Free online web directories are websites that list other websites by category and charge nothing for a basic listing. The ones still worth your time in 2026 are business profiles (Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect), startup and launch directories (Product Hunt, BetaList, Uneed), software directories (AlternativeTo, SaaSHub) and AI tool directories. Most of the old general web directories have closed or now charge.
That last part is where most lists go wrong. The first directory list I bought had 325 entries. W3.org was on it, and so were IBM, AOL and MySpace. None of them take submissions. When I tested the list properly, only 47 held up. So this list is short on purpose: every entry below is a real site that takes submissions, grouped by what kind of business it suits.
What a web directory is, and what happened to them
A web directory is a list of websites sorted into categories, usually with a short description of each. Before search engines got good, directories were how people found things. Yahoo started as one. DMOZ, the biggest volunteer-edited directory, closed in 2017, and the Yahoo Directory closed at the end of 2014.
Then SEO got hold of them. By 2010 there were thousands of directories that existed only to sell links, and "submit your site to 500 directories" was a standard service. Google's Penguin update in 2012 started discounting those links, and most of those directories died or became link farms.
What survived looks different. Today the directories that matter are the ones people actually browse: a place to find a local plumber, compare software, or spot a new product on launch day. They're still free to join, mostly, and they still link to you. They just don't work as a ranking trick any more.
How the directories below were picked
Each one had to pass five checks:
- It's live and takes submissions today. Not a parked domain, not a dead form.
- The basic listing is free. Some charge to skip a queue or to be featured. I say so where that's the case.
- A person or a clear rule decides what gets listed. Directories that accept anything instantly are the ones Google ignores.
- Real people use it. Visitors, reviews, upvotes, a community.
- It fits a real kind of business. A dentist and a developer tool need different lists.
The numbers come from our own checks, not from other lists. DR is Ahrefs Domain Rating, looked up on 26 September 2026. "Link we saw" is the rel on a live listing we opened ourselves in September 2026: dofollow passes link authority, nofollow does not. "Not checked yet" means we haven't had a listing go live there to check, so we don't say.
Domain Rating (DR) is Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score for how strong a site's backlink profile is. It's a rough guide to a directory's authority, not a promise that a link from it will help you.
Free business directories (for almost any company)
These are the listings search engines and customers expect a real company to have. If you have a physical location or serve customers in an area, start here.
| Directory | Best for | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | Local businesses and service areas | Free. Online-only businesses aren't eligible; you need a location or a service area. |
| Bing Places for Business | Local businesses | Free, and you can import an existing Google profile. |
| Apple Business Connect | Local businesses | Free. Puts you in Apple Maps, Siri and Spotlight. |
| LinkedIn company page | Every company | Free. People check it before they trust you. |
| Crunchbase (DR 90) | Startups | The company database investors and journalists look up. Basic profiles are free. |
| Brownbook (DR 79) | Small businesses | A general business directory with free listings. |
Yelp, the Better Business Bureau and your country's chamber of commerce belong here too if you serve the public. For a local business, getting your name, address and phone number identical everywhere matters more than adding one more directory.
Free startup and launch directories
If you've just built a product, these are where early users and other founders look. Several have a free listing with a waiting list and charge to skip it, BetaList and Uneed among them. The free queue is fine if you plan your launch a few weeks ahead.
| Directory | DR | Link we saw | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt | 90 | Nofollow | The daily launch list most tech founders know. Plan the day; it's a one-shot. |
| Indie Hackers | 81 | Nofollow | A founder community with a product page for your startup. |
| Uneed | 76 | Not checked yet | A daily launch list for new tools and products. |
| Nick Launches | 75 | Dofollow | A launch directory for startups, SaaS and AI tools. |
| BetaList | 71 | Not checked yet | Early-stage startups looking for their first users. |
| PitchWall | 65 | Not checked yet | A showcase of startups, SaaS and AI products. |
| Microlaunch | 62 | Dofollow | Launches for micro-SaaS and indie makers. |
One more, with a disclosure: LaunchOn.it is our own launch platform for indie products, and the product we tested LaunchDistro on first. Add it to your list if you're launching something small.
Watch the last step of each form. Some pre-select a paid plan, and DevHunt's free queue was booked until 2028 when I checked, which makes its free tier free in name only. There's a longer list of startup launch platforms we test on our site.
Free software directories
People compare tools on these before they buy, so a listing keeps sending visitors long after launch week. They suit any software product, from a SaaS to an open-source library.
| Directory | DR | Link we saw | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| SourceForge | 92 | Not checked yet | Software hosting and a large directory of software projects. |
| Devpost | 86 | Nofollow | Project pages for software, best known from hackathons. |
| AlternativeTo | 80 | Not checked yet | Software listed as alternatives to products people already know. |
| StackShare | 80 | Not checked yet | Tool pages where developers compare the stacks they use. |
| SaaSworthy | 73 | Not checked yet | SaaS listings with comparisons and reviews. |
| SaaSHub | 72 | Dofollow | Software listings organised around alternatives. |
On AlternativeTo and SaaSHub, list yourself as an alternative to the two or three products your customers already know. That's how people find you there.
