Rank 30 · BLP 64
Indie Hackers
A community you join, not a board you spray.
Indie Hackers is a forum of people building internet businesses. There is a place to share a product, but the culture rewards a trail of posts: milestones, revenue, failures, and specific questions. A cold “we launched today” thread from a new account is wallpaper.
The payoff is slow. People who have watched you build become users, advisors, or the person who mentions you in a thread you never saw. That is a different asset from a traffic spike, and it compounds if you keep showing up after launch week.
Start posting weeks before you need anything. Share real numbers when you have them. Answer other people’s questions. Then, when you launch, you are a member with a story rather than a stranger with a link.
A room, not a submit form
Should you launch on Indie Hackers?
Launch here only if you can take the local rules and stay in the thread.
Indie Hackers rewards presence more than a scheduled card. You can show up without a huge graph, but you still have to participate — a link dump fails. Audience: Bootstrapped founders, solopreneurs, and indie SaaS operators.
Do not stack this with another comment-heavy launch on the same morning. Show HN, Reddit, X, and Product Hunt all want the same hours.
When: A different day from Product Hunt. After the one-liner has survived a smaller room.
Launch here if
- Founders playing a long game
- Products sold to other builders
- People willing to share real metrics
Skip if
- Hit-and-run launch announcements
- Stealth companies that cannot share numbers
- Enterprise sales motions with no indie story
This page answers Indie Hackers only. For an ordered stack by stage, buyer, and goal, use the shortlist recommender or the four-week sequence.
Launch window
When to show up
Always on — no hunter clock
List when the facts are true. Do not treat this as launch day. A quiet afternoon is the right time.
What money buys
Free vs paid
Listed cost
Free
Follow/nofollow varies; community citations matter more. Threads persist; your profile is the real listing.
Paid options
See vendor
Group and sponsorship products exist; posting is free
Ship kit
Do this before you press submit on Indie Hackers.
- 01Post as a member, not a cold link dump
- 02One comment-heavy room per morning
- 03Stay in the thread until the questions stop
- 04Same one-liner you used on the last board
Stack with
Same launch month, different job — not a second hunter day.
Timing
Indie Hackers does not compete for launch-day hours. Do it on a quiet afternoon so the hunter morning stays free.
Ask AI
Opens your assistant with a ready-made prompt about Indie Hackers
How to submit
01
Create a product page
IH has product profiles. Fill them in before you post a launch milestone.
02
Post a milestone, not an ad
What you shipped, what it makes, what broke, what you want feedback on. Include numbers.
03
Reply like a founder, not a brand
The comment thread is the product. Defensive or promotional replies get ignored.
04
Keep the diary going
A launch post with no follow-up is a dead end. Post again at 10 customers, $1k MRR, or a failed experiment.
Tips
- Lurk and contribute for two weeks before you drop a link.
- Revenue screenshots outperform feature lists.
- The Group and local meetups are optional; the forum is the core.
- IH pairs well with X build-in-public, not as a substitute for a launch board.
Questions people ask
Compare with
Sources and limits
Traffic and authority figures are planning ranges from public 2025–2026 reports, not platform-official guarantees. Scores last reviewed September 2026. Rules and prices change — confirm on the vendor site before you pay.