How to launch an indie product on MakerHunt

Launching an indie product is not one button. It is a short ops sequence: clear listing, discovery surface, social proof, and a day where people can upvote and comment. This is the MakerHunt version of that sequence.

If you want a generic “how to launch a startup” essay, that comes later. This post is the MakerHunt launch checklist in prose: what to decide, what to prepare, what happens at ~09:00 UTC, and what most people skip after the day closes.

For the wider landscape (Product Hunt, directories, forums), see Product Hunt alternatives 2026. For naming traps (Featured-on vs paid Featured), see launch types.

What we do not sell

Before the checklist: get the economics straight.

• We do not sell Product of the Day. Votes decide ranks after you are live.
• We do not sell a free calendar picker months ahead. Free and paid launches schedule for the next UTC launch day after crawl or payment.
• We do not invent domain ratings or traffic guarantees. Proof stays factual (honest DR and proof).
• Sidebar sponsor (€29/mo) is a separate product from launch types. It is not a shortcut to PotD.

Paid tiers buy skip-crawl, feed chrome, and (for SEO) a queued operator article. That is it. Details on pricing.

0. Decide free vs paid

Free is the default dogfood path. Paid is for skip-crawl or visibility chrome, not for buying PotD.

Pick free if you can put a visible Featured-on badge on the apex homepage and you are fine waiting until the next UTC day after a green crawl. Pick Premium if the badge is a non-starter (client site, brand guidelines, no homepage control). Pick Featured if you want the home Featured grid chrome. Pick SEO only if you also want the queued article and you accept that fulfill is an ops step, not instant publish.

Longer breakdown: MakerHunt pricing explained and launch types.

1. Prep the product site

Before you open submit, fix the product page so the listing does not look like a placeholder.

Homepage and product clarity

• Homepage loads without a login wall for the badge (free path). Crawl sees initial HTML, not your post-login dashboard.
• One clear sentence for what the product does. You will reuse it as the tagline (≥10 characters at submit).
• Logo that reads at 48–56px on a dark hunt row. Tiny wordmarks disappear.
• Optional but useful: cover image, X URL, affiliate program URL if you have one.

Free-path badge

Paste the badge from legal/badges. Prefer light or dark SVG under /badges/featured-on*.svg to match your background. Read Featured-on and crawl and the longer badge guide so you know what we fetch.

Common prep failures (fix before submit):

• Badge only on /press or a blog post
• Client-only React markup that never appears in the first HTML response
• Wrong image URL or stripped rel / link target
• Tagline that is a slogan (“Ship faster”) with no noun

Paid-path prep

You still need a solid listing. Skip-crawl does not skip a weak logo, empty categories, or a site that 500s. Checkout schedules the next day; it does not polish your copy.

2. Work the launch checklist

Open the launch checklist. It is local progress in the browser, not a gate and not synced to your account. Typical order:

1. Name, URL, tagline (≥10 characters)
2. 1–3 categories that match how people browse (categories)
3. Pricing model + platforms
4. Logo (and cover if you have one)
5. Badge live + crawl green (free) or checkout complete (paid)
6. Soft announce to your own audience the evening before UTC launch day

Use the checklist as a preflight, not as a substitute for reading FAQ. If you are stacking Product Hunt the same week, sequence energy: MakerHunt day and PH day both need babysitting. Do not schedule both for the same UTC morning unless you have help.

3. Submit and wait for schedule

Free path

On free, crawl must pass (or an admin override). Status moves toward scheduled for the next calendar launch day. There is no free calendar picker for months ahead.

If crawl fails: fix homepage markup, re-run crawl from the dashboard, or pay / ask for a manual override. Do not keep resubmitting the same broken embed.

Paid path

Webhook schedules the next day and skips crawl. Complete payment from submit or the pending-payment path if checkout was interrupted. Premium gets the Premium pill. Featured and SEO also get Featured chrome and a home Featured grid slot (SEO shares that nest with Featured).

Scheduling facts

• Empty days still run. We do not cap how many products can launch on a day.
• “Next day” means the next UTC launch window after crawl or payment clears, not “whenever you feel ready next Tuesday in your timezone.”
• Timezone detail: launch day UTC and UTC launch day playbook.

