# Launch boards vs directories: stop mixing up the jobs

Source: https://bestlaunchplatforms.com

> Launch boards (Product Hunt, Uneed, Show HN, IndieHunt) cost attention on a date. Directories (AlternativeTo, TAAFT, Crunchbase) and review grids (G2, Capterra) are listings you claim once. Do not spend a launch morning on forms. Do not expect a directory to send a hunter crowd. Gartner Digital Markets properties (Capterra, GetApp, Software Advice) are one family — claim together, not as three launches.

A launch is a date and a thread. A directory is a page that keeps working. Most “50 places to submit” lists pretend they are the same.

## Two clocks

A launch board has a clock: 24 hours, a Monday week, a month-long MicroLaunch. Someone might reply. You need to be there.
A directory has no clock that cares about you. The page is indexed or it is not. The backlink is dofollow or it is not. Paying a virtual assistant to blast 80 “startup submission sites” is how you get ignored by the five that matter and listed on the seventy that exist to sell a badge.


## What belongs on which afternoon

Keep the calendars separate so launch day stays human.


## Sibling catalogs

Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice sit in the same Gartner Digital Markets family. Claiming all three in one sitting is coverage. Treating them as three launches is a category error.
Aura++, IndieHunt, MakerHunt, SideHunt, EarlyHunt, and Uno Directory are the Hunt network: specialized launch rooms plus a catalog. Match cadence and niche. TAAFT, Toolify, and FutureTools are AI indexes: list on two, featured-boost on none until organic pages exist.


## A boring, correct week-0 list

Homepage fact sheet. Crunchbase. AlternativeTo. TAAFT if you are actually AI. G2 or Trustpilot if customers exist. Then stop submitting and go talk to humans on a board.

- Inspect `rel` on any paid “dofollow” before you celebrate Ahrefs.
- Same one-liner everywhere. Models invent a third product when listings disagree.
- If a directory emails you about a $2k research report in week one, decline.

## FAQ
### Is AlternativeTo a Product Hunt alternative?
No. It is an alternatives directory. High evergreen and AI-visibility value, almost no launch-day culture. Use both.

### How many directories should I submit to?
Three to five good ones beat fifty spam forms. AlternativeTo, one AI index if relevant (TAAFT), SaaSHub or Capterra/G2 for B2B, Crunchbase for the company graph.