10 Launch Platforms with Dofollow Backlinks, Compared (2026)

Quick answer

Most launch platforms nofollow their listing links. The ones that do grant dofollow in 2026, and what they require:

• SaasHunt — dofollow on every approved listing. Free tier requires the badge and a site at DR 20 or higher; paid tiers drop the badge requirement. The page is permanent and indexed.
• Launching Next — a free, permanent directory listing that has been a reliable dofollow source for years.
• AppSumo — high-authority product pages, but only for SaaS that can survive a lifetime-deal discount.
• TinyLaunch, DevHunt and MicroLaunch — dofollow links in narrow niches, with conditions that vary by tier.

The test that matters: does the page stay indexed, is the audience relevant, and does the link survive the launch window? A dofollow link on a page nobody finds is worth very little.

Key takeaways

• Verify, do not assume: open an existing listing and look for rel="nofollow" before you invest a launch.
• A permanent dofollow link on a relevant domain beats a higher-DR link that expires in 90 days.
• Free dofollow with a condition (a badge, a verification) usually beats an expensive tier that grants the same link.
• Conditional links — dofollow only if you rank top three, or only above a score — are not assets until the condition is met.
• Publish the same day on two platforms and you get two links for under 30 minutes of extra work.

Disclosure

SaasHunt publishes this comparison and appears in it. The criteria below are applied to our platform exactly as they are to the others.

How to use this ranking

Pick the one that matches your stage, then add a second directory on the same day. Two dofollow links from two relevant domains, published on the same afternoon, is the cheapest SEO outcome a launch can produce.

• New domain, no budget: SaasHunt free tier once the domain reaches DR 20, plus Launching Next immediately.
• Just shipped, wants a link now: SaasHunt Premium at $9.9.
• Mature SaaS with revenue: AppSumo, if the unit economics survive a discount.
• Developer tool: DevHunt, then SaasHunt if the buyer is a company.

Methodology

Four signals decide the order:

1. Link quality — dofollow or not, and from which domain
2. Permanence — does the page stay indexed, or expire with the launch window
3. Requirement — what you must do to earn the link (badge, ranking, payment)
4. Audience relevance — is the page next to products your buyer would compare you to

Nofollow-only platforms were excluded, no matter how large the audience. Links that expire within months rank below permanent ones, even when the domain is stronger.

Ranking at a glance

The ten platforms in detail

1. SaasHunt

The only platform on this list where approval is the condition rather than ranking, score or a badge on a paid tier.

The link rules

• Free Launch — $0. Dofollow after badge verification. Requires a site at DR 20 or higher. Queue up to 270 days.
• Premium — $9.9. Queue skip and priority scheduling, five slots a day. No badge requirement.
• Premium Plus — $12.9 (list $25). Earliest date, permanent featured embed, 14-day feed promotion, Spotlight slot, three slots a day.
• SEO Growth — $49 (list $99). Adds a dedicated review article and next week's newsletter.

The context around the link

• Launch at 08:00 UTC on a daily leaderboard
• Weekly top five enters the newsletter; daily #1 shared on X to roughly 29,000 followers
• The listing stays live, indexed and categorised
• Domain Rating 65, with 555,500 visitors and 1,278,618 page views reported

Pros

• Dofollow granted on approval, not on performance
• Permanent page with category placement
• Free route exists for domains with some authority
• Paid route removes the badge and the queue for $9.9

Cons

• DR 20 floor on the free tier
• Smaller audience than Product Hunt
• No guarantee of votes or traffic
• One link per product, not a network

Details on the pricing page; submit through the project form.

2. Launching Next

An evergreen directory of upcoming startups. The submission is free, the page is permanent, and the link has been a dependable dofollow source for years.

Pros: free, permanent, dofollow, low effort. Cons: little interaction, no launch-day visibility, light curation. Pricing: free, with paid featured submission.

3. AppSumo

Product pages sit on a high-authority domain, and the link passes. Getting there requires a lifetime-deal campaign that survives a deep discount.

Pros: strong domain, real revenue, buyer audience. Cons: revenue share, support burden, discount expectations. Pricing: revenue share.

4. TinyLaunch

Dofollow links go to the top three products each week, and the $39 premium tier guarantees one regardless of ranking.

Pros: weekly window, cheap guaranteed link at premium. Cons: small cohort, thin pages, ranking-dependent on the free tier. Pricing: free, $39 premium.

5. DevHunt

A weekly board for developer tools with dofollow links and a technical audience.

Pros: precise audience, dofollow, weekly cadence. Cons: developer products only, small reach. Pricing: free, paid options from $19.

