainer looking for a clean place to publish release binaries needs a completely different list from a B2B founder looking for reviews or a backlink. This guide covers both jobs, measures what each site actually links to in its HTML, and separates the places that host code, the places that distribute downloads and the places where software buyers compare vendors.

Key takeaways

• SourceForge is two sites on one domain (DR 93): the open-source forge and download mirror under /projects/ and /directory/, and the B2B software directory of 128,800+ products under /software/, syndicated to Slashdot (DR 87) and Top Business Software.
• Neither half of SourceForge gives you a followed link. Open-source project homepages under /projects/ carry rel="nofollow". Free B2B software listings under /software/ print your domain as plain text with no link at all, and paid Visit Website buttons route through /software/link or /software/visit with rel="nofollow", two paths that sourceforge.net/robots.txt also blocks from every crawler.
• Free SourceForge B2B pages run "Learn more" advertisements for paying competitors right on your profile. Removing those ads and adding a Visit Website button requires one of five quote-only paid plans (Plus, Premium, Amplify, Precision ABM, Enterprise).
• SourceForge automatically mirrors popular GitHub repositories under .mirror slugs without asking the maintainer. If you have a growing open-source project on GitHub, search SourceForge to see whether an unofficial mirror already ranks for your name.
• FossHub changed its model on September 24, 2026. Its updated FAQ and About pages state that it no longer hosts files, no longer offers publisher accounts, ended its publisher payout program and paused advertising. Its download buttons (rel="nofollow noopener") now open the publisher's official host, while the developer homepage link on all 10 FossHub pages we checked carried no rel attribute (followed).
• Flathub (3,760 Linux desktop apps, 4.98 billion downloads) and F-Droid (Android FOSS repository) both pass a direct followed link to a project's website from their app metadata sections.
• Among code forges, GitHub (DR 97) marks both the repository About link (rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow") and README links (rel="nofollow") as nofollow. GitLab marks README links nofollow too, but its single project website / GitLab Pages link in the project overview sidebar had no rel attribute on the repositories we checked.
• Among software directories and review sites, free followed links come from a verified SaaSHub listing, LibHunt, a verified StackShare tool (whose page canonicalizes to the StackShare homepage) and Gartner Peer Insights (for enterprise products). Paid followed links come from SaaSCity ($19.99 one-time), OpenAlternative Premium/Ultimate and paid TrustRadius profiles.

What SourceForge is in November 2026

SourceForge launched in November 1999 under VA Linux Systems and spent a decade as the default home for open-source software. Between 2013 and 2015, under Dice Holdings, its DevShare program wrapped Windows installers in third-party adware bundles and took over abandoned project pages for projects such as GIMP and Nmap, triggering a mass migration to GitHub and FossHub. BizX, LLC (doing business as Slashdot Media in San Diego, California) bought SourceForge and Slashdot in January 2016, shut down DevShare, removed the bundled installers and added a second business: a B2B software comparison and review directory modeled on Capterra and G2.

When we read sourceforge.net/robots.txt on November 7, 2026, its seven sitemap declarations showed how the domain is split today:

• allura_sitemap/sitemap.xml and directory_sitemap.xml cover the Apache Allura open-source code forge (/p/ and /projects/) and the open-source download directory (/directory/).
• software_sitemap.xml covers the commercial B2B software directory (/software/).
• freeware_sitemap.xml, blog/sitemap_index.xml and articles/sitemap_index.xml cover a freeware catalog and editorial comparison articles.

Half 1: Open-source project hosting and GitHub mirrors (/projects/)

Maintainers can still create a free open-source project at sourceforge.net/create/ with Git, Subversion or Mercurial repositories, ticket trackers, discussion forums, wikis and file release distribution across SourceForge's global mirror network. Very few new projects write code there today. Instead, most active open-source pages on SourceForge use its GitHub Importer (sourceforge.net/p/forge/documentation/GitHub%20Importer/), which pulls releases from a GitHub repository and publishes the binaries to SourceForge's download mirrors.

Even if you never touch SourceForge, your project may already be there. SourceForge creates automated mirrors of popular GitHub repositories under slugs ending in .mirror (or under the project's plain name) and indexes them in Google for "[project name] download" searches. On the Navidrome page we inspected (sourceforge.net/projects/navidrome.mirror/), a banner reads that the page is "an exact mirror" of the GitHub project and that SourceForge "is not affiliated with Navidrome". Both on official projects such as KeePass (sourceforge.net/projects/keepass/) and on unofficial mirrors such as Navidrome, the outbound project website link carries rel="nofollow", and user/project redirect paths under /u/*/link/ and /p/*/link/ are disallowed in robots.txt.

Half 2: The B2B business software directory (/software/)

The commercial side of the site lives at sourceforge.net/software/. On November 4, 2026, its vendor submission page (sourceforge.net/software/vendors/new) stated that SourceForge lists "more than 128,800 business software products" and reaches "roughly 20 million visitors per month" (citing Similarweb). Slashdot Media uses the same database to populate two sister directories, slashdot.org/software/ (DR 87) and topbusinesssoftware.com, so a single vendor listing can appear across all three domains.

Getting a basic listing is free:

1. Search sourceforge.net/software/ first. Because the catalog holds over 128,800 titles, many SaaS products already have a stub page created by Slashdot Media's editors.
2. If your product is already listed, click the claim link on the profile (/software/product/[slug]/claim).
3. If it is missing, fill out the new vendor form at sourceforge.net/software/vendors/new. All descriptions must be written in English.
4. Collect customer reviews through the vendor portal. SourceForge's review guidelines (sourceforge.net/about/review-guidelines) ban reviews from employees or competitors and require any gift card or reward to go through its approved vendor link rather than private side payments.

