Dofollow high authority directories, in short
A dofollow link passes ranking signals to your domain, which is why most people work through a list like this at all. Relevance still matters more than the rating: one link from a directory in your niche is worth several from a general one.
Dofollow backlink sites, defined
A dofollow link is an ordinary link: one without a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute telling search engines not to pass ranking signals through it. Every link is dofollow by default, so "dofollow directory" really means a directory that has not added the attribute.
You can check any listing yourself in about five seconds: open the page, view source, find the link to your site, and look for rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" on it. Browser extensions will highlight them for you if you are checking many at once. Do not take the directory's word for it, because the attribute frequently differs between the free and paid tiers.
By the numbers
These 25 directories have a median rating of DR 73. The strongest is DEV Community at DR 91, the weakest at DR 70. 5 of them accept a submission for nothing, and 2 charge for every listing.
That is 15 points above the median for the full list of 175 directories, which sits at DR 58. By band that is 7 rated 80 or above and 18 rated 60 to 79. 4 of them have no traffic estimate at all, which usually means too little to measure rather than none.
What a listing actually gets you
Links from stronger domains do carry more weight, all else being equal, and that is the honest case for working down this list from the top. The high-rated directories are also, not coincidentally, the ones that have been around long enough to have real editorial standards.
All else is rarely equal, though. A directory rated 50 that covers exactly what you built will usually do more for you than a general index rated 85, both in visitors and in how the link reads in context.
Submitting without wasting the evening
Submit to these first, before anything else on the list, because the queue is the slow part. Most are moderated by hand, several take weeks, and a rejection usually means waiting before you can try again. Everything else can be done while you wait. Make these submissions the careful ones: a proper description, the right category, a real screenshot.
Common mistakes
Treating link count as the goal, which leads directly to submitting everywhere regardless of fit. Using the same keyword-stuffed anchor text on every listing. And paying for dofollow upgrades on directories with no traffic, which buys the signal without the substance behind it.
Where to start
By audience size, the biggest here are Hacker News, DEV Community and Toolify.ai, led by 13.53M visits a month. The highest-rated one you can use without paying is DEV Community at DR 91. 9 approve quickly, Twelve Tools, Findly.tools and SaaSHub among them.
Questions people ask
How many are there, and what do they cost?
25 directories match on this page. 5 take a submission for nothing, 18 run a free tier with paid upgrades, and 2 charge for every listing.
Which should I submit to first?
By rating, DEV Community (DR 91), Hacker News (DR 91) and Fazier (DR 83). By audience, Hacker News is the largest at 13.53M visits a month. Relevance beats both: a directory that actually covers what you built will do more than a stronger one that does not.
What is a dofollow backlink?
A normal link that passes ranking signals to the page it points at. Links are dofollow unless the publisher adds rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored", so the term describes the absence of an attribute rather than the presence of one.
How do I tell if a link is dofollow?
View the page source, find the link to your site and check for rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". An extension can highlight them in bulk. Check after your listing goes live, because the attribute often differs between free and paid tiers.
How many dofollow directory links are safe?
There is no number, but pace and relevance matter more than volume. A handful from directories that cover your category, added over weeks, looks like what it is. Eighty in a weekend does not.
Are directory backlinks still relevant?
As one modest input among many, yes. As a strategy on their own, no, and they have not been for a long time. Treat the good directories as a traffic and discovery channel that happens to leave a link behind.
What is a good domain rating for a backlink?
Above 50 is generally considered solid and above 70 strong, but the thresholds matter less than relevance. A rating of 50 in your exact category beats an 80 in a general one.
What are some high-authority sites for backlinks?
Among the directories here, the strongest are SourceForge, DEV Community, Hacker News and Product Hunt, all rated 91 or above and all free to submit to. The table lets you sort by rating to see the rest.
How much does a high-authority backlink cost?
On this list, frequently nothing. The four highest-rated entries accept free submissions. Where sites do charge, the fee reflects their placement and audience rather than the rating itself.
Does a high rating guarantee a good link?
No. Rating measures the site's backlink profile, not whether your listing will be seen or whether the page it sits on will ever be indexed.
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.