Startup Launch Platform Pricing: What Each One Charges

Most startup launch platforms now run two lanes: a free one you pay for in waiting, and a paid one that buys a date, a better position or a guaranteed link. As of September 24, 2026, Product Hunt is still free to launch on, Uneed's free line can run up to five months with $14.99 and $29.99 ways out, Open-Launch's free lane is booked into 2027 against a $12 premium launch, TinyLaunch charges $39 to skip its queue, MicroLaunch sells skip-the-queue as a $39 to $79 monthly subscription, and BetaList has dropped free submissions altogether. The table below gives every fee with the page it came from. Pay only where your launch date matters more than the money; otherwise the free lanes are enough.

We sit in this table too, on the same terms as everyone else. TryMy listings are free and human-reviewed, and there's a paid featured spot. So read the TryMy row with the same suspicion you'd bring to any other.

The price table, checked September 24, 2026

Every figure here was read off the platform's own page on the date shown. Where a price isn't published on a page anyone can open, the cell says so instead of guessing. Prices in this category move often (more on that below), so treat the "checked" column as the most important one.

Platform	Free lane	Wait in the free lane	Paid tiers	One-off or renews	Checked	Source
Product Hunt	Yes, launching is free	You pick your date	No paid launch tier listed; advertising is sold separately	n/a	2026-09-24	Product Hunt launch guide
Uneed	Yes	"Up to 5 months"	Fast-track $14.99 (date assigned in about 14 days); Skip the Line $29.99 (choose your date); relaunch of an existing product $15; Pro $99/year	Launch tiers one-off; Pro renews yearly	2026-09-24	Uneed pricing
Open-Launch	Yes	"Fully booked into 2027"	Premium Launch $12 (launch tomorrow, 10 slots a day); SEO Growth Package $59	One-off	2026-09-24	Open-Launch pricing
TinyLaunch	Yes	Standard queue, length not published	Premium Launch $39; featured Top Spot $30/week; Mid-Feed Spot $15/week	Launch one-off; featured spots weekly	2026-09-24	TinyLaunch pricing
MicroLaunch	Yes	Not published	Launch Pro $39/month; Launch Plus $79/month (both skip the queue)	Monthly subscription	2026-09-24	MicroLaunch premium
BetaList	No, all submissions are paid	Depends on the plan	Plan prices shown only inside the signed-in submission form	Not published	2026-09-24	BetaList support
TryMy	Yes, every listing is free	A few days of human review	Featured spot $19 (live within 24 hours, top row, badge, roundup mention)	One-off	2026-09-24	TryMy featured

A few readings of that table that matter more than any single number.

MicroLaunch's two monthly prices were shown as discounted with a code (regular $49 and $99). Uneed's Pro price was shown as an early-bird rate against $139. Discounts that come with a code or a strikethrough are the fastest-moving figures in the whole category, which is one reason two review sites will quote you two different prices for the same tier.

BetaList used to have a free route, and plenty of guides still say so. Its own support page now says plainly that there is no free submission option, and that you get a full refund if you're not selected. We looked at whether BetaList is worth it separately.

Why did every launch platform add a paid lane?

Because the free lane is the product, and it filled up. A launch board has a fixed number of slots per day that it can show without burying everyone. When submissions outrun slots, the queue grows, and a queue that grows is something people will pay to skip. Open-Launch's free lane being booked more than a year out, with ten paid slots a day beside it, is the clearest example of that economics in one screen.

That's not a scandal. It's roughly how conference talks, app store featuring and restaurant bookings work too. The useful question isn't "why do they charge" but "what exactly does the charge change for me", and the answer is almost always one of three things: when you launch, where you appear, and whether you get a followed link.

What does the free lane cost you in waiting?

The free lane is priced in time, and the price is only worth paying attention to if your date matters. Uneed's own page says the free line can run up to five months. Open-Launch's free lane was fully booked into 2027 on the day we checked. TinyLaunch and MicroLaunch don't publish a wait.

Here's how to decide whether that wait is a cost or not:

• Your launch date is tied to something real (a Product Hunt day, a press embargo, a conference talk, a pricing change). Then a free lane with an unknown date is close to useless, and the skip fee is buying the only thing you need.
• Your launch date is "whenever". Then the free lane is genuinely free. Submit on the free tier now, keep building, and treat the day it goes live as a bonus.
• You'll have changed the product by then. A five-month queue can go live after your screenshots and pricing are out of date. If you take the free lane, make a note to check the listing a week before your slot.

What do skip-the-line and featured fees actually buy?

Read the tier descriptions closely and they sort into three buckets.

A date. Uneed's Skip the Line lets you choose your launch date. Its Fast-track assigns you one in about 14 days. Open-Launch's premium lane puts you on tomorrow's board. TinyLaunch and MicroLaunch both describe their paid launches as skipping the queue. This is the cleanest thing money buys in this category, because it's fully in the platform's control.