The link rule on both halves, measured

A lot of SEO checklists and directory submission services still pitch SourceForge as a "free DR 93 dofollow backlink". Our HTML and robots.txt checks show the opposite across every page type on the domain:

SourceForge page type	Outbound website link in HTML	robots.txt rule on link path	Competitor ads on your page
Open-source project (/projects/[slug]/)	rel="nofollow"	/p/*/link/ disallowed	Display ads around download button
Unofficial GitHub mirror (/projects/[slug].mirror/)	rel="nofollow"	/p/*/link/ disallowed	Display ads around download button
Free B2B software listing (/software/product/[slug]/)	None (domain printed as plain text)	n/a	Yes, "Learn more" buttons for paid rivals
Paid B2B software listing (/software/product/[slug]/)	rel="nofollow" via /software/link or /software/visit	Disallow: /software/link?, Disallow: /software/link$, Disallow: /software/visit?, Disallow: /software/visit$	Removed on paid tiers

We opened 8 basic (unpaid) B2B listings on November 4, 2026, including Notion's free profile, and 2 paid profiles including Process Street (sourceforge.net/software/product/Process-Street/). Not one of the 8 basic listings had an HTML <a> tag pointing to the vendor's website; the URL is rendered as unlinked text while the page displays green action buttons for paying competitors in the same category. On the paid listings, the green Visit Website button pointed to /software/link?... with rel="nofollow". When we read sourceforge.net/robots.txt on November 7, 2026, four explicit rules blocked crawlers from following those paid buttons even as a hint:

Disallow: /software/link?
Disallow: /software/link$
Disallow: /software/visit?
Disallow: /software/visit$

In short, you cannot get a followed link from SourceForge at any price, free or paid. Notice also two newer lines in sourceforge.net/robots.txt on November 7, 2026: Allow: /software/vendors/optimize-software-for-ai-search/ and Allow: /llms.txt, showing that Slashdot Media is now pitching AI search visibility alongside its traditional B2B lead packages.

What SourceForge charges B2B vendors

SourceForge publishes no prices on sourceforge.net/software/vendors/pricing/. It lists five paid tiers, all sold by custom quote after a sales call:

• Plus
• Premium
• Amplify
• Precision ABM (account-based marketing)
• Enterprise

Paying buys category placement, the nofollow Visit Website button, removal of rival ads from your profile, comparison table pinned slots, review badges and intent-qualified leads across SourceForge, Slashdot and Top Business Software.

Why people look for SourceForge alternatives

Because SourceForge does two unrelated jobs, three different groups of people go looking for an alternative:

1. Open-source maintainers and desktop app developers. SourceForge's Apache Allura interface feels frozen in another decade, its pages are crowded with ad units, and older users still remember the 2013 to 2015 adware controversy. Developers want modern Git workflows, integrated CI/CD runners, container registries and clean release download pages where users never click a deceptive banner by mistake.
2. SaaS founders and marketers who were told SourceForge helps SEO. Once you inspect a free /software/ profile and see that your URL is plain text sitting beneath ads for your competitors, you need directories that actually link to your site or send qualified trials without a five-figure enterprise ad contract.
3. Software buyers and self-hosters. People searching for an open-source replacement for a paid SaaS tool get better signal from crowd-ranked lists (AlternativeTo, OpenAlternative, LibHunt) than from an alphabetized mirror list, and B2B buyers get deeper, verified customer reviews on G2, TrustRadius and Gartner Peer Insights.

The 16 alternatives at a glance

DR is Ahrefs Domain Rating from our directory dataset; code forges and app stores outside that SaaS directory dataset show Not in dataset, and SaaSCity is our own site so we do not quote a DR score for it. "Link to your site" records what the outbound website link carried in the page HTML during our November 2026 checks.

#	Site	Primary job	DR	Cost	Link to your site
	SourceForge (baseline)	Open-source forge + B2B directory	93	Free; 5 B2B ad tiers by quote	nofollow on /projects/; plain text on free /software/, blocked nofollow redirect on paid
1	GitHub	Code hosting, CI/CD, Releases	97	Free; Team $4/user/mo, Enterprise $21/user/mo	rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" in About and README
2	GitLab	Code hosting, DevSecOps CI/CD, self-host	Not in dataset	Free (5 users/group); Premium $29/user/mo	Followed on sidebar project/Pages link; nofollow in README
3	Codeberg	Non-profit FLOSS code forge (Forgejo)	Not in dataset	Free (donations optional); FLOSS only	nofollow on user-supplied links
4	FossHub	Clean desktop software catalog	Not in dataset	Free by contact form (no paid plans)	Followed on developer homepage (no rel); nofollow on download buttons
5	Flathub	Linux desktop app store (Flatpak)	Not in dataset	Free (GitHub PR submission)	Followed (rel="noreferrer") on project website and verified domain
6	F-Droid	Android FOSS app repository	Not in dataset	Free (GitLab merge request, built from source)	Followed (no rel) in Links metadata; nofollow in description
7	AlternativeTo	Crowd-ranked software alternatives	82	Free (months-long queue) or paid priority review	rel="nofollow noopener" on new apps
8	OpenAlternative	Open-source alternatives to SaaS	61	Free queue (~4 months) or paid packages	nofollow free; followed on paid Premium and Ultimate
9	SaaSHub	Software alternatives directory	81	Free; $75 priority approval, $99/mo featured	Followed (rel="") when verified; nofollow and often noindex unverified
10	LibHunt	Open-source project index	66	Free	Followed (no rel) on website and repo links
11	StackShare	Developer tools by tech stack	78	Free	Followed (rel="noopener noreferrer") when verified, but canonical points to homepage
12	G2	B2B software review marketplace	91	Free profile; Starter $299/mo, G2 Clicks $500/mo min	None on free profile; nofollow click tracker form on paid
13	Capterra (with GetApp and Software Advice)	SMB software marketplace (via G2)	91	Free profile; pay per click / pay per lead	None on free profile; PPC button has no href
14	TrustRadius	Mid-market & enterprise B2B reviews	85	Free profile (100+ customers); paid by demo	None on free profile; followed (rel="noopener noreferrer") on paid
15	Gartner Peer Insights	Enterprise software reviews	92	Free (enterprise software only)	Followed (rel="noopener noreferrer") on free vendor profiles
16	SaaSCity	Paid SaaS and AI directory (ours)	Ours	$19.99 Basic, $39.99 Premium (one-time)	Followed (rel="noopener"), live within 24 hours

Pick by goal

Your goal	Start here	Then add
Host open-source code and ship binary installers	GitHub (Releases up to 2 GiB/file)	Codeberg (for a non-profit FLOSS home) or GitLab (for built-in CI/CD and self-hosting)
Distribute desktop or mobile apps without adware	Flathub (Linux), F-Droid (Android)	FossHub (Windows and macOS catalog page linking to your official release)
Get a followed link for free	SaaSHub (verify with domain email), LibHunt (if open source)	FossHub, Flathub or F-Droid (for installable software); Gartner Peer Insights (if enterprise)
Get a followed link for a SaaS this week	SaaSCity Basic listing ($19.99 one-time)	OpenAlternative Premium (if open source)
Show up on "alternatives to [competitor]" searches	AlternativeTo, SaaSHub	OpenAlternative (if open source), Product Hunt alternatives pages
Collect B2B software reviews buyers trust	G2 (one login covers G2, Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice)	TrustRadius (once you reach 100 customers) and Gartner Peer Insights

Open-source code hosting and release distribution

These six platforms replace SourceForge's original job: hosting source repositories, building releases and getting installable packages to users without surrounding the download button with misleading banners.

