saas · indie · ai
OpenHunts: requirements, how to submit, and what you actually get
A weekly launch board whose free queue runs about two years unless you put their badge up, and whose free link needs a top-three finish.
openhunts.com
Eligibility
Who OpenHunts accepts
You need
An account: Google, GitHub, or email and password
A live product with a name, description and images
Their club badge on your site, if you want the free queue shortened
You'll be rejected if
A launch you need this month on the free lane, since the stated queue is about 100 weeks without the badge
SaaS productsIndie productsAI toolsDeveloper toolsMobile apps
What you actually get
A detail page and a week on the homepage feed of a board that publishes its own PostHog numbers: about 94,000 visits and 166,000 pageviews over six months, 7,349 users and a 36% newsletter open rate. On the free lane the link is only followed if you finish in the week's top three, and the shoutout only if you finish first. Everything launches at 08:00 UTC.
How to submit to OpenHunts
1
Sign in
/projects/submit renders the sign-in card: Login with Google, Login with GitHub, or email and password.
2
Put the club badge up first, if you are going free
Their own blog post is explicit: add the badge, they verify it, then you submit, and they schedule you sooner than the usual free queue. The snippet is a normal followed anchor to openhunts.com wrapping an image on their CDN, and the post's AI prompt tells you not to change the href, drop the link or add nofollow.
3
Fill the project form
Product details, images and category, then choose a plan on the way out: Free Launch, Premium at $9.90, or Highlight at $20 a week.
4
Take a launch slot
Free has 20 slots a week and a stated queue around 100 weeks. Premium launches next Monday and lets you pick the week; Highlight launches instantly.
5
Launch at 08:00 UTC
Every launch goes live at the same hour, so the whole week's cohort starts together and the ranking runs from there.
OpenHunts requirements
An account (Google, GitHub, or email and password)
Product name, description and a live URL
A logo and product images
A category
Their club badge on your site, to be scheduled sooner on the free laneoptional
Gotchas
The free queue is stated as about 100 weeks on the pricing page. That is not a review backlog, it is 20 slots a week against the number of people waiting, and it makes a free launch a two-year commitment unless you take the badge route.
The followed link on the free lane is conditional on finishing in the week's top three, and the Twitter and newsletter shoutout on finishing first. Everyone else gets a page and nothing else.
The badge that shortens the queue has to be a plain followed link to openhunts.com: their own instructions say not to change the href, drop the link, or add nofollow, so a nofollowed badge fails the check without telling you why.
The carousel placement is excluded from both the free and Premium tiers, which is easy to miss because it is listed on all three cards and struck out on two of them.
Let your agent submit to OpenHunts
Connect SubmitMap to your AI over MCP and this page stops being something you read and copy. Your agent asks for the OpenHunts 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 OpenHunts rules above, so you find out you would be rejected before you open a tab.
Hands your agent all 5 fields this form asks for, 1 of them optional, already filled from your pack.
Warns you that OpenHunts looks for its badge on your site, so it has to be live before you submit rather than after.
Tells you what paying buys here, so you pick it on purpose: premium is $9.90, struck through from $19, and skips the queue for next Monday with a guaranteed followed link and no badge. Highlight is $20 a week, struck through from $59, on demand-based rates, and launches instantly. The free lane is $0 with 20 slots a week.
Types it into OpenHunts 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 OpenHunts?".
Connect your agentTools and endpointsWorks with Claude Code, Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and Hermes.
OpenHunts FAQ
How long does OpenHunts approval take?
OpenHunts's typical time from submission to going live is 6+ months.
How much does it cost to submit to OpenHunts?
OpenHunts has a free submission option plus paid placement (Premium is $9.90, struck through from $19, and skips the queue for next Monday with a guaranteed followed link and no badge. Highlight is $20 a week, struck through from $59, on demand-based rates, and launches instantly. The free lane is $0 with 20 slots a week.).
Does OpenHunts give a dofollow backlink?
No, links from OpenHunts are nofollow. The site has a domain rating of 69.
Does OpenHunts require a backlink to your site?
Yes, OpenHunts expects a link back from your site as part of listing.
What gets you rejected from OpenHunts?
A launch you need this month on the free lane, since the stated queue is about 100 weeks without the badge.