LaunchRepoAn example, not a measurement: the hours on this page come from inputs you can change — minutes per form, directories and products. Nothing here was timed.
Short answer: For a short list of directories you already know, submit by hand and keep your money. Once the list is long or you launch more than one product, the hours add up every time, while LaunchRepo is €119.00 once and reusable. Set your own numbers in the calculator below.
Manual submission is the baseline every tool on our comparison pages is measured against, so it gets its own honest page. It costs nothing in software, uses your own accounts, and for a short list of directories it works fine. The difference is time, and time depends on you: how long a form takes, how many directories fit your product and how often you launch. Instead of a single headline number, this page gives you a calculator with those three inputs and shows the result next to the one-time price of LaunchRepo.
Five questions that decide it
Answer each question for the product you are launching next. Where most of your answers land is your pick.
| Question | Pick manual submission if | Pick LaunchRepo if |
|---|---|---|
| How many directories fit your product? | A dozen or so that you already know. | Dozens, and you would rather not research which ones exist and what each form asks. |
| Will you launch again? | No, this is a one-off. | Yes: the repository, product brief and tracker are reused for every product. |
| What is an hour of your time worth? | Less than the licence spread over the hours below. | More: you would rather spend it on the product than on form fields. |
| Are you comfortable with an AI agent in your browser? | No, you want to fill in every form yourself. | Yes, one you start and watch, in your own logged-in browser. |
| How will you keep track? | A spreadsheet you maintain by hand is fine. | You want submitted, pending review, scheduled, needs-you and live tracked for you. |
Side by side
Published pricing: no software cost; your time instead. There is no vendor here, so there is nothing to check. The numbers on this page are assumptions you can change in the calculator: by default 15 minutes per form, 60 directories and 3 products a year, which is 45 hours. Research, account sign-ups and follow-ups come on top.
| Criterion | LaunchRepo | manual submission |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One payment. No subscription, no renewal, no fee per launch. | No software cost. You pay in time: we assume 15 minutes per form, and you can change that. |
| What the price covers | One licence. €119.00 is today’s price as a reference incl. 19 % German VAT; checkout applies the tax for your country. The price does not rise. | Forms × minutes × products, plus the research to find directories, account sign-ups and 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; only your notes carry over. |
| Who does the work | Your own AI coding or browser agent, started by you. LaunchRepo is a toolkit, not a service. | You, 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. The same as LaunchRepo on this point. |
| What you own afterwards | The repository with 299 playbooks, your product.json and your tracker — cloned to your machine and yours to keep. | Your listings and whatever spreadsheet or notes you built. No playbooks unless you write them. |
| Directory count and source | 299 directory playbooks in the repo, each with preparation, form fields, blockers and what counts as a confirmation. | As many as you find. Finding which directories exist, which fit your product and what each form requires is part of the work. |
| Tracking of outcomes | Your submissions.json and the local dashboard record draft, submitted, pending, scheduled, needs-you and live separately. | Whatever you set up: a spreadsheet, a Notion table, bookmarks. Keeping submitted, pending and live apart is up to you. |
| Guarantees | None. Every directory decides for itself what it publishes, so we promise no listing, backlink or ranking. | None. Directories decide the same way 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. 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 €119.00. |
Worked example: Three products a year, by hand
Inputs — an example, swap in your own
- 15 minutes per form, our assumption for filling one directory form.
- 60 directories per product, an example shortlist.
- 3 products a year: 15 × 60 × 3 = 2,700 minutes, which is 45 hours.
In this example manual submission costs 45 hours a year of form-filling, before research, sign-ups and follow-ups. LaunchRepo does not make those hours disappear: you still start the agent, handle logins and verifications and review the result, and your AI provider bills its usage. What changes is that the research is done once in 299 playbooks, the agent does the typing, and the second and third product reuse everything. Change the inputs below to see your own numbers.
An example with inputs you can change, not a measured result. Your AI provider bills agent usage separately.
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 €119.00 for that.
- You want to do 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 near your accounts, even one you start and watch in your own browser.
- You launch once, and the hours in the calculator cost you less than the licence.
When LaunchRepo is the better choice
- You have more than a few directories in mind. 299 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, product brief and tracker are reused; the manual route starts from zero each 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 submissions.json and a local dashboard instead of a hand-kept spreadsheet.
- 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. For a long one, or for more than one product, put your own numbers into the calculator and weigh the hours against €119.00 once, remembering that the toolkit is reused for every product while manual hours are spent again each time. What stays the same on both routes: your accounts, your listings, and directories that decide for themselves what they publish.
Decide with today’s numbers
Our pricing page loads the live price. The hours on this page come from your own inputs in the calculator above, not from a measurement.
Questions about LaunchRepo vs manual submission
Is the time figure measured?
No. It is minutes per form × directories × products, and every input is yours to change. Our default of 15 minutes per form is an assumption; we have not timed anyone’s launch. For scale: working all 299 playbooks at 15 minutes each would be about 74.75 hours for one product.
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.
Does LaunchRepo take zero time?
No. You start the agent, handle logins, email confirmations and CAPTCHAs when it hands over, and review what it submitted. Your AI provider bills the agent’s usage. The calculator only counts the manual route; it does not claim a saving.
What does LaunchRepo add that a spreadsheet of directories does not?
A playbook per directory — 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 checkmarks.
Can I combine the two?
Yes. The agent works through the shortlist, and the tracker’s “needs you” state hands you the directories that require a human: a phone verification, a founder interview, a payment.