1. GitHub

DR: 97 · Cost: Free; Team $4/user/month, Enterprise $21/user/month · Link: rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" · Best for: Default code hosting, community contributions and binary distribution via GitHub Releases

GitHub is where almost every project that left SourceForge went, including KeePassXC, qBittorrent, Audacity, HandBrake and OBS Studio. For public open-source repositories, GitHub's Free tier includes unlimited collaborators, GitHub Actions CI/CD, GitHub Pages, Discussions, Dependabot alerts and GitHub Releases. On private repositories, the Free plan includes 2,000 CI/CD minutes and 500 MB of Packages storage a month; Team costs $4 per user a month (with 3,000 CI/CD minutes and 2 GB of Packages storage), and Enterprise costs $21 per user a month (with 50,000 CI/CD minutes, 50 GB of Packages storage and Copilot access included).

GitHub Releases is the direct replacement for SourceForge's file mirrors. You attach compiled Windows .exe or .msi installers, macOS .dmg bundles, Linux AppImages and SHA-256 checksums to a tagged Git release. Each individual release asset can be up to 2 GiB, and GitHub sets no overall bandwidth limit on normal release downloads.

Do not expect SEO link equity from your repository page. On November 7, 2026 we inspected the raw HTML of six major desktop software repositories (keepassxreboot/keepassxc, qbittorrent/qBittorrent, audacity/audacity, handbrake/handbrake, videolan/vlc and obsproject/obs-studio). On all six, the website link in the right-hand About box carried rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow", and every external link inside rendered README.md files carried rel="nofollow". Optimize your repository anyway: add up to 20 repository topics (github.com/topics) for your language, category and the proprietary tool you replace, set a 1280x640 social preview image, and link your release page from FossHub and AlternativeTo.

2. GitLab

Cost: Free (up to 5 users per top-level group); Premium $29/user/month billed annually · Link: Followed on project overview link, nofollow in README · Best for: Integrated CI/CD pipelines, container registries and teams that want the option to self-host

GitLab is the closest full-featured rival to GitHub and the home chosen by large open-source projects such as Inkscape, F-Droid, GNOME, Freedesktop.org, VLC (code.videolan.org, self-hosted) and LibreWolf. Where SourceForge bolted separate tools together under Apache Allura, GitLab puts source control, merge requests, multi-stage CI/CD pipelines, a container registry, package registries and release assets inside a single application that you can either use on gitlab.com or run on your own servers with GitLab Community Edition.

On about.gitlab.com/pricing/ on November 7, 2026, the cloud-hosted Free plan costs $0 per user a month and includes up to 5 users per top-level group, 400 compute minutes a month, 10 GiB of adjustable storage and Static Application Security Testing (SAST). Premium costs $29 per user a month billed annually, removes the 5-user cap, raises compute to 10,000 minutes a month and includes $12 of monthly GitLab Credits per user for Duo AI features. Ultimate is sold by custom quote with 50,000 compute minutes a month. Qualifying open-source projects can also apply to the GitLab for Open Source Program for Ultimate features.

We checked the HTML of five public projects on gitlab.com on November 7, 2026 (inkscape/inkscape, fdroid/fdroidclient, gnachman/iterm2, librewolf-community/browser/source and veloren/veloren), plus the JSON blob viewer output that renders README.md. External links inside a project's README.md carry rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener". However, the dedicated project website / GitLab Pages button in the right-hand project overview sidebar (data-event-tracking="click_pages_on_project_overview") rendered in the server HTML with no rel attribute on all three projects that configured one (inkscape, fdroidclient and veloren).

3. Codeberg

Cost: Free (donations and e.V. membership optional) · Link: nofollow on user content · Best for: Free and open-source maintainers who want a non-profit European host with zero commercial lock-in

Codeberg is run by Codeberg e.V., a registered non-profit association based in Berlin, Germany. Its documentation explicitly names SourceForge as the cautionary tale for why it exists: "Considering the fate of formerly successful startups like SourceForge, we need to break the circle and avoid history repeating." The platform runs on Forgejo (a community hard fork of Gitea), backed by Woodpecker CI for continuous integration, Weblate for localization (translate.codeberg.org) and git-pages for static hosting (codeberg.page). Most of its servers run on its own hardware in a rented Berlin facility, with backups and DDoS protection across netcup GmbH and Hetzner Online GmbH.

Unlike GitHub and GitLab, Codeberg is strictly for Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS) and free cultural works. On November 7, 2026, its FAQ (docs.codeberg.org/getting-started/faq/) stated these rules and soft resource thresholds:

• License requirement: Every public repository must carry an approved free and open-source license or public-domain dedication (such as CC0, Unlicense or MIT-0).
• Private repositories: Allowed up to 100 MB only as a convenience for active FLOSS contributors (or temporarily while preparing security patches or a release). Commercial private repositories are banned, and Codeberg refuses money to make exceptions: if you need private commercial repos, it tells you to self-host Forgejo instead.
• Soft resource limits: There are no paid tiers. Projects that need more than 750 MiB of Git storage, 1.5 GiB of packages/LFS/attachments, more than 100 repositories, or access to Woodpecker CI open an issue in the public Codeberg-e.V./requests repository so administrators can approve the capacity.
• No pull mirrors: Automatic pull mirrors from GitHub or elsewhere are disabled because abandoned mirrors wasted disk and bandwidth; maintainers who want to mirror to Codeberg push from their own machine or CI with git push --mirror.

4. FossHub

Cost: Free (suggest via contact form; no paid plans or ads) · Link: Followed on developer homepage (no rel), rel="nofollow noopener" on download buttons · Best for: A clean download catalog page and a free followed link to your software's homepage

FossHub started in 2013 as the anti-SourceForge: a fast, adware-free CDN mirror where projects like Audacity, qBittorrent, Classic Shell, IrfanView, Calibre and MKVToolNix sent tens of millions of end-user downloads. If you read almost any other guide to SourceForge alternatives written before autumn 2026, it will tell you to open a FossHub publisher account, upload your binaries to FossHub's servers and share in its display ad revenue.

That model ended on September 24, 2026. When we read fosshub.com/about.html and fosshub.com/faq.html on November 7, 2026, both pages carried an "Updated September 24, 2026" notice explaining three big changes:

1. FossHub no longer hosts files. "Application download links open the publisher's official service. Some publishers use GitHub or SourceForge. The button identifies the destination... FossHub does not host these files."
2. No publisher accounts. "Publishers don't need a FossHub hosting account." To suggest a product or update a page, you send the official project website through fosshub.com/contact.html, and the editors review suggestions "without a promise of inclusion".
3. No ads and no payouts. "Advertising is paused as of September 24, 2026. FossHub doesn't operate a publisher payout program."

