Software Listing Sites

Every roundup for this search promises a number: 140 directories, 170 directories, 300 directories. None of them tell you how strong the sites are. So we measured all of them.

The 34, ranked by Domain Rating

Ahrefs Domain Rating runs 0 to 100 and scores the strength of a site's backlink profile. We pulled it for 34 well-known software, SaaS and product listing sites through the Ahrefs API on 31 August 2026. Every figure below is a measurement, not an estimate.

For which of these are worth your afternoon rather than simply strong, we keep a separate verified list in 36 SaaS directories worth listing on, which checks each one for whether it still accepts submissions and whether AI assistants cite it.

What the numbers say

Three findings from the set.

The median is DR 77.5 and the mean is 77.1. Those being almost identical means there is no long tail dragging the average around. This is a tight, uniformly strong group, which is unusual for any list of link targets.

28 of the 34 sit at DR 70 or above. Fifteen are at DR 80 or above. Only three fall below DR 60, and the floor of the entire set is DR 54.

The top five are separated by one point. SourceForge at 92, then G2, Capterra, Product Hunt and Crunchbase all at 91. Choosing between those five on domain strength is meaningless; choose on whether your buyers use them.

Set that against the wider market. Across one hundred commercial marketing and SEO search terms we measured in the same week, the median of the per-page median Domain Ratings was DR 62. The listing sites as a group are stronger than the average page one in our own industry.

Stronger domain, weaker link

Here is the comparison that makes this measurement worth doing.

Our own system finds and scores sites for editorial outreach: blogs, publications and niche sites where a customer might earn a real mention. It has now scored 23,558 domains with a Domain Rating. That pool breaks down like this:

• DR 60 and above: 47.8% of the pool
• DR 50 to 59: 11.1%
• DR 40 to 49: 9.5%
• DR 30 to 39: 10.2%
• DR 20 to 29: 7.7%
• DR 10 to 19: 5.5%
• Under DR 10: 8.1%

The median of that pool is DR 58. The median listing site is DR 77.5. On the domain-strength axis the listing sites win by nineteen points, and it is not close.

Most link building advice would stop there and tell you to go and submit to all thirty-four. That is the wrong conclusion, because Domain Rating scores the site and you are being given a link on a page.

Three things separate the two.

How many links share the page. A category page on a review marketplace can carry hundreds or thousands of outbound links. An editorial mention inside a relevant article usually shares its page with a handful. Whatever a page passes, it is divided.

Whether the link is followed. Listing sites vary, and many mark submitted links as nofollow, sponsored or user-generated. We did not verify the attribute on every site in this set, so check the site you care about rather than taking a DR figure as a promise. Our SaaS directories guide goes into which categories tend to be followed.

Who wrote the words. A listing carries a name, a category tag and a description you filled into a form. An editorial mention carries a sentence someone chose to write about you, in a context you did not control, which is exactly what makes it worth more.

The honest summary: submit to listing sites because buyers and AI assistants read them, and treat any link value as a bonus. If you want links specifically, that is a different job and a DR 58 relevant blog will usually do more for you than a DR 91 category page.

The five groups

The 34 fall into five types, and they are not interchangeable.

Review marketplaces (G2, Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice, TrustRadius, GoodFirms, SoftwareSuggest, FinancesOnline, Crozdesk, Tekpon, SaaSWorthy, SaaSGenius). The strongest group and the slowest to work through, because they want reviews from real customers before a profile does anything. This is where B2B buyers actually shortlist.

Launch platforms (Product Hunt, BetaList, Uneed, StartupBase, MicroLaunch, LaunchingNext). One-shot events rather than standing profiles. They produce a spike of traffic on a chosen day and a permanent page afterwards. Worth planning properly rather than firing off, which is what our Product Hunt launch guide covers.

Alternative finders (AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, Slant). These rank for "X alternatives" searches, which is high-intent traffic from people already shopping. Small group, disproportionately useful.

AI tool directories (There's An AI For That, Toolify, Futurepedia, OpenTools, Aixploria). The newest group and the one with the widest DR spread, from 77 down to 58. Only relevant if your product genuinely has an AI angle; submitting a non-AI tool here is wasted effort and increasingly rejected.

