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Submission guidelines

Everything we check, published in advance

A rejection should never be a surprise. This page is the whole rulebook: the bar your app has to clear, what we will not list at all, the exact reason codes we use, and the rules for promoting a launch.

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The quality bar

Six things every listing needs

The same six for every tier. Paying changes how fast we look, never what we are looking for.

  1. Live and usable

    Anyone can install it or sign up today. A waitlist, a private beta or a coming-soon page is not a launch yet.

  2. A domain you control

    A registered domain. Free hosting subdomains and app-store-only links are not enough on their own, though store links are welcome alongside a real domain.

  3. A landing page that explains the app

    A stranger should be able to tell what it does, who it is for and how to start, without watching a video.

  4. A working install or signup path

    A download, a package command, a store listing or a signup form that completes without an invite code.

  5. At least one real screenshot

    Your actual interface. Stock mockups and hero illustrations do not count as screenshots.

  6. Three to eight written features

    Short and specific, in your own words. This is what gets quoted by search engines and answer engines.

Out of scope

What we do not list

Not a judgment on the product. These simply are not what this directory is for.

  • Other directories, listing sites and launch platforms.
  • Templates, boilerplates, starter kits and UI packs sold as a product.
  • Courses, ebooks, cohort programs and paid newsletters.
  • Affiliate storefronts, dropship catalogs and white-label resales of somebody else’s product.
  • Anything adult, illegal, or built to harass, deceive or scrape people without consent.
  • Apps that do not exist yet, including concept pages, mockups and pre-launch pitches.

Reason codes

If we decline, you get one of these

Every rejection and change request names a code from this list and adds a sentence about your specific app. Paid submissions are refunded in full in the same email.

not_live
The app is not usable yet. Come back when someone can install it or sign up without an invite.
waitlist_only
The page collects emails for a future product rather than giving access to a current one.
no_own_domain
The submission points at a free hosting subdomain or an app store page instead of a domain you control.
duplicate
This app, or the same product under another name, is already listed. We keep the original and redirect the copy.
thin_content
The landing page has too little substance to describe: under a couple of hundred words, no explanation of what the app does, or no title.
is_directory_or_template
The product is another directory, a template pack, a boilerplate or a starter kit rather than an app.
is_course_or_ebook
The product is a course, an ebook, a cohort program or a paid newsletter rather than software.
affiliate_or_resell
The site resells or affiliate-markets somebody else’s product rather than shipping its own.
adult_or_illegal
The app is adult content, is illegal in major jurisdictions, or exists to harass, deceive or scrape people.
broken_site
The site returned an error, timed out, is parked, or the signup and install path does not complete.
saturated_category
We already list several near-identical tools in this category and this one does not add anything they lack. Tell us what is different and resubmit.
low_craft
The app works but the execution is not ready to recommend: broken layout, placeholder copy, unhandled errors on the main path.
vote_manipulation
Upvotes were bought, traded, incentivized or generated. The listing is removed from the leaderboard and the account is barred from the free queue.

A change request is not a rejection. It names the same codes but keeps your place in the queue: fix the point, resubmit through your edit link, and review continues from where it stopped.

Promotion

How you may promote a launch

Ranking blends upvotes, substantive comments, views and outbound clicks, so campaigning for one number distorts everything. The rules are short.

Do this

  • Share your listing anywhere you like, including X, Reddit, Discord, Slack, Hacker News and your own newsletter.
  • Ask people to look at your app, try it and leave a substantive comment.
  • Embed the badge on your site, in your README and in your release notes.
  • Email your own users and tell them you launched.

Never this

  • Asking for upvotes, directly or with a wink. "Support us" with a link to the vote button counts.
  • Rewarding votes with credits, discounts, giveaways, follows or anything else of value.
  • Buying votes, trading votes with other makers, or organizing a vote pod.
  • Creating extra identities, using proxies or scripting the vote control.

Breaking these removes the listing from the leaderboard for that week, and repeat cases get the vote_manipulation code and a ban on the free queue. Feed order is randomized for the first 24 hours anyway, so an early burst of votes buys less than it looks like it should.

The badge

One of three ways to earn a dofollow link

The badge is an option, not a toll. The free tier does not require it.

  1. Ten upvotes. Pass 10 upvotes during your launch window and the link flips to dofollow automatically.
  2. A verified badge. Embed the badge from your listing page on your own site, with a followed link back. Our crawler checks it, and the link flips on the next check.
  3. An editor's pick. Editorial judgment, which is also how curated seed listings qualify.

Limits

Rate limits and anti-spam

  • One submission per email address every 7 days.
  • Three submissions per IP address every 24 hours.
  • Two submissions per domain, ever. A third is a relaunch, not a new listing.
  • Domains registered in the last 14 days are held for a manual look before review.
  • Disposable email domains are blocked. Use an address you will still read in a year, because it is also your edit link.

We also crawl your site at submission time and decline pages that return an error, are parked, have no title or have too little content to describe. There is no bot wall and no interstitial challenge on the public site: those break legitimate fetches, which is a worse problem than the one they solve.

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