Glossary
Launch and directory terms
The vocabulary of launching a product: launch platforms, directories, listings, badges and the rules behind them. Definitions use numbers from the 352 directories we checked.
- AI agent directory
- An AI agent directory lists AI agents and agent products: software that completes a task end to end rather than answering one prompt. Visitors are looking for an agent to do a specific job, such as research, outreach or support. The group is small and newer than AI tool directories, with modest but specific traffic.
- AI tools directory
- An AI tools directory is a website that lists AI products, usually organised by task such as writing, images, coding or sales, with a page per tool, its pricing and a link. People use them to find a tool for a job. They are the largest and most uneven group of directories in our catalog.
- Alternatives directory
- An alternatives directory organises software around the products it replaces, so each well-known tool has a page listing its alternatives. People arrive searching for "alternatives to" a named product. A listing pays off when your product replaces something people already know.
- Automated directory submission
- Automated directory submission uses software, a browser extension or an AI agent to fill in directory submit forms instead of doing it by hand. Good tools adapt copy to each form and stop for CAPTCHAs, payments and approvals. Bad ones blast the same text to hundreds of low-quality sites.
- Badge exchange
- A badge exchange is a deal in which a directory lists your product, or makes its link to you dofollow, once you put the directory's badge on your site. The badge links back to the directory, so both sites end up linking to each other. It is a form of reciprocal linking.
- Beta launch
- A beta launch releases a product that works but is still labelled unfinished, so users expect rough edges and give feedback. A private beta is invite-only; a public beta is open to anyone who signs up. Many startups launch on directories during a public beta to get early users.
- Category tags
- Category tags are the labels a directory uses to group listings, such as "Writing", "CRM" or "Developer tools". You choose them when you submit. They decide which category pages and searches your listing appears in, so they matter more for visibility than almost any other field.
- Claimed listing
- A claimed listing is a directory or review-site profile that the product's owner has verified and taken control of. Many directories add products themselves or let users suggest them; claiming lets you correct facts, update screenshots and reply to reviews. Some mark claimed listings as verified.
- Dead directory
- A dead directory is a directory that no longer works or no longer publishes listings: the site is down, the submit form is broken, submissions are never reviewed, or it has turned into a parked or spam page. Old directory lists are full of them, which wastes hours of submission time.
- Demo video
- A demo video is a short recording that shows a product working, used on launch pages, directory listings and landing pages. For a launch, 30 to 90 seconds is typical: the problem in a sentence, the product solving it on screen, and where to try it. Product first, talking heads last.
- Design showcase
- A design showcase is a site that collects examples of well-designed websites, landing pages or app screens, such as Land-book, Lapa Ninja or SaaS Landing Page. Designers and founders browse them for inspiration. Getting featured brings designer attention and a link, mostly to sites with a distinctive design.
- Directory DR
- Directory DR is the Domain Rating of a directory site: Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score of how strong its backlink profile is. Founders use it to judge how much a directory link might be worth. The median directory in our catalog has a DR of 49; 69 have 70 or more.
- Directory submission
- Directory submission is the work of adding your product or website to online directories by filling in each directory's submit form. In SEO it is one of the oldest ways to earn backlinks. For software today, the goal is discovery, backlinks and consistent listings that search engines and AI assistants read.
- Directory submission service
- A directory submission service is a company or freelancer that submits your product to a list of directories for a fee. Prices range from tens to hundreds of dollars for 50 to 500 directories. Quality varies widely: good ones use real, relevant directories; bad ones pad the count with link farms.
- Directory traffic
- Directory traffic is the number of visits a directory gets, usually estimated per month by tools such as Similarweb or Ahrefs. It is the best single signal of whether a listing can send you visitors. In our catalog the median directory gets about 7.6K visits a month, and a few get millions.
- Dofollow listing
- A dofollow listing is a directory listing whose link to your site has no nofollow, ugc or sponsored attribute, so search engines may pass link equity through it. A nofollow listing still sends visitors but tells search engines not to count the link. In our checks, 214 of 352 directories gave dofollow links.
- Editorial review
- Editorial review is a directory's process of checking each submission by hand before publishing it: does the product work, does it fit the category, is the listing complete and honest. Directories with editorial review are worth more to readers and search engines, because they reject spam and thin products.
- Fast-track review
- A fast-track review is a paid option on a directory or launch platform that skips the free submission queue, so your listing is reviewed and published within hours or days instead of weeks. It buys time, not quality: the listing is usually the same as a free one.
