An indie launch plan, built from each site's stated wait

Plan a launch backwards from the day you want to be live. The places with the longest free queues set your start date: on our list, DevHunt and eBool both say a free submission waits about six months, and OpenHunts put its free queue at about 60 weeks. How long a free launch waits quotes each queue. Communities that expect you to take part before you post your own work need weeks. Launch week itself is short.

This plan puts the places on our list in that order, using what each site says about its own wait, as we read it on 29 or 30 September 2026, and each community's rules as we re-read them on 30 September 2026. We don't measure the traffic or sales a launch brings, so this plan is about order and timing, not results. And we take no money from the places we list.

01The plan at a glance

Counted back from launch day. Each step rests on a stated wait or rule; the sections below give the source.

1. About six months before: submit to the free queues of DevHunt (made for developer tools) and eBool, or plan to pay for a date. A queue longer than that, like OpenHunts' free one, is only worth joining for a launch you don't need on a set day.
2. Four to five months before: Awesome Indie and Uneed, whose free queues hand you a launch date rather than letting you pick one.
3. About three months before: join the communities that limit new members, starting with Lobsters, and send the directories whose waits run to weeks.
4. The last weeks: beta-user directories, if people can join a waiting list; your accounts; your launch kit.
5. Launch week: Product Hunt on the day you schedule, Show HN once people can try the product.
6. After launch: review sites and the directories that publish within days.
7. Alongside, if you apply to accelerators: their deadlines and answer times.

02Why the plan starts months early

Read the approval column as your lead time: the wait each site states for a free submission, in the short form our posters use. Hover a value for the full sentence; each name opens the place's page, with the source and the quote.

A free queue gives you a date; you don't choose it. Uneed says so in plain words:

D038Uneed·Approval

“We assign your launch date, at most 5 months out. An upvote score of 10 to stay published, 20 for the do-follow backlink.”

Our reading: Free line: Uneed assigns the launch date, at most 5 months out; needs an upvote score of 10 to stay published

Its FAQ puts that date "between 30 days and 5 months out", so a product you submit five months ahead can come up after one month. Submit to a free queue only when you could launch on the earliest day it might give you.

Some queues don't state a length. Startup Base says free launches "join a free queue and get a date assigned". CtrlAlt's launch form warns that "the current review queue can significantly delay" the date you pick. Treat both as long until they give you a date.

03Months before: the long free queues

More than a year out. OpenHunts states a free queue of about 60 weeks, with a paid launch or its badge on your site as the ways past it. At that length, the free queue is not a plan; decide between the other two or leave it out.

About six months out. DevHunt is made for developer tools; what it asks of you is in where to launch a developer tool. eBool is a SaaS directory rather than a launch site, with a free queue about as long.

If six months is too far out, pay or leave them out. DevHunt's paid option lets you pick any launch week, and eBool's paid listings are approved in two to three business days. What each skip costs is in how long a free launch waits.

Four to five months out. Awesome Indie's free queue is about four months deep, and its how-it-works page (opens in a new tab) says the date it gives you "is yours from that moment: it never moves". Uneed's window, quoted above, is wide: the date can land anywhere from one to five months after you submit, and the launch needs an upvote score of 10 on the day to stay published. If you need Uneed on a given day, that is the one to pay for.

Write each date into your plan the moment a site gives it to you, and build the rest around it.

A month or more out. Directories that list you after a review rather than on a launch day: Trendystartups says "It may take a few months before you get featured", Pitchwall that free listings "typically have a waiting period of 30+ days", and Dang.ai gives its free review up to four weeks. Two newer launch boards say about the same: Launch Llama reviews free listings in about four weeks, Fazier within 30 days. A listing is not a launch day, so send these once your site is ready to be seen.

04Join the communities before you need them

Some communities limit what a new account can do, and most expect you to take part before you post your own work. That takes weeks.

Lobsters is invitation-only. Its about page (opens in a new tab) says users are "new" for their first 70 days, and that new users can't "submit links to domains we haven't seen submitted before" or use a set of tags that includes show. To post your own project there, get an invitation at least ten weeks ahead. Its self-promotion rule is in the developer tool guide.

Hacker News asks for the same balance. Its guidelines (opens in a new tab): "It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity."

r/startups allows promotion only in designated threads stickied at the top of the subreddit, by the rules we read on 29 September 2026. Reddit blocked our re-check on 30 September, so read the subreddit's rules (opens in a new tab) before you post. It is on the list with the other subreddits, and subreddits for founders quotes each one's line on posting your own work.

GrowthHackers reviews each membership application:

C022Growth Hackers·Approval

“How long does it take to review my application? You will receive an email from community@growthhackers within 2 business days with your access information.”

Our reading: Membership applications are reviewed; access email within 2 business days

Its community page (opens in a new tab) also lists what is not allowed, including accounts created "under company names" and "Posting over-promotional content". Join as yourself, and early enough to have taken part before launch.

05Before launch: beta users

If people can sign up before the product is out, a few places on the list are built for that stage. Where to find beta users covers them with the subreddits that exist for testers.

