Product Hunt vs OpenHunts
Choosing between Product Hunt and OpenHunts? Here's how they compare on price, link policy, review time and launch format, with Hauntboard, our own launch board, as a third option. We run Hauntboard, so every fact about Product Hunt and OpenHunts is sourced from their own pages.
Facts checked 14 Oct 2026 · Product Hunt sources · OpenHunts sources
The Short Answer
Product Hunt is a daily leaderboard. OpenHunts runs weekly launches on Mondays with 20 free slots a week; on the day we checked its free queue showed about 60 weeks unless you add its badge, and its Premium launch was $9.90 (shown reduced from $19) with a guaranteed dofollow link. Pick OpenHunts for a cheap, weekly launch; pick Product Hunt for the audience.
Side by Side
Product Hunt, OpenHunts and Hauntboard, from each one's own pages.
| Dimension | Product Hunt | OpenHunts | Hauntboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free option | Yes: Product Hunt's launch guide says launching is 100% free. It also sells advertising, but doesn't list ad prices there. | Yes: Free launches get 20 slots a week. On 20 Oct 2026 the pricing page showed a current queue time of about 60 weeks, and said adding the OpenHunts badge skips the wait. | Yes: the next open week, 20 free slots a week, with the Hauntboard badge on your site |
| Pricing | Free to launch. | Free launch $0 (queue, or add the badge to skip it); Premium launch $9.90 (shown reduced from $19); Highlight $20 a week (shown reduced from $59, demand-based). Sidebar sponsorships are also sold. | Free (next open week, Hauntboard badge required, 20 slots a week) · Launch Now $19 (pick your week, no badge) · Spotlight $49 (pinned top row for the week, 4 a week). One-time payments. |
| Link type | Not dofollow: HackerNoon found the Visit website link marked ugc in September 2026, which isn't dofollow. Product Hunt blocked our own check on 14 Oct 2026. | Dofollow (conditional): OpenHunts says the free plan gets a dofollow backlink if the launch finishes in the top 3, and Premium and Highlight get a guaranteed dofollow link. On 4 listings we checked on 20 Oct 2026, the Visit website link was plain on 2 and marked nofollow on 2. | Dofollow link for every approved launch; a free launch's link is nofollow while the Hauntboard badge isn't on its site |
| Review and timing | No review fee; you schedule the launch yourself. | Not published as a review time. Launches go live on Mondays at 8:00 AM UTC; Premium launches the next Monday. | Human review: about 72 hours on the free tier, within 24 hours on paid launches |
| Launch format | Daily leaderboard, on Pacific Time. | Weekly launches on Mondays, with 7 days on the homepage. | Weekly board: one week on the board, and the product page stays up afterwards |
| Audience (its own figure) | No figure published on the pages we checked. | 111,564 visits in 6 months (its own PostHog figures) | No site-wide audience figure to quote yet; every launch page shows its own page views and visits, and totals are on the stats page. |
Which One Fits?
Choose Product Hunt if:
- • You want the biggest audience and a free launch you schedule yourself.
- • You don't want to add a badge to your site.
- • You can bring supporters on one day.
Choose OpenHunts if:
- • You want a full week on the homepage.
- • You'll pay under $10 to launch next Monday with a guaranteed dofollow link.
- • You're happy to add its badge to skip the free queue.
Using Both
OpenHunts' Premium is cheap enough to pair with a Product Hunt day: pick a Monday on OpenHunts for a week of visibility, and a day you can be online for on Product Hunt.
Where Hauntboard Fits
Hauntboard is a weekly launch board where a person reviews every launch, every approved launch gets a dofollow link, and each launch page shows its own page views and visits in public. It's new, so its audience is still small, and it can sit next to either of these. See how it compares with Product Hunt or OpenHunts.
Common Questions
- How long is OpenHunts' free queue?
- On 20 Oct 2026 its pricing page showed a current queue time of about 60 weeks, and said adding its badge skips the wait. That figure changes, so check the page.
- Does OpenHunts give a dofollow link?
- Its pricing page says the free plan gets a dofollow backlink if the launch finishes in the top 3, and the paid plans a guaranteed one. On 4 listings we checked, 2 were plain and 2 were nofollow.
- How big is OpenHunts?
- It reports 111,564 visits over 6 months, by its own PostHog figures. It's much smaller than Product Hunt.
Ready to launch?
Launch on Hauntboard: free launches get human review in about 72 hours, a dofollow link while the Hauntboard badge is on your site, and public page views and visits.