AI tool directories, tested: where to submit an AI tool for free

Why AI directories are a category of their own

On my public list, 26 places take only AI tools, so they sit under "Only for some startups" rather than in the main directory table, with the regional and open-source-only sites: https://github.com/mmmmingos/where-to-submit-your-startup. They are a different market from the launch boards. Most are catalogues with categories, not a daily leaderboard, and several are run by one person who reads every submission.

I submitted SubmitMyStartup as what it is: a resource for launching a startup, with a public MCP server and a planner, kept current by AI agents. Three directories draw a line that a plain AI tool wouldn't meet. Dang.ai's free form makes you confirm the product is "not a generic directory, agency, job board, or non-AI service", Aidirs says "Directory-style websites are generally not accepted as product listings", and Future Tools says it doesn't list "new tool aggregators". If you're submitting an actual AI tool, you'll do better than I did at those three. Everything else below applies to you as it did to me.

The three that were free with no catch

AI Pulse takes a submission with no account, after you verify your email. It then offers a choice: Normal Review, within 2 weeks, at no cost, or Priority Review in 24 to 48 hours, also at no cost, if you add a backlink to it. I chose Normal Review, so no link was needed, and the site confirmed: "Your submission will be reviewed in the order received." No paid option was shown.

AIToolsCapital also needs no account. Its free plan is "$0, 24h review"; the badge it offers after submitting is marked "Free & optional". Its rules: the tool must be publicly accessible, AI or machine learning focused, and not a duplicate. Featured ($49) and Premium ($129) exist, but nothing pushed me toward them. WaildWorld is a short form on its home page; the site said: "The estimated time to add your tool is 3 days." No paid option at all.

All three were still in review as I wrote this, and none promised a listing. Free with no catch means the form asked for nothing beyond the facts of the product.

Free, with a wait

AI Tools is the clearest case of a free path that is also a long one. Its form says "Enter the queue (30-90 day listing time)" and "No guaranteed placement", and its FAQ says the free queue can take over 60 days to be published, "if at all". The paid Fast Lane is $129 for 24 to 48 hours. WhatTheAI's free Regular listing goes into a "Standard review queue" that, in its own words, "can take a while", with no featured placement; its Featured Fast-Track is $49.

AI Tools Directory's form is free, but every submission is reviewed by hand and "Submitting a tool is not a guarantee that it will be published". Two rules bite. Descriptions must be original, impartial, and in the third person, and "Text generated by AI systems or plagiarized will be deleted". It refuses tools with a waiting list or hidden pricing, and crypto, adult, and "AI girlfriend" products. The paid Fast Track, $99, promises a listing "in 3 days or less", which is the only clue to how slow the free queue is.

Future Tools is the hardest free door. The form is open to anyone, but the site says "Over 75% of the tools that are submitted to this site do not get approved", that you will likely not hear back either way, and that you may resubmit if nothing happens within a week. It doesn't list waitlist-only products, custom GPTs, newsletters, or aggregators. Its paid options are a featured listing and site banners, with no price shown on the form.

Free, if you link to them first

ToolPilot's free listing now requires a link back: "A link back to our site is now mandatory for all free listings." There is no embed code, only badge images to download and link yourself, and the free option "may take up to 60 days to process". Priority is $99 and Premium $199. I put the link on my site and submitted; the listing is pending.

Dang.ai goes further: the free plan needs a crawlable dofollow link to dang.ai on a page you name, verified before you can submit, and the listing stays only while the link stays live, with a review of up to 4 weeks. Its form then asks you to tick that your product is not a directory, which mine is, so I stopped there. Paid plans start at $49. Aidirs wants badge verification and a queued review for its free plan, and sends directories to a separate Backlinks list instead; its paid plans run from $9.90.

Altern asks for three things for its free plan: its badge on your homepage (or a post linking Altern on X or Substack), a follow of its X account, and a subscription to its newsletter. Its paid plans are $29 and $49. I didn't complete the free plan that day. AgentMRR is free and takes one API call, with no account, but it lists only AI agents with verified revenue: without a read-only revenue key from Stripe, Creem, Paddle, Polar, or RevenueCat, the listing stays a private draft, which is where mine is.

Free, if your domain is old enough

Two directories keep their free path for sites that already have links. AI Directories' free plan needs its badge or a text link on your homepage or footer, and a site with an Ahrefs Domain Rating of at least 10: "Your website should have minimum DR 10". Its own checker put submitmystartup.com at DR 0, "New / low authority", so the free plan, which the site says is "Reviewed and listed within 72 hours", was closed to me. Paid is $49 one-time or $9.99 a month, and sign-in has a reCAPTCHA.

