Product launch checklist: 24 steps in time order, from two weeks out to the week after

This product launch checklist has 24 steps for launching a software product, in the order the work happens: two weeks before, one week before, launch day, the week after, and measuring. It puts numbers on the parts other checklists leave vague. Of the 126 directories and launch platforms we track, 50 are launch platforms, 40 give a followed link, and 32 of the 58 that state a review time publish within 7 days (checked 22 September 2026).

The checklist at a glance

Two weeks before

1. Write the tagline, under 60 characters.
2. Write the description at 50, 150 and 300 words.
3. Export the logo as a 512 px square PNG and an SVG.
4. Take three to five screenshots at 1280 px wide.
5. Record one GIF of the product doing its main job.
6. Set up an email address on your own domain.

One week before

7. Build the listing kit: one document with every asset and answer.
8. Submit to the directories that publish within a week.
9. Join the long queues now, whatever the launch date.
10. Add one badge strip to your site’s footer.
11. Check the site is indexed and loads fast on a phone.

Launch day

12. Post on Product Hunt at 12:01 am Pacific.
13. Post on the two or three launch platforms that fit, the same morning.
14. Publish the launch post on your own site.
15. Tell your list, your customers and your network, one message each.
16. Reply to every comment for 24 hours.
17. Post a Show HN if the product is technical.

The week after

18. Launch again on the weekly and monthly platforms.
19. Add the badges that unlock a followed link.
20. Check that every listing is live and the link points at your URL.
21. Write to the directories that have neither published nor replied.

Measuring

22. Record Domain Rating and referring domains on launch day.
23. Check again 30 days later.
24. Work through the directories that fit and were missed.

Two weeks before: assets, email and the listing kit

Two weeks out the job is to make every asset once, so no form on launch day sends you back to design. Every directory and launch platform asks for the same six things.

1–5. Tagline, descriptions, logo, screenshots, GIF

• Tagline. One line, under 60 characters, that says what the product does and for whom.
• Descriptions at three lengths. Forms cap at different points. Write 50, 150 and 300 words once and paste the length that fits.
• Logo. A square PNG at 512 px with a solid background, plus an SVG. Listings crop to a circle or a rounded square, so keep the mark centred.
• Screenshots. Three to five at 1280 px wide, the product doing its job. The first one is shown large.
• GIF or short video. One 10 to 20 second capture of the main flow, for the Product Hunt gallery and the launch platforms that take a video link.

6. An email address on your domain

Set up name@yourproduct.com before you submit anywhere. SaaSHub, at DR 81, follows the link only after you verify ownership with an email on the product’s domain, and approvals and rejections go to the address on the form and nowhere else.

One week before: listings that publish before launch day

Submitting to directories a week before launch means the site already has referring domains and is indexed when launch-day traffic arrives, instead of starting from zero on the day. This is the step the top-ranking product launch checklists skip.

7. Build the listing kit

Put every asset and answer in one document: tagline, the three descriptions, pricing in one sentence, category, founder name and photo, launch date, social handles, and the answers AI directories ask for (which model, whether there is a free tier). Submitting from a kit takes five minutes a directory.

8. Submit to the directories that publish within a week

Of the 58 directories that state a review time, 32 publish within 7 days and 20 within 2 days (checked 22 September 2026). Ten of the 32 give a followed link on a standard listing, and these are the ones that count before the day. Sorted by Domain Rating by Ahrefs:

Nine of the ten fast followed links cost money, and the free one is DR 30: a free listing waits, a paid listing publishes. Seven of the ten are AI tool directories, so a product without a model behind it takes the other three and moves on to the followed-link list, which has all 40 directories whose link passes authority.

9. Join the long queues now

Eleven directories state a wait of 90 days or more on the free tier. Dev Hunt says free launches wait about six months, Uneed’s free queue assigns a date up to five months out, and OpenHunts states 7 to 420 days. None of these will publish before launch day. Submit now so the date arrives at all, and take the paid lane only where the DR justifies it.

10. Add one badge strip to the footer

41 of the 126 directories we track require their badge on your site for a free listing, and 34 say in their own terms that the badge is what turns the link from nofollow to followed. Put a badge strip in the footer of the product site once, before the first submission, and add each badge as its listing goes live. The no badge required list is the set to use if you would rather keep the footer clean.

11. Check indexing and speed

Search Google for site:yourproduct.com. If nothing comes back, submit the home page in Search Console and give it the week. Then load the home page on a phone; a slow page turns a good finish into a bounce rate.

Launch day: Product Hunt and the 49 alternatives

Launch day is one post on Product Hunt at 12:01 am Pacific, two or three posts on the launch platforms that fit your product, and 24 hours of replying to comments.

