Open-Launch vs Startupfa.me
Both are directories tools. Here is what separates them.
| Open-Launch | Startupfa.me | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Directories | Directories |
| Pricing model | freemium | freemium |
| Price from | Freemium | Freemium |
| Upvotes | 16 | 9 |
| What it does | Daily launches with a badge and a backlink, run in the open. | A startup directory with a free badge-verified listing and paid promotion. |
What Open-Launch is
Open-Launch is a directory where makers submit a product and it is ranked against the other products launching on the same day. Submissions go in through a form at /projects/submit, and every launch goes live at 08:00 UTC. Listings are grouped into categories including Artificial Intelligence, SaaS, Productivity, Marketing Tools and Design Tools. A free launch costs nothing and puts the product on the homepage, but its backlink is conditional. A free launch earns a dofollow link only if the product finishes in the top three for its launch day and the product displays the Open-Launch badge on its own site. A premium launch costs 12 USD as a one-off payment per launch. It skips the waiting queue, goes live the next day, and carries a guaranteed dofollow backlink from what Open-Launch describes as a domain with a Domain Rating of 71. Only ten premium slots are sold per day. The SEO Growth Package costs 59 USD as a one-off payment, listed against a 199 USD reference price, and bundles a premium launch with a written review article about the product. Payments are final and non-refundable, and billing disputes have to be raised within seven days. The badge requirement is specific enough to be worth reading before you count on the link. Attribution must use one of the official Powered by Open-Launch image badges, because text-only attribution does not satisfy the requirement. The badge has to be at least 150 by 44 pixels, and it has to appear on every page of the linking site. Placement is not decided by the day's ranking alone. Open-Launch runs a submission streak system, and products from users with a high streak are given promoted placement on the main page. The software behind the site is released under a licence called the Open-Launch License, which permits use, copying, modification and redistribution provided the original copyright notice is kept. One condition attaches to that: any web application built on the Open-Launch codebase must display a dofollow link back to open-launch.com. Signing up to the directory itself asks for a name, an email address and a password, with a username and photo optional. The service records usage data such as pages visited and interactions, along with device type, operating system, browser and country. Open-Launch states that it does not sell personal data, and users can request deletion of their personal data, subject to legally required retention.
What Startupfa.me is
Startupfa.me is a directory that lists startups and products, curated daily, and open to established companies, micro-startups and side projects alike. Creating an account is free and required before a startup can be added. Listing details are then generated automatically by AI from the website URL the founder submits, so the write-up is derived from your site rather than composed by you. The free tier, called Verified, costs nothing in money and is paid for with a link. It requires the founder to place a verification badge on their own website homepage, which makes the arrangement reciprocal: you list on their site, they appear on yours. In return, Verified includes a dedicated startup page, a featured listing, 10 or more do-follow backlinks and unlimited edits, and submissions are reviewed and published within 7 days. The two paid tiers skip the badge requirement and publish in under 30 seconds, but what they buy is placement rather than inclusion. Highlight costs 19 US dollars a month and rotates the listing through the Today's Highlights section. Spotlight costs 149 US dollars a month and holds a permanent featured slot on the homepage, above all other listings. On a category page the order runs Highlight placements first, then verified listings ranked by community saves. Plans can be cancelled at any time with no lock-in, but one account holding several startups needs a separate plan for each, so the monthly cost multiplies with your portfolio. The backlinks are what a founder is really buying or earning here. Outbound links to listed startups are do-follow rather than nofollow, and they carry UTM tracking parameters automatically. The site states its own Domain Rating is 80 or above. That figure is Startupfa.me's own claim about itself rather than an independent measurement. For readers, listings are sorted into more than 40 topic categories, each with its own page, and can also be browsed by country from a locations directory showing a flag and a startup count. Each card shows the name, a one-line tagline, a logo and a link to the startup's own website. A founders directory gives each maker a profile page linking to all the startups they have submitted, and founders can claim their own. The privacy policy names the email address supplied at registration as the personal data collected, and the terms of service are governed by United States law with exclusive jurisdiction in United States courts.
We are not affiliated with either product. Upvote counts come from the published formula and neither position was paid for.