Where to Launch a Slack App: Pilots First, Then the Slack Marketplace
Launch a Slack app in two stages. First distribute it unlisted through an OAuth install link to a handful of pilot teams, because Slack’s Marketplace guidelines treat apps installed on fewer than 10 active workspaces with under 20 monthly active users as unsuitable. Then submit to the Slack Marketplace, whose review has two parts and can take weeks, and share the app in places where teams choose tools.
Why does a Slack app launch in two stages instead of one?
Slack’s own developer documentation sets the order. A new app can only be installed in the workspace where you created it until you build an OAuth 2.0 install flow. The guide on distribution describes unlisted distribution as a good way to run a pilot for early customers, and says apps meant for commercial distribution should be approved for the Marketplace.
The Marketplace submission guidelines then close the loop: among the apps they call unsuitable are those installed on fewer than 10 active workspaces with fewer than 20 monthly active users, where an active workspace is one used in the past 28 days. So you cannot start in the Marketplace. You earn the right to submit by running a pilot with real teams first, which makes the launch plan different from a bot on a public list.
Which places belong in a Slack app launch?
Facts below come from Slack’s developer docs and the other sites’ pages, read on 13 November 2026, with refused automated checks flagged.
01 Unlisted distribution with your own install page
Installing your app on other workspaces through an OAuth flow, without a Marketplace listing.
- Default
- A new app installs only in its own workspace until you set up OAuth
- Slack’s guidance
- Good for a pilot with early customers; commercial apps should be listed
- You provide
- A landing page with an Add to Slack button and a short onboarding
Build a one-page site that says what the app does in the channel, shows a short recording of it working and has the install button above the fold. Send it to ten teams you can name, and ask each for ten minutes after a week of use.
Slack’s docs mention thinking about onboarding and about how you will talk to your customers. For a pilot that means a welcome message in the app’s home tab and a direct way to reach you, so that a stuck admin does not quietly uninstall.
Visit Unlisted distribution with your own install page (docs.slack.dev) →
02 Slack Marketplace
Slack’s own directory, reached through a two-part review of your listing and your app’s behaviour.
- Usage floor
- Apps on fewer than 10 active workspaces and fewer than 20 monthly active users are blocked from submitting
- Timing
- Preliminary feedback takes up to 10 business days; the functional review up to 10 weeks for new apps, 6 for updates, as its docs say today
- Listing
- A short description of ten words or fewer, which does not support Slack formatting
The preliminary part checks listing information, documentation and links. The functional part is an installation and test of the app, with feedback on its behaviour and scopes. A short video is required for new submissions: the install and OAuth flow, setup, end-to-end use and uninstall, without code editors in shot.
Request only the scopes the app needs, since the reviewers look at them. The docs also say coded workflows are currently not eligible. Submit when the pilot has stopped producing changes, because every update goes back through review.
03 SaaSHub
A software alternatives directory with a submit tool, whose categories include a Slack grouping.
- Free tool
- Its submit page calls SaaSHub Submit a free tool to promote your product
- Categories
- Productivity, Communication and others; Slack appears under Productivity
- Fit
- An app that is also sold as a stand-alone product
A Slack app that does one job inside Slack is often compared with a stand-alone tool, such as a standup tool or a poll tool. Listing the product with the alternative it replaces puts you in front of people who are already comparing.
List it as a product with a website and a pricing page, not as a bare install link. Reviewers and visitors both look for a place that explains the work outside Slack.
04 Product Hunt
A general launch site where a team tool can reach people who choose software for a group.
- Cost
- Free to submit; sign-in required
- Access
- Its pages refused our automated check; only basics appear here
- Best moment
- After the pilot, when you have a quote and a screenshot of a real channel
The people who see a Product Hunt launch are individuals, while a Slack app is installed by a team admin. Aim the tagline at the admin’s pain, such as “stop chasing weekly updates in DMs”, and show the app inside a channel in the first image.
Check that the install button works for any admin who clicks it before you launch. A spike of visitors who meet an error page is hard to win back.
05 Hacker News (Show HN)
A technical audience that can try your app if you give them a way in without a work account.
- Guideline
- Make it easy to try, ideally without sign-ups or emails
- Challenge
- Slack apps need a workspace to install in
- Solution
- A public demo workspace or a recorded walkthrough
The barrier is real: a reader cannot try a Slack app without a workspace. Offer an open demo workspace where the app is already installed, or a video that shows the full flow, and be ready to explain the permission model in the thread.
It suits apps for developer teams, like deployment notices or on-call tools. It suits apps for sales or HR teams less well, and those are better served by the review sites in the B2B SaaS places list.
06 Post your build ideas (our launch board)
Our free board, where a Slack app with a public landing page can have a stable public listing.
- Cost
- Free; no account; no queue
- Going live
- An emailed link publishes it
- Limit
- Small audience; no promise of reach
Put your install page in the product address on the launch form, and say in the first sentence that it is for Slack. The board is a fair place to collect comments from other builders while you wait out the Marketplace review, and the answer on getting feedback on an MVP covers how to ask for it.
The productivity ideas board shows what builders are proposing for team workflows, which is useful before you decide what your second feature should be.
What does a realistic timeline look like?
| Stage | What you do | What the docs say about it |
|---|---|---|
| Build and install | Set up OAuth and a landing page | A new app installs only in its own workspace by default |
| Pilot | Run it with ten or so teams for a few weeks | Unlisted distribution suits a pilot with early customers |
| Prepare | Write the listing, record the video, trim the scopes | A video demo is required for new submissions |
| Review | Answer feedback quickly | Up to 10 business days, then up to 10 weeks, for new apps |
| Launch | Announce on your own channels and list elsewhere | The review times can vary with volume |
The playbook for launching a Slack app has the day-by-day version, and the B2B SaaS launch places cover the review sites that suit apps sold to companies.
Frequently asked questions
Can I launch a Slack app without the Slack Marketplace?
Yes. Slack’s distribution docs describe unlisted distribution, where other workspaces install through an OAuth flow you build, and call it suitable for a pilot with early customers. They add that apps meant for commercial distribution should be approved for the Marketplace. An unlisted app is the route to the usage the Marketplace asks for.
How long does Slack Marketplace review take?
As its docs read on 13 November 2026, preliminary feedback takes up to 10 business days and the functional review takes up to 10 weeks for new submissions, or 6 weeks for updates to published apps. Times vary with volume, so check the review page before you plan a launch date around it.
What are the minimum usage requirements to submit to the Slack Marketplace?
Its guidelines list apps installed on fewer than 10 active workspaces with fewer than 20 monthly active users as unsuitable, counting a workspace as active if it was used in the past 28 days. Apps that do not meet this are blocked from submitting, with an exception for certain security and compliance partners.
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.