# Hacker News review and launch guide

Source: https://bestlaunchplatforms.com

> Hacker News Show HN is a free, unscheduled text post to a technical audience. Most posts go nowhere; front-page threads can outdraw a Product Hunt #1 and rank in Google for years. Best for tryable developer tools and honest build stories.

- Rank: 1
- BLP Index: 77
- Website: https://news.ycombinator.com
- Category: community
- Cadence: ongoing
- Cost: Free
- Backlink: Nofollow in most cases; SEO value is the thread ranking, not the link juice

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.
When a Show HN lands, the traffic is technical, high-intent, and often brutal in the comments. Threads that stay on the front page can send more qualified visitors than a Product Hunt #1, and the discussion itself frequently ranks for the product name for years.
Write like an engineer explaining a side project. Show something people can try. Stay in the thread all day. If your product cannot survive “why not just use X?”, do not post yet.

## Best for
- Developer tools, infrastructure, and open source
- Products with an interesting build story
- Founders willing to defend design decisions in public

## Skip if
- Marketing-speak launches and “we’re excited to announce” posts
- Consumer apps with no technical depth
- Anything that looks like a growth hack

## FAQ
### When should I post a Show HN?
When the product is tryable and you can spend the day in comments. Weekday mornings (US) are the usual window. There is no perfect slot — the post quality matters more than the clock.

### Can I launch on Product Hunt and HN the same day?
You can, but it rarely helps. HN users notice campaign energy. Sequence Show HN after the pitch is proven, or treat it as its own day with a technical angle.

### Is Hacker News good for AI tools?
Only if the technical approach is interesting. Generic GPT wrappers get dismissed. Tools with a novel constraint, eval, or workflow can do very well.