How to launch an AI tool: a 30-day checklist (2026)

A launch is not a day. It is a set of queues with different waits, and the order you join them is most of the plan. On October 10, 2026, Show HN had no queue and Product Hunt let you schedule a month ahead. Everything else had a wait: Dang.ai's free lane took up to four weeks, Uneed gave free launches a date 30 days to 5 months out, Smol Launch's next free week was November 30 with 350 launches ahead, and OpenHunts showed a wait of about 60 weeks. So join the longest queues first, spend the middle of the month on the product, and spend money last.

This checklist counts days from your launch day: T-30 is 30 days before it, T+30 is 30 days after. Launch day (T-0) is the day you go live on Product Hunt, or on whichever board you make the main event. Rules and prices were read from each venue's own pages on October 10, 2026. A number from a founder is labeled as one founder's report and linked.

Lead times decide the order

The submission kit: write it once

Each field below is one that at least one venue will not proceed without. Put them in a single file before T-28 and paste from it for the rest of the month.

The timeline, T-30 to T+30

T-30 to T-22: join the slow queues

• Write the kit above.
• Apply to the free lanes with the longest waits: Uneed, Dang.ai, Fazier and AlternativeTo. Where a lane wants a backlink or badge on your site, read what it asks of the link, then put it on a live page before you apply. For a B2B tool, request the free Capterra listing now: its form covers Capterra, Software Advice and GetApp, and Software Advice says publishing can take over six weeks.
• Create the Product Hunt draft. You can schedule up to a month ahead, and co-makers need their own accounts before launch day.
• Define a sign-up and an activation (first successful use) as events, and switch on fraud rules in your payment processor. One founder's paid TAAFT listing drew over 300 sign-ups, 97% of them fraudulent, and the processor's default settings had not blocked them.
• If you want a pre-launch feature, BetaList is paid, refunds automatically if you are not selected, and features a startup once, plus once more at launch if the first time was pre-launch.

fazier.comOct 11, 2026

F

T-21 to T-8: make the product launchable

• Let people try it. Show HN's guidelines rule out sign-up pages and landing pages. Product Hunt keeps email-sign-up-only products off its homepage and generally recommends waiting until a product is live. FutureTools no longer accepts waitlist-only products, and SaaSHub rejects unreleased ones.
• Show the first screen to five strangers and ask what it does. A commenter's test for any listing: can a stranger tell from the one-liner and the screenshot alone?
• Run a test sign-up and a test payment with the fraud rules on.
• Freeze the product. Write the announcement email.

T-7 to T-1: schedule and rehearse

• Schedule the Product Hunt launch for 12:01 AM Pacific, the start of its 24-hour cycle. Write the first comment to ask for feedback, not upvotes.
• Write the Show HN post: a title that starts with "Show HN", a link to the product itself, and a first comment on what you built and what you want feedback on. Pick a different day from Product Hunt.
• Draft a reply to "how is this different from X?" and keep it open in a tab.
• Fix the spend rule now: no money until a free lane has produced activated users.

news.ycombinator.comOct 11, 2026

S

T-0: launch day

• Product Hunt goes live at 12:01 AM Pacific. Stay in the thread and answer every comment.
• Do not also run Show HN today. HN expects you to be around to discuss the project, and one person cannot be in two threads.
• Check visits by source every few hours, and watch for sign-ups whose billing country does not match the card.

T+1 to T+7: fix, then add the second venue

• List every point where a commenter was confused and fix the top three. The Tufa founder moved the main feature to the first thing visitors see and reported that conversions improved.
• Run Show HN now if your tool is for developers.
• Count visits, sign-ups and activated users per source. Remove the fraud.

T+8 to T+30: second wave and the money decision

• The queues you joined at T-30 land now: Dang.ai within four weeks, Fazier within 30 days, Uneed on its assigned date. Update each listing with what you learned.
• Relaunch when you ship something real. Uneed sells a relaunch for $15.
• Decide on spending by the rule you set. Prefer venues that refund automatically when they decline you: TAAFT promises a full refund if a listing is not published, and topai.tools refunds automatically if a tool is not accepted.
• Mind exclusivity. TAAFT's pay-per-click credit bonus (up to $300) applies only if your tool has not appeared on any other platform before its TAAFT launch, so decide at T-30 whether it matters.
• At T+30, write a one-page review: per channel, hours, dollars, visits, sign-ups, activated users.

Where to launch, in what order

1. Free queues first. The AI directories with a free path and the full directory table show who charges what. EffectHub is an AI directory too, so weigh our view accordingly: we list AI tools free with our badge on your site, or for $24 without it. We check the badge daily: a free listing without it comes down and returns when the badge does. The free queue runs a few weeks, and you see your place in line when you apply.
2. Product Hunt. Free, one day, personal account. See the Product Hunt profile.
3. Show HN. Only if people can try the tool at once. See the Show HN profile.
4. Weekly and daily boards. Uneed, Peerlist Launchpad (Mondays, verified individual profile, project 100% complete), DevHunt (developer tools only), Fazier and TinyLaunch. The launch platforms hub compares them.
5. Review and alternatives sites. AlternativeTo and SaaSHub for any released tool; G2 and Capterra for B2B only. G2 does not accept B2C products or alpha and beta stages.
6. Paid AI directories last, and only with numbers in hand: Futurepedia, TAAFT and Toolify. Whether they pay back is the subject of are AI directories worth it.

effecthub.netOct 11, 2026

E

Tracking: what to count and how to tag

Google Analytics says to always use utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign on tagged links, and that values are case sensitive. Pick lowercase and one spelling per venue, for example utm_source=uneed&utm_medium=launch&utm_campaign=2026-10. Tag every link you control: emails, posts, replies, newsletter ads.

