# How to launch on Product Hunt

> The biggest launch day on the internet. One 24-hour race.

- Website: https://www.producthunt.com/
- Type: Community
- Cost: Free
- When it goes live: Daily, 12:01 AM Pacific
- Effort: Hard
- Who reads it: Founders, early adopters, investors, tech press
- Human guide: https://agentmarket.lol/where-to-launch/product-hunt
- Last checked: 2026-10-03. Prices and rules change; confirm on the site before paying.

## How it works

Every day starts at 12:01 AM Pacific time and runs for 24 hours. All launches that day compete for votes, and the top ones win "Product of the Day" badges.

For the first 4 hours, Product Hunt hides vote counts and shows launches in random order. After that, they are ranked by votes. Those first hours matter most.

Not every launch reaches the homepage. Product Hunt's team picks which launches are "Featured". The rest only appear in the "All" feed, which far fewer people see. A clear product, good images and a real maker story give you the best chance.

You don't need a famous "hunter" to post for you. Product Hunt has said most featured launches were posted by the makers themselves.

## Good fit if

- A finished product people can sign up for today
- Consumer apps, SaaS, AI tools and productivity tools
- Founders who can spend a whole day replying to comments

## Skip it if

- You only have a waitlist. Launch on BetaList first
- You can't be online for most of launch day

## Prepare before you start

- [ ] A personal Product Hunt account, made weeks before launch. Product Hunt says brand-new accounts must wait about a week before they can post, and votes from new accounts count for less
- [ ] Product name
- [ ] Tagline: 60 characters or less. Plain words, no hype, no emojis
- [ ] Thumbnail: square, 240 × 240 px, under 3 MB (a GIF is allowed)
- [ ] Gallery: at least 2 images at 1270 × 760 px. 3 to 5 is better. The first one is the preview when people share your link
- [ ] Optional: a short demo video (YouTube link)
- [ ] Description: what it does and who it is for, in two or three sentences
- [ ] Your first comment, written ahead of time (see the template below)
- [ ] A list of people who already know you: users, newsletter, friends. You will tell them it is live
- [ ] A launch-day offer, if you have one (for example, a discount for Product Hunt visitors)

## Step by step

1. **4 weeks before: set up your account.** Create your account (or polish your old one). Add a photo and a real bio. Upvote and comment on a few other launches so your account looks like a person, not a launch bot.
2. **2 weeks before: build your page.** Go to Product Hunt's launch page and create a new product. Fill in the name, tagline, links, thumbnail, gallery and description. You can schedule the launch for a future date and save it.
3. **1 week before: pick the day.** Tuesday to Thursday gets the most visitors but also the most competition. Weekends are quieter, so it is easier to rank, with fewer visitors. Schedule it for 12:01 AM Pacific so you get the full 24 hours.
4. **Launch day, first hour.** Post your first comment the moment it goes live. Then tell your people it is live. Share the link and ask them to check it out and leave feedback.
5. **Launch day, all day.** Reply to every comment, fast. Add /launch-day to the end of your launch URL to see your live dashboard (rank, votes, comments).
6. **The day after.** Thank people. Write down what you learned. Add your Product Hunt badge to your site if you won one.

## Rules (break these and your launch gets removed or ignored)

- Never ask people to upvote. Ask them to "check it out" or "share feedback". Asking for upvotes can get your launch penalised
- Don't buy votes or use vote-exchange groups. Product Hunt detects them
- Don't make fresh accounts for friends on launch day. Their votes barely count

## Tips

- Write the tagline for a stranger: what it does, not how great it is
- Show the real product in the gallery. Screenshots beat stock images
- Reuse your first comment as your launch post on X, LinkedIn and your blog

## Template: First comment

```text
Hi everyone! I'm [name], the maker of [product].

I built it because [the specific problem you had, in one or two sentences].

[Product] lets you [main thing it does] without [the old painful way].

What you can do today:
- [feature 1]
- [feature 2]
- [feature 3]

It's [free / free to try / $X a month]. [Launch offer, if any.]

I'd love your honest feedback, especially on [one specific question]. I'll be here all day to answer questions.
```

## Important links

- [Start a launch](https://www.producthunt.com/launch)
- [Preparing for launch (official)](https://www.producthunt.com/launch/preparing-for-launch)
- [Launch day tips (official)](https://www.producthunt.com/launch/launch-day-duties)
- [How to post a product (help)](https://help.producthunt.com/en/articles/479557-how-to-post-a-product)

## Sources

- [Product Hunt launch guide (fmerian/awesome-product-hunt, GitHub)](https://github.com/fmerian/awesome-product-hunt/blob/main/product-hunt-launch-guide.md)
- [Product Hunt: preparing for launch](https://www.producthunt.com/launch/preparing-for-launch)