- Featured launch
- A featured launch is a product a launch platform's team has chosen to show on its main ranked list for the day. Unfeatured launches still get a page but sit outside the homepage ranking, get little traffic and can't win daily awards. On Product Hunt, only a share of each day's launches is featured.
- Featured listing
- A featured listing is a highlighted placement on a directory, such as the top of a category page, the homepage or a newsletter, usually sold for a set period. It brings extra visibility while it lasts. It's advertising, so any link that comes with it should be marked sponsored or nofollow.
- First comment
- The first comment is the maker's opening comment on a Product Hunt launch, posted right after it goes live. It tells the story behind the product: why it exists, who it's for, what's new and what feedback the team wants. Product Hunt says most Product of the Day winners had one.
- Free listing
- A free listing is a directory listing you get without paying. Many come with conditions: a badge on your site, a link back, a long queue or a nofollow link. In our checks, 294 of 352 directories had a free route, and 178 of them gave a dofollow link.
- Free vs paid directory listings
- Free directory listings cost nothing but may require a badge, a long queue or come with a nofollow link. Paid listings skip queues, add featured placement or a followed link, at one-time or recurring prices. Of 352 directories we checked, 294 had a free route and 51 were paid only.
- Hunter
- A hunter is the person who posts a product to Product Hunt. Anyone with an account can hunt a product, including its own makers. Hunters with large followings used to be sought after because their followers got notified, but most featured launches today are posted by the makers themselves.
- Integration marketplace
- An integration marketplace is a platform's own directory of apps that connect to it, such as the Slack App Directory, the Zapier app directory or the Shopify App Store. Listing there puts your product in front of that platform's users at the moment they look for an add-on. It requires building the integration first.
- Launch badge
- A launch badge is a small image a directory or launch platform gives you to put on your site, usually linking back to your listing. Some badges are awards, like Product of the Day. Others are the price of a free listing: no badge on your site, no listing or no followed link.
- Launch checklist
- A launch checklist is a list of everything a team needs ready before, during and after a product launch: the product, the site, tracking, launch assets, directory submissions, emails and the people on duty. It stops launch-day surprises such as a broken sign-up or missing analytics.
- Launch day
- Launch day is the date a product is publicly announced on a launch platform or to the world. On Product Hunt it runs from midnight to midnight Pacific time. Most of a launch platform's traffic to a product arrives on that day, so teams prepare for weeks and stay online for all of it.
- Launch directory
- A launch directory is a website that lists new software products, usually with a dedicated page per product that links to the product's site. Founders submit to launch directories to get discovered by early adopters, earn a backlink and add one more place where search engines and AI assistants can read about the product.
- Launch gallery
- A launch gallery is the set of images and video at the top of a product's launch page. On Product Hunt the first gallery image doubles as the preview people see when the launch is shared. Good galleries show the product doing its job, with a short caption on each image.
- Launch leaderboard
- A launch leaderboard is the ranked list of products launched on a platform in a given day, week or month. Rankings come from weighted upvotes, comments and timing. The top of the leaderboard gets most of the platform's traffic, newsletter mentions and award badges.
- Launch page
- A launch page is the page a launch platform creates for your product: name, tagline, gallery, description, makers, links and the comment thread. It's what voters, editors and visitors judge you by on launch day, and it stays online afterwards as a permanent listing with a link to your site.
- Launch plan
- A launch plan is the schedule of where, when and how a product will be announced: the main launch day, which launch platforms and directories follow and in what order, the emails and posts around them, and who does what. It turns one launch day into several weeks of steady attention.
- Launch platform
- A launch platform is a site where makers post a new product on a set day, the community votes on it, and the best-voted products are featured at the top for that day or week. Product Hunt is the best-known example. Traffic arrives mostly on launch day, so placement matters more than the listing itself.
- Launch platform vs directory
- A launch platform features new products on a set day with votes and a leaderboard, sending a spike of traffic that fades within days. A directory lists products permanently by category, sending slower, steadier traffic and a lasting backlink. Most launches use one big launch platform day plus many directories over the following weeks.
- Launch tagline
- A launch tagline is the one-line description shown under a product's name on a launch platform or directory. It's often the only text people read before deciding to click. Product Hunt caps it at 60 characters; the top products in our sample used a median of 49.
- Launch week
- A launch week is a stretch of five or so days in which a company ships and announces a new feature or product every day. Developer tool companies such as Supabase popularised it. On some launch platforms, launch week also means a weekly ranking period instead of a daily one.
