Best directory submission services, according to Reddit

Reddit is split on directory submission services. Founders who paid for one often report their domain rating going up within weeks, while SEO regulars say the listings rarely send visitors and that DR is a vanity number. The bigger problem is that the people selling the service wrote many of the glowing reviews you'll find on Reddit.

Disclosure: We sell a directory submission service. It isn't in the list below; it's in its own box.

We read 16 Reddit threads about directory submission, mostly in r/SaaS, r/SideProject, r/indiehackers and r/aiToolForBusiness, and on 31 October 2026 we re-read every thread quoted here. Two accounts tied to one service started nine of the 16, which tells you a lot about where "Reddit's recommendation" comes from. We checked the prices below on each vendor's own site the same day. Last checked: 31 October 2026. (Method: how we research Reddit.)

The ledger: services and approaches Reddit names

Reddit names three paid services. People also bring up Fiverr gigs, doing it yourself from a short list, and having an AI agent fill in the forms. Read the "who's posting" note on each row before you read the praise, because most of the positive mentions of the most-named service come from its own accounts.

About the Launch Directories row: the poster called the service "launchdirectories". We checked launchdirectories.com and take it to be the same service. In that thread, BoringLaunch's founder (u/AccomplishedArt1791) also replied that it "didn't worked", citing a Semrush warning. Read that comment as coming from a competitor.

Who is posting these recommendations

On Reddit, the directory service people name most often is mostly recommended by itself. Of the 16 threads we read, u/startupsubmit started four and u/Capital-Pen1219 started five. The second account presents as a founder asking for advice, then edits the post to praise StartupSubmit, while saying elsewhere that it is building StartupSubmit.

These threads rank on Google for "best directory submission service" searches, and AI answers quote them, so the pattern is worth learning to spot:

• An "update" or "edit" that names one service after a neutral-sounding question. Two of the five posts above have one.
• A founder account answering its own question thread, or praising its own service in someone else's.
• Fixed DR promises in comments ("DR 30+ guaranteed"). Those belong on a sales page, not in a review.

Other users push back when they notice. In r/saasbuild, one commenter told the StartupSubmit account to say it was promoting rather than asking for feedback, and the account apologised. Vendors answering in threads isn't against the rules. What you should discount is a vendor presenting its own service as something a customer discovered.

Do directory submissions work at all?

Mostly for a few relevant links and some early visibility, not for customers. Founders report DR rising after 15 to 200 listings, but commenters keep asking whether rankings or signups followed, and few have an answer. The listings that send people are the well-known ones: Product Hunt, SaaSHub, AlternativeTo and directories in your exact niche.

The sceptics are blunt. In r/saasbuild, the top reply said its author had never seen a real benefit from directories nobody visits. In r/bigseo, a regular called "first backlinks packages" an idea link sellers invented. DR is a third-party score, they point out, so a jump means a crawler recounted your links. It doesn't mean Google rewarded anything.

The more useful reports put numbers on it. One founder in r/SaaS said referring domains went from 7 to 27 over two months, and only a handful of SaaS directories were worth having. Another tested 17 directory listings for AI answers and found 2 cited by Perplexity and none by ChatGPT. Both cited listings were on directories where someone had written an editorial blurb. That AI angle is why directories show up in our guide to getting recommended by ChatGPT.

We say "relevant" so often because of our own data. Of the 1,289 directories in our database, 681 give a dofollow link, and only 187 are both dofollow and DR 50 or higher (counts pulled 30 October 2026). Communities give a dofollow link only 16% of the time. A service that promises "500+ directories" is mostly selling the other half. Our full take on whether it's still worth doing is in is directory submission still effective.

DIY spreadsheets vs a service

Do it yourself if you want 15 to 30 good directories and have a weekend free. Pay a service if you want 100 or more and your time is worth more to you than the fee. Either way, pick the list first, because which directories you choose matters more than who fills in the forms.

The DIY case comes from a founder in r/SideProject. He tried Fiverr first, then submitted to 15 to 20 curated directories himself (Product Hunt, SaaSHub, AlternativeTo and similar) and said that worked better. Another founder in r/indiehackers kept a spreadsheet of 200 directories and turned it into a free list. The questions under that post were the same ones people ask everywhere else: which ones sent real traffic?

If you go DIY, start from a list where the link type and DR are already checked. Our directory database shows both for every listing, and how to choose directories to submit to covers picking by category.

How to vet a directory submission service

Before you pay, ask for the full directory list. Afterwards, ask for a live URL for every listing, and get a straight answer on how many are dofollow. Be wary of "500+ directories in 48 hours" and of DR guarantees. Before you trust a recommendation on Reddit, check who is making it.

These checks come from the threads:

1. Ask to see the list first. BoringLaunch's founder says they share it before submitting, so ask any service for the same.
2. Get proof for each listing. Even StartupSubmit's own post says to insist on the live URL and a screenshot for every listing. That's good advice whoever gives it.
3. Ask what share of the directories are dofollow. A commenter in r/indiehackers found directories that advertised dofollow and switched to nofollow after approval.
4. Treat DR guarantees with caution. DR is Ahrefs' score, and commenters note it can rise while rankings stay flat.
5. For 60 days, measure the referral visits and signups each listing sends, not just DR.

Our existing roundup of directory submission services compares each provider on price, manual vs automated, and proof.

Where our service fits (we sell this)

We sell this, so it isn't in the ledger above. BacklinkBot submits your site to directories by hand, with a live link for every listing in your report.

• Price: $99 for 100+ directories, $167 for 200+, $357 for 300+, one-time. Site packs: $199 for 3 sites or $249 for 5 sites, 100+ directories each.
• Timing: most submissions done within 5 to 7 business days. Some directories have their own review queues, and the report shows each one's status.
• The list behind it: we track 1,289 directories, and 681 of them give a dofollow link. You can see the same data free in the directory database.
• Refunds: the work is done by hand and starts as soon as you order, so purchases are non-refundable. If we can't deliver from our side, we refund in full.
• Results we've published: these are done-for-you results from our case studies page, measured as domain rating. PriveeAI.com went from DR 18 to 35 in 55 days, August.ai from 12 to 55 in 60 days, and Formity.app from 15 to 27 in 28 days. DR is a third-party score, and these customers may have been building links in other ways at the same time.

We don't guarantee a DR number. Start with the free ranked list of the 100 directories that fit your site on submit to directories, then decide whether to do them yourself or have us do them.

If you want the list before you spend anything, get your free ranked list on the submit to directories page and check the dofollow column yourself.