What remains is a clean, fast software directory of 782 URLs in fosshub.com/sitemap.xml that still ranks well for "[app name] download" queries and sends users straight to your official release page. Better yet for founders and maintainers, we inspected the raw HTML of 10 software pages on November 7, 2026 (Audacity.html, qBittorrent.html, KeePass.html, Calibre.html, IrfanView.html, Classic-Shell.html, Blender.html, GIMP.html, HandBrake.html and 7-Zip.html):

• On all 10 pages, the developer homepage link at the top (title="Visit Developer Homepage" itemprop="url") and the links to the publisher's website and GitHub repo in the body had no rel attribute at all (a direct, followed link).
• The blue "Visit download page" buttons (class="dl-link") carried rel="nofollow noopener".
• Every page carried <meta name="robots" content="index, follow"> and a self-canonical URL.

If you ship freeware or open-source desktop software, host your actual binaries on GitHub Releases and send FossHub's contact form your project URL. If they list you, you get both referral downloads and a clean, followed homepage link that SourceForge never gives.

5. Flathub

Cost: Free · Link: Followed (rel="noreferrer") on project website and verified domain · Best for: Linux desktop applications

Flathub is the de facto app store for the Linux desktop, built on the Flatpak packaging format and pre-configured or one click away on Fedora, Linux Mint, SteamOS (Steam Deck), Debian and Ubuntu. On November 7, 2026, its public statistics page (flathub.org/statistics) counted 3,760 desktop apps, 2,219 verified desktop apps and 4,983,726,794 total downloads since April 29, 2018, led by the United States (1.12 billion downloads), Germany (532 million) and Brazil (402 million).

To publish on Flathub, you write a Flatpak manifest and AppStream metadata file (metainfo.xml), then open a pull request against the flathub/flathub repository on GitHub. Flathub's build service compiles and distributes the package. Once listed, you can verify ownership of your reverse-DNS application ID (such as org.inkscape.Inkscape or md.obsidian.Obsidian) by placing a verification token at /.well-known/org.flathub.VerifiedApps.txt on your domain or through your GitHub/GitLab/Gnome/KDE organization. Verification adds a blue checkmark badge and makes your domain clickable right below the app title. Both open-source and proprietary desktop apps (including Obsidian, Spotify and Discord) are accepted, though Flathub shows a license badge on every page.

We read the raw HTML of 10 Flathub app pages on November 7, 2026 (org.videolan.VLC, org.keepassxc.KeePassXC, org.gimp.GIMP, org.audacityteam.Audacity, org.mozilla.firefox, org.blender.Blender, org.inkscape.Inkscape, org.libreoffice.LibreOffice, md.obsidian.Obsidian and com.obsproject.Studio). All 10 linked straight to the project's website in the Links section with rel="noreferrer" and no nofollow, and every verified app also linked its domain beneath the H1 with rel="noreferrer". That makes Flathub both the primary Linux distribution channel and a genuine followed backlink for any desktop app that ships a Linux build.

6. F-Droid

Cost: Free · Link: Followed (no rel) in Links metadata, rel="external nofollow noopener" in description · Best for: Open-source Android applications

F-Droid is the installable catalog of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Android, where projects such as Termux, VLC for Android, AntennaPod, Thunderbird/K-9 Mail, KeePassDX, OsmAnd, KOReader and Briar distribute their APKs outside Google Play. On November 7, 2026, F-Droid's homepage also carried an urgent banner pointing to keepandroidopen.org regarding Google's changes to Android sideloading and app installation.

F-Droid's inclusion bar is stricter than SourceForge's or GitHub's. You do not upload a pre-compiled APK. Instead, you submit a build recipe by merge request to gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata (or open a Request for Packaging issue at gitlab.com/fdroid/rfp), and F-Droid's own build servers compile your app from your public source repository and sign it with F-Droid's keys (or verify your reproducible build). The app must use an OSI/FSF-approved open-source license and contain no proprietary libraries, closed Google Play Services dependencies, non-free artwork or unannounced tracking; if a project includes optional non-free endpoints, F-Droid flags them on the package page as "Anti-Features".

We checked the HTML of 10 package pages on f-droid.org on November 7, 2026 (com.termux, org.videolan.vlc, com.kunzisoft.keepass.libre, org.fdroid.fdroid, org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid, com.fsck.k9, net.osmand.plus, org.koreader.launcher.fdroid, org.briarproject.briar.android and de.danoeh.antennapod). Any outbound link inside the app's prose description carried rel="external nofollow noopener". However, on all 10 pages, the structured #links row below the screenshots (Website, Issue Tracker, Source Code, Changelog and Donate) rendered plain <a href="..."> tags with no rel attribute at all, passing a direct followed link to the project website and repository.

Software and open-source discovery directories

When someone searches SourceForge to answer "what open-source or indie tool can I use instead of X?", or when a founder wants a permanent directory page that ranks on comparison queries, these five directories are the direct substitutes.

7. AlternativeTo

DR: 82 · Cost: Free, or a paid one-time priority review · Link: rel="nofollow noopener" on new apps · Best for: Ranking on "[competitor] alternatives" and "open-source alternative to [competitor]" searches

AlternativeTo, run by 27 Kilobyte AB in Stockholm, is the crowd-sourced engine people actually use when they want an open-source or cheaper replacement for a named application. On November 4, 2026 it counted 161,030 apps and 2,059,829 user opinions. Every comparison list on the site can be filtered by license (Free, Open Source, Commercial) and platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, Self-Hosted, Web), which makes it the single strongest discovery channel for open-source desktop and self-hosted software outside GitHub itself.

To add a product, sign in, verify your email and use "Suggest new application". Tag your license accurately (such as MIT, GPL-3.0 or Apache-2.0) and name the established apps you replace. Keep UTM parameters off the official website URL and leave links, email addresses and phone numbers out of the description text.

The free review queue "holds several thousand apps" and, by AlternativeTo's own terms, "is usually months long". A one-time paid priority review puts your submission in front of editors within 1 to 2 business days (the fee was $5 in October 2026 and is now shown at checkout after sign-in), though paying only buys a faster decision: editors now turn down thin AI wrappers, simple single-page calculators, regional services, unreleased waitlists and low-effort clones. Its FAQ also states plainly that links to apps' websites "are nofollow unless our editors decide otherwise, and you can't buy a followed link." All 6 newly added apps we opened in November 2026 carried rel="nofollow noopener", while long-established open-source apps such as Obsidian, Excalidraw and Navidrome carried followed links. See our AlternativeTo listing guide for the full submission checklist.

