guide

Startup directory requirements: what stopped 117 of my attempts

By Where to Submit Your Startup · Published 2026-10-25

Of the 426 places where I have a My experience record, 117 never listed my project: 112 stopped me before I could submit, and 5 took the submission and then said no. The biggest single reason was a rule about who the directory is for. Seventeen review sites list only B2B software, 12 take companies from one region or country, and 24 take only one kind of product, from open-source projects to AI headshot generators. Eight wanted a Domain Rating my new site doesn't have, and 19 wanted a phone number or a postal address before the free path would open. Most of these rules are written down somewhere, some of them only on a page you reach after signing up. Here they are, sorted, so you can check them first.

How I counted

Since 25 September 2026 I've been submitting my own project, SubmitMyStartup, to the places on my public list, one attempt each, and writing down what each site showed me. A record is blocked when the attempt stopped before a submission, with the reason, and rejected when the site turned the submission down afterwards. The list is at https://github.com/mmmmingos/where-to-submit-your-startup. On 25 October it had 749 entries, and it grows as places are tried. The counts here are from that day.

One caveat matters more here than anywhere. My project is a free website that lists places to submit a startup, so it is a directory itself, with a planner and an MCP server. Some rules that stopped me won't apply to you, and I say which. Others, like a Domain Rating gate, apply to almost any new site.

Who the directory is for: 58

Seventeen list B2B software only, most of them software review sites: the G2 family (G2, Capterra, GetApp) and others such as TrustRadius, SelectHub, PeerSpot, SaaSworthy, and FinancesOnline. My site isn't sold to businesses, so it couldn't be listed. A B2B SaaS should pass.

Twelve take companies from one place. Arctic Startup covers the Nordics and Baltics, Built In Chicago takes Chicago companies, GeekWire the Pacific Northwest, Tech Map Austin, EU-Startups Europe, and MAGNiTT the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Romanian Startups wants a Romanian co-founder, Startups.watch covers Turkish startups, LaunchPad India takes live businesses operating in India, PlatformsDirectory.com wanted an Indian tax ID, and two Chinese sites need a Chinese ICP filing number.

Twenty-four take one kind of product or customer only: developer tools (DevHunt among them), open-source projects, no-code tools, mobile and Mac apps, products sold for a one-time payment, photo-editing tools, AI headshot generators, space startups, physical products, products that show confetti, and Product Hunt launches, among others. Five more want revenue or metrics on show: TrustMRR, Trust Revenue, and AgentMRR list only startups with verified revenue, and two others want published metrics or revenue first.

None of these is a trick: a directory is allowed to choose who it's for. The rules are just easy to miss on a list that gives only a name and a link.

What your site has: 8 Domain Rating gates

Eight free paths were closed by an Ahrefs Domain Rating, an estimate of a site's link profile that starts at 0 for every new domain. Fazier, Startup Fame, and AI Tools Saver wanted it above 0; Based Tools above 15; AI Directories and List My SaaS at least 10; Toolfio 20; and AITrustList 25, along with its badge. My site was at 0, so I didn't submit to any of them.

Of everything here, this is the rule I'd most expect to stop another new startup, because it shuts the free path to exactly the sites that most need a first listing. I don't know what a listing on any of them does for a site's rating, and I'm not guessing.

What you'd hand over: 24

Fourteen sites needed a phone number, at sign-up or on the free form. Trustpilot asks at step 3 of its business sign-up; SoftwareSuggest, CrozDesk, and CompareCamp are among the others. Six wanted a postal address: Owler's company form asks for a street address and postal code at step 2, Look AI Tools' $0 checkout still wanted a billing address, and YourStory wanted both a phone number and an address. My project is online only, and I don't give a phone number or an address to directories, so these were my choice rather than the site refusing me. If you're happy to give a business phone and address, most of these are open to you.

Five wanted a personal account: a founder's LinkedIn profile (two sites, one of which also wanted a deal for its visitors), a GitHub sign-in (two, one of which would share my email addresses with the site), and Orynth, which needs your X account connected. I don't connect personal accounts to directories, so I stopped there. Again, that's my rule, not theirs.

