LaunchRepoAssumption, not a measurement: 15 minutes per form × 346 directories ≈ 86.5 hours per product, taken from the home-page calculator’s editable default. Your real time depends on your product and how many directories fit it.
Manual submission is the baseline every tool on our comparison pages is measured against, so it deserves its own honest page. It costs nothing in software, uses your own accounts, and for a short list of directories it is perfectly fine. The catch is arithmetic, and we want to be precise about how weak that arithmetic is: our home-page calculator assumes 15 minutes per form, which across 346 directories is about 86.5 hours per product. That figure is an assumption you can change with a slider — not a study, not a measurement of anyone’s launch. What is not an assumption: the second product costs the full time again, and nothing you did the first time helps the agent you did not use.
Side by side
Published pricing: no software cost; ≈ 86.5 h per product (assumption). There is no vendor here, so there is nothing to check. The only number on this page is an assumption: the home-page calculator defaults to 15 minutes per form, which multiplied by 346 directories gives about 86.5 hours per product before research, account creation and follow-ups. Move the slider on the home page if your forms are faster or slower; nothing on this page was measured.
| Criterion | LaunchRepo | manual submission |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One payment. No subscription, no renewal, no fee per launch. | No software cost. You pay in time: the calculator assumes 15 minutes per form, an editable assumption. |
| What the price covers | One licence at the €99.98 launch price, VAT included. The price rises 20 % after every 20 sales; you pay what the checkout shows when you buy. | 346 forms × 15 minutes ≈ 86.5 hours per product (assumption), plus the research to find the directories, the account sign-ups and the follow-ups when a listing stalls. |
| Number of products covered | Unlimited products you own and operate. The second product costs nothing extra. | Every product costs the full time again, because nothing is reusable except your memory and whatever notes you kept. |
| Who does the work | Your own AI coding or browser agent, started by you. LaunchRepo is a toolkit, not a service. | You, personally, one form at a time — or someone you pay by the hour to do the same. |
| Accounts used | Your own accounts, in your own logged-in browser. Nobody signs in as you. | Your own accounts, in your own browser. Identical to LaunchRepo on this point. |
| What you own afterwards | The repository with 346 playbooks, your product.json and your tracker — cloned to your machine and yours to keep. | Your listings and whatever spreadsheet or notes you built along the way. No playbooks unless you wrote them. |
| Directory count and source | 346 directory playbooks in the repo, each with preparation, form fields, blockers and what counts as a confirmation. | As many as you find. Discovering which directories exist, which ones fit your product and what each form requires is part of the 86.5 hours — or more. |
| Tracking of outcomes | Your submissions.csv and the local dashboard record draft, submitted, pending, scheduled, needs-you and live separately. | Whatever you set up: a spreadsheet, a Notion table, browser bookmarks. Keeping submitted, pending and live apart is your discipline. |
| Guarantees | None. Every directory decides for itself what it publishes, so we promise no listing, backlink or ranking. | None. The same directories decide the same things, whether a human or an agent filled in the form. |
| Own AI agent required | Yes. Bring Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or a browser agent; your provider bills its usage. | No. This is the no-agent, no-software route; your only tool is a browser. |
| Languages | Playbooks, templates and dashboard in English; this website in 12 languages. | Whatever you speak. Most directory forms are in English. |
| Best for | Developers who ship more than one product and want a launch process they keep. | One product, a short list of directories you already know, and time you value less than €99.98. |
When manual submission is the better choice
- Your list is short. Ten directories you already know is a morning’s work; no toolkit is worth €99.98 for that.
- You value doing it yourself. Reading each directory’s guidelines by hand is how some founders learn where their product belongs.
- You do not want an AI agent anywhere near your accounts, even one you start and watch in your own browser.
- You launch once and never again, and your hourly rate is low enough that 86.5 hours cost less than a licence.
When LaunchRepo is the better choice
- You have more than a few directories in mind. 346 playbooks tell an agent what each form asks, what blocks a submission and what counts as live, so you do not research it yourself.
- You will launch again. The repository, the product brief and the tracker are reused; the manual route starts from zero every time.
- You want a shortlist derived from your product — AI tool, dev tool, B2B SaaS — rather than your best guess at which directories exist.
- You want submitted, pending review, scheduled, needs-you and live tracked in a CSV and a local dashboard instead of a spreadsheet you maintain by hand.
- You already use Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or a browser agent and would rather spend your attention on the product than on form fields.
Verdict
For a short launch list, do it by hand and keep your money; we mean that. For a long one, the calculator’s assumption of about 86.5 hours per product — an assumption, not a measurement — is the number to weigh against €99.98 once, keeping in mind that the toolkit is reused for every product and the hours are spent again each time. What does not change between the two routes is the outcome: your accounts, your listings, and directories that decide for themselves what they publish. LaunchRepo saves the clicking, not the moderation.
Decide with today’s numbers
Our pricing page loads the live price. The hours on this page stay an assumption you can change on the home-page calculator.
Questions about LaunchRepo vs manual submission
Is the 86.5-hour figure measured?
No. It is the home-page calculator’s default of 15 minutes per form multiplied by 346 directories. It is editable, and your real time depends on your product and on how many directories actually fit it. We publish it as an assumption, and nowhere as a measured saving.
Does manual submission get better results than an agent?
Directories moderate the listing, not the way the form was filled. A careful human and a careful agent following the same playbook submit the same facts; the difference is time and consistency, not acceptance. Neither route is guaranteed anything.
What does LaunchRepo add that a spreadsheet of directories does not?
The per-directory playbook — what to prepare, which fields block a submission, what “live” means there — a product template your agent fills once, and a tracker with states instead of a column of ticks. The list of directories is the smallest part of it.
Can I combine the two?
Yes, and most people do: the agent works through the catalogue, and the tracker’s “needs you” state hands you the directories that require a human — a phone verification, a founder interview, a payment.
Are my accounts safer if I submit by hand?
The accounts are the same either way: your own, in your own browser. With LaunchRepo you start the agent and watch it; nobody else signs in, and no credentials leave your machine.