Guides · 9 min · Updated 2026-09-02
Aura++, IndieHunt, and the Hunt network
How Aura++, IndieHunt, MakerHunt, SideHunt, EarlyHunt, and Uno Directory work: daily vs weekly, specialized rooms, Premium dofollow, and how to pick the right door.
A family of specialized rooms
Aura++, IndieHunt, MakerHunt, SideHunt, EarlyHunt, and Uno Directory are a family of Hunt-network boards: daily versus weekly, plus rooms for makers, side projects, AI tools, and a lasting catalog. The Premium Launcher key that can submit across them is a convenience if you are listing on more than one surface over a launch month.
This site ranks each row independently and does not boost related boards. Pick the door that matches the product. If you want a second weekly later, wait a month or add a board outside the family (Uneed, Peerlist, Smol Launch).
Who is which door
Pick by cadence and niche: daily versus weekly, then the room that matches the product.
| Surface | Cadence | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Aura++ | Daily (8:00am UTC) | You want a crawlable launch record and an optional DR-class dofollow this week |
| IndieHunt | Weekly, Monday UTC | Indie SaaS / AI tools; you can work comments for seven days |
| MakerHunt | Weekly | The buyer is another maker who will actually try the thing |
| SideHunt | Weekly | It still looks like a side project, not a company launch |
| EarlyHunt | Weekly | The story is AI-native and early-adopter shaped |
| Uno Directory | Ongoing listing | You want a lasting catalog page, not a hunt day |
Free vs Premium
Free slots are often capped (IndieHunt-style weeks commonly advertise around 15 free launches). Free listings frequently require a badge and default to nofollow; a top-3 free finish may upgrade. Premium is typically a one-time fee in the $19–$69 range depending on the surface and tier — confirm live prices.
Pay if you want the guaranteed dofollow and launch-story URL. Do not pay because the UI resembles Product Hunt. After launch, crawl the live page. SEO blogs that celebrate a pricing screenshot without checking `rel` are doing you a disservice.
Where it sits in a real month
Hunt-network boards are warm-ups and SEO, not the main event for most products. A clean sequence: BetaList in the queue, Aura++ or IndieHunt in week 2, Product Hunt or Show HN in week 3 if the copy survived. Directories (AlternativeTo, TAAFT) in the same sitting as week 0 so they exist when people search the name.
If you skip Product Hunt entirely, IndieHunt or Uneed can be the flagship weekly. Show HN is still its own room — engineers live there, not on a Hunt board.
- One Hunt daily plus one Hunt weekly is a clean launch-month stack.
- Different week from Product Hunt if you need to be in comments.
- Uno Directory is the catalog — add it as a listing, not as another hunt day.