Where to launch your SaaS, compared by stage and cost

Where should you launch your SaaS? Pick one big free board, one community where people can try it, and one or two small boards whose queue fits your date. This guide compares 13 launch platforms by stage, fee and free-queue wait, all checked on 19 October 2026. AppBoard.pro, which publishes it, is one of the 13.

Where to launch your SaaS at each stage

The right place depends less on the platform than on what you can show. Sort yourself into one of three stages first.

• Before launch. You have a landing page and a waitlist, not a product people can use. This is BetaList territory. Hacker News is not an option yet, because its rules turn away landing pages.

• Launch day. People can sign up and use the product today. Product Hunt gives you reach, Show HN gives you technical feedback, and one smaller board gives you a second, calmer day.

• After launch. You want pages that keep sending visitors for months. Directories such as SaaSHub, AlternativeTo and the Indie Hackers product database do that, and AI directories do it for AI tools.

Four to six platforms is enough for most SaaS launches. Each one costs preparation time and attention on the day. Most of the small ones also cost money or a long wait, which the list further down puts side by side.

Before launch: where to collect a waitlist

BetaList features pre-launch and recently launched startups that have a clear value proposition and a well-designed landing page. As of 19 October 2026, its FAQ says every submission is paid and there is no free option. Prices appear only at the end of the submission form, and plans differ in how soon you are featured. If BetaList does not select your startup, it refunds you in full.

Two rules catch people out. You need your own domain, since free hosting subdomains and direct app-store links are refused. And you get no individual feedback when you are not selected.

When we planned AppBoard's own launch on 6 September 2026, the plan shown to us cost $129, and we skipped it. That was the right call for us because the product was already live. BetaList earns its fee when you have a waitlist page and weeks to fill it.

Hacker News is the place to avoid at this stage. The Show HN guidelines say Show HN is for something people can play with, and they rule out landing pages and fundraisers. Post there once a stranger can try the product.

Launch day: Product Hunt, Hacker News and one smaller board

Product Hunt. Launching is free; the launch guide answers "is it free" with a plain yes. You hunt your own product, and company accounts are not allowed. Launches compete on the homepage leaderboard for Product of the Day. The guide recommends 12:01 am Pacific Time for makers who plan ahead, and it allows a relaunch after a significant new iteration.

Show HN. Posting is free. Your title starts with "Show HN", and the post appears on the new Show HN page before it can reach the main Show page. The guidelines ask you to make the product easy to try, ideally without a signup or an email gate. They also ask you not to recruit friends to upvote, and not to post quickly generated one-off projects.

One smaller board. A second launch in the same week catches people who missed the first. Two good fits:

1. Peerlist Launchpad runs weekly. Launch opens every Monday from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC, and the top three get a profile badge and a newsletter feature. You need a Peerlist profile.

2. DevHunt is for developer tools only, with a weekly vote. Tools that are not for developers are listed outside the vote.

Is Product Hunt still worth it for a SaaS launch?

Yes, for most SaaS products, because the cost is your time rather than money. It is the best-known launch board, and a launch there is free. Only Show HN matches it on price, and Show HN reaches a different, more technical crowd.

The difference is the format. You get one day on a crowded leaderboard, and the result depends on preparation and on whether your buyers browse Product Hunt at all. Launch there when you can stay online for the whole day and answer every comment. Delay it if you cannot.

Two cases change the answer. Developer tools often get more useful feedback from Show HN and DevHunt, where most of the audience writes code. AI tools have a dedicated directory, covered below. Be careful with traffic comparisons on vendor pages: several platforms claim to beat Product Hunt, and none of those claims is independent.

Free vs paid launch platforms: what the free queue costs

Almost every small board offers a free launch, but you pay for it in time, in a backlink badge, or both. Paying usually buys one thing: the date you want. The list shows what each platform's own page said on 19 October 2026.

1. Product Hunt. Free route: free, you choose the day. To pick your date: not needed. Rhythm: daily leaderboard.

2. Hacker News (Show HN). Free route: free, product must be tryable. To pick your date: not needed. Rhythm: continuous.

3. Peerlist Launchpad. Free route: no fee shown on the Launchpad page. To pick your date: not needed. Rhythm: weekly, Monday UTC.

4. DevHunt. Free route: listing fee not shown; developer tools only. To pick your date: not shown. Rhythm: weekly vote.

5. Uneed. Free route: free line, launch date assigned up to five months out; 10 upvotes to stay published. To pick your date: $14.99 for a slot in about 14 days; $29.99 to choose the date. Rhythm: assigned dates.

