Developer Tool Directories and Newsletters: Where Developers Discover New Tools
Developers discover tools through a short list of curators: Console reviews two or three a week and takes suggestions by email, DevHunt lists developer tools with a free permanent page, Changelog News takes submissions from a signed-in account, and Cooperpress publishes the JavaScript, Node and React newsletters. Each judges tools by self-service sign-up, documentation and maintenance, so fix those first.
What do curators of developer tools look for?
Console publishes its selection criteria, and they work as a checklist for any developer-facing launch. Can an individual developer try the tool without speaking to anyone? Is the primary user a developer? Would it fit into a regular workflow and help someone ship code or reduce bugs? Does it have an API or a CLI, keyboard shortcuts, dark mode and accessibility? Is it maintained, documented and fast? None of that is about marketing.
Read as a to-do list, it is blunt advice. If your pricing page says “book a demo”, a developer cannot try it, and a curator who values self-service will pass. If the last release was eight months ago, the maintenance question answers itself. Prepare the docs, a quickstart that works in five minutes and a public changelog before you write to anyone.
Facts below come from each site’s own pages, read on 13 November 2026. StackShare rate-limited our automated check, and we say so in its entry.
Which developer-focused places accept a tool?
01 Console
A free weekly newsletter that reviews two or three developer tools and lists betas and previews.
- Route
- Email hello@console.dev with the details
- Money
- Sponsored text ads are separate; it says it does not do sponsored reviews
- Reviews
- Each lists what the reviewer likes and does not like
A Console review has a “what we like” and a “what we don’t like” section, so a feature can be praised and a missing explanation can be named in the same paragraph. Accept that honesty as the price of an editorial slot that cannot be bought.
There is no form. Write a short, factual email: what the tool is, who it is for, a link to a quickstart and the version number. Do not attach a press kit.
02 DevHunt
An open-source launchpad exclusively for tools made for developers.
- Free
- A permanent page with a nofollow link
- Paid
- Choosing a launch week, which also gives a dofollow link
- Eligible
- Open source, APIs, SDKs, frameworks, CLIs, testing, monitoring, DevOps, databases, auth, AI agents and MCP servers
The FAQ excludes tools that are not for developers, adult tools and services that sell fake engagement. Voters sign in with GitHub or Google, which means every voter is a developer by construction.
The free listing is worth having. The paid launch week is a separate decision for a team with a community that can vote in the same seven days.
03 Changelog News
A developer news feed from the Changelog network, with a submission page.
- Account
- Sign in or up to submit
- Own work
- Encouraged by its page
- Excluded
- Commercial products and services; how-tos and tutorials
The page tells commercial products that sponsorship is their route, so it is the right place for a free open-source tool and the wrong one for a paid API. The form asks what is interesting about it, and a submission that answers that in two honest sentences stands out.
04 Cooperpress newsletters
A publisher of weekly developer newsletters, including JavaScript Weekly, Node Weekly and React Status.
- Contact
- Its page lists an editorial email address
- Catch
- We found no public submission form; ask with a short email
These are curated reading lists. An editor picks items that are interesting to the readers, so a launch with a technical write-up has a better chance than a bare announcement. Send the link to the write-up, not to the product page.
Pick the newsletter whose language or framework matches your tool and write to one editor, once.
05 SaaSHub
A software marketplace with a developer tools category and a free submit tool.
- Needs
- A released product on your own domain, with competitors listed
- Rejects
- Waiting-list pages and free subdomains
For a developer tool the useful part is the alternatives structure: someone looking for a replacement for a known service sees yours. See SaaSHub alternatives for how it compares.
06 Show HN
The Hacker News section for projects people can try.
- Cost
- Free; account to post
- Rule
- Easy to try, ideally without sign-up; sign-up pages and landing pages are off topic
It matches the curators’ self-service test: if a developer cannot try the tool at once, neither Show HN nor Console is the right place. The guidelines say work in early stages is fine and ask you to be around to discuss it. See the Show HN playbook.
08 Post your build ideas (our launch board)
A free launch board, ours, which gives a tool a public page whatever its category.
- Cost
- Free; one verified email
- Catch
- Not developer-only; small audience
Launch your tool free to have one address to hand to curators. The developer tool ideas on the board show what other builders are describing, which helps you word your own problem statement.
What should be public before you write to a curator?
- A quickstart that works from a clean machine, tested by someone who did not write it.
- Documentation with a search box or a clear table of contents.
- A changelog with a recent entry, so maintenance is visible.
- A pricing page that does not require a call if you charge.
- One honest paragraph on what it does not do. Curators and readers trust a stated limit.
Check the curator, too. Open the newsletter’s archive and look at the date of its latest issue, read whether it sells reviews or only marked ads, and, for a launchpad, find out which link type the free page gets. DevHunt says free pages carry nofollow, and Console says its reviews cannot be bought, which are the two facts here that change what you pay for.
The developer tool launch playbook covers the sequence. If you are still choosing what to build, the API project ideas guide lists scopes small enough for a weekend.
How do you pitch a curator in four sentences?
Subject: [Tool name]: [what it does in six words] Hi [name], I make [tool], which [one-sentence job] for [who]. A developer can try it without signing up for a call: [quickstart link]. It is at version [number] and was last released [date]. I thought it might suit [the specific section or issue theme], and I would be glad to answer questions about how it works.
Do not send the same email to ten editors in one hour. A message written for one newsletter reads as a mass mailing to another. The newsletters that feature new products page lists more places and the etiquette for each.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get my developer tool featured in Console?
Email hello@console.dev with details, as its selection criteria page says. It favours tools with self-service sign-up, a developer as the primary user, good documentation and active maintenance, and it does not run sponsored reviews. There is no guarantee, so make the quickstart work first and keep the email short.
Is DevHunt free for developer tools?
Listing is free: its FAQ says every tool gets a permanent page with a nofollow link. Choosing a launch week is a paid step that also makes the link dofollow and adds newsletter and social features. Decide on the paid week only if you have people who will vote that week.
Where do developers hear about new tools?
From curated newsletters such as Console and Cooperpress titles, from Hacker News, from launchpads such as DevHunt and from communities. All of them favour tools a developer can try without a sales call. We cannot give reach numbers, so measure which source sends trials to your own docs.
Can a commercial developer tool be featured for free?
Sometimes. Console reviews tools editorially and says it does not do sponsored reviews, so a paid product can be featured if it meets the criteria. Changelog News excludes commercial products and points them to sponsorship. Read each curator’s rules before sending.
Does my developer tool need to be open source?
No. Console, DevHunt and Show HN accept closed-source tools if developers can try them, though DevHunt and some directories also carry open-source projects specifically. What matters across curators is a self-service trial, working documentation and visible maintenance.
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.