Rules against what my project is: 6 blocks and 4 rejections

Six directories rule out directories or lists of links outright. Dang.ai's free form asks you to confirm the product is "not a generic directory, agency, job board, or non-AI service", which mine is, so I didn't tick it. Aidirs says directory-style websites are generally not accepted. RadarMakers' submission policy, updated on 23 October, takes no launch platforms, startup or SaaS directories, or link lists, and I only found it on a separate policy page after signing up, on 24 October.

Four of the five rejections came down to what my product is, and they came after the wait. Uneed held my free launch for 10 January 2027, then declined it on 20 October as a directory or tool aggregator. Its maker wrote on 30 September, "I now reject more than 50% of the products added to Uneed" (https://x.com/T_Zahil/status/2105196021722599581). StartupBase turned my free launch down on 2 October because it doesn't feature free online tools. RankmyAI said on 11 October it wasn't convinced my site qualifies as an AI tool, and WebCatalog answered "Not web app" the day I submitted, 8 October. The fifth, e27, rejected my company profile on 9 October as not fitting its guidelines, with no detail. StartupBlink, recorded as a block, turned me down because it lists innovation-focused startups only.

If your product is a tool or an app, most of these won't stop you. If it's a directory, a list, or a resource like mine, read the eligibility notes on my list before you spend an afternoon; they quote the rule where I found one.

Badges, closed doors, and the rest: 16

Five stopped at a badge. Startup Fast's only badges say "Powered by Startup Fast" and AgentHunter's says Featured AI Agent, neither of which would be true on my site, so I didn't put them up. Two badge checks failed: one answered with a server error twice, and the other couldn't find the badge on my site. One more site's free path needed a link to an unrelated partner site.

Four had no open door. Lobsters is invitation only, Futurepedia's editors choose which tools to include, one site takes suggestions only through GitHub issues and usually wants more than 5,000 stars, and StartupBlink's no is above.

Seven had rules of their own. Discover Cloud's verification email never arrived. Open Launch's free launches were fully booked into 2027. Gust kept my company overview unpublished pending its own review. Altern's free plan wanted its badge, a follow on X, and a newsletter sign-up, and I skipped it. One site needed a product video, and one only swaps friend links. And one site's free path was an AI-drafted page of about 1,000 words, published under my name, positioning my product as the top alternative to a market leader; I wasn't willing to publish that, so I didn't submit.

After the listing: gone, or never shown

A listing isn't permanent either. The Agents Index and CitedIndex, which run on one platform, published my free listings on 7 October, the same day I submitted; both were gone by 25 October, with no notice.

Three sites went down before my listing appeared. AIBestTop Tools (submitted 6 October) and The AI Generation (7 October) were returning errors on every page by 19 October and still were on 24 October. BuiltByIndies, which had booked my free launch for 18 January 2027 after I upvoted 5 products, no longer resolved on 25 October. They're under reported problems on my list now, with the dates.

What to check before you fill in a form

Five questions, in this order, would have saved me most of these attempts. Is it for my kind of company: B2B software, one region, one product type? Is there a Domain Rating, revenue, or domain-email rule on the submit or pricing page? Does sign-up need a phone number, an address, or a personal account I'm not willing to connect? Does the free path need a badge whose words are true for my site? And does a policy page rule out what I am?

My list's notes answer these for each place I've tried, and the planner at https://submitmystartup.com/planner/ filters on them: tell it what you're launching, your budget, and whether you can add a badge. The same records are open to Claude or ChatGPT through the free MCP server (https://submitmystartup.com/mcp-server/), and to a coding agent as a skill: npx skills add mmmmingos/where-to-submit-your-startup

For the free directories that did list me, see https://submitmystartup.com/blog/best-free-startup-directories/, and for sites that have gone or started charging, https://submitmystartup.com/blog/startup-directories-dead-or-no-longer-free/

What I don't know

Why most rejections say so little. e27 gave no detail, and some of the 194 submissions still waiting may yet end in a no. I also don't know whether a site applies its rules the same way to everyone; I only know what it did with mine, on the date given. A product unlike mine will hit a different set of these, which is why the list records the rule and not just my result.