6. Smol Launch. Free route: free with their badge on your site; 50 verified slots a week, next free week 21 December with 450 makers ahead. To pick your date: $19 per launch. Rhythm: weekly, Monday to Sunday.

7. OpenHunts. Free route: 20 free slots a week, about 60 weeks of queue, or add their badge. To pick your date: $9.90, listed against $19. Rhythm: weekly, Monday 08:00 UTC.

8. Fazier. Free route: reviewed within 30 days; a link to Fazier on your homepage or footer is required. To pick your date: $29, listed against $39. Rhythm: daily ranking.

9. TinyLaunch. Free route: standard queue; badge and backlink only for the top three. To pick your date: $39. Rhythm: launch periods, length not stated.

10. MicroLaunch. Free route: free terms not stated on the pricing page. To pick your date: $39 with this week's code, $49 otherwise. Rhythm: 30-day program.

11. BetaList. Free route: none; every submission is paid, refunded if not selected. To pick your date: price shown at the end of the form ($129 when we checked on 6 September). Rhythm: by plan.

12. There's An AI For That. Free route: AI tools only; one free pick from a monthly X thread. To pick your date: $49 one-time review fee. Rhythm: listed in one to two days.

13. AppBoard.pro (publisher of this guide). Free route: free, queued behind paid launches; time varies with volume. To pick your date: $9.99 to go live at once with 7 days of featured placement. Rhythm: daily leaderboard.

Sources: each platform's pricing, launch or FAQ page, read on 2026-10-19. Fazier and MicroLaunch showed discount banners that day, so their prices move.

Look closely at the badge rules. Smol Launch, OpenHunts, Fazier and TinyLaunch all ask for a link or badge back to them on some route. Google's spam policies list excessive link exchanges as link spam. Place a badge on two or three platforms at most, and only where you would launch anyway.

Where to submit an AI tool

There's An AI For That is a directory for AI tools, and it also accepts MCP servers and GPTs. A basic listing costs a $49 one-time review fee, and its larger package with a newsletter feature costs $437. The free route is narrow: it runs a monthly thread on X and lists one tool from each thread. Staff review every submission, publishing takes one to two days on average, and you get a full refund if the tool is not published.

Every general board in the list also takes AI tools. Treat an AI directory as an addition to your launch-day board, not a replacement for it. Its listing keeps working after launch week, which suits the last stage.

After launch: directories that keep sending visitors

A launch day ends; a directory page stays. These are the free ones worth an afternoon in the week after launch.

1. SaaSHub lists products for free once you submit and verify the product.

2. AlternativeTo lists apps as alternatives to better-known ones, which brings visitors who are already comparing tools. We submitted AppBoard to its free queue on 7 September 2026, and it offered a $5 option to be reviewed sooner.

3. Indie Hackers has a product database you can add to with a free account, and a daily Build Board vote.

Alternatives pages are also a good map of newer boards. On AppBoard, 33 listed products name Product Hunt as what they replace, ranked by community engagement. Use that list to find small boards that fit your niche, then check each one's terms the same way the list does.

How to sequence your SaaS launch over two weeks

A plan beats a scramble. Adjust the days to your own date.

1. Day minus 14. Pick the launch-day board and the date. Check the free wait on each small board, join the free lines whose wait fits, and pay only where the date matters.

2. Day minus 7. Prepare the Product Hunt page: tagline, gallery and a first comment that says why you built it. Ask the people you know to try the product, not to vote.

3. Launch day. Go live on Product Hunt at 12:01 am Pacific Time and answer every comment that day.

4. Same week. Post a Show HN if a stranger can try the product without signing up.

5. The next Monday. Launch on Peerlist Launchpad, or on DevHunt if you build developer tools.

6. Week two. Add the product to SaaSHub, AlternativeTo, Indie Hackers and AppBoard, plus an AI directory if it is an AI tool.

Terms on small boards change often. Two of them showed discount banners on the day we checked. Re-read each pricing page on the day you submit.

Choose your four to six platforms today

You now know which stage you are in, which board carries your launch day, and what each smaller board costs in money or waiting time. Write down four to six platforms, put a date next to each, and start the free queues now, because some of them run for months. If AppBoard is on your list, you can launch for free and wait your turn, or pay to go live the same day.

Submit your product on AppBoard.pro