Dofollow productivity 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 11 directories have a median rating of DR 71. The strongest is DEV Community at DR 91, the weakest at DR 32. 4 of them accept a submission for nothing, and 2 charge for every listing.
That is 13 points above the median for the full list of 175 directories, which sits at DR 58. By band that is 2 rated 80 or above, 5 rated 60 to 79, 2 rated 40 to 59 and 2 rated below 40. 2 of them have no traffic estimate at all, which usually means too little to measure rather than none.
What a listing actually gets you
Productivity is a category people browse rather than search, which is unusual. Visitors arrive without a specific tool in mind, willing to try something, which makes the listing itself do more of the selling than in any other category here.
The audiences also overlap heavily between these sites, so the same person may meet your tool three or four times across a month. That repetition is how an unknown tool becomes a familiar one, provided the description says the same specific thing every time.
Submitting without wasting the evening
Pick the one sentence that separates you from the tool everyone already uses, and repeat it exactly everywhere. Because the audience overlaps, inconsistency is more costly here than elsewhere: three different descriptions read as three forgettable tools rather than one memorable one. Lead with the workflow, not the feature list, and name the thing you replace.
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 DEV Community, Dang.ai and AI Directories, led by 8.07M visits a month. The highest-rated one you can use without paying is DEV Community at DR 91. 3 approve quickly, Dofollow Tools, SideProjectors and Startup.sx among them.
Questions people ask
How many are there, and what do they cost?
11 directories match on this page. 4 take a submission for nothing, 5 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), Dang.ai (DR 82) and Dofollow Tools (DR 73). By audience, DEV Community is the largest at 8.07M 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 counts as a productivity tool?
On these directories, anything that manages work rather than produces it: notes, tasks, calendars, automation, time tracking and knowledge management. Tools that make a specific artefact, like a design or a document, usually sit in their own category instead.
Is it worth submitting to overlapping directories?
Yes, within reason. Repeated exposure to the same audience is how a tool goes from unheard-of to familiar, and each listing is also a separate page that can rank for its own long-tail search.
Which category should I pick?
The narrowest one that genuinely fits. A specific category page has fewer entries, less competition for attention and a better chance of ranking than the general productivity page, which is usually the most crowded on the site.
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.