Launching Next: How to Submit Your Startup for Free

What is Launching Next

Launching Next (https://www.launchingnext.com) is a list of new tech startups, side projects and small business ideas. It started in 2013 and is based in Chicago. Its own info page names Alex Robb as co-founder.

Here's what you'll find on it:

• Newest Startups. The homepage shows the latest approved listings with a screenshot, name and one-line headline. About 20 per page.
• Browse. Every listing is tagged ("ai startups", "developer tools startups", "mac app startups"). The tag pages are what people browse.
• Trending. A ranking page based on what people click and view.
• Newsletter. A Friday email with the week's picks. The site footer says 5,000+ founders get it. Their info page for AI tools says 18,000+. Go with the smaller number.
• Blog. Guides about where to promote a startup. They don't affect your listing.

The numbers that matter for you: DR 51, roughly 13,000 visits a month, and 45,000+ startups listed so far.

There's no voting and no "launch day" like on Product Hunt. You submit, an editor reviews it, and if they say yes you get a page that stays up.

Is Launching Next still worth it

For most early products, yes. It costs you 15 minutes and you get a permanent dofollow link from an old, clean domain. That's a good trade.

Worth it if:

• Your domain is new and has almost no backlinks. A DR 51 dofollow link from a 13-year-old site is a real signal for a fresh domain.
• You're doing a launch week and want more places to show up. Launching Next goes well with other free lists.
• You're a side project or a bootstrapped tool. The site literally asks if you're a side project. You won't look out of place.

Skip it or lower your hopes if:

• You need users this week. The free queue has no date. And when you do go live, expect tens of visits, not thousands.
• You only care about traffic. Launching Next's own paid plan says $500/month gets you an estimated 125 to 350 site visits. So a free listing will bring less than that.
• Your product isn't live yet. They list things people can use or at least sign up for. A blank "coming soon" page is a weak submission.

So the honest pitch is: it's a good backlink with a little traffic on the side. Not a launch on its own.

What Launching Next looks for

There's no algorithm deciding if you get in. A person reads your submission. From the form and from what gets published, here's what helps:

• A working product at the URL you give them. The listing shows a screenshot of your site. If the page is broken or empty when they look, that's what goes up, if anything goes up at all.
• A clear headline. The form asks for 5 to 8 words. That's what shows on the homepage under your name.
• A plain, factual description. Look at what's live now. The good ones say what the product does, who it's for, what it costs, and where it runs. No hype.
• Sensible tags. 5 to 10 of them. They decide which tag pages you show up on. That's where most long-term views come from.
• Something new. The site's whole pitch is "new startups". A tool that's been around for six years is a harder sell.

The most common foot-gun: pasting your landing page copy into the description. "Revolutionize your workflow with AI-powered magic" tells the editor nothing. Write it like you're explaining the product to a friend.

Before you submit

A few days before

• Make sure your homepage looks right on desktop. The screenshot on your listing comes from your site, not from you. The form doesn't ask for images.
• Decide which URL you want the link on. Your homepage is the safe pick. They'll add ?ref=launchingnext to it, so check your analytics doesn't break on query strings.
• Set up a canonical tag on your homepage if you don't have one. Then the ?ref= version counts as your homepage, not a duplicate.

The day you submit

Have these ready in a text file so you can paste them in:

• Startup name. Exactly as on your site.
• URL. With https://.
• Headline. 5 to 8 words. Example: "Transcripts and summaries for any video link".
• Description. Up to 2,500 characters. Aim for 800 to 1,500. More on this below.
• Tags. 5 to 10, comma separated. Mix one broad tag ("AI") with specific ones ("transcription", "mac app").
• A real email you check. That's where the "you're live" email goes.

The submission flow

Step 1: Open the submit page

Go to https://www.launchingnext.com/submit/. You don't need an account. It's one page with two parts: "About the Startup" and "About You".

Step 2: Fill in the startup part

The fields are:

1. Startup Name
2. Startup URL
3. Your headline (5 to 8 words)
4. Full startup description (2,500 characters max)
5. Tags (5 to 10, comma separated)
6. Startup type: side project, bootstrapped startup, investor funded startup, or none of these
7. Marketing spend for the next 90 days: $0, under $1,000, $1,000 to $5,000, $5,000 to $15,000, or over $15,000

The last two are just for them. Pick the honest answer. "Side project" and "$0" are both fine and common.

Step 3: Fill in the you part

Your name, your email, a simple math captcha ("What is 2+3?"), and an optional newsletter box. You don't have to tick the newsletter to get listed.

Step 4: The upsell page

After you submit, the next page offers the paid upgrade. You can close it. Your free submission is already in.

Step 5: Wait

Free submissions are reviewed in order. They review every day, but there's no promised date for you. When you're approved you get an email. If you never get one, your submission probably didn't make it. There's no rejection email to count on.