Free AI tool directories
If your product uses AI, there are hundreds of AI tool directories, from big ones with real traffic to one-person side projects. The good ones are worth a listing; many ask for a badge or a link back from your site before they publish you, which is a trade rather than a free listing.
| Directory | DR | Link we saw | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Findly | 81 | Dofollow | A directory of AI and SaaS tools, developer tools included. |
| Submit AI Tools | 76 | Dofollow | A directory made for submitting AI tools and software. |
| Good AI Tools | 75 | Dofollow | AI tools grouped by use, from productivity to SaaS. |
| Neeed Directory | 73 | Dofollow | SaaS, AI and design tools, with a free listing option. |
| Future Tools | 63 | Not checked yet | Matt Wolfe's list of AI tools, sorted by what they do. |
More on these in our list of AI tool directories.
The general web directories that are left
A few general directories from the old days still exist. Curlie carries on DMOZ's volunteer model and is free, but reviews are slow and not guaranteed. Best of the Web and Jasmine Directory are still around too, but they charge for business listings, so they don't belong on a free list. If a general directory is free, fast and accepts anything, that's a reason to skip it, not a bargain.
How to submit your site to a free web directory
Most free directories use the same kind of form, so the work is the same each time.
- Write your copy once. Name, website, a one-line tagline, a short description (about 200 characters), a longer one (about 600), your logo, a screenshot and a contact email. Every form asks for some of these.
- Check the rules before you start. Some directories want the product live, some want a free plan, and some want a badge or link back on your site. Five minutes on their guidelines saves a rejection.
- Pick the closest category. A wrong category is the most common reason a listing gets bounced or buried. If there's no good fit, the directory probably isn't for you.
- Adapt the description. Keep the facts identical, but lead with what that directory's visitors care about. A software directory wants the problem you solve; a local directory wants where you are.
- Confirm your email. Many directories send a confirmation link and do nothing until you click it. Check spam.
- Save a screenshot of the confirmation page. If a listing never appears, it's your record that you submitted.
How free directories review listings
Once you hit submit, one of three things happens. On curated directories, an editor reads your entry and approves, edits or rejects it; this can take days on a busy launch directory and months on a volunteer-run one like Curlie. On moderated communities, the listing goes up but the community decides whether anyone sees it, through upvotes or reviews. On directories with no review at all, you're listed instantly, which is usually a sign the directory isn't worth being on.
Paid options sit on top of this. Plenty of free directories sell a faster review, a featured spot or a followed link. The free listing is still a real listing; you're paying to skip the queue, not to get in. Buying a followed link is a different matter, because Google's rules treat paid links that pass ranking credit as link spam.
Free directories to skip
Some signs a free directory will do nothing for you, or worse:
- It lists you instantly, with no review. Nobody is keeping the spam out, so nobody trusts the links.
- Its categories are full of casinos, pills and loans. You're known by the company you keep.
- It asks for a link back before it lists you. Sometimes fair on a niche AI directory; on a general directory it's a link exchange.
- It's on a "500+ high DA directories" list from years ago. Those lists are copied from each other, and half the sites on them are dead.
- The site has no visitors of its own. If nobody browses it, nobody will find you there.
Google's spam policies describe links made mainly to manipulate rankings as link spam. A directory that exists only to host links is exactly that.
Keep your listings consistent, and check they went live
Two things most lists leave out.
First, use the same name, website URL, tagline and description everywhere. Directories get copied and scraped; a mismatch on one spreads. Write the copy once (a one-line tagline, a short description of about 200 characters and a longer one of about 600) and reuse it.
Second, a submission isn't a listing. Directories reject entries, sit on them for months, or publish them without a link. A few weeks after submitting, open each listing, find your link and check its rel attribute: nofollow, ugc or sponsored means it passes no ranking credit. Then check again every so often, because listings get removed and links change. Our guide on how to get backlinks for a startup covers the rest of the process.
When a free directory isn't worth it
If your product isn't live yet, wait. Directories want a working site, a logo and real pricing, and a listing for a waitlist page is wasted. And if you're hoping directories alone will get you ranking next month, they won't. They're the foundation: they get you found, crawled and cited while your content and your product do the rest.
That's also the honest pitch for LaunchDistro: it fills these forms for you from Claude, Cursor or Codex, in a browser you can watch, and checks which listings went live. It's the directories we've tested by hand, not a list of 500.
Frequently asked questions
Are free web directories still worth it?
The good ones are. A listing on a directory people actually use gets you referral visitors, gets a new site crawled sooner and gives you a few links from established sites. Free directories that accept anything are not worth the time, and a pile of them can look like link spam.
Which web directories are free?
Most business profiles (Google Business Profile, Bing Places, Apple Business Connect, LinkedIn), most startup directories (Product Hunt, BetaList, Uneed, Indie Hackers) and most software directories (AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, SourceForge) have a free listing. Many old general directories now charge.
Is DMOZ still around?
No. DMOZ closed in March 2017. Curlie, run by some of its former editors, continues the same volunteer-edited model.
Are directory backlinks dofollow?
Some are, many aren't, and some change later. Check the rel attribute of your link on the live listing. Nofollow listings still bring visitors and make your backlink profile look natural.
How long do free directories take to list you?
Anything from the same day to several months. Launch directories with free queues often run weeks behind, which is why they sell a paid skip. Plan your submissions a few weeks before launch.
Can web directories hurt my SEO?
Low-quality ones can. Google ignores most links from spammy directories, and a sudden pile of them can look manipulative. A few dozen relevant directories spread over a few weeks is normal for any new company.