How we check the list.

• DNS: the domain still exists and points to a server.
• HTTP and redirects: we load the page and follow every redirect, including JavaScript redirects, and record where the link ends up and the page title.
• Parked, for sale or spam: we flag parking pages, “domain for sale” notices and domains that now show gambling or other spam.
• Subreddits: Reddit blocks most automated visits, so we often cannot confirm a subreddit. It stays on the list and shows “couldn’t check” with the date we tried.

We published what the checks found, with the data as a CSV file: the 2026 link check.

A place is hidden after 3 failed checks in a row (dead, parked or taken over by spam), and from now on those 3 checks must be at least 48 hours apart. In our first check, on 29 September 2026, the 3 failed checks of each removed place were made on the same day. A link that suddenly shows spam is hidden at once while we check it again, so we never send you to a spam page.

When a link now goes to a different site, we hide the place until we have looked at it. Clear rebrands (the old address sends you to the new name, and the new site says so) keep their place under the new name.

Some sites block automated visits (HTTP 403) or ask us to slow down (HTTP 429). Those checks count as “couldn’t check”: the place stays visible, shows the date we tried, and its page shows the date of its last working check.

Every change we publish is in the changelog.

Facts such as the cost, the approval time, the type of backlink, a community’s posting rules or an accelerator’s terms and deadline are copied from each site’s own pages. On every place’s page, each fact links to the page we read it on and shows the exact quote: the receipt.

We never guess. If we have not found a fact on the site itself, it is not shown: no dashes, no example values. Prices change often, so check the site before you pay for anything. The free directories page lists the places whose price text starts with “Free”.

Without an account you see the first places of each room, the name, tagline, kind and check date of every place’s page, the summary of each check in the changelog, and every guide. The rest (every place in every room, the caption in full with cost, approval time, link type, submit page and each fact with its source, the lines of the changelog and the data files) opens with a free account: we email you a sign-in link, there is no password. Search engines see what a visitor without an account sees, so place pages are not indexed.

It is not a review. A working link says nothing about a site’s traffic, quality or how many users a listing brings you.

The list is editorial. We add places where founders can launch, get feedback or apply, and we remove places that shut down, changed into something else or stopped taking startups. We leave out general local-business directories and search-engine submission sites: they are not places to launch a startup.

Places appear in our own order: first a few well-known places we picked by hand, then places whose link check passed and that have the most checked facts, then the rest. Nobody pays to be listed or to move up. See how we make money.

Every place’s page has a “report a problem” form: pick what is wrong and add a note. You can also email hi@venturelist.app.