Straight answers about launching, discovery, voting, pricing, sponsorships, directories, and how ShipNLaunch works.
See how ShipNLaunch works, what you can launch, and whether it fits your product.
How submissions, review, launch weeks, and product pages work.
ShipNLaunch is a product launch and discovery platform for founders, indie hackers, and developers. Makers can launch SaaS products, AI tools, developer tools, mobile apps, browser extensions, open-source projects, APIs, websites, productivity tools, and side projects.
After approval, each product gets a public page and can participate in ShipNLaunch's weekly discovery experience.
Yes. ShipNLaunch is a Product Hunt alternative built around weekly launches and ongoing product discovery. Product Hunt and ShipNLaunch use different launch models; ShipNLaunch emphasizes approved product pages that can stay findable after launch week.
Sign in, submit your product name, tagline, description, website URL, logo, screenshots, pricing, and up to three categories. Then choose an available Free Launch week or use Starter Launch if you have completed the paid Starter checkout.
Submissions are reviewed before publication. Approved products receive a public product page and can appear in the appropriate weekly discovery cycle.
ShipNLaunch is focused on useful software and internet products. Supported product types include SaaS products, AI tools, developer tools, mobile apps, browser extensions, open-source projects, APIs, websites, productivity tools, and indie side projects.
Yes. Free Launch lets an approved product join an available launch week and receive a permanent product page, weekly discovery listing, community voting, feedback, category placement, and maker profile association.
Free Launch products use the standard outbound link policy. A verified ShipNLaunch badge is required to qualify for a followed product link; without a verified badge, modern Free Launch product links use nofollow.
Yes. ShipNLaunch reviews submissions before publication to reduce spam, reject junk listings, and keep the discovery feed useful. Review does not mean ShipNLaunch endorses every claim made by a product.
How weekly discovery, community votes, maker profiles, and ongoing visibility work.
ShipNLaunch organizes approved launches into weekly discovery cycles. Free Launch makers choose an available launch week during submission, while Starter Launch makers can request a target launch date subject to moderation and scheduling.
Approved products appear in the discovery feed for people to explore, vote on, and discuss. ShipNLaunch does not sell organic ranking positions.
Authenticated users can upvote products they find useful. Vote counts update product visibility signals in the discovery experience, but paid placements do not create organic votes or buy organic rank.
Automated voting, vote trading, and other manipulation are not allowed.
Approved product pages do not disappear when launch week ends. The weekly cycle moves on, but the product page, votes, discussion, categories, and maker connection can remain part of ShipNLaunch.
Maker profiles are public pages connected to the people building and submitting products. They help visitors understand who is behind a product and can group a maker's launched products in one place.
Maker Streaks reward daily community participation. A maker can earn up to 3 points per UTC day: 1 point for upvoting another maker's approved product and 2 points for leaving a meaningful comment.
Actions on your own products do not count toward your Maker Streak.
Free launching, Starter Launch, sponsorships, and paid visibility.
Free Launch is $0 and lets makers choose an available launch week, submit for review, and receive a permanent product page after approval.
Starter Launch is a $10 one-time option. It includes a requested launch date, priority moderation review, seven days of featured sidebar placement after publication, a featured launch badge during placement, a permanent product page, and no website badge requirement to purchase Starter.
No. Starter Launch is a one-time purchase, not a recurring subscription. Payment is confirmed through Dodo before the paid Starter entitlement is attached to the submission.
Yes. The live self-serve advertising option is Sidebar Spotlight, a clearly labelled sponsored placement in the right sponsor rail priced at $5 for 7 days, subject to available inventory and review.
This FAQ only describes advertising placements that are publicly bookable today.
Yes. Sponsored placements are labelled and separated from organic product rankings. Sponsorship does not buy votes, alter weekly ranking, change monthly or top rankings, or modify organic product scores.
How product pages, categories, search, and external links work.
Yes. Every approved product gets a dedicated public product page at a URL like /products/[slug]. Product pages can include the product name, tagline, description, logo, screenshots, categories, maker information, discussion, votes, and outbound website link.
Yes. ShipNLaunch is designed for discovery beyond the launch window. Approved products can be found through permanent product pages, categories, search, maker profiles, and other public discovery surfaces.
No. ShipNLaunch can provide an additional public discovery surface for an approved product, but it does not guarantee Google rankings, traffic, backlinks, sales, or AI recommendations.
Outbound link behavior depends on the product's launch context. Historical products without a launch plan keep their existing followed treatment. Modern Free Launch products with a server-verified ShipNLaunch badge can qualify for a followed product link.
Modern Free Launch products without a verified badge and Starter Launch products use nofollow on standard product website links. Paid sponsor placements use sponsored link attributes where appropriate.
How ShipNLaunch's optional directory submission service works.
Yes. Directory Submission is a standalone $30 one-time service. ShipNLaunch manually submits your product to 35+ relevant directories, selects directories based on the product, tracks submission status, and provides a final report with submitted directory links.
No. Each directory has its own review rules. ShipNLaunch cannot guarantee acceptance, backlinks, rankings, traffic, domain-rating growth, or sales from directory submission.
After checkout is confirmed, the order becomes ready for manual fulfillment. ShipNLaunch uses the submitted product details to complete relevant directory submissions, track the work, and prepare the final report.
The current service page describes fulfillment as approximately seven days after confirmed payment.
Machine-readable ShipNLaunch resources for search engines and AI systems.
Yes. ShipNLaunch provides llms.txt as a compact machine-readable resource for AI crawlers and assistants that need a factual overview of the platform.
Yes. ShipNLaunch also provides llms-full.txt for more complete platform documentation, mechanics, and public context.
ai.txt is a machine-readable identity and source metadata file. It helps AI systems understand ShipNLaunch's public identity and the first-party resources that describe the platform.
Start with ShipNLaunch's public About page and llms.txt for the platform definition, then use public product pages, categories, guides, and other crawlable pages for additional context.
No. Machine-readable resources can make public information easier to understand, but inclusion, ranking, and citation decisions are controlled by external AI and search systems.
