Where to find beta users before launch: pre-launch lists and communities, checked

The best-known pre-launch list, BetaList, is now paid only. Free alternatives still exist, but most of them are communities with rules rather than directories: a few subreddits exist for exactly this, and a handful of sites list betas and early-adopter offers for free, some after an editor's review.

This guide covers the places on our list built for products before or around launch: what each costs, what it asks of you and what its rules allow, from each site's own pages as we read them on 29 and 30 September 2026. We don't measure how many testers a post brings, and we take no money from the places we list.

01The short list

The table shows what each poster shows: the kind, the cost where the site states one, and the date of our last link check. Hover a cost for the full text. A blank cost means the site states none, which for a community usually means it costs nothing to post but has rules instead. Those are below.

02BetaList is paid now

Beta List still describes itself as "an overview of upcoming internet startups", and it is still the name most founders know. But it no longer has a free queue. Its support page (opens in a new tab), as we read it on 30 September 2026:

No. BetaList used to offer free submissions, but all submissions now require payment.

The same page says "All plans include a do-follow backlink if featured, and a full refund if not selected", and that the timeline "depends on the plan you paid for". Some published lists of BetaList alternatives still give it a free queue; go by BetaList's own page. What other paid directories charge, and which refund you, is in paid startup directories.

03Alternatives to BetaList, free and paid

Which alternative fits depends on what you wanted from BetaList. On our list, by the job, with the details in the sections below:

• A free listing before launch. Betabound offers "a free announcement of your beta testing opportunity", if its editors post it. 10 Words lists a product in its newsletter and on its site for free. Getworm runs early-adopter offers, and "your first 100 early adopters are on us."
• The closest thing to BetaList. Early is a daily, curated list of pre-launch startups. You pay to go live, or it lists you for free if its editors pick you.
• A launch day instead. Peerlist Launchpad runs a weekly launch for developers and designers, and the launch boards with a free queue are in Product Hunt alternatives.
• A developer tool. Console picks betas against published criteria and doesn't sell reviews.
• Testers rather than a listing. Reddit has subreddits built for it; posting is free, and the rules are what to read first.

Lists of BetaList alternatives often start with other names. StackReaction's list (opens in a new tab), last updated on 1 October 2026 and read by us on 2 October, puts Launching Next and Startup Buffer near the top. Both are on our list: Launching Next and Startup Buffer. But our last link check couldn't confirm either site, and we haven't read a price or a rule on their own pages yet, so we can't tell you what a listing there costs or takes. Open each site and read its terms before you submit.

04Other pre-launch lists

A few sites on the list take products before launch, and most of them are free:

• Early is "Early-stage startups & pre-launch tools, curated daily". It accepts, in its words, "early product releases: live with a waitlist or MVP". Each submission is reviewed in one to two days; then the listing goes live once you pay €29, or for free if its editors pick it.
• Getworm runs early-adopter offers ("worms"): you offer early users a deal for joining. Its team reviews each campaign before it is published, and the first 100 are free:

D078Getworm·Cost

“You can create a worm campaign with up to 100 worms for free. This means your first 100 early adopters are on us.”

Our reading: Free for a campaign of up to 100 worms (early adopters)

• Betabound announces beta tests to testers. Its announce page offers "a free announcement of your beta testing opportunity to be showcased on our homepage", and warns that "not all submissions will be posted or responded to."
• 10 Words is a newsletter and site that describes each product in ten words or fewer. Listing is free:

D00310 words·Cost

“Each project you submit to 10words will be included on our newsletter, website, Twitter, discover section and browser extensions - for free!”

Our reading: Free

• Peerlist Launchpad is a weekly launch for developers and designers that, in its own words, "helps you launch your projects, get feedback, and early users". The launch window opens every Monday and a launch runs for a week; you need a verified individual Peerlist profile.
• Console, a developer-tools newsletter, reviews "the most interesting devtools and latest beta releases". It picks tools against published criteria and says "We do not do sponsored reviews." One criterion: "an individual developer should be able to try it themselves without speaking to anyone."

D128Console·In their words

“A free weekly devtools newsletter. Reviews of the most interesting devtools and latest beta releases.”

05Subreddits that exist for testers

Reddit is where the free options are, and each subreddit sets its own rules. Reddit blocks our link checker, so we read these from each subreddit's public feed and pinned posts on 30 September 2026. Read the sidebar before you post: rules change, and some we could not read in full.