8. OpenAlternative

DR: 61 · Cost: Free queue (~4 months), or paid packages · Link: nofollow free, followed on paid packages · Best for: Open-source web apps and self-hosted software replacing a proprietary SaaS

OpenAlternative, built by Piotr Kulpinski, is a modern directory dedicated exclusively to open-source and source-available replacements for proprietary software, claiming 220,000 monthly visitors and 8,000 newsletter subscribers. Each listing links to both the live website and the public repository, displays live GitHub star counts, last-commit age and license type, and sits on programmatic "Open Source [Proprietary Tool] Alternatives" pages (such as open-source alternatives to Notion, Salesforce or Datadog).

OpenAlternative is selective: it accepts complete, actively maintained applications and turns down bare libraries, SDKs, CLIs, browser extensions, MCP servers, forks, waitlists and thin AI wrappers. Free submissions are published at a pace of one per weekday; on November 4, 2026, the public queue held 81 approved free listings scheduled out to February 26, 2027 (roughly a four-month wait).

In our November 4, 2026 HTML check across 18 listings, all 11 free listings carried rel="noopener nofollow" on the website button. All 7 paid Premium and Ultimate listings we opened went live within about a day and carried a followed rel="noopener" link (though two Ultimate listings routed through an affiliate redirect). When we checked its submission package screen in October, Standard was $97 (queue skip only), Premium was $137 (queue skip plus a dofollow link) and the featured tier was $197 a month; in November, package prices are shown after signing in.

9. SaaSHub

DR: 81 · Cost: Free listing and verification; $75 priority approval, $99/month featured · Link: Followed (rel="") once verified · Best for: A free followed link on an "alternatives to X" directory

SaaSHub, operated by New Atlantis Pty Ltd in Sydney since 2014, tracks 255,355 software products and 577,425 identified competitor pairs as of November 4, 2026. Unlike SourceForge's /software/ directory, which gives a free vendor plain text and competitor ads, SaaSHub gives every verified product a clean, followed link for free.

We inspected the raw HTML of 30 SaaSHub product listings and 4 alternatives pages on November 4, 2026:

• 17 of 17 verified listings had a direct Visit website button with an empty rel="" attribute (followed), and 16 of the 17 were indexable.
• 13 of 13 unverified listings had rel="nofollow", and all 7 newly added unverified listings carried <meta name="robots" content="noindex, follow">.

To get the followed link and ensure your page is indexed, submit at saashub.com/services/submit, name as many direct competitors as you can (SaaSHub states that submissions with more identified competitors are approved first, and submissions with none go to the bottom of the queue), and immediately verify ownership using an email address on your product's domain or an HTML meta tag. You must click the quarterly reconfirmation email every three months to keep verification active. If you want to skip the free approval queue, SaaSHub now sells a $75 Priority Approval (or $99 Priority Extra) via VibeVoted, and a $99-a-month Featured listing that skips the queue and places your tool as a sponsored option on competitors' alternatives pages. Read our SaaSHub alternatives guide and SaaSHub review for the full breakdown.

10. LibHunt

DR: 66 · Cost: Free · Link: Followed (no rel) · Best for: Open-source libraries, CLIs and developer tools that OpenAlternative rejects

LibHunt, built by Stanislav Valkov (part of the same network as SaaSHub), tracks 559,400+ open-source projects across language-specific subdomains (such as python.libhunt.com, go.libhunt.com, rust.libhunt.com and selfhosted.libhunt.com). Where OpenAlternative turns down libraries, SDKs and command-line utilities, LibHunt is built for them.

LibHunt ranks repositories by tracking how often they are mentioned and compared across Reddit, Hacker News and DEV.to, combined with GitHub star velocity. You can submit a repository for free at libhunt.com/repo/submit, or let a good Show HN or Reddit launch thread pull your project into the index automatically. On the project pages we inspected, including Navidrome's (libhunt.com/r/navidrome), both the project website link and the GitHub repository link rendered as plain <a href="..."> tags with no rel attribute, giving open-source maintainers a free, followed link on a DR 66 domain.

11. StackShare

DR: 78 · Cost: Free · Link: Followed (rel="noopener noreferrer") when verified, but canonical points to homepage · Best for: Developer tools, APIs, databases and infrastructure software

StackShare, owned by FOSSA since August 2024, organizes developer software by the real engineering stacks that use it. When developers evaluate an open-source database, CI tool, SDK or cloud service, they check StackShare to see which companies run it in production and why engineers switched from one tool to another.

Submitting and claiming a tool on StackShare is free: sign in with GitHub or Google, open your tool's page, click "Claim this tool" and verify ownership using an email address at the tool's domain or admin permissions on its GitHub repository. On the 10 tool pages and 40 tool cards we inspected on November 4, 2026, the Visit Website link was followed (rel="noopener noreferrer") on every verified tool and on unverified tools used in 10 or more stacks, while unverified tools with 1 to 4 stacks carried rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow ugc".

There is one technical caveat to know before you count StackShare as an SEO backlink: every tool page we opened set its <link rel="canonical"> tag to the StackShare homepage (https://stackshare.io/) rather than the tool's own URL, which can prevent Google from indexing the individual tool page. Claim and verify your profile for developer discovery and stack proof first.

B2B software review marketplaces and SaaS directories

If you came to SourceForge because of its 128,800-product business software directory (sourceforge.net/software/), these five platforms are the real B2B alternatives. The first four are review marketplaces where software buyers check ratings before booking a demo; the fifth is our own SaaS directory for getting a permanent page and a followed link without a sales call.

12. G2

DR: 91 · Cost: Free profile; Starter $299/month ($2,999/year), G2 Clicks from $500/month · Link: None on free profile, nofollow click tracker on paid · Best for: B2B SaaS review volume and managing four major review sites from one login

G2 is the largest B2B software review marketplace, with more than 3 million verified reviews. In 2026 it became four marketplaces in one: G2 acquired Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice from Gartner (announced January 29, 2026), merged buyer intent data across all four on June 3, moved G2 Clicks PPC campaigns across the four sites in late October, and starting November 4, 2026 counts a review collected through G2's unified flow toward your rating on all four platforms.

To get listed, validate a seller account with LinkedIn or a work email and submit your product at g2.com/seller_identification/search/new. G2's research team checks new submissions in 3 to 5 business days, and claiming an existing listing takes 1 to 3 business days. Only publicly available B2B software and services qualify; consumer apps, alpha/beta products and waitlist pages are rejected.