• Beta List is paid only (quoted in the beta users guide), and its timeline depends on the plan you pay for.
• Early lists pre-launch startups. Its submit page says every submission is reviewed in one to two days, then goes live once paid, or for free if its editors pick it: "Paying guarantees the listing and the date".
• Getworm runs early-adopter campaigns. Its team reviews each campaign before it is published, and a campaign of up to 100 early adopters is free, by its FAQ as we read it on 29 September 2026.

06The launch kit

Accounts. 85 places on the list say whether you need an account to submit, and nearly all of them say you do. Some care whose account it is. Product Hunt's help page on posting (opens in a new tab): "You'll need a personal account to post a product on Product Hunt. Company accounts cannot hunt or post products." Make the accounts in the weeks before, under your own name.

Link-back listings. A few directories list you for free only if your site links to them, among them Dang.ai, Dokey AI and Postmake. What that trade means under Google's rules is in do startup directories help SEO? Decide before launch whether you want other sites' links and badges on yours.

Words and pictures, written once. A one-line tagline, a one-paragraph description, your logo, a few screenshots and your website address, in one document. If you can, add a version people can try without signing up: Show HN's own page (opens in a new tab) asks you to "make it easy for users to try your thing out, ideally without barriers such as signups or emails."

07Launch week

Most of launch week is what you set up earlier. Three things are yours to time.

Product Hunt. You schedule the day, and the post goes live at 12:01 AM Pacific time. More in the Product Hunt alternatives guide.

Show HN. Only when people can use the product. HN's Show HN page: "If your work isn't ready for users to try out, please don't do a Show HN. Once it's ready, come back and do it then." It also says: "Please don't ask friends to upvote or comment. That's not ok on HN." The rest of its rules are in the developer tool guide.

The dates you can buy. To line launches up in one week, use the paid options that let you choose the date. DevHunt's lets you pick any launch week; Uneed's "Skip the waiting line", the exact date; Awesome Indie's paid tiers, any day from tomorrow up to 365 days out; Startup Base's paid tiers, a date up to 30 days ahead. The prices are in how long a free launch waits.

We don't say which weekday works best or how many upvotes to expect. We don't measure either.

08After launch: listings that stay

Once the product is out, the directories that publish within days are quick to add, and the listings stay up after launch week. A few with short stated waits:

There's An AI For That and Dokey AI list AI tools only; AI tool directories covers the rest of that shelf. More free listings are in free startup directories. A company profile on a startup database stays too, and most of the databases that state a price let you add one for free; startup databases sets out each one's wait and checks.

G2 is a review site. Its profile page (opens in a new tab) says its research team verifies a new product "in about 3-5 business days" before placing it in a category. A review profile is worth setting up once people are using the product; where to list B2B software compares the review sites.

09If you also apply to accelerators

Accelerators run on their own calendar. Y Combinator's apply page (opens in a new tab), as we read it on 30 September 2026: "The deadline to apply on-time is November 2 at 8pm PT; if you apply before the deadline, you will get a decision by December 11." Each program's page on the list shows its next deadline while it is open.

Other programs state how long they take, from application to a decision or to funding. Hover a value for the full sentence:

Put the programs you'll apply to in the same plan as the launch sites, so both calendars sit in one list. How long accelerators take to answer quotes each program's timeline, and the rest are in room 03.

10Track it in My launch

My launch keeps this plan on your account. It takes a free account.

• Press + on any poster, in this guide or on the wall, and the place goes into your plan as planned.
• Next up shows the first place you added that is still planned, with its cost, approval time and submit page.
• When the form is in, set the place to submitted. When it's published, paste the listing address and it becomes live. The plan stamps the day of each change.
• Keep a note per place: the launch date a queue gave you, or the day you need to decide whether to pay.
• Export the plan as a CSV, with the dates, the listing addresses and your notes.

Here are the places this plan names:

11How we built this plan

The waits, prices and approval times come from each site's own pages, with the page and the exact words, as we read them on 29 September 2026 (30 September 2026 for Uneed and the launch boards we added that day). We re-read the rules and queue pages quoted here on 30 September 2026; Reddit blocked us that day. Every poster and table row shows the date of its last link check.

We don't submit products or measure what a launch brings. Nobody pays to be listed or to appear in a guide. Read how we check for the details.

12Questions

01

How far in advance should I prepare a launch?

Start from the longest free queue you want to use. When we read them in September 2026, OpenHunts stated a free queue of about sixty weeks, DevHunt and eBool about six months for a free submission, Awesome Indie about four months, and Uneed a date between 30 days and 5 months out. Communities need weeks: Lobsters treats accounts as new for their first 70 days. If you would rather not wait, several launch sites sell a way to pick your date.

02

Should I launch on Product Hunt and Hacker News on the same day?

We can't tell you which works better: we don't measure launch results. Two rules matter for the timing. Show HN is only for something people can try now, so it can't come before the product is usable. And HN's Show HN page asks for a project you're around to discuss, so if both fall on one day, plan to answer two threads.

03

Do I need an account to submit to startup directories?

Usually. Nearly all the places on our list that say whether you need an account say you do. Product Hunt needs a personal account, and company accounts cannot post. Lobsters needs an invitation.

04

What should I prepare before submitting to directories?

A tagline, a one-paragraph description, your logo, screenshots and your website address in one document; the accounts, made under your own name; and a decision on whether you'll put another site's badge or link on yours, since some free listings require one. If you plan a Show HN, a version people can try without signing up.