OpenHunts Alternatives: Free Launch Queues Measured in Weeks
When we read it on 13 November 2026, OpenHunts offered twenty free launch slots a week and showed a current queue of about 60 weeks, or about fourteen months, with its badge as a way to skip. Free routes elsewhere ranged from none to months: Post Your Build Ideas, our own board, and Show HN have no queue, while PitchWall, StartupBase and Fazier quote weeks and Smol Launch showed about eleven.
What did OpenHunts’ pricing page say about waiting?
OpenHunts runs launches at 8:00 AM UTC on Mondays and describes a limited number of projects each week to keep visibility meaningful. Its pricing page (read 13 November 2026) listed a Free Launch with twenty slots weekly and the line “Current queue time: ~60 weeks”, then “or add our badge to skip”. A launch gets seven days on the homepage, a detail page tuned for AI and search, a dofollow backlink if the product reaches the top three, and a shoutout if it finishes first.
Its paid options are a Premium Launch that goes out the next Monday with no badge and a launch week of your choosing, and a Highlight that is instant, priced by demand and shown in the feed. The page also carries a row of sponsors.
Sixty weeks is a snapshot and the number moves. Even so, it is the longest queue among the sites we read, and it reframes the choice: for most products the free route here is not a schedule but a backlog. The rest of this page shows how to judge a queue and where waits are shorter.
How do you judge a queue when a site does not give a date?
Divide the number ahead of you by the number of slots each week. If a page gives only one of those, or only a date, you can still sanity-check it.
- Smol Launch showed “550 ahead of you” and 50 verified slots a week. That is eleven weeks, and the date it displayed, 1 February 2027, is about eleven weeks after 13 November. The two figures agree.
- OpenHunts showed about 60 weeks and twenty slots a week. If both hold, roughly 1,200 launches are ahead of a new free one. That is our arithmetic from its figures, not a number the page states.
- Open Launch said free launches were booked into 2027. That means past 31 December 2026, at least seven weeks away, with no exact end.
- Uneed assigns a date at least 50 days out. About seven weeks, and the minimum is the part it states.
A useful rule: if the wait is longer than the time before your next major release, the free route will launch a product you no longer sell. Skip it or use the paid tier. The point of a queue is to be patient, and patience has an end.
Which alternatives wait less?
Seven options, shortest wait first. Every wait is as the site stated it on 13 November 2026, apart from the arithmetic marked above.
01 Post your build ideas
Our own free board, with no queue and no review.
- Free wait
- None; live when you confirm the emailed link
- Rule to plan around
- The same website cannot launch again within seven days
- Main limit
- New and small; you bring the visitors
We run it, and the absence of a queue is the whole offer. The launch form takes a name, URL, tagline, description, up to three categories, a pricing model and an email. An unconfirmed launch is deleted after 24 hours, so open the link the same day.
02 Show HN
Hacker News’s section for projects you made that others can try.
- Free wait
- None
- Rule to plan around
- It must be something people can try
- Cost
- Free
No line, no fee, no badge. The only gate is the guidelines, and attention is not guaranteed. The Show HN playbook shows how to prepare for it.
03 StartupBase
A daily launch platform with permanent product pages.
- Free wait
- About four to five weeks, by its own page
- Condition
- Its badge on your site
- Paid
- Pick a date within 30 days
The stated wait is a few weeks, not a year, and the number is on the pricing block where you can see it before applying.
04 Fazier
A launch directory with a free Basic tier that is reviewed and listed within 30 days.
- Free wait
- Up to 30 days
- Condition
- A backlink to Fazier on your homepage or footer
- Paid
- Publish now or schedule
A review, not a line. The thirty days is an outer limit on the page, so it may be quicker, though we cannot say.
05 PitchWall
A directory of new AI products with a free launch tier.
- Free wait
- A minimum of 30 days
- Paid
- A two-week wait on one paid tier; a chosen date on another
- Scope
- New AI products
Its free tier states the wait as a floor. Only an AI product belongs here, which makes it a narrower alternative than the others.
06 Smol Launch
A weekly launch board whose free tier needs its badge and your votes.
- Free wait
- About eleven weeks, from the figures it showed
- Condition
- Badge, plus votes for five other launches
- Paid
- Any open week, no queue
The slots are shared among all makers, fifty verified a week, so the wait grows when more people apply. First launch only on the free tier.
07 Uneed
A daily launch board with a free line of at least 50 days.
- Free wait
- At least 50 days
- Condition
- A score of 10 to stay published; 20 for the link
- Paid
- Choose a date, or take a slot in about 14 days
The wait is longer than StartupBase’s and shorter than OpenHunts’. It also requires votes. See Uneed alternatives for the same problem from that site’s side.
How do the waits rank?
| Site | Stated or derived wait | What else the free route needs |
|---|---|---|
| Post your build ideas | None | A verified email |
| Show HN | None | Something people can try |
| StartupBase | About four to five weeks | Its badge |
| Fazier | Up to 30 days of review | A backlink to Fazier |
| PitchWall | At least 30 days | Nothing stated beyond the wait |
| Uneed | At least 50 days | Votes: 10 to stay, 20 for the link |
| Open Launch | Past the end of 2026 | Badge and a top-three finish for the link |
| Smol Launch | About eleven weeks, by its figures | Badge and five votes |
| OpenHunts | About 60 weeks | Badge to skip the line |
When is a long free queue still worth joining?
When joining costs nothing and does not block anything else. A place in a line is free insurance if you plan a major release in a year, since a launch you did not have to pay for will arrive by itself. It is a poor plan if you wait for it before telling anyone about the product. Launch where nothing is queued now, and let the slow route catch up.
Check that the listing will still be accurate when the slot arrives, and keep the description editable. The answer on launching on more than one platform covers sequencing, the definition of a launch queue explains the term, and the ideas board is open if you are deciding what to build while you wait.
Frequently asked questions
How long is OpenHunts’ free queue?
On 13 November 2026 its pricing page showed a current queue time of about 60 weeks for the free launch, with twenty slots weekly. It also says you can add its badge to skip. The number changes, so read the page on the day you plan to apply.
Is OpenHunts worth it if I pay?
Its Premium Launch goes out the next Monday with no badge and lets you choose the week, and the Highlight option is instant. Whether it is worth money depends on the audience it sends, which we did not measure. Compare it with the cost of waiting.
Which free launch site has the shortest wait?
Post Your Build Ideas, which is ours, and Show HN have no queue. Among sites with queues, StartupBase quoted about four to five weeks and Fazier up to 30 days. Each has conditions, such as a badge or a backlink, so read them before you choose.
Can I skip a free queue without paying?
Sometimes. OpenHunts offers a badge on your site to skip, and several free routes trade a badge for a place. That means placing another site’s link on yours. Decide whether that is acceptable, and read what the badge links to and whether it is a followed link.
Post your build ideas publishes this page and runs a free launch board that competes with some of the sites it names. Facts about other sites came from their own pages on the date shown above; terms, queues and prices change, so confirm on their sites before you decide. About the publisher.