ScrollLaunch alternative: ShipX vs ScrollLaunch
Two weekly launch boards with a lot in common. Here’s where they differ on price, ranking and links, and which one fits your launch.
Suhail RoushanUpdated 5 min read
Short answer
The closest ScrollLaunch alternative is another weekly launch board, and ShipX is one. The two share a lot: ISO-week leaderboards, free slots every week, a Premium tier with a gold badge, and permanent product pages with markdown versions for AI agents. The differences are in what Premium costs and buys, how the weekly order is decided, and how links work. If those don’t matter to you, the honest answer is to launch on both, a week apart.
What is ScrollLaunch?
ScrollLaunch presents itself as a weekly Product Hunt alternative for indie makers and SaaS founders, and its stated goal is getting products found on Google and in AI answers from ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity. Its homepage shows the current ISO week’s leaderboard, with past weeks archived by week number.
- Free launch: $0, with up to 25 free listings per ISO week. You get a public product page, upvotes, comments, a maker dashboard with analytics and a listing that stays live.
- Premium: $39 once per product. Premium skips the 25-slot cap, sits above standard listings with a gold verified badge, is featured in the Monday recap of its launch week, and comes with a launch story of about 1,800 words on its blog.
- Ranking: live products are ranked by upvotes for the current ISO week, with engagement tiebreakers.
- Links: Premium always gets a dofollow link from its product page. A free launch keeps a dofollow link only while the ScrollLaunch badge stays on your site, and ScrollLaunch re-checks it weekly. Feed and archive links are nofollow on every tier.
- Extras: weekly ads, a newsletter sponsorship, a list of 1,018+ startup directories and done-for-you directory submission.
Where ShipX fits
ShipX is a weekly launch platform for builders without a big audience. It was built around makers with fewer than 1,000 followers on X, and its ranking leaves follower counts out entirely. Launches run Monday to Sunday (UTC), with 25 free slots a week and a separate 5 Premium slots at $9 each. Every launch keeps a permanent product page with comments, reviews and updates, and you can book any week up to 8 weeks ahead.
ShipX vs ScrollLaunch at a glance
| Attribute | ShipX | ScrollLaunch |
|---|---|---|
| Launch window | Monday to Sunday (UTC) | ISO week |
| Free slots | 25 a week | 25 a week |
| Premium | $9 once, 5 slots a week of its own | $39 once; skips the free cap |
| How the order is decided | A published formula of upvotes, comments, unique commenters, momentum, listing quality and freshness | Upvotes for the ISO week, with engagement tiebreakers |
| Premium written content | 1,500-word feature article, published once you approve it | ~1,800-word launch story, published when the launch week starts |
| Premium promotion | Listed above free launches with a gold check and a highlighted row; Launch Kit of ready-made posts | Listed above standard listings with a gold badge; Monday recap feature |
| Link from your page | Followable while the ShipX badge is on your site, on any tier | Free: dofollow while its badge stays; Premium: always dofollow |
| Weekly prize | The top free launch earns a free Premium launch | Verify current policy |
| For AI agents | Markdown version of each product page, llms.txt | Markdown twins of product pages |
The three differences that matter
1. What Premium costs, and what it buys
ShipX Premium is $9; ScrollLaunch Premium is $39. Both put you above the free launches with a gold badge and both include a long article. ScrollLaunch’s Premium adds the Monday recap and a dofollow link that doesn’t depend on a badge; ShipX’s adds a Launch Kit with your launch-day posts already written. If the article and placement are what you’re paying for, the price difference is the main thing to weigh.
2. How the weekly order is decided
ScrollLaunch ranks on upvotes for the week. ShipX counts upvotes too, but also comments, how many different people commented, recent momentum and how complete your listing is, and it publishes the weights on its How it works page. In practice, a product that gets people talking can climb on ShipX even with fewer upvotes, and a thin listing can’t coast on upvotes alone.
3. Links
On a free launch the two rules are nearly the same: the followable link lasts while the platform’s badge is on your site. On Premium they differ: ScrollLaunch’s link is always dofollow, while ShipX applies the same badge rule to every tier. If a badge-free dofollow link is the reason you’re launching, ScrollLaunch Premium is the better buy.
Who should choose ShipX
- Makers with a small following who want follower counts kept out of the ranking.
- Anyone who wants to read the ranking formula before launching, and be ranked on conversation as well as upvotes.
- Founders who want Premium placement and a feature article for $9.
- Makers who like the idea of a free Premium launch for finishing as the week’s top free launch.
Who should choose ScrollLaunch
- Founders who want a dofollow link on Premium without keeping a badge on their site.
- Anyone who’d use the Monday recap, the newsletter sponsorship or the directory submission service.
- Makers who prefer a ranking based purely on upvotes.
Launching on both
Nothing stops you. Because both boards run by the week, the simplest plan is to launch on one, learn from the comments, improve the listing and launch on the other the following week. You can book a ShipX week now and move it until it goes live. The upcoming launches page shows who else is booked.
FAQ
What is the best ScrollLaunch alternative?
For the same weekly format, ShipX: free launches every week, a published ranking formula and a $9 Premium launch. Peerlist Launchpad also runs by the week; DevHunt suits developer tools.
Is ShipX cheaper than ScrollLaunch?
For Premium, yes: ShipX Premium is $9 once and ScrollLaunch Premium is $39 once (checked October 27, 2026). Free launches cost nothing on both.
How is ranking different on ShipX and ScrollLaunch?
ScrollLaunch ranks by upvotes for the ISO week, with engagement tiebreakers. ShipX uses a published formula of upvotes, comments, unique commenters, momentum, listing quality and freshness, and leaves out the maker's own activity.
Do I get a dofollow link on ShipX?
Yes, while the Featured on ShipX badge is on your homepage: your product page then links straight to your site. Without the badge the link goes through a nofollow redirect. The rule is the same for free and Premium launches.
Can I launch on ShipX and ScrollLaunch?
Yes. Neither stops you launching elsewhere. Since both run by the week, many makers launch on one and then the other the following week.