LaunchRepoShort answer
- Product Hunt features live digital products that are useful, novel, well made or creative. Directories, templates, boilerplates, courses, services and a few other types are not featured.
- The same product, company or root domain should wait at least six months between launches, and every relaunch needs a significant update. Earlier relaunches need an approved relaunch request.
- Post from a personal account that is at least one week old. Company and brand accounts are not allowed.
- Featuring is decided by the Product Hunt team, not by votes alone, and the decision is final in the vast majority of cases.
Thinking about paying someone to hunt or push your launch? Read what the rules say about that first: Product Hunt launch services: what to pay for and what to skip →
Rule check: can you launch?
Answer five questions. The check applies the official rules in the order Product Hunt applies them and tells you what to do next. It runs in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.
Can people sign up and use the product today?
- No, it is a waitlist, pre-order or not ready yetLaunch when people can use itUse the time to build your personal Product Hunt profile and collect first users, then launch on the day the product opens.
What are you launching?
- A type from the “not featured” listYou can post it, but it will not be featuredLaunch it where this type is welcome. Directories, communities and Show HN (if you built a tool people can try) are better first stops.
Which account will post it?
- A company or brand accountSwitch to a personal accountPost from your own profile with your name and photo. Your team can join with their own personal accounts.
- A personal account created less than a week agoWait until your account is a week oldUse the week to comment on other launches and finish your profile. Plan the launch date after the waiting period.
When did this product, your company or a product on the same root domain last launch on Product Hunt?
- Never, this is the first launchYou can launch. Featuring is the team’s callMake your strongest point obvious in the tagline, gallery and first comment. Product Hunt decides from what your submission shows.
More than six months ago → What is new since that launch?
- Significant: new mobile app, complete redesign with new functionality or new use case/userRelaunch: go aheadLead with what changed. Your launch page should make the new version obvious to people who saw the first one.
- Anything smaller: new UI, pricing, features, fixesTiming is fine, the update may not beWait for a bigger release, or bundle several changes into one launch. If you are unsure, Product Hunt asks you to email hello@producthunt.com before you build the post.
Less than six months ago → What is new since that launch?
- Significant: new mobile app, complete redesign with new functionality or new use case/userSubmit a relaunch requestDescribe the change in concrete terms: what users can do now that they could not before. An approved relaunch is not automatically featured.
- Anything smaller: new UI, pricing, features, fixesToo soon for this updateKeep shipping and collect the changes for one bigger relaunch. Meanwhile, product reviews and your existing Product Hunt page keep working for you.
What gets featured
Posting and being featured are two different things. Anyone with a personal account can post; the Product Hunt team decides which posts appear in the featured list that the homepage shows by default.
What the team looks for
- Useful
- How practical and beneficial the product is for users.
- Novel
- How new or unique its approach or solution is.
- High craft
- How well designed and pleasant it is to use.
- Creative
- How fun, engaging or imaginative it is.
Quotes are Product Hunt’s own English wording, copied from the pages listed under Sources and checked on September 30, 2026.
| Rule | Official wording | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Digital first | Our primary focus is on digital products and services. | Software is the core of what gets featured. Physical products need a real digital part. |
| Available now | We only feature products that are currently available. | Launch on the day people can use the product, not before. |
| Waitlists | Waitlisted products (unless immediate access is provided) | A waitlist is only fine if people get in immediately. “Join the waitlist” as the only call to action rules out featuring. |
| No vaporware | We only feature products that are ready for use or have a clear path to launch. | Show a working product in the gallery and the link, not a mock-up of a plan. |
| Four criteria | Featured launches don’t need to score high in every category - often they spike in one or two of these. | Useful, novel, high craft, creative. Being very strong in one or two is enough, so play to your real strength. |
| Value over monetization | We avoid featuring minimal, undifferentiated products that seem primarily focused on immediate monetization rather than providing long-term value. | A thin product built mainly to charge quickly is not featured, even if it works. |
| Votes are not everything | While user engagement is important, it's not the sole factor in our featuring decisions. | Many upvotes do not force featuring. The team weighs the product itself against the criteria. |
| What the homepage shows | with featured products as the default (you can see all products by toggling to “All”) | Visitors see featured products unless they switch to “All”. Being featured is what puts you in front of the daily audience. |
| Decisions are final | In the vast majority of cases, our featuring decisions are final | Product Hunt decides from your submission and its links. Get the submission right the first time. |
| Contacting the team | please only reach out if you have critical information that was not included in your original submission. | Only write if something important was missing from your submission. More context does not guarantee featuring. |
| Two launches, one day | In rare cases where two launches from the same company are scheduled on the same day, we may reschedule one to a future date | Launch products from the same company on different days, or the team may move one of them. |
What Product Hunt does not feature
The featuring guidelines list these types. You can still post them, but they will not be featured. Kickstarter projects are the exception if they are fully working at launch, and waitlists if they give immediate access.
- Directory or list
- Template
- Boilerplate or starter kit
- Podcast
- Course
- Report
- Event
- Book
- Service (agency, consulting, done-for-you work)
- Commerce site or store
- Deal site
- Hardware without a prominent digital part
- Something that is not tech-related
Relaunching: the six-month rule
Launching again is welcome, as long as there is something new to see. Product Hunt measures that in two ways: time since your last launch and the size of the change.
- Launch day: the six-month clock starts for this product, your company and its root domain.
