Hacker News (Show HN)
news.ycombinator.comThe Y Combinator community board, where a Show HN post lets hackers try your work and question you in the thread. It is free and posts go live at once, but only projects people can actually run or hold qualify: landing pages, waitlists and newsletters are off topic, and asking friends for upvotes gets you penalised. New posts carry a nofollow link that switches to dofollow once the story earns enough points, so the backlink is a side effect of a good reception, not something you can buy.
Before you submit
5 things to have ready- An HN account
- A title beginning with "Show HN"
- Something people can try out, ideally without signup or email
- A project you worked on personally and are around to discuss in the thread
- For hardware, a video or detailed article; for books, a sample chapter
- Approval time
- No review; the post appears on shownew immediately and reaches the show page after clearing a small points threshold
- Acceptance
- Medium (anything on topic posts instantly, but visibility and the followed link depend on community votes; off-topic Show HNs are flagged or renamed)
- Launch cadence
- Rolling
Who it's for
The link is nofollow, so treat this as a traffic and discovery play rather than SEO. Worth it if the audience matches; skip if you're only after backlinks.
If you're submitting here, also look at
All directories →Free founder community directory; profile link is nofollow, but links in your own update posts are followed.
Daily vote-ranked launches for new tech products; free, but you need a crowd ready to comment on launch day.
Large AI tools directory; free needs a backlink to them and waits up to 4 weeks, $49 skips both.