AI Tools Saver's only free package, "Verified Partner, Free (link exchange)", needs a link back and "Requires non-zero DR (> 0)". The paid packages have no such rule: Fast Track $25, More Impact $49, Featured $300. A Domain Rating is Ahrefs' estimate of a site's link profile, and a brand-new domain starts at 0. So these two free paths are shut to exactly the sites that most need a first listing. I don't know what either listing does for a site's rating, and I'm not guessing.

Paid only, from $9.90 to $99

Eight of the 27 have no free path at all. Aixploria says why on its submit page: "We no longer offer free listings. We need to maintain the premium quality of the websites in our directory. This sorting process has become too time-consuming due to the large number of submissions we receive every day." Its Fast Listing is $99, published within 5 business days, with $299 and $499 plans above it. Toolify.ai is plainer: "It costs $99 to list a tool. This is a one-time payment and once complete your tool will be listed forever." It reviews every tool by hand, lists within 48 hours, and refunds if it doesn't approve.

There's An AI For That starts at $49 one-time; the only free route is one tool it picks from a monthly thread on X. AI Center's form ends with "Choose Your Plan" before the submit button: Basic $15 (reviewed within 3 business days), Standard $45, Premium $65. Toolsfine's form is "Paid Submit, $16", reviewed within 3 business days and refunded if not approved. AIStage offers Basic $9.90, Featured $19.90, or Unlimited $59.90 a month, each reviewed in 48 hours.

Two still carry a free option in their page code that the form no longer shows. AI With Me's code describes a "Free Submit" in exchange for a homepage link, with a longer wait; the form offers only "Pay, then Submit" at $19.90 one-time or $29.90 a month. BroUseAI's code has a "Basic $0" plan to "Join the waiting queue"; the form's only choice is Premium, $29 plus VAT, "Listed within 48 hours, skip the queue!".

No way in, and three that are gone

Futurepedia, now under HubSpot Media, is still one of the biggest AI directories, and you can't submit to it. Its submit pages return 404, and the only forms left are "Update a Tool", for tools already listed, and a general contact form. The editors choose: "Before we include a product, we review what it offers and who it serves best." AI For Developers, a curated list of coding agents, SDKs, models, and IDEs, has no form either; tools are suggested through an issue on its curators' GitHub list or by email.

Three directories that other launch lists still link are gone. AI Dir's server closes every connection. AI Directory's domain doesn't resolve. AI Tools by Neil Patel, whose submit page lists still point to, redirects to Ubersuggest's apps page with no directory left. All three are under reported problems on my list with the date, so the next person who suggests them finds them already checked.

What the lists on X get right, and what they leave out

While I was writing this I read the AI directory lists founders shared on X in the last month. One maker's afternoon list (https://x.com/nicklaunches/status/2105885491145166849, 2 October) calls Future Tools free with one form, Dang AI free if you link back, There's An AI For That $49, and Toolify $99. Those four match my records exactly, which is reassuring on both sides.

What the lists leave out is everything that happens after the form. None I read mentions Future Tools' 75% rejection rate, the Domain Rating gates at AI Directories and AI Tools Saver, the "not a directory" boxes, the deleted AI-written descriptions, or that Futurepedia can't be submitted to at all. Most also attach a domain rating to each name. I don't record those, and I can't tell you what any listing does for yours.

Where I would start, if your product is an AI tool

Send the three with no catch first: AI Pulse, AIToolsCapital, and WaildWorld take a few minutes each and ask for nothing back. Then the free queues: AI Tools (30 to 90 days), WhatTheAI, and AI Tools Directory, where you should write your own description in your own words, in the third person. Try Future Tools knowing the odds. If you can add a link to your site, ToolPilot, Dang.ai, and Aidirs open up. Leave the two Domain Rating gates until your site has some links, and don't fill in Futurepedia's update form for a tool it hasn't listed.

I haven't paid any of the eight paid-only directories, so I can't tell you what $16 or $99 buys beyond the listing itself. The planner at https://submitmystartup.com/planner/ includes these directories when you say you're launching an AI product, sorted by how long each takes, with its price and what it wants from your site. If you'd rather ask an assistant, the same records sit behind my MCP server; https://submitmystartup.com/api/#mcp explains how to add it to Claude or ChatGPT.

What I don't know yet

None of my eight pending AI submissions had been listed when I wrote this, so I can't say yet which of these directories keeps its stated review time, or whether Future Tools' 75% applies to me. I measure the sessions each listing sends over its first 7, 30, and 90 days and record a number only after the window closes, so I have no traffic figures for any AI directory, and unknown is not zero.

One claim I read on X is that small AI directories matter because language models read them, so a listing helps a tool show up in AI answers. I can't test that, and I'm not repeating it as fact. What I can say is which doors are open, which are shut, and what each one asks for, as of 4 October 2026. I'll update this post as the listings come through.