There are two places you cannot tag. Product Hunt does not accept UTM-tagged launch links. And a directory writes the outbound link on its own listing, so you read its tag instead. On the listings we checked on October 10, Uneed adds ref=uneed.best, Fazier ref=fazier, TinyLaunch ref=tinylaunch, Microlaunch ref=microlaunch and Futurepedia utm_source=futurepedia. A ref= value is not one of the UTM parameters Google Analytics recognizes, so look for it in landing-page URLs or server logs, not only in the source and medium report.

Keep one table and update it weekly: channel, dollars, hours, visits, sign-ups, activated users, cost per activated user. Count activation, not sign-ups. In the Tufa report, $437 over more than 300 sign-ups looks like about $1.50 each. With 97% fraudulent, it is about 9 real users at about $49 each.

The checklist to copy

T-30 TO T-22  JOIN THE SLOW QUEUES
[ ] Submission kit written once: URL, name, tagline, descriptions, logo, screenshots
[ ] Applied: Uneed, Dang.ai, Fazier, AlternativeTo (badge or backlink live first)
[ ] B2B: Capterra listing requested (covers Software Advice and GetApp), G2 profile too
[ ] Product Hunt draft created, co-makers have accounts
[ ] Sign-up and activation events defined, payment fraud rules on

T-21 TO T-8  MAKE IT LAUNCHABLE
[ ] Tool can be tried without a waitlist; demo needs no sign-up if possible
[ ] Five strangers shown the first screen; one-sentence answer collected
[ ] Test sign-up and test payment passed
[ ] Product frozen, announcement email written

T-7 TO T-1  SCHEDULE AND REHEARSE
[ ] Product Hunt scheduled for 12:01 AM Pacific; first comment asks for feedback
[ ] Show HN post written; day chosen, not launch day
[ ] Reply to "how is this different?" drafted
[ ] Spend rule written down

T-0  LAUNCH DAY
[ ] In the Product Hunt thread all day; every comment answered
[ ] Visits by source and billing countries checked every few hours

T+1 TO T+7  FIX, THEN ADD THE SECOND VENUE
[ ] Top three points of confusion fixed
[ ] Show HN run (developer tools)
[ ] Visits, sign-ups, activated users counted per source; fraud removed

T+8 TO T+30  SECOND WAVE AND MONEY
[ ] Queue listings updated as they land
[ ] Relaunch only for real changes
[ ] Paid venue chosen only if a free listing converted; refund and exclusivity terms read
[ ] One-page channel review: hours, dollars, visits, sign-ups, activated users

Questions people ask

How early should I start?

At least 30 days before you want to be visible. Free lanes post waits of up to four weeks (Dang.ai), 30 days (Fazier) and 30 days to 5 months (Uneed), and Product Hunt lets you schedule up to a month ahead.

Can I launch on Product Hunt and Show HN on the same day?

Not on your own. Hacker News expects the poster to be around to discuss the project, and Product Hunt's guide has the maker open the thread with a first comment asking for feedback. Put them on different days.

What if my product is in beta or has a waitlist?

Many venues refuse it. FutureTools no longer accepts waitlist-only products, SaaSHub rejects unreleased products, G2 does not accept alpha or beta stages, and Product Hunt keeps email-sign-up-only products off its homepage. BetaList is the exception: it features pre-launch startups.

Do I have to pay to launch?

No. Product Hunt, Show HN, Uneed and DevHunt all have free lanes, and skipping a queue costs from $5 (AlternativeTo) to $49 (Dang.ai). Among paid AI directories, TAAFT charges $49 or $437, topai.tools $47 or $229, Toolify $99 and Futurepedia $497. See the free AI directories.

How do I know the launch worked?

By activated users per dollar and per hour, not by sign-ups or upvotes. One founder counted six card sign-ups in a week of active posting, all traced to discovery sites and communities. The next two weeks, with search impressions up from about 2,000 to about 8,000 a day, produced none. Launch traffic and search traffic answer different questions.

Sources

• Product Hunt: launch guide
• Product Hunt: unreleased products
• Product Hunt: how to post
• Hacker News: Show HN guidelines
• Google Analytics: campaign URLs
• Claude: connector submission
• Dang.ai: pricing
• Fazier: submit
• Fazier: a launch page
• Uneed: pricing
• Uneed: a tool page
• Smol Launch: pricing
• OpenHunts: pricing
• Open Launch: pricing
• TinyLaunch: a launch page
• Microlaunch
• Futurepedia: a tool page
• Futurepedia: Enhanced Listing
• DevHunt: FAQ
• Peerlist: launching a project
• AlternativeTo: FAQ
• SaaSHub: submit
• Capterra: free basic listing
• Software Advice: vendor FAQ
• G2: listing a product
• BetaList: FAQ
• FutureTools: FAQ
• TAAFT: launch page
• topai.tools: submit
• Toolify: submit
• r/SaaS: Tufa on TAAFT, August 2025
• r/SaaS: is a TAAFT launch worth it, June 2026
• Indie Hackers: signups dropped to zero, August 2026