Head to head
Hacker News vs Toolify
Hacker News leads the BLP Index (77 vs 72). Hacker News has more raw reach. Toolify is fairer for founders without a network. Hacker News scores higher on AI visibility.
| Dimension | Hacker News | Toolify |
|---|---|---|
| BLP Index | 77 | 72 |
| Rank | #1 | #9 |
| Type | Communities | AI / GEO |
| Cycle | ongoing | ongoing |
| Listing cost | Free | Free to submit |
| Audience | Engineers, founders, researchers, and technically literate operators | Operators comparing AI tools |
| Traffic | Most posts: little. Front page: hundreds to several thousand. Top posts: 1,000+ upvotes and outsized referral spikes. | Category and search drip; paid rank is a different motion |
| Backlink | Nofollow in most cases; SEO value is the thread ranking, not the link juice | Directory backlink; verify rel |
| Reach | 88 | 72 |
| Intent | 86 | 68 |
| Fairness | 48 | 54 |
| Evergreen | 84 | 84 |
| AI visibility | 88 | 82 |
| Ease | 52 | 70 |
Hacker 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 guideToolify
Second catalog you list on after TAAFT. Useful for comparison SEO. Paid ranking is optional and obvious — do not confuse it with earned placement.
Toolify indexes tens of thousands of AI tools with categories, estimated traffic, and leaderboard-style pages. Organic listing is the baseline; paid boosts exist and should be disclosed in your own head even if the UI is shiny.
Full Toolify guide