In short: of twenty startup directories that advertise a free listing, seven offered one with no link back and a stated wait under about a month. Five offered one only after a queue of up to six months. Six list a site only if it links back to them, one turned out to be paid only, and the twentieth, Feed My Startup, no longer has a working form.
Free, no strings, a stated wait under about a month — 7
These offer a listing without a payment and without a link back from your site. None of them promised a followed link to every free listing.
- Launching NextNo account. Reviewed daily; you get an email if published.
- Startup StashNo account, a short application, reviewed by hand. No price anywhere.
- Next Big ProductYou pick an open date; the next one was eight days out. The free listing is nofollow.
- SaaSHubApproved within about 32 days; verifying with an email on your domain speeds it up.
- Startup RankingSocial login; wants country, founding date and 300+ characters. Approved by hand.
- Peerlist LaunchpadNeeds a profile, and launches open only on Mondays (UTC).
- TinyLaunchA launch date is assigned — mid-October for a September submission. Only the top 3 get a link, with their badge.
Free, but you wait months — 5
Real free routes with a long queue. Each sells a shortcut.
- PeerPushAbout two months: 3,727 in the queue on 26 September. Hidden from search engines until it launches. $39 skips it.
- AlternativeToA queue of several thousand apps. $5 buys a review in 1–2 days.
- UneedUp to five months reported. Noindex and nofollow while you wait. $14.99 skips it.
- PitchWall30+ days, then one day on the homepage. The plan card lists a dofollow link under Free — its icon crosses it out.
- Open LaunchEvery free slot was taken for six months: the first open day was 25 March 2027. $9 skips it.
Free only if your site links back — 6
The listing is the payment for a link from you. The one checker we tried read only the homepage — a link on a separate page did not count.
- LaunchPandaTheir badge on your homepage, verified automatically — or $19.
- FazierA link from your homepage or footer, then listed within 30 days — or $29.
- StartupBaseTheir badge, then a 4–5 week queue — or $39, pre-selected.
- HuzzlerTheir badge, a 72-day queue, and the free page is not indexed by Google — or $39.
- Launch VaultA verified dofollow link to them — or $9.99.
- Turbo0A link back to them, then listed within two weeks — or $29.90.
No free route — 1
- BetaListAfter the form, only $39, $99 or $299. The free queue many guides still describe is gone.
What we would tell a founder doing this next week
- 01Read the pricing page before you make an account. It answered the free question every time, and it saves making an account you do not need.
- 02Read the icons, not the text. One plan card listed a followed link under Free; the icon beside it was a cross.
- 03Replace the listing they write for you. Four of these draft the listing from your homepage with AI, and two more offer to. A draft built from your page repeats your page — including what is wrong with it.
- 04Decide about link-backs once. Six of twenty ask for one. Either you accept a badge on your homepage, or you skip them all; deciding each time costs an afternoon.
- 05Expect nofollow. Of the twelve that list you without a link back, none promised a followed link to every free listing. List for the visitors, and treat a followed link as a bonus.
How we did it
Said, who builds LaunchGrill, went through each directory in his own browser on 25 and 26 September 2026, with the listing prepared in advance. We paid for nothing. Prices and queues are what each site showed that day; directories change them without notice, so each directory’s own page here carries the date it was checked.