4. Evening-before checklist (local evening before ~09:00 UTC)

Treat this as ops, not vibes.

1. Confirm dashboard status is scheduled for tomorrow’s UTC date (or ask admin if stuck).
2. Draft three posts: open (MakerHunt URL + one sentence), mid-day (reply prompt or screenshot), near-close (one concrete update).
3. Soft ping your warm list the evening before: “We launch on MakerHunt at 09:00 UTC. Link tomorrow.”
4. Pin a first maker comment draft: problem, who it is for, what you want feedback on.
5. Sleep relative to UTC. Europe: morning open. US Pacific: still the previous calendar evening when the day opens.

More comment/upvote prep: prepare launch day comments and upvotes.

5. Launch day (~09:00 UTC)

When the clock opens:

• Your project is ongoing on the home Today feed.
• Signed-in users can upvote (including you) and comment.
• One vote per user per project (toggle off by voting again).

Day-of playbook

1. Share the MakerHunt URL, not only your marketing site. Votes and comments live on the hunt page.
2. Self-upvote once if you want. It is allowed. Multi-account farming is not a supported strategy (votes and PotD).
3. Post your pinned maker comment early: problem, pricing honesty, one ask.
4. Ask for specific feedback in replies (confusing copy, pricing, onboarding), not only “please upvote.”
5. Reply to every real comment the same day. Silent launches look abandoned.
6. Mid-day UTC: one update (fix, screenshot, customer quote). Near close: one last honest ask if you have news.

Day-of failure modes

Deep dive on ranks: PotD, votes, and ranking.

6. Day close and ranks

Around the next 09:00 UTC, yesterday’s ongoing launches become launched. Top three by upvotes get daily ranks 1–3. Ties go to whoever reached the count first. Zero-vote products still launch; they just get no PotD badge.

Owners copy embeds from /projects/[slug]/badges. Week and month standings roll up on winners and trending. PotW/PotM are standings computed when you read those boards, not a second write-time contest you can buy.

7. Aftercare (the part most people skip)

Rank day is not the asset. The listing, badge, and alternatives placement are.

• Leave the Featured-on badge up if you used free dofollow. Removing it can break the free deal later (warn / recrawl policy as that ops path finishes).
• Point your changelog or footer at the MakerHunt listing.
• Copy PotD/W/M embeds only if you earned them. Do not swap Featured-on for a fake PotD asset.
• Add yourself under relevant alternatives by choosing the right category slugs at submit time. Wrong categories bury you.
• If you bought SEO, wait for the operator article queue. Fulfill is an ops step; do not expect same-day publish.
• Capture one lesson: what copy converted, which channel sent real comments, what you would change on a relaunch.

Optional stack the same month: one directory batch, one honest review ask, and Product Hunt only if you still have campaign energy left.

Relaunch and allowances

Allowances exist in the product rules (free roughly once, paid more). Treat relaunch as a new campaign with new proof, not a rank exploit. If nothing changed on the product, a second day mostly trains people to ignore you.

FAQ

Can I pick a launch date weeks out on free?
No. Free is next day after crawl.

Can I pick a date on paid?
Paid also schedules the next UTC day after payment, not a multi-month free calendar. If you need a specific public date, time your checkout (or crawl) so “next day” lands on the UTC date you want.

Can I relaunch?
Yes within product allowances. Treat it as a new campaign.

What if crawl fails?
Fix the homepage markup, re-run crawl from the dashboard, or pay / ask for a manual override. See add Featured-on badge.

Does Featured €19 guarantee PotD?
No. Votes decide PotD. Featured is feed chrome + home Featured slot.

Do comments count toward PotD?
No. Day rank is upvotes. Comments help trust and conversion.

Where do rules live for newcomers?
FAQ, votes and PotD, and the posts linked above.

Should I launch on MakerHunt and Product Hunt the same day?
Usually no. Both need attention. Stack them across days if you can.

Next step

Run the checklist, then submit. If you are still choosing a discovery stack, read Product Hunt alternatives 2026. If badges confuse you, start with Featured-on badge guide.