- Link farm
- A link farm is a site or network that exists mainly to link out to other sites for SEO, usually with thin pages, no real audience and no editorial review. Many old general web directories became link farms. Links from them pass little value, and building links there at scale can count as link spam.
- Listing description
- A listing description is the text that describes your product on a directory listing, below the name and tagline. Directories set very different limits, from about 100 characters to several thousand. A good one says who the product is for, what job it does and what makes it different, adapted to each directory's audience.
- Listing rejection
- A listing rejection is a directory's decision not to publish a submitted product. Common reasons are a product that doesn't fit the directory, an incomplete form, a broken or unfinished site, a missing badge or link back, copied text, or a duplicate of an existing listing. Most rejections can be fixed and resubmitted.
- Maker
- A maker is a person credited with building a product on a launch platform. On Product Hunt, makers are listed on the product page, can reply as the team, post the first comment and update the listing. Maker communities like Peerlist and Indie Hackers use the word for founders who build in public.
- MCP registry
- An MCP registry is a directory of Model Context Protocol servers: small programs that give AI clients like Claude or Cursor access to tools and data. Developers browse registries to find servers to install. Listings are usually tied to a GitHub repository or a published package, and some registries sync from the Official MCP Registry.
- No-code directory
- A no-code directory lists apps built with no-code or AI app builders, such as Bubble, Webflow, Lovable or Bolt, often as a showcase of what the tool can make. The audience is other builders using the same tools. Some are run by the builders themselves, like Lovable's showcase.
- Paid listing
- A paid listing is a directory listing you pay for, either because the directory has no free route or because you choose a paid plan with extras. Prices range from a few dollars to a few hundred, one-time or recurring. In our checks, 51 of 352 directories were paid only.
- Prelaunch
- Prelaunch is the period before a product's public launch when the team builds an audience, collects waitlist sign-ups, prepares launch assets and lines up early users. Some launch platforms and directories have prelaunch sections, such as BetaList, where products can be listed before they're fully public.
- Product of the Day
- Product of the Day is the award a launch platform gives to the top-ranked products on a given day. On Product Hunt, the top featured launches each day earn a #1, #2 or #3 Product of the Day badge. Ranking uses upvotes, comments, voter quality and timing, not raw vote counts alone.
- Relaunch
- A relaunch is a second public launch of an existing product, usually after a major update, a rebrand or a pivot. Launch platforms allow it with conditions: Product Hunt accepts relaunches after significant changes and asks makers to wait a while between launches. A relaunch works when there's real news to share.
- SaaS directory
- A SaaS directory is a website that lists software-as-a-service products by category, with a permanent page per product. Unlike a launch platform, there's no launch day or vote. The value is a lasting listing, a backlink and one more consistent description of your product on the web.
- Self-hunt
- A self-hunt is a Product Hunt launch posted by the product's own maker instead of a third-party hunter. It is allowed and common: most featured launches are now self-hunted. It gives the maker full control over timing, copy and media.
- Soft launch
- A soft launch is a quiet release of a product to a limited audience, without a big announcement, to test it with real users before the public launch. A hard launch is the opposite: a full public announcement on a set day, with launch platforms, press and email. Most software teams soft launch first.
- Software review site
- A software review site is a website where verified users rate and review business software, and buyers compare products before shortlisting them. G2, Capterra and TrustRadius are the best known. Vendors create a free profile, then collect reviews from real customers. They have the highest authority of any directory type we checked.
- Startup database
- A startup database is a site that profiles companies rather than products: founders, funding, location, headcount and news. Crunchbase, Dealroom and F6S are examples. Investors, journalists and partners read them, and AI assistants often quote them when describing a company, so an accurate profile matters even though they send little launch traffic.
- Submission queue
- A submission queue is the waiting list a directory or launch platform puts new submissions in before they are reviewed or published. Free queues on popular directories can take weeks or months. Many directories sell a paid option to skip the queue, which is how they make money.
- Submission tracker
- A submission tracker is a list, spreadsheet or tool that records every directory you submitted to, with the date, status, listing URL, link type and any follow-up. Without one, approvals, rejections and badge requirements get lost across dozens of sites and inboxes.
- Upvote
- An upvote is a vote a user gives a product on a launch platform or community site to push it up the ranking. On Product Hunt, Hacker News and most launch platforms, upvotes are weighted: votes from older, active accounts count more, and suspicious votes are discounted or removed.