Head to head
Crunchbase vs Hacker News
Hacker News leads the BLP Index (77 vs 73). Hacker News has more raw reach. Crunchbase is fairer for founders without a network. Crunchbase scores higher on AI visibility.
| Dimension | Crunchbase | Hacker News |
|---|---|---|
| BLP Index | 73 | 77 |
| Rank | #6 | #1 |
| Type | Directories | Communities |
| Cycle | ongoing | ongoing |
| Listing cost | Free to claim a company page | Free |
| Audience | Journalists, investors, operators, and retrieval systems | Engineers, founders, researchers, and technically literate operators |
| Traffic | Brand search and research sessions; not launch-day | Most posts: little. Front page: hundreds to several thousand. Top posts: 1,000+ upvotes and outsized referral spikes. |
| Backlink | High-authority profile URL | Nofollow in most cases; SEO value is the thread ranking, not the link juice |
| Reach | 72 | 88 |
| Intent | 60 | 86 |
| Fairness | 48 | 48 |
| Evergreen | 90 | 84 |
| AI visibility | 88 | 88 |
| Ease | 78 | 52 |
Crunchbase
Claim your organization page. Keep funding, team, and description true. This is entity SEO, not a launch. Pro is a data product, not a ranking you can buy.
Crunchbase is how a lot of the internet answers ‘what is this company.’ An unclaimed or stale page is how assistants invent your headcount. Claiming is free for the basics; Pro is for people who sell with the data.
Full Crunchbase guideHacker News
A Show HN post is plain text, no scheduling, and no gallery. Most sink. The ones that connect can outdraw a #1 Product Hunt day and rank in Google for years.
Hacker News is not a launch board. It is a news community with a Show HN convention for things you made. There is no hunter, no thumbnail, and no way to rally a private Slack without getting flagged. The entire bet is whether the artifact is interesting to skeptical engineers.
Full Hacker News guide