Where to Launch an AI Tool (2026): Free vs Paid
Where to launch an AI tool comes down to two checks. Can a stranger try it today, and is the room free or a review fee? Most of the big AI catalogs now charge. A weekly board and Show HN still take a free post. The notes below are what each site's own page said on 19 October 2026. Prices and link rules change.
Updated Oct 19, 2026
Start with something people can try
Show HN is for something people can run or hold. The guidelines put sign-up pages, newsletters, lists, and other reading material off to the side. Those get a regular submission. The title has to start with Show HN. Asking friends to upvote is against the rules.
If the tool needs a hosted demo, a Hugging Face Space is one place to put it. Static Spaces are free. Gradio and Docker Spaces run on compute and need a paid plan to create. A free personal account in good standing can still host up to two Gradio Spaces on ZeroGPU. On free hardware the Space sleeps when nobody is using it.
A catalog row does not fix a demo that 404s. Put the tryable URL up first.
Launch boards: a day or a week
Product Hunt's posting guide is a 24-hour board in PST. It wants a personal account. Company accounts cannot post. You send a direct URL, a short tagline, a few topics, and a gallery. The post goes live at 12:01 AM PST.
Peerlist Launchpad is a weekly vote. Nukkadly is a Monday to Sunday UTC week. Listing on Nukkadly is free. A person reviews the product before it is public. Launch Pass is $39 once. It speeds review and turns the outbound link dofollow. It does not buy rank. After Sunday the same page stays in Browse.
Uneed is a daily catalog with a queue. The cost, the link rule, and what is left in a month are in product launch websites.
A CLI, a library, or an extension still has to ship where people install it. That order is where to launch a developer tool.
AI directories: most of the big ones now charge
There's An AI For That
There's An AI For That charges to submit. The get-featured page says the fee is one-off, and that they refund it automatically if the tool is not published. The same page says listings do not expire. The dollar amount on the form moves, so it is not printed here.
Toolify
Toolify's submit page is a paid listing. It says the tool appears in the listing and in Just Launched within 48 hours, with no queue, and that the listing stays up. The page also says the site gets no less than 6 quality dofollow links. That is their sentence. Open a live listing and read the rel before you count the link.
Futurepedia
The old submit page, /submit-tool, returns 404. So does /verified. The package page that still loads is a Verified Enhanced Listing at $497, one time. They say they refund it if the editorial team denies the tool. Updating a tool that is already listed is a different form. It is not a free way to add a new one.
FutureTools
FutureTools still has a public form. You send a name, a URL, a short description, and a category. Matt reviews it. The form has no fee.
Altern
Altern's submit page says the free plan lists the tool with a name, a link, a description, and categories, and that no payment is required. A human reviews every submission. The same page lists a Base Plan at $29 and a Featured Listing at $49. The Base Plan line does not say what the $29 adds. Featured Listing says priority placement and a featured badge. Paid plans change placement and visibility. They do not change the review bar, and no plan guarantees a yes.
If the tool has an MCP server or API
Use this section only when the product is an MCP server, or it exposes an API that clients call.
The official list is the MCP Registry. It gives MCP clients a catalog of servers. A pull request to that repo does not publish you. The quickstart says you publish with their mcp-publisher CLI, after you prove you own the namespace. GitHub login covers a github username. DNS or HTTP covers a domain. The registry stores metadata. The package itself still lives on npm, PyPI, or wherever you already publish it. A remote-only server can publish a public URL with no package. The quickstart still calls the registry a preview, so a reset is possible. It does not show a submission fee.
An API that is not an MCP server still needs docs a stranger can call. The registry does not replace that page.
What to check before you pay
Refund comes first. There's An AI For That refunds automatically when they do not publish the tool. Futurepedia's enhanced package says a denial is refunded. A fee with no refund line is a different purchase.
Then ask how long the page lasts. There's An AI For That says listings do not expire. Toolify says the listing stays up. A launch week ends on Sunday. The URL you still have next month is the thing you are buying.
Then read the link attribute on a live page. Toolify's submit page claims dofollow links. Nukkadly's free link is nofollow. The $39 Launch Pass is what turns that link dofollow, and it does not move rank. Altern, FutureTools, and the Futurepedia package page do not promise a dofollow link.
Then ask whether the audience is your buyer. People searching an AI catalog, makers on a weekly board, and the Show HN thread are three rooms. If your buyer is not in that room, skip the fee.
Dang.ai still has a free path, and it requires a crawlable backlink to dang.ai. On 19 October 2026 the pricing page showed Basic at $49, and Pro at $30 to set up and then $19 a month. Those paid plans skip the backlink. ToolPilot's submit page says a free listing now requires one of their badges. A badge rule is a cost, even when the form says zero.
Prices and link rules change. The longer map is the launch directories compared by cost and link type. Read the live page on the day you pay.
A one-month order that doesn't burn launch day
Week one, make the tool tryable. A public URL, a Space, or a remote endpoint. A waitlist is the wrong thing to send.
Week two, pick one free room that talks back. Show HN when someone can run it in the thread. Nukkadly when you want a Monday to Sunday week and a page that stays in Browse. Launch your product after the demo works.
Week three, pick one of the AI tool directories, and only if that audience is the buyer. FutureTools or Altern's free plan when you want a review without a fee. A paid catalog when the refund rule is on the page and you can name who reads it.
Week four, the MCP Registry, if you actually ship a server. Leave the paid forms off launch day. You get one first week on a board.
Common questions
Is it free to submit an AI tool?
Sometimes. Show HN is a free thread when people can try the thing. Nukkadly lists for free. FutureTools has a free form. Altern has a free plan, plus paid plans. There's An AI For That, Toolify, and the Futurepedia package that still loads all charge a review fee. Dang.ai is free only if you add their backlink. ToolPilot's free listing requires their badge.
Do AI directories give dofollow links?
Only where their own page says so. Toolify's submit page says a listing includes no less than 6 quality dofollow links. That is the page's claim. The rel on a live Toolify listing was not part of this check. Nukkadly's free outbound link is nofollow. Launch Pass is $39 once for a dofollow link, and it does not buy rank. Altern, FutureTools, and Futurepedia's package page do not state a dofollow rule.
Is Nukkadly a fit for AI tools?
Yes, when people can try the tool today. The guidelines allow live software, tools, apps, and APIs, and they reject a landing page with no product. You submit for free. A person reviews it before the public board. The week runs Monday to Sunday UTC. Rank is not for sale. Launch Pass is $39 once for faster review and a dofollow link.
If you want to list
Keep going with Product Launch Websites for Startups (2026) or Where to launch a developer tool. The long list is the launch directories compared by cost and link type. Read how Nukkadly works and submit when you have a real product to show.