• r/alphaandbetausers exists for this. Its description: "Our innovators need people to use their products to give them feedback! It is hard enough to develop a product. Let's make it easier for them to recruit the critical early users". Its sidebar rules were not readable to us.
• r/betatests: "Makers: post your product and get real feedback. All types welcome."
• r/TestFlight is "Where developers and testers meet for App Store betas", for iOS apps in Apple's TestFlight.
• r/SideProject "is a subreddit for sharing and receiving constructive feedback on side projects."
• r/roastmystartup and r/websitefeedback take your product as a request for feedback, and both remove posts that are only a link. For Android apps, r/droidappshowcase sends testers requests to r/droidapptesters; Google Play's own closed-test rule, and the subreddits built for it, are in where to promote an Android app.

Each of these rules is quoted in full in subreddits for founders, with the ones that welcome promotion, the ones that keep it to a pinned thread and the ones that ban it. The general startup subreddits are stricter: r/startups, for one, allows promotion only in its stickied threads.

06Communities with their own rules

Outside Reddit, these communities on the list have a written line on posting your own work:

• Show HN is for something people can use now. Its page (opens in a new tab): "If your work isn't ready for users to try out, please don't do a Show HN." So a waiting list doesn't qualify; a working beta people can open, ideally "without barriers such as signups or emails", does. More in where to launch a developer tool.
• Indie Hackers has no formal rules page, only its founder's posting tips, which ask for discussions, questions and lessons. A post about what you learned building the beta fits that; a bare link to a signup page doesn't.
• WIP is paid membership only, and its guidelines rule out asking for upvotes and "Excessive self-promotion".

Their rules, and those of other founder communities, are quoted in self-promotion rules in founder communities.

07Asking for testers under the rules

The rules above agree on a few things. Nothing here is our own launch experience; it is what the pages say.

• Something people can try. Show HN and Console both want a product an individual can use without talking to anyone. A beta with a signup is fine for most subreddits; a landing page alone is not a beta.
• Context, not a link. r/websitefeedback wants what the product does, who it's for and what feedback you want. r/roastmystartup bans one-line posts with a link. r/startups_promotion wants a sentence or two on why it's needed and your questions.
• One post, then changes. r/sideprojects, a separate subreddit from r/SideProject, allows advertising projects but lets you share one again only once "significant changes" have happened since the last post.
• No asking for votes. WIP rules it out, and HN's Show HN page says "Please don't ask friends to upvote or comment."

08Pre-launch lists that no longer work

Directory lists age badly. In our 2026 link check, Launched, which was on our list, no longer resolved, and neither did Startupstage, from our research list. The Startup Pitch's certificate was issued for a different host name, so browsers show a warning instead of the site. Lists of directories still carry some of them: one GitHub list of startup directories (opens in a new tab) still had submit links for Launched, The Startup Pitch and All Startups when we read it on 30 September 2026. All three failed our check. We print their names without links on purpose; the changelog has each removal from our list. How to spot a dead or hijacked directory yourself is in check a directory before you submit.

09Next step: the launch plan

Beta users come before launch day, so this is an early step in the launch plan: the long free launch queues start months ahead, and the beta-user places fit in the weeks before launch. Add the places you'll use to My launch with the + on each poster:

10How we checked

Prices and rules come from each site's own pages, read on 29 and 30 September 2026, with the page and the exact words on each place's page on the list. Reddit blocks our checker, so subreddit rules come from each subreddit's public feed or pinned posts, and their posters show when we last tried. We don't post products or measure what a post brings. Nobody pays to be listed or to appear in a guide. Read how we check for the details.

11Questions

01

Is BetaList free?

No. BetaList's own support page says it used to offer free submissions but all submissions now require payment. All plans include a full refund if your startup is not selected.

02

What are the best BetaList alternatives?

It depends on what you wanted from BetaList. For a free listing before launch, Betabound, 10 Words and Getworm have free options; Early charges to go live but lists a product for free if its editors pick it. For testers rather than a listing, subreddits such as r/alphaandbetausers and r/betatests exist for that. We don't rank them by results, because we don't measure what a listing brings.

03

Where can I find beta testers for free?

Subreddits built for it, such as r/alphaandbetausers, r/betatests and, for iOS apps, r/TestFlight; free listings on Getworm (up to 100 early adopters), Betabound and 10 Words; and communities like Show HN once people can try the product. Read each one's rules first. We don't measure how many testers a post brings.

04

Can I post my beta on Reddit?

In some subreddits, yes: r/alphaandbetausers and r/betatests exist for it, and r/SideProject is for sharing side projects for feedback. General startup subreddits are stricter; r/startups allows promotion only in its stickied threads. Give context rather than a bare link: r/roastmystartup bans one-line posts linking to Product Hunt.

05

Can I do a Show HN for a beta?

Only if people can try it now. HN's Show HN page says not to post work that isn't ready for users to try, and not to post landing pages. A working beta people can open without a signup fits best.