While you wait, don't resubmit the same product. It just puts a duplicate in their pile.

Free queue or the $99 fast lane

This is the question most people actually have.

What the $99 gets you: the submit page says your startup will be "considered for publication within 1 business day". Their AI info page describes the same thing as "Express Approval" starting at $149, with a newsletter feature, a social post to their followers, and a refund if you're not accepted. So the price may have changed. Check the number on the upsell page before you pay.

Note the word "considered". Paying makes them look fast. It doesn't promise a yes.

When paying makes sense:

• You're doing a launch week and want all your listings live at the same time.
• You're going to share "we're on Launching Next" somewhere and need the page now.
• You want the newsletter mention. That's the only part that adds real eyeballs.

When it doesn't:

• You just want the backlink. The link is the same whether you paid or not. Waiting costs you nothing.
• Your budget is under $100 total. Spend it somewhere you're sure brings users.

And the bigger plans? Launching Next also sells Promoted Listings: $500, $1,500 or $4,500 a month for 8,000, 30,000 or 90,000 homepage impressions. Their own estimate is 125 to 350 visits for the $500 plan. That's roughly $1.40 to $4 per visit. Fine if your product makes money from each signup. Way too much for a side project.

How to write a description that gets approved

Since there's no voting, the description is your whole pitch. It's what the editor reads and what visitors see.

Write it in this order:

1. What it does, in one sentence. "Scribiz gives you the transcript, on-screen text and summary of any video."
2. How you use it. Paste a link, upload a file, install a plugin. One or two sentences.
3. Who it's for. Be specific. "Freelance designers" beats "everyone".
4. What it costs. Free tier, trial, price. People like seeing this, and editors do too.
5. Where it runs. Web, Mac, iOS, Chrome extension, API.

Keep it plain. Short sentences. No "revolutionary", no "game-changing", no emojis. Only the first few lines show before the "Show More" link, so put the important stuff up top.

Don't paste the same text you used on ten other directories. Rewrite it a bit. Google sees the same paragraph on twenty sites and ignores most of them.

What to do after you're listed

• Check the link. Open your listing, right-click "Visit Website", inspect it. You want your URL with no rel="nofollow". In our check it was clean.
• Ask Google to find it. Your listing page is new. Link to it from somewhere Google crawls often, like a tweet or your own "as seen on" section, so it gets indexed sooner.
• Look at your tag pages. If you're on the wrong ones, note it. There's no account to edit from, so fixing it means emailing them.
• Watch your analytics for ref=launchingnext. That's how you'll know what it really sent.
• Use it in your launch list. "Featured on Launching Next" is fine to mention on your site. Don't oversell it.

Common mistakes

• Pasting landing page hype into the description.
• Submitting before the product works. The screenshot will show whatever is there that day.
• A headline that's a slogan instead of a description. "Think different" won't help anyone browsing.
• Using 10 very broad tags. You end up on crowded pages where nobody scrolls far enough.
• Submitting twice because it's taking a while.
• Paying $99 when you only wanted the backlink.
• Expecting Product Hunt-level traffic. It's a quieter site.

Launching Next vs other launch sites

The short version: BetaList has a higher DR but no free lane anymore. Product Hunt brings the most traffic but takes real prep and gives a nofollow link. Uneed caps each day at 30 products, so expect a queue there too. Launching Next is the easy, free, dofollow one.

FAQ

Is Launching Next free? Yes. Submitting and getting listed is free. The $99 upgrade only speeds up the review.

How long does the free queue take? There's no published number. They review daily, but you wait your turn. Plan for it being slow and be happy if it's fast.

Is the Launching Next backlink dofollow? In the listing we checked in October 2026, the "Visit Website" link had no rel attribute, so yes. It adds ?ref=launchingnext to the URL.

Do I need an account? No. Just the form and an email address.

Can I edit my listing after it goes live? There's no account, so there's no page to edit it from. You'd have to email them. Get the text right the first time.

Will I get a rejection email? Don't count on it. If you never hear back, assume it wasn't accepted.

Other platforms in the same window

If you're submitting to Launching Next, these fit the same week:

• BetaList: pre-launch audience, higher DR, paid only now.
• Product Hunt: the big one. Plan it as its own launch, not a quick form.
• Fazier: daily launch board, free listings still get a direct link.
• Micro Launch: 30 days of exposure, free with a queue.
• Startup Base: daily batch, sign up with Google, LinkedIn or X only.
• Show HN: free and can send real traffic if you're a dev tool.

Two more that work for side projects: Indie Hackers if you'll write a post with it, and SideProjectors if you want a showcase listing. Skip Today Launches for now. It looked stalled last time we checked.

For the full list, see startup sites and directories.