Like SourceForge, a free G2 profile gives you no link to your website, and archived profiles with zero reviews carried noindex. Paid profiles (starting with Starter at $299 a month or $2,999 a year for companies up to 100 employees) get a Visit Website button that is an HTML <form> submitting to G2's click tracker with rel="nofollow noopener". List on G2 because procurement teams read it and because 10 reviews in a category puts your product into G2's quarterly Grid reports. See our G2 listing guide for the review rules and gift-card caps ($100 maximum, disclosed and never tied to star rating).

13. Capterra (with GetApp and Software Advice)

DR: 91 · Cost: Free profile; pay per click and pay per lead · Link: None (sponsored button has no href) · Best for: Small and mid-size business software buyers comparing features and pricing

Capterra, founded in 1999 and now branded "powered by G2 Digital Markets", sits alongside GetApp (DR 85) and Software Advice (DR 87). Clicking "Get Your Product Listed" on capterra.com/vendors opens G2's unified product submission form, so claiming your G2 account covers all three sites at once.

Capterra lists packaged B2B software that is publicly available with a free trial, demo or request-for-info flow in an existing software category. Waitlists, custom agency builds, marketplaces and personal productivity apps are turned down, though beta products are accepted if they have a live offer and collect at least one verified review within their first calendar year. Twenty reviews within 24 months is the threshold for Capterra's Shortlist reports.

Across the 7 profiles we checked on Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice on November 4, 2026, none contained an HTML <a href> link to the vendor's website. Even when a vendor pays for a sponsored pay-per-click placement, the Visit Website button is a JavaScript element or <span> with no href attribute that routes the click through Capterra's PPC billing counter. Use Capterra for SMB buyer traffic and reviews, never for backlinks. Our Capterra listing guide has the full eligibility rules.

14. TrustRadius

DR: 85 · Cost: Free profile; paid HG Customer Voice plans by demo · Link: None on free profile, followed (rel="noopener noreferrer") on paid · Best for: Mid-market and enterprise B2B software with at least 100 customers

TrustRadius specializes in long-form, LinkedIn-verified B2B software reviews and was acquired by HG Insights in 2025; since August 2026 its paid vendor subscriptions are sold under the name HG Customer Voice.

TrustRadius has a high floor for a free listing: its claim page (solutions.trustradius.com/claim-your-profile/) asks for a personal work email on the company domain, a LinkedIn company page, a generally available B2B product (no betas) and at least 100 customers. Free profiles with zero reviews are set to noindex until their first review is approved (reviews take 3 to 5 business days to vet), and the 3 free profiles we inspected on November 4, 2026 had no link to the vendor's website.

However, unlike SourceForge, G2 and Capterra, paying TrustRadius actually produces a followed link in the server HTML. All 3 paid profiles we opened (including AlphaSense at trustradius.com/products/alphasense/reviews) carried a direct call-to-action link to the vendor's domain with rel="noopener noreferrer" and no nofollow. Pricing is not published and requires booking a demo with HG Insights.

15. Gartner Peer Insights

DR: 92 · Cost: Free · Link: Followed (rel="noopener noreferrer") on free profiles · Best for: Mid-market and enterprise software vendors that want enterprise buyer proof and a free followed link

Gartner Peer Insights is the review platform Gartner kept when it sold Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice to G2 in 2026. By its own figures, it reaches 1.2M+ monthly visits and hosts 895K+ verified enterprise software reviews, and its "Voice of the Customer" reports feed alongside Gartner's Magic Quadrants.

Among the major B2B review platforms, Gartner Peer Insights is the rare exception that is both free for vendors and followed in the HTML. On the profiles we inspected in our software review sites audit (including Wrike and Jira), the Website field in the product header linked straight to the vendor's site with UTM parameters and rel="noopener noreferrer" (no nofollow).

The catch is strict enterprise eligibility and reviewer vetting. To qualify in the Peer Insights Vendor Portal (gartner.com/peer-insights/vendor-portal/overview), your product must be sold to mid-size or large enterprises and fit an existing Gartner market category; small-business-only and consumer tools are turned down. Every reviewer must verify with a corporate email address matching their employer (no Gmail, Outlook or generic domains), vendors cannot see which customer wrote which review, and gift card incentives are capped at $25 per review.

16. SaaSCity

Cost: $19.99 Basic listing, $39.99 Premium listing (both one-time) · Link: Followed (rel="noopener") · Best for: A permanent SaaS or AI tool listing page with a followed link, live within 24 hours

SaaSCity is our own SaaS directory, so weigh this entry accordingly. Where SourceForge's /software/ directory gives a free listing plain text alongside ads for your competitors and routes paid links through a robots.txt-blocked nofollow redirect, SaaSCity is a straightforward paid directory for SaaS products, developer tools and AI apps:

• Basic listing, $19.99 one-time: reviewed by hand, live within 24 hours, a permanent indexable listing page with a direct followed link (rel="noopener"), community upvotes and a building on our interactive city map.
• Premium listing, $39.99 one-time: everything in the Basic listing plus a 3,000+ word launch review article on our blog, researched and written by us within 3 days, with five links to your site.

All listing prices are one-time with no recurring subscription, and competitor ads are never injected onto your listing page. Similarweb estimates 60.2K monthly visits to saascity.io, a fraction of SourceForge's or G2's audience, and the visitors are founders, developers and early software buyers. Use SourceForge and G2 for enterprise review volume, and use SaaSCity when you want a permanent listing page that links back to your domain within 24 hours. See Pricing for the full details.

Other names you will see (and what happened to OSDN)

If you read older comparisons of SourceForge alternatives, several other names come up regularly. Here is where they stand in November 2026:

• OSDN (osdn.net, formerly SourceForge.JP): For years, OSDN was the closest structural clone of SourceForge, hosting open-source repositories and download mirrors in Japan and worldwide. After Appirits acquired OSDN in 2022 and migrated its infrastructure in 2023, the platform suffered chronic downtime. When we requested https://osdn.net/ on November 7, 2026, the connection failed outright. Treat OSDN as dead for new projects.
• Slashdot (slashdot.org/software/) and Top Business Software: Both are owned by Slashdot Media (BIZX, LLC) and share SourceForge's B2B software database. You do not need to submit to them separately: a listing approved on sourceforge.net/software/vendors/new syndicates to both.
• SaaSworthy (DR 75) and SoftwareSuggest (DR 78): We checked 10 to 12 profiles on each for our SaaSHub alternatives guide on November 4, 2026. Neither gives a free profile a clickable link (SaaSworthy uses a <span onclick> to /redir.php, blocked in robots.txt; SoftwareSuggest funnels visitors into its own lead forms). SoftwareSuggest's paid plans cost $4,000 for 6 months, $9,000 for 6 months or $15,000 for 12 months, and its paid Visit Website button still carries rel="sponsored nofollow". Both sites also started pitching "$2,500 one-time or $10,000/month AEO/GEO visibility" packages in 2026 using identical sample prompts.
• PeerSpot (DR 75), GoodFirms (DR 87) and Crozdesk (DR 74): PeerSpot lists only enterprise IT and security vendors with 50+ employees and 10+ enterprise customers, passes no vendor link, and prices its paid AI packages at $50,000 and $70,000 a year per product. GoodFirms (23% free acceptance rate, PRO $49/month billed yearly) and Crozdesk (via Revleads, PPC $6/click with a $1,000/month minimum) both mark all vendor links nofollow. All three are covered in our software review sites guide.
• Savannah (savannah.gnu.org), Launchpad (launchpad.net) and Bitbucket (bitbucket.org): GNU Savannah still hosts official GNU and free-software projects on a strict FSF-compliance review, and Canonical's Launchpad still serves Ubuntu packaging and PPAs, but neither is a general distribution hub for new cross-platform apps. Atlassian's Bitbucket focuses on private enterprise teams tied to Jira rather than public open-source discovery or binary mirrors.

SourceForge vs GitHub vs FossHub vs G2

Because SourceForge straddles open-source downloads and B2B software reviews, the clearest way to see its limits is to put it side by side with the leader in each job:

Feature	SourceForge	GitHub	FossHub	G2
Primary role in 2026	Open-source mirror + 128,800-title B2B directory	Code forge + release binary host	Curated desktop software catalog (no file hosting since Sept 2026)	B2B software review marketplace (runs Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice)
Domain Rating	93	97	Not in dataset	91
Cost to list / host	Free; 5 B2B ad plans by quote	Free for public repos; Team $4/user/mo	Free via contact form; no paid tiers	Free profile; Starter $299/mo, PPC from $500/mo
Binary file hosting	Yes, global mirror network + GitHub Importer	Yes, GitHub Releases (up to 2 GiB per file)	No (stopped Sept 24, 2026; links to publisher's host)	No
Link on a free page	nofollow on /projects/; plain text (no link) on /software/	rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"	Followed (no rel) on developer homepage; nofollow on download buttons	None
Link on a paid page	rel="nofollow" via /software/link (disallowed in robots.txt)	Same (nofollow)	No paid pages	rel="nofollow noopener" via G2 click-tracker form
Competitor ads on your free page	Yes, on /software/ profiles	No	No (ads paused Sept 24, 2026)	Yes, unless on paid tiers

Two step-by-step plans (pick your product type)

Plan A: If you maintain an open-source or downloadable app

1. Host code and releases on GitHub (or Codeberg / GitLab): Publish your source code, tag a SemVer release and attach your compiled Windows, macOS and Linux installers plus a SHA256SUMS file to GitHub Releases. If you want a non-profit FLOSS home alongside or instead of GitHub, push to Codeberg (git push --mirror).
2. Check whether SourceForge already mirrors you: Search site:sourceforge.net/projects for your project name. If an unofficial .mirror page exists, decide whether to claim it with the GitHub Importer so your release notes stay accurate, or leave it alone knowing its outbound link is nofollow.
3. Publish to Flathub (Linux) and F-Droid (Android): Open a pull request to flathub/flathub and verify your domain with /.well-known/org.flathub.VerifiedApps.txt for the blue verified badge and two followed links (rel="noreferrer"). If you ship an Android app under an OSI license with no proprietary libraries, submit a build recipe to F-Droid (gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata) for a followed link in the #links metadata box.
4. Request a FossHub catalog page: Once your GitHub Releases page is live, send your official website and release URL through fosshub.com/contact.html. If accepted, FossHub links to your official download host and gives your developer homepage a direct followed link (no rel).
5. List on LibHunt, AlternativeTo and OpenAlternative: Submit your repository to LibHunt (libhunt.com/repo/submit) for a free followed link, suggest the app on AlternativeTo early (because the free queue takes months) with the Open Source license tag, and submit to OpenAlternative if your project replaces a known proprietary SaaS.
6. Run a community launch week: Post a handwritten Show HN on Hacker News (where story links drop nofollow once they pass roughly 12 points) and share in r/selfhosted (using the weekly New Project Megathread if the project is under three months old) or r/opensource with an OSI LICENSE file in your repo. Our guide on where to promote an open-source project has the community rules.

Plan B: If you run a B2B SaaS or commercial developer tool

1. Day 1, SaaSHub and StackShare: Submit your product to SaaSHub with named competitors and verify immediately with an email on your domain so the page is indexed and the Visit website link is followed (rel=""). If your product is a developer tool or API, claim and verify your StackShare page too.
2. Day 1, SaaSCity ($19.99 one-time): Submit a Basic listing at SaaSCity for a permanent, hand-reviewed listing page with a direct followed link, live within 24 hours.
3. Day 1, AlternativeTo: Suggest your application now so the months-long free queue starts ticking, or pay the checkout priority fee for a 1 to 2 business day editor review.
4. Week 1, G2 (which covers Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice): Open a single G2 seller account and add your product. That one submission puts you into the pipeline for all four G2 Digital Markets sites. Do not pay for G2 Starter ($299/month) or G2 Clicks ($500/month minimum) until you have at least 10 customer reviews in your category.
5. Week 1, SourceForge /software/ (free claim only): Search sourceforge.net/software/ to see if Slashdot Media already created a stub page for your company, or request a free listing at sourceforge.net/software/vendors/new so your name appears on SourceForge, Slashdot and Top Business Software. Treat it strictly as a citation and review box: your URL will be plain text, competitor ads will appear on the page, and you should not pay for a quote-only vendor plan expecting an SEO backlink.
6. Once you have enterprise customers, Gartner Peer Insights and TrustRadius: Open a free vendor account on Gartner Peer Insights if you sell to mid-size or large enterprises; it is the one major enterprise review site that gives a free vendor profile a direct followed link (rel="noopener noreferrer"). Once you pass 100 customers, claim your free TrustRadius profile and send at least one reviewer there so the page drops its noindex tag.

Two weeks after each listing goes live, inspect the outbound website button in Chrome DevTools to confirm the rel attribute has not changed, and run a site: search on Google to make sure your profile page is indexed. You can track whether your domain's authority is moving with our free Domain Rating checker, and prepare your copy once using our guide on how to write a directory listing.

