Nofollow high authority directories, in short
A nofollow link does not pass ranking signals directly, so the case for these is traffic and audience rather than SEO. Several of the largest sites on the whole list are nofollow, and they are still the ones worth launching on.
Nofollow directories, defined
A nofollow link carries rel="nofollow" (or increasingly rel="sponsored" or rel="ugc"), an attribute that tells search engines not to pass ranking signals through it. Several of the largest directories on this list are nofollow by policy, including some with millions of monthly visitors.
The attribute is a publisher decision, not a quality judgement. Sites that accept open submissions often mark every outbound link nofollow simply because they cannot vouch for what gets submitted, which says nothing about whether their audience is worth reaching.
By the numbers
These 15 directories have a median rating of DR 75. The strongest is Product Hunt at DR 91, the weakest at DR 70. 7 of them accept a submission for nothing, and 4 charge for every listing.
That is 17 points above the median for the full list of 175 directories, which sits at DR 58. By band that is 6 rated 80 or above and 9 rated 60 to 79. 1 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
Skipping the biggest directories in the category because the link is nofollow, which is the most expensive mistake on this page. Treating nofollow as a reason to put less effort into the listing. And assuming the attribute is permanent: several sites switch it on upgrade, and some have changed policy site-wide.
Where to start
By audience size, the biggest here are Product Hunt, AlternativeTo and TrustMRR, led by 4.84M visits a month. The highest-rated one you can use without paying is Product Hunt at DR 91. 4 approve quickly, Startup Fame, Indie Hackers and AlternativeTo among them.
Questions people ask
How many are there, and what do they cost?
15 directories match on this page. 7 take a submission for nothing, 4 run a free tier with paid upgrades, and 1 charge for every listing.
Which should I submit to first?
By rating, Product Hunt (DR 91), Startup Fame (DR 84) and Turbo0 (DR 81). 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.
What does nofollow mean?
It is an attribute on a link telling search engines not to pass ranking signals through it. Introduced to fight comment spam, it is now standard on sites that accept open submissions and cannot vouch for every entry.
Is a nofollow link pointless?
No. It does not pass ranking signals directly, but it still sends visitors, still gets your name in front of people, and still appears in the link graph that other tools and models read. Pointless would be a dofollow link on a page nobody visits.
How do I tell if a link is dofollow or nofollow?
Open the page, view the source, find the link to your site and look for rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored". A browser extension will highlight them all at once if you are checking a batch.
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.