Company databases and catalogues (Crunchbase, F6S, SourceForge, StackShare, AppSumo, IndieHackers, SideProjectors, Startup Stash). A mixed group united by being places your company appears rather than places your product is reviewed. Crunchbase and SourceForge carry the highest DR in the whole set and the least category relevance for most SaaS.

How we measured this

Worth stating plainly, because most lists of this kind publish no method at all.

We selected 34 software, SaaS and product listing sites that recur across the roundups ranking for this search and in our own use. We then queried the Ahrefs Domain Rating API for each root domain on 31 August 2026, at a throttled rate, and recorded the returned value. All 34 resolved and none failed.

What we did not do. We did not check whether each site currently accepts new submissions, whether it charges, or whether its outbound links are followed. Those change more often than DR does, and stating them from a single check would be worse than not stating them. We also excluded one domain from the original set, producthunt.net, once it became clear it is not connected to Product Hunt; leaving it in would have dragged the median with a number that describes nothing.

Domain Rating decays and drifts. These figures describe the last day of August 2026. Re-check anything you are making a decision on.

The page that ranks here

One more measurement, since it explains why this page exists in this shape.

We pulled the Domain Rating of every result on page one for this search in August 2026. Reading down, it goes DR 0.6, 95, 3.3, 17, 64, 60, 33, 52 and 36. The median is 36.

The site in first place is DR 0.6. Third place is DR 3.3 and fourth is DR 17. A community forum thread at DR 95 sits second. Three of the nine results are held by sites weaker than almost anything in the table above.

It is a good demonstration of the point this whole page is making: the domains being recommended are DR 77.5, and the domains successfully recommending them are DR 0.6 and DR 3.3. Strength of domain and ability to rank are different questions, and on a specific enough search the second one is winnable without the first.

A working order

If you are going to do this, an order that finishes rather than one that starts.

1. Write the assets once. A one-line description, a fifty-word version, a two-hundred-word version, a logo in two sizes, three screenshots and a category. Every form wants the same things and you will fill in about thirty of them.
2. Do the alternative finders first. Three sites, high intent, fastest payback of the five groups.
3. Then the two or three review marketplaces your buyers use. Not all twelve. Pick by where your competitors have reviews, then go and ask five customers for one each.
4. Plan the launch platforms as an event. One date, assets ready, an audience told in advance. Do not scatter them across a quiet Tuesday.
5. Add the databases last. Crunchbase and F6S take ten minutes each and are worth having filled in correctly.
6. Stop when relevance stops. The moment you are submitting to a directory whose visitors would never buy your product, the exercise has turned into busywork that looks like progress.

What listings will not do

Three limits worth knowing before you start.

They will not move a competitive keyword. Thirty listings is a one-off with a ceiling. The pages that outrank you are being linked to from articles, and that is a continuing activity rather than an afternoon.

They will not build a profile that looks natural on its own. A backlink profile made entirely of directory entries is a recognisable shape, and not a flattering one. Listings are meant to be part of the mix.

They will not substitute for the reviews. A G2 profile with no reviews ranks nowhere on G2, which is where the traffic actually is. The profile is the easy half.

And to be explicit about the thing this page is often confused with: bulk directory submission services are not this. Those push a site into hundreds of catalogues that exist only to host links, which is an old tactic with a bad risk profile. Every DR figure above describes a site a real buyer might visit. None of them are an argument for the other thing.

The editorial half

Listings are the half of the work you can finish. The other half does not end, which is why most teams skip it.

That half is finding the blogs, newsletters and publications where your category is actually discussed, finding a real person at each, and sending something worth a reply. It is the work behind the DR 58 median in the pool above, and it is what MentionAgent does: it finds relevant sites, pulls a contact, writes the pitch, sends it, and the reply arrives in your own inbox.

If you want to see what that involves before deciding, getting into "best tool" roundups is the closest cousin to listing work, and our link building checklist covers the full sequence. For the money question, what backlinks cost uses real quotes rather than estimates.

Frequently asked questions

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