How we checked

Between November 4 and November 7, 2026 (building on our October 7, 2026 audits for software review sites and open-source promotion), we read the live pricing, submission, FAQ and documentation pages of SourceForge and all 16 alternatives, checked sourceforge.net/robots.txt, and inspected the raw HTML of more than 160 project and product pages for the outbound website link's href, rel attribute, redirect behavior, meta name="robots" tag and <link rel="canonical"> tag:

• SourceForge: 8 basic B2B software listings and 2 paid B2B listings under /software/product/, 2 open-source project and mirror pages under /projects/ (KeePass and the Navidrome GitHub mirror), the vendor submission and pricing pages, and the full 180-line sourceforge.net/robots.txt file on November 7, 2026.
• Code forges and app stores (checked November 7, 2026): 6 public repository pages and the pricing page on GitHub; 5 public project pages, the JSON README blob viewer and the pricing page on GitLab; the Getting Started and FAQ documentation on Codeberg (docs.codeberg.org); 10 software pages, the 782-URL sitemap and the September 24, 2026 updated About and FAQ pages on FossHub; 10 desktop app pages and the live statistics page on Flathub; and 10 Android package pages on F-Droid.
• Discovery directories and B2B review sites: 30 listings and 4 alternatives pages on SaaSHub, 14 on AlternativeTo, 18 on OpenAlternative, 10 tool pages and 40 tool cards on StackShare, 7 across Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice, 6 on TrustRadius, 7 archived profiles on G2, 2 on Gartner Peer Insights, 2 on LibHunt, and 10 to 12 each on SaaSworthy and SoftwareSuggest.

We did not sign up, submit a fake product or pay any vendor fee during these checks. Domain Ratings come from Ahrefs via our directory dataset and refresh automatically with our crawler. SaaSCity is entry 16 and is our own platform; its entry was written from our published pricing and its outbound link was checked the same way as the other fifteen sites.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best SourceForge alternative?

It depends on which half of SourceForge you want to replace. For hosting open-source code and release binaries, use GitHub (or Codeberg if you want a non-profit forge run on free software). For distributing desktop and mobile apps to end users without bundled installers, use Flathub on Linux, F-Droid on Android and FossHub for Windows and macOS catalog pages. For discovering open-source replacements for proprietary tools, use AlternativeTo and OpenAlternative. For B2B software reviews and buyer comparisons, start with G2, which also runs Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice from one seller login, then add TrustRadius, Gartner Peer Insights, SaaSHub and SaaSCity.

Is SourceForge still safe and used in 2026?

Yes, under different ownership and with a second business attached. Slashdot Media (part of BIZX, LLC in San Diego) bought SourceForge in 2016 and ended the DevShare bundled-installer program that had damaged its reputation between 2013 and 2015. Today SourceForge still hosts open-source projects on Apache Allura and mirrors GitHub releases, and alongside them it runs a B2B directory of more than 128,800 software products that claims roughly 20 million monthly visitors.

Does a SourceForge listing give a dofollow backlink?

No, on either side of the site. On open-source project pages (/projects/), the project homepage button carried rel="nofollow" on the pages we checked, including KeePass and the Navidrome mirror. On the business software directory (/software/), none of the 8 free basic listings we opened had a clickable link at all; the vendor's domain is printed as plain text. Paid vendor listings get a green Visit Website button that routes through /software/link or /software/visit with rel="nofollow", and sourceforge.net/robots.txt disallows both paths for all crawlers.

How do I list my SaaS on SourceForge's business software directory?

Search sourceforge.net/software/ first to see if a page already exists for your product, and claim it if it does. Otherwise submit a free listing request at sourceforge.net/software/vendors/new. Descriptions must be in English. Slashdot Media says an approved listing is also syndicated to Slashdot and Top Business Software. Free pages show your URL as plain text and display "Learn more" ads for paying competitors.

How much do SourceForge's paid vendor plans cost?

SourceForge does not publish its rates. Its vendor pricing page lists five paid tiers sold by quote: Plus, Premium, Amplify, Precision ABM and Enterprise. Paying adds a Visit Website button (routed through a nofollow redirect blocked in robots.txt), removes competitor ads from your profile and opens lead-generation and intent-data campaigns across SourceForge and Slashdot.

Why is my open-source project on SourceForge when I never uploaded it?

SourceForge runs automated mirrors of popular open-source repositories on GitHub, often under a .mirror project slug. For example, its Navidrome page states that it is "an exact mirror" of the GitHub project and that SourceForge "is not affiliated with Navidrome". If you want to manage the page yourself, you can use SourceForge's GitHub Importer to create an official project and sync releases, or ask support to hand over or remove an unofficial mirror.

Did FossHub stop hosting software downloads?

Yes. On September 24, 2026, FossHub updated its About and FAQ pages to state that it no longer hosts files, no longer offers publisher hosting accounts, ended its publisher payout program and paused advertising. Its download buttons now open the publisher's own download service (such as GitHub Releases, SourceForge or the developer's website). On all 10 FossHub software pages we checked on November 7, 2026, the developer homepage link carried no rel attribute (a followed link), while the download buttons used rel="nofollow noopener".

Which SourceForge alternatives give a followed link to my website?

In our November 2026 checks, eight of the 16 alternatives below gave a direct followed link on a free page: FossHub (on the developer homepage link, if your app is listed), Flathub (on the project website link and verified domain header), F-Droid (in the package Links box), GitLab (on the single project website / GitLab Pages link in the repo sidebar, though README links are nofollow), SaaSHub (once you verify the listing for free with a domain email or HTML tag), LibHunt, StackShare (once verified, though tool pages canonicalize to the homepage) and Gartner Peer Insights (for eligible enterprise software). OpenAlternative, TrustRadius and SaaSCity give a followed link on paid plans. GitHub, Codeberg, AlternativeTo (for new apps), G2 and Capterra do not pass a followed link.

What happened to OSDN, the Japanese SourceForge alternative?

OSDN (formerly SourceForge.JP), which Appirits acquired from Open Source Development Network K.K. in 2022, suffered prolonged outages starting in 2023 after server infrastructure changes and failed to load when we requested osdn.net on November 7, 2026. Projects that once mirrored on OSDN have largely moved to GitHub, GitLab or Codeberg.

SourceForge vs GitHub: should I still mirror releases on SourceForge?

Only if your users specifically look for Windows or Linux installers there. GitHub gives you Git hosting, Actions CI/CD, issue tracking and GitHub Releases (up to 2 GiB per file, with no total bandwidth cap documented for normal public releases) where developers already work. Mirroring tagged releases to SourceForge with its GitHub Importer is free and reaches people who still search SourceForge's download catalog, though the outbound link back to your site is nofollow.