A Product Hunt alternative for makers without an audience
Product Hunt rewards makers who arrive with an audience. ShipX gives everyone else a full week on a public board. Here’s how they compare.
Suhail RoushanUpdated 5 min read
Short answer
Product Hunt works best for makers who arrive with an audience: its launches are decided in a single day, on a homepage its team curates. ShipX is a Product Hunt alternative for makers who don’t have that audience yet. A launch there lasts a whole week, the ranking is public and ignores follower counts, and launching is free. You don’t have to pick one: many makers launch on Product Hunt on day one and keep the momentum going on ShipX for the rest of the week.
How a Product Hunt launch works
Launching on Product Hunt is free. Launches compete on the homepage leaderboard for the top spots, including Product of the Day, and Product Hunt’s own guide suggests 12:01 am Pacific Time for makers planning ahead. Makers are encouraged to post their own products rather than find a “hunter”.
The homepage shows featured launches by default, picked by Product Hunt’s team for being useful, novel, well crafted or creative. Everything else is still listed under “All”, where it can collect comments and upvotes. Product Hunt says the most upvoted products aren’t automatically the featured ones, and that directories, templates, courses, services, deal sites and waitlisted products usually aren’t featured.
A day against a week
On a daily leaderboard, almost everything is decided in a few hours. The strongest early signal is people turning up to upvote, so a large following turns into a head start, and a small one doesn’t. If your day is crowded, or your page wasn’t quite ready, there’s no second attempt for the same launch.
ShipX groups launches into weeks that run Monday to Sunday (UTC). Your product is on the board for the whole week, products that go live later in the week get a freshness boost so they aren’t buried, and final positions are frozen when the week ends. The pressure to be online at midnight Pacific Time disappears: a launch that picks up on Thursday still counts.
What ShipX offers instead
- Built for makers without an audience. It was built for makers with fewer than 1,000 followers on X, and follower counts still play no part in the ranking.
- A public ranking formula. Upvotes, comments, unique commenters, momentum and listing quality, with the weights published. The maker’s own upvotes and comments never count.
- Free to launch. 25 free slots every week, bookable up to 8 weeks ahead. Premium is $9 once and lists you above the free launches.
- A page that stays. After its week, every launch keeps a public product page with its comments, reviews and updates, found by category, tag and tech stack.
- A reason to aim for the top. The top free launch of each ranked week earns its maker a free Premium launch.
ShipX vs Product Hunt at a glance
| Attribute | ShipX | Product Hunt |
|---|---|---|
| Launch window | A week, Monday to Sunday (UTC) | A day, with Product of the Day |
| Cost to launch | Free (25 slots a week); Premium $9 once | Free |
| Who decides what’s seen | A published formula; Premium launches listed first | Featured launches picked by Product Hunt’s team; the rest under “All” |
| Follower counts | Play no part in the ranking | Not part of the stated rules, but an audience helps on a one-day race |
| Audience size | Small and growing | Much larger, and the best-known launch community |
| After launch | Permanent product page with comments, reviews and updates | Public product page |
| Best for | A first launch without an audience, and a week of steady visibility | A big launch day when you can bring people with you |
Who should choose ShipX
- Makers launching for the first time, or launching without a following.
- Founders who can’t be online all day on launch day and want the product to keep working for them all week.
- Products Product Hunt says it usually doesn’t feature, as long as they’re real products people can use.
- Anyone who wants to know exactly how the order is decided before launching.
Who should choose Product Hunt
- Makers with an audience, a community or a network they can bring on the day.
- Polished products that fit Product Hunt’s featuring guidelines.
- Teams who want the visibility of Product of the Day and are ready to spend the whole day on it.
Using both
A launch on ShipX doesn’t stop you launching anywhere else. A common plan: book your ShipX week, launch on Product Hunt on the Monday or Tuesday of that week, and point the people who arrive after the day to your ShipX page, where the launch is still live. For more places to launch, see the full guide to Product Hunt alternatives, and for the build-up, the launch playbook.
FAQ
What is the best Product Hunt alternative for a small audience?
One where reach doesn't depend on your following. ShipX was built for this: a full week on the board, a published ranking that ignores follower counts and free launches. Communities like Indie Hackers and, for developer tools, Show HN also reward a good post whoever wrote it.
Can I launch on ShipX and Product Hunt?
Yes. A weekly board and a daily launch site reach different people, so many makers use both. Launching on ShipX doesn't stop you launching anywhere else.
Is Product Hunt free?
Yes, launching on Product Hunt is free, according to its own launch guide.
Why didn't my Product Hunt launch appear on the homepage?
Product Hunt's homepage shows launches featured by its team; the rest are listed under All. Its guidelines say it features useful, novel, well-crafted or creative products, and usually not directories, templates, courses, services, deal sites or waitlisted products.
How is the weekly order decided on ShipX?
By a public formula: upvotes, comments, unique commenters, momentum and listing quality, with the maker's own activity left out. Premium launches are listed above free launches, ordered among themselves by the same formula.