Developer tool and marketing directories, in short
Developers do not click directory links often, but when they do they arrive ready to install something. These sites send fewer visitors than the general directories and convert far better, which makes the smaller numbers misleading.
What counts as a developer tool directory
A developer tool directory indexes things engineers install rather than things they subscribe to: CLIs, libraries, APIs, self-hosted services, editor extensions. The audience arrives with a specific problem and leaves as soon as they have solved it, which makes these sites low in traffic and unusually high in intent.
The good ones are opinionated. They will list twelve options in a category and say which they would use, which is why developers trust them and why getting in is harder than filling a form.
By the numbers
These 17 directories have a median rating of DR 61. The strongest is Product Hunt at DR 91, the weakest at DR 12. 5 of them accept a submission for nothing, and 6 charge for every listing. 7 pass a dofollow link.
That is 3 points above the median for the full list of 175 directories, which sits at DR 58. By band that is 3 rated 80 or above, 6 rated 60 to 79, 3 rated 40 to 59 and 5 rated below 40. 7 of them have no traffic estimate at all, which usually means too little to measure rather than none.
What a listing actually gets you
Marketing buyers research in public, on comparison pages and in listicles, and a directory listing is how you get into the pool those articles are written from. Writers assembling a "best email tools" piece start from directories more often than they start from search.
The listings also rank for the long-tail comparisons you would never build yourself, the "X vs Y for small teams" pages that convert at the point of decision.
Submitting without wasting the evening
Lead with the outcome and the number attached to it. Marketing directories are read by people comparing three tools with a budget already signed off, and the listing that says what changes after you buy it wins over the one that lists integrations. Visible pricing helps more than it hurts here, because the alternative is being filtered out of every comparison table the directory builds. Name the integrations that matter, because integration is the most common filter on these sites.
Common mistakes
Sending traffic to a landing page with an email capture and no documentation. Describing what the tool is instead of what it replaces. Hiding the licence, the pricing, or the fact that the free tier stops at a hard limit, all of which get discovered in the first comment and then discussed instead of your product.
Where to start
By audience size, the biggest here are Product Hunt, TrustMRR and Dang.ai, led by 4.84M visits a month. The highest-rated one you can use without paying is Product Hunt at DR 91. 3 approve quickly, Dofollow Tools, Productivity Directory and Startup.sx among them.
Questions people ask
How many are there, and what do they cost?
17 directories match on this page. 5 take a submission for nothing, 6 run a free tier with paid upgrades, and 3 charge for every listing.
Which should I submit to first?
By rating, Product Hunt (DR 91), AppSumo (DR 83) and Dang.ai (DR 82). By audience, Product Hunt is the largest at 4.84M visits a month. Relevance beats both: a directory that actually covers what you built will do more than a stronger one that does not.
Why do developer directories send so little traffic?
Because developers do not browse directories, they search for a specific problem and land on one page. The visit counts are low and the conversion rates are not comparable to anything else on this list.
Does open source help?
Considerably. Several of these directories either prioritise open-source entries or have a dedicated section for them, and the audience treats a public repository as evidence that the tool is real.
Should I submit a library or just the product?
Both, if they are genuinely separate. A library and the hosted service built on it are two different things to two different readers, and most directories are happy to list them separately.
What is a business directory listing?
An entry describing a company or product in a curated index, usually with a category, a description and a link. For software the useful ones index tools by what they do; the general business ones index companies by location and industry, and send a very different kind of visitor.
Are marketing directories worth paying for?
Sometimes, because the audience arrives with intent and a budget. Check the traffic column first: a paid listing on a directory with no measurable traffic is an advert nobody will see.
Is there a free business directory worth using?
Several, and the free tiers on the marketing-specific ones are usually enough to test whether the audience matches yours before you pay for placement.
Every figure quoted above is read off the table on this page, so it moves as the list does. Domain rating and traffic are third-party estimates captured in September 2026: useful for ordering a shortlist, not precise figures.