A position. TinyLaunch's weekly Top Spot and Mid-Feed Spot, and our own featured row, buy placement on a browsed page for a window. Placement is real, but it's position in front of whoever happens to be browsing, not demand. We ran the break-even arithmetic on this in are featured listings worth it, and the short version is that it only pays when the page you're sending people to already converts somebody.

A link. Several platforms tie a followed link to the paid tier or to finishing in the top three on the day (Uneed ties it to upvotes, Open-Launch to top-three plus showing their badge, TinyLaunch to top three unless you pay). Be careful with this one. Google's guidance on qualifying outbound links asks sites to mark paid links with rel="sponsored", and its spam policies name low-quality directory links as link manipulation. Whatever a pricing page says, don't budget for rankings off a paid launch. We cover what directories do and don't do for search in do app directories help SEO.

What no tier buys is people who want your app. That still comes from the listing itself: a tagline a stranger understands, screenshots that show the thing working, and a way to try it in under a minute.

Which paid tiers are one-off and which renew?

This is the column most price lists leave out, and it changes the real cost more than the headline number.

One-off: Uneed's Fast-track, Skip the Line and relaunch fee; Open-Launch's Premium Launch and SEO package; TinyLaunch's Premium Launch; TryMy's featured spot. You pay once for one launch or one placement.

Renewing: MicroLaunch's Launch Pro and Launch Plus are monthly subscriptions. Uneed Pro is yearly. TinyLaunch's featured spots bill weekly and can be cancelled any time.

A $39 monthly plan that you forget to cancel is $468 a year. If you take a subscription tier for one launch, put a calendar reminder on the day after your launch window to cancel it, and check whether the benefits you paid for (pages, boosts, links) stay up after you stop paying.

How do you budget a launch across three platforms?

Here's a worked example using only the figures in the table. Say you have a free-to-try web app, a launch date six weeks out, and you want three boards live that week.

Plan	Platforms	Spend	What you're buying
Zero budget	Product Hunt (free), Uneed free line, TryMy free listing	$0	Product Hunt on your date; Uneed whenever the line reaches you; a reviewed TryMy listing within days
Date-locked, lean	Product Hunt (free), Uneed Skip the Line, Open-Launch Premium Launch	$29.99 + $12 = $41.99	All three on dates you choose
Date-locked plus placement	The lean plan, plus TinyLaunch Premium Launch and a TryMy featured spot	$41.99 + $39 + $19 = $99.99	Five boards, two with top-of-page positions

Two notes on that. First, notice that the lean plan leaves the most-watched board free: Product Hunt doesn't sell launch slots, so your budget only goes to the smaller boards where it buys a date. Second, the jump from plan two to plan three is mostly position, not dates. That's the step to take only if your landing page is already turning visitors into signups. If you're not sure, spend the difference on your listing copy instead. Our free places to submit your app and the Product Hunt alternatives for indie apps cover which boards suit which kind of app, and where to post your app in 2026 covers the communities that cost nothing at all.

If you're weighing paying someone to do all of this for you, read directory submission services vs DIY first. Bulk submission packages exist on several of these same pricing pages, and they're a different purchase with different risks.

When is the free lane plainly enough?

More often than the pricing pages suggest. The free lane is enough when:

1. Your launch date isn't tied to anything, so a late slot costs you nothing.
2. You're going to launch on Product Hunt anyway, which is free and is where your one big day happens.
3. Your app is still changing week to week, so a paid launch now would showcase a version you'll replace.
4. You haven't yet watched a stranger use your listing and click through. Fix that before paying for anyone to see it.
5. The paid tier's main selling point is a link. Pay for dates and eyes, never for SEO promises.

And the paid lane is worth it when the reverse is true: a fixed date, a page that converts, and a tier whose benefit is fully in the platform's control.

FAQ

Which startup launch platforms are completely free?

As of September 24, 2026, Product Hunt says launching is free to use. Uneed, Open-Launch, TinyLaunch, MicroLaunch and TryMy all keep a free lane, with the cost paid in waiting or in position instead. BetaList is the notable exception: its support page says every submission is now paid.

Is paying to skip a launch queue worth it?

It's worth it when your launch date is fixed by something outside the platform, such as a Product Hunt day or an announcement. Skip fees on the boards above run from $12 to $39 one-off, which is cheap for a guaranteed date. If your date is flexible, the free lane costs you nothing but patience.

Do paid launches come with dofollow links?

Some pricing pages say so, and several tie a followed link to paying or to finishing in the top three. Google asks sites to mark paid links as sponsored and treats low-quality directory links as a spam pattern, so don't count on a paid launch for rankings. On TryMy, free listings link out nofollow and featured listings get a followed link; we sell that as a position and a badge, not an SEO result.

How often do launch platforms change their prices?

Often enough that any price older than a few months should be rechecked. On the day we checked, three platforms showed discount codes or strikethrough prices, and BetaList had moved from a free option to paid-only. Always open the platform's own pricing page before you budget.

Once you've compared the paid lanes, start with the free one here: submit your app to TryMy for a free, human-reviewed listing, and decide on a featured spot later if the numbers make sense.