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OpenAlternative: requirements, how to submit, and what you actually get
A million users deep in open-source alternatives, and the listing link is nofollow, so the reason to be here is the audience.
openalternative.co
Eligibility
Who OpenAlternative accepts
You need
An open-source product with a public repository, which is the whole premise of the site
An account, by Google, GitHub or a magic link
A proprietary product yours is an alternative to
You'll be rejected if
Anything closed source: they describe themselves as a community-driven list of open source alternatives to proprietary software, so a product without a public repo has nothing to list
Open source projectsDeveloper toolsSaaS products
What you actually get
A page framed as the open-source alternative to a named proprietary product, carrying your repo, licence, tech stack and tags, and reachable from their alternatives, categories and collections pages. The Visit link on a live listing is rel="noopener nofollow" with a utm attached, so this is placement in front of people actively replacing paid software rather than link equity.
How to submit to OpenAlternative
1
Sign in
/submit redirects to /auth/login. A magic link by email, Continue with Google or Continue with GitHub.
2
Submit the project
The form is behind that account. Their public pages show what a listing carries: repo, licence, tech stack, tags and the proprietary tools it replaces.
3
Wait for the community pass
Listings are curated rather than auto-published, and they run collections like Self-hosted, AI-native, Coming Soon and a Product Graveyard.
OpenAlternative requirements
An account
A public repository
An open-source licence
The proprietary product yours is an alternative to
Gotchas
It is open source only. A closed-source product has nothing to submit here, whatever its category, because the listing is built around the repo and the licence.
The listing link is nofollow. A live tool page links out with rel="noopener nofollow" and a utm parameter, so treat this as audience rather than SEO.
They keep a Product Graveyard collection for projects that died, so a listing here follows your project after you stop maintaining it.
Let your agent submit to OpenAlternative
Connect SubmitMap to your AI over MCP and this page stops being something you read and copy. Your agent asks for the OpenAlternative playbook and gets the brief for this exact form, with the values already taken from your submission pack instead of placeholders you fill in by hand.
What it does for this platform
Checks your product against the 4 OpenAlternative rules above, so you find out you would be rejected before you open a tab.
Hands your agent all 4 fields this form asks for, none of them optional, already filled from your pack.
Types it into OpenAlternative in your own browser, and stops for you when the form wants a sign-in.
Records what it sent, so the dashboard can answer "did I ever submit to OpenAlternative?".
Connect your agentTools and endpointsWorks with Claude Code, Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and Hermes.
OpenAlternative FAQ
How long does OpenAlternative approval take?
OpenAlternative's typical time from submission to going live is 1-4 weeks.
How much does it cost to submit to OpenAlternative?
Submitting to OpenAlternative is free.
Does OpenAlternative give a dofollow backlink?
No, links from OpenAlternative are nofollow. The site has a domain rating of 51.
Does OpenAlternative require a backlink to your site?
No, OpenAlternative does not require a link back from your site.
What gets you rejected from OpenAlternative?
Anything closed source: they describe themselves as a community-driven list of open source alternatives to proprietary software, so a product without a public repo has nothing to list.