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The One Startup: requirements, how to submit, and what you actually get
The free tier gives three dofollow links for a badge, and only five listings are reviewed a day.
theonestartup.com
Eligibility
Who The One Startup accepts
You need
A Google or GitHub account, or an email and password
Their badge live on your site, for the free tier
A square icon and a 16:9 image, both under 1MB
At least one tag, which the form does not mark as required
You'll be rejected if
A site you will not keep their badge on, since the free tier is priced in it
SaaS productsAI toolsDev toolsStartups
What you actually get
A listing carrying three dofollow links, which is more than most free tiers in this band give, plus what they call backlink maintenance on a permanent link. Their own free card says only five listings are reviewed each day, so the queue is the wait rather than the review.
How to submit to The One Startup
1
Sign in first
/submit redirects to a login offering Google, GitHub and email. Google is the fastest way through.
2
Fill the details step
Link, name, categories and tags from searchable lists, a short description, a markdown introduction, and two image uploads. An AI Autofill button sits inside the Link field.
3
Press Submit, which only creates a draft
It moves you to a page reading Plan Free, Status Submitting, Publish Date Not published.
4
Read the step that calls itself Payment
It is where the free tier lives too. The $0 card sits beside Pro and Sponsor, and above them is a Backlink Badge Verification panel.
5
Deploy the badge, then verify
The free card reads Item has not been submitted until Verify Backlink Submit to review has run against a live badge.
The One Startup requirements
Product link and name
At least one category and at least one tag
A short description and a markdown introduction
A square icon and a 16:9 image, each under 1MB
Their badge live on your site
A YouTube link or a GitHub linkoptional
Gotchas
Their badge snippet has a typo in it. The copyable code points at /badges-awards.svg, which answers 200 with their app shell instead of an image, while the preview beside it loads /badages-awards.svg. Paste what they give you and you ship a broken image.
Step 2 is labelled Payment, which reads like a paywall and is not one: the $0 card is on that page, and the badge panel above it is how you take it.
Tags carries no asterisk and is required anyway. Submit does nothing at all until one is picked, and the message only appears back up beside the field.
Only five listings are reviewed a day on the free tier by their own card, so the wait is the queue rather than the review.
Let your agent submit to The One Startup
Connect SubmitMap to your AI over MCP and this page stops being something you read and copy. Your agent asks for the The One Startup 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 5 The One Startup rules above, so you find out you would be rejected before you open a tab.
Hands your agent all 6 fields this form asks for, 1 of them optional, already filled from your pack.
Warns you that The One Startup 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: pro is $9.9 one time and drops the badge, publishes immediately, and pins you to the top of listings. Sponsor is $19.9 a week and promotes the product on almost every page.
Types it into The One Startup 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 The One Startup?".
Connect your agentTools and endpointsWorks with Claude Code, Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and Hermes.
The One Startup FAQ
How long does The One Startup approval take?
The One Startup's typical time from submission to going live is about 3 days.
How much does it cost to submit to The One Startup?
The One Startup has a free submission option plus paid placement (Pro is $9.9 one time and drops the badge, publishes immediately, and pins you to the top of listings. Sponsor is $19.9 a week and promotes the product on almost every page.).
Does The One Startup give a dofollow backlink?
Yes, a listing on The One Startup carries a dofollow link. The site has a domain rating of 55.
Does The One Startup require a backlink to your site?
Yes, The One Startup expects a link back from your site as part of listing.
What gets you rejected from The One Startup?
A site you will not keep their badge on, since the free tier is priced in it.