12. How to launch on Product Hunt

Product Hunt is free to launch on from a personal account; company or brand accounts are not allowed. You submit the product URL, fill in the tagline, description, gallery and makers, and pick a launch day. The product goes live on that day’s leaderboard at 12:01 am Pacific, the time Product Hunt’s own guide suggests, because an early start gives the full 24 hours of votes. There is no review before launch; products that break the fit guidelines are removed afterwards.

Two facts from our fetch on 19 September 2026 decide what to expect. Product Hunt sits at DR 91 with about 437,800 monthly visits from search, the most of any launch platform we track. And every link from a product page carries rel=ugc, which Google treats like nofollow. A Product Hunt launch sends visitors, sign-ups and a badge for your site. It does not move Domain Rating.

A hunter, a Product Hunt user who posts a product they did not build, is optional; makers can submit their own products.

13. The launch platforms that fit

There are 49 other launch platforms in our dataset: 29 run a weekly leaderboard, 18 a daily one, and 3 roll or run monthly. The ten strongest by Domain Rating, with the link type that matters:

Seven of the 50 launch platforms give a followed link on a standard launch. The other 43 mark it nofollow, and 36 of those will follow it on a condition: a paid launch on 35, a top-three finish on 20, their badge on your site on 21. So a launch platform earns a slot on launch day for traffic, and a second slot in the week after for the link, once you know whether you placed. The Product Hunt alternatives page ranks all 49 with cost and review time.

14–16. Your own post, your own people, your own replies

Publish a launch post on your site the same morning, so traffic from every platform lands on a page that says what launched. Tell your list, your customers and your network with one message each, asking them to look and comment rather than to upvote; Product Hunt’s own guide asks for authentic engagement. Reply to every comment for the 24 hours.

17. Show HN, if the product is technical

Hacker News sits at DR 91 and the link is nofollow, so the case for a Show HN post is the audience, not the authority. The post goes live immediately on the new page and reaches the Show page after a small points threshold. Post it a day or two after Product Hunt so you are not answering two comment threads at once.

The week after: second launches, badges, link checks

The week after launch is where the followed links are earned, because the conditions the launch platforms set, a top-three finish, a badge or a paid upgrade, are only known once the day is over.

18. Launch again on the weekly and monthly platforms

29 launch platforms run weekly and take a product that launched elsewhere last week. Fazier, at DR 83 the strongest followed-link launch platform we track, publishes free launches within 30 days and paid ones instantly. Dev Hunt (weekly) and Microlaunch (monthly) are both DR 64 and both followed on a standard launch.

19. Add the badges that unlock a followed link

Twenty-one launch platforms follow the link once their badge is on your site, and 41 directories across the whole dataset require one. Go back to each listing, copy its badge and add it to the strip from step 10. Six directories we track verify the badge by bot before the free listing goes live, and five say the badge must stay on the site permanently, so treat it as a fixture.

20. Check every listing and every link

Open each live listing and click through to your site. Check three things: the link resolves to your URL rather than a redirect through the directory’s own domain, the rel attribute matches what was promised, and the tagline and logo rendered. Toolfolio, for one, advertises a followed link and routes it through a toolfolio.link redirect, which passes nothing to your domain.

21. Chase the silent ones

Futuretools tells you to resubmit if the listing is not live within a week and sends no email either way, and it is not alone. Keep a list with a submitted date and a status column, and at day seven write a two-line email to the ones that have neither published nor replied.

Measuring: Domain Rating and referring domains

The number that tells you whether the launch worked for search is referring domains, not upvotes, and it takes one to three weeks to move after a listing goes live. Record it before you start and again a month later.

22–23. Record on launch day, check at 30 days

Check the site on the Domain Rating checker on launch day and write down the DR. A fresh domain sits at 0 to 5, and ten followed links from DR 60+ directories is enough to move it into double digits. Check again at 30 days. A move of one to three points is noise; count the listings that went live instead, because each one is a referring domain Ahrefs registers within one to three weeks.

24. Work through the directories that fit

A launch is one week; listings are the rest of the year. The top 10 by Domain Rating is the next set after the launch platforms, and the free rank plan scores all 126 directories against your site and returns the ten to submit next with the listing text sized for each form.

What to do next

1. Make the six assets in steps 1 to 6 and put them in one document.
2. Submit to the fast followed-link directories in step 8 this week, skipping the AI ones if there is no model in the product.
3. Book the Product Hunt date, and the same morning post on the two or three platforms from the table that fit.
4. On day seven, add the badges you earned, check every link, and record the DR.