6. MicroLaunch

A micro-SaaS launch platform with dofollow listings and a longer visibility window.

Pros: dofollow, niche relevance, around 30 days of visibility. Cons: small traffic, subscription pricing for the Pro tier. Pricing: free, Pro around $39/month.

7. SaaSHub

A SaaS catalog with a dofollow link on the paid tier. The free profile is worth claiming anyway, because it ranks in brand and category searches.

Pros: comparison traffic, ownership verification, long-lived pages. Cons: dofollow costs money, review takes weeks, maintenance required. Pricing: free listing, paid tier for the link.

8. SideProjectors

A marketplace and showcase for side projects. Listings are dofollow, and the audience understands small products.

Pros: dofollow, indie audience, possible exit. Cons: transaction-focused, weak as a launch day. Pricing: free, plus a transaction fee.

9. AlternativeTo

Crowd-sourced alternatives. Link treatment varies by listing type and platform policy, so check before you count on it.

Pros: captures "alternative to" intent, free, long-lived pages. Cons: moderation backlog, nofollow on at least some listings, maintenance needed. Pricing: free, optional priority review.

10. LaunchIgniter

A startup launch community with voting and a featured placement option.

Pros: free tier, feedback loop, dofollow listings. Cons: small audience, limited analytics. Pricing: free, paid featured.

How to check a dofollow link in 30 seconds

1. Find any existing product page on the platform — not the homepage.
2. Open it in a browser, right-click the outbound link to the product's site, and choose "Inspect".
3. Read the rel attribute. If it contains nofollow or sponsored, the link does not pass authority.
4. If the anchor text is the product name and the href is a direct link, that is what you want.
5. If the product link is replaced by a redirect domain, treat it as nofollow until proven otherwise.

Do this before you pay. Platform pages and round-up articles go stale fast, and the only authority is the live HTML.

Permanent versus expiring links

An expiring link is a rented asset. A permanent one is owned.

• Permanent examples: SaasHunt (listing stays live), Launching Next (evergreen directory), SaaSHub (catalog page), BetaList (archive).
• Expiring or conditional examples: launch-week-only features, leaderboard pages that reset, campaign pages that are removed after the deal ends.

A DR 40 permanent link usually beats a DR 70 link that disappears in two months, because link value compounds monthly while a dead link stops at zero.

What a single dofollow link can and cannot do

It can: help a new domain get crawled faster, add a relevant referring domain, and create the citation footprint that AI answer engines read when describing your product.

It cannot: replace twenty links, fix a thin site, or move a competitive commercial keyword on its own.

One or two permanent dofollow links from a launch are a foundation, not a strategy. If links are the bottleneck, a volume product such as SaasHunt's DR Booster ($50 for ten permanent dofollow links from DR 30–65 niche sites) is a more honest purchase than five more directory tiers.

Frequently asked questions

Do launch platforms give dofollow backlinks?

Some do, many do not. Product Hunt and Hacker News are nofollow. SaasHunt, Launching Next, DevHunt, TinyLaunch and MicroLaunch grant dofollow under stated conditions. Always check the live HTML rather than a round-up article.

How does SaasHunt grant its dofollow link?

On approval. The free tier requires the SaasHunt badge on your site and a domain at DR 20 or higher; the paid tiers remove the badge requirement. The listing stays indexed after launch week.

Is a dofollow link from a launch platform worth it?

For a new domain, yes — it is one of the cheapest relevant links available, and it comes with referral traffic. It will not, alone, move a competitive keyword.

What is the difference between dofollow and nofollow?

Dofollow passes link equity; nofollow does not, though it still drives traffic and can influence brand searches. For SEO purposes, a permanent dofollow link from a relevant domain is the asset worth paying for.

Should I pay for a link?

Under $50 for a permanent dofollow link on a relevant DR 60+ page is reasonable. Above that, compare against editorial placements and outreach, which cost more per link but come with better context.

How many directory links do I need?

Enough to look established: typically 15 to 30 relevant, indexed, dofollow links in the first year. Fifty unrelated ones will not replace the first fifteen.

Do links expire?

Some do — when a page is removed or a listing is downgraded. Check your live URLs every 90 days and replace anything that has gone.

Where to start

For a SaaS product, the cheapest permanent dofollow link is a SaasHunt listing: free if the domain qualifies, $9.9 if you want a date. Submit it, then publish a Launching Next listing the same afternoon.

Two links, two domains, thirty minutes. Submit your project to SaasHunt and read the 8 best SaaS directories for the rest of the foundation.