- Within six months: only with a significant update and an approved relaunch request.
- After six months: a normal post, still judged on whether the update is significant.
Quotes are Product Hunt’s own English wording, copied from the pages listed under Sources and checked on September 30, 2026.
| Rule | Official wording | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Six months and a significant update | we ask Makers to wait at least six months between posts for the same product or from the same company. Along with that, there also needs to be a significant update to the product. | Both conditions apply: the gap between launches and a real change to the product. |
| Same root domain | Products that share the same root domain must adhere to a six-month submission gap. | A second product on the same domain (e.g. a subdomain) shares the six-month gap with the first. |
| Earlier with a request | If you'd like to relaunch before six months have elapsed, you'll need to submit a relaunch request. | When you post within six months, the system asks what changed. The team reviews it before the post can go live. |
| What counts as significant | A significant launch might be a new mobile app or a complete product redesign with new functionality. | A new mobile app, or a redesign that brings new functionality, is the kind of change Product Hunt means. |
| What does not count | New UIs, pricing plan changes, etc. are not considered significant updates. | A fresh look or a new pricing page is not a reason to launch again. |
| New use case or user | We will only consider product updates if they serve a substantially different use case or user. | The update should open the product to a clearly different job or audience. |
| Always checked | We always consider whether or not a post represents a significant update, but there is additional scrutiny if you post before six months have elapsed since your last post. | Even after six months the team checks whether the update is significant; before six months it looks closer. |
| Approval is not featuring | Having a relaunch approved does not guarantee it will be featured on the homepage | An approved relaunch is allowed to be posted. Whether it is featured is decided like any other launch. |
| Several products at once | If a Maker has several products to post in a short amount of time, it is best to combine them into one post. | If you ship several small products close together, launch them as one post. |
| When in doubt | If you are unsure whether or not your post qualifies, email us at hello@producthunt.com to discuss before you start to put in the work to create your post. | Ask Product Hunt before you spend days on a gallery and video. |
Does your change count?
| Change since the last launch | Significant update? |
|---|---|
| A new mobile app | Yes |
| A complete redesign with new functionality | Yes |
| It now serves a substantially different use case or user | Yes |
| A new UI | No |
| Pricing plan changes | No |
| New features or fixes, same product for the same users | No |
Accounts and hunting
The account that posts the launch has its own rules. They are easy to meet if you plan a week ahead.
| Rule | Official wording | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| One week minimum | Newly created accounts will even need to wait 1 week before posting a product | Create your account at least a week before launch day. Product Hunt recommends three months or more. |
| No company accounts | We don’t allow company or brand accounts to post products or comment | Post and comment as a person. Your company appears as the product, not as the poster. |
| A real person | we require that profiles appear human and represent an individual, not a company, service, brand, or organization. | Use your full name, a clear photo and a short headline. Incomplete profiles are reviewed more often. |
| Someone posted it first | Let us know ASAP. We can remove the product and let the community member know a launch is on the way. | If a fan posted your product before you were ready, you can keep that launch or ask Product Hunt to remove it. |
If you are not featured
Not being featured feels bad on launch day, but according to Product Hunt itself, it says nothing about your product’s quality or potential. What to do instead:
- Do not ask the team to reconsider unless your submission lacked critical information. Decisions are final in the vast majority of cases.
- Keep the product page and collect reviews there. Product Hunt calls reviews crucial for long-term user acquisition.
- Plan your next launch around a significant update, at least six months after this one.
- Put the launch energy into channels that fit your product today.
Sources
Every rule on this page comes from one of these official pages. We read all of them again on Sep 30, 2026; the middle column shows the date each page itself gives for its last update.
| Page | Last updated (per page) | Checked by us |
|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt Featuring Guidelines | ||
| Can I relaunch my product? | ||
| Product Hunt Launch Guide: FAQ | no date shown | |
| Launch Guide: Before launch | no date shown | |
| Launch Guide: How Product Hunt works | no date shown | |
| Community Guidelines | ||
| Launch Guide: Launch Day questions | no date shown | |
| Launch Guide: Two weeks post-launch | no date shown |
FAQ
- Can you launch multiple times on Product Hunt?
- Yes. Product Hunt says you can launch as often as you have new significant product iterations. The same product, company or root domain should wait at least six months between launches, and each relaunch needs a significant update such as a new mobile app or a complete redesign with new functionality. Earlier relaunches need an approved relaunch request.
- What does “featured” mean on Product Hunt?
- Featured launches are the ones the Product Hunt team selects for the homepage, which shows featured products by default. Anyone can post, but only featured posts compete in front of the daily homepage audience. The team looks for products that are useful, novel, high craft or creative.
- Why was my Product Hunt launch not featured?
- Common reasons in the official guidelines: the product is not live yet, it is a type Product Hunt does not feature (for example a directory, template, boilerplate, course or service), it looks like vaporware, or it seems built mainly for quick monetization. Votes alone do not decide, and the decision is usually final.
- Do upvotes decide whether I get featured?
- No. Product Hunt says user engagement is important but not the sole factor in featuring decisions. Asking for upvotes or rewarding them breaks the rules and can push a product down or off the homepage.
- Does a new UI or new pricing count as a relaunch?
- No. Product Hunt says new UIs and pricing plan changes are not significant updates. It counts a new mobile app, a complete redesign with new functionality, or an update that serves a substantially different use case or user.