A maintained list of 1,432 directories, launch platforms, registries and marketplaces that accept product submissions. 1,134 of them are free or have a free tier, and 192 are quick wins — free, low effort, and worth doing first. Every row shows cost, effort and priority, and links straight to the submission page.
The table is wider than the screen — swipe it sideways for cost, effort and the preparation notes.
| # | Impact (sorted) | Site — sort by this | Domain | Type | Cost | Effort — sort by this | Priority | Status | What to prepare | Rules / caveat | Checked | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 100 | CSA STAR Registry | cloudsecurityalliance.org | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Do first | Live, conditional | Complete the current CAIQ or AI-CAIQ truthfully and submit your tool real cloud service to the STAR Registry. | Cloud/SaaS fit only; disclose actual controls and update annually. Never overstate security practices. | 2026-08-04 | Open CSA STAR Registry submit page (new tab)CSA STAR Registry details |
| 2 | 98 | crates.io | crates.io | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Do first | Live, conditional | Publish a genuine your tool Rust client, CLI, parser, or privacy library and set homepage, repository, README, license, and documentation metadata. | Conditional on useful compiling code. Published versions are permanent; GitHub login, verified email, and API token are required. | https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/publishing.html | Open crates.io submit page (new tab)crates.io details |
| 3 | 98 | MCP Registry | modelcontextprotocol.io | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Do first | Live, conditional | Package a real your tool MCP server, verify its namespace, create server.json and publish it with mcp-publisher. | Registry is in preview; package or remote server must be public and namespace ownership is validated. | 2026-08-04 | Open MCP Registry submit page (new tab)MCP Registry details |
| 4 | 98 | Packagist | packagist.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Do first | Live, conditional | Publish a real your tool PHP SDK or integration from a public repository and set the canonical homepage in composer.json. | Conditional on a functional Composer package with a unique vendor/name, public repository, valid metadata, and maintained releases. | https://packagist.org/about | Open Packagist submit page (new tab)Packagist details |
| 5 | 98 | PyPI | pypi.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Do first | Live, conditional | Publish a real your tool Python SDK, CLI, or integration package and set Homepage, Documentation, Source, and Issues URLs in package metadata. | Conditional on maintaining a functional Python package; no placeholder packages, name squatting, or keyword stuffing. | https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/specifications/well-known-project-urls/ | Open PyPI submit page (new tab)PyPI details |
| 6 | 98 | RubyGems.org | rubygems.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Do first | Live, conditional | Publish and maintain a genuine your tool Ruby client, CLI, or integration gem with accurate homepage, source, documentation, and changelog metadata. | Conditional on a working Ruby gem; package names are unique and public releases should be treated as permanent. | https://guides.rubygems.org/publishing/ | Open RubyGems.org submit page (new tab)RubyGems.org details |
| 7 | 86 | Terraform Registry | registry.terraform.io | Developer registries | Free | Quick | High | Live, conditional | Publish a maintained Terraform provider for your tool stable API, or a genuinely reusable deployment module, with signed releases, generated documentation, examples, tests, and semantic versions. | A provider must use a public lowercase terraform-provider-* GitHub repository, signed cross-platform release assets, a valid manifest, docs, and SemVer tags. A module has separate public-repository, naming, structure, documentation, and tag requirements. Publish only a functional reusable artifact. | 2026-08-03 | Open Terraform Registry submit page (new tab)Terraform Registry details |
| 8 | 84 | Chocolatey Community Repository | chocolatey.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | High | Live, conditional | Ship a real your tool CLI or desktop utility as a tested package with homepage, project and support metadata. | Requires distributable software, legal rights, repeatable install/uninstall, tests, malware scan and moderation. | 2026-08-04 | Open Chocolatey Community Repository submit page (new tab)Chocolatey Community Repository details |
| 9 | 84 | Docker Hub | docker.com | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | High | Live, conditional | Publish a maintained your tool CLI or server image with source, documentation, descriptions and canonical homepage links. | Ship a scanned, reproducible and maintained image; public presence is not Docker verification and fair-use limits apply. | 2026-08-05 official Docker Hub repository and usage documentation | Open Docker Hub submit page (new tab)Docker Hub details |
| 10 | 84 | Google Open Source Insights | deps.dev | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | High | Live, conditional | Publish a useful your tool package to a supported registry with accurate source and homepage metadata so Open Source Insights can index it. | No promotional manual submission; only genuine public packages in supported ecosystems are indexed and the homepage link depends on package metadata. | 2026-08-05 official deps.dev About and documentation | Open Google Open Source Insights submit page (new tab)Google Open Source Insights details |
| 11 | 84 | OpenSourceFest | opensourcefest.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | High | Live, conditional | Submit a maintained your tool open-source project through Submit a Project. | Editors review license, activity and quality; proprietary web-only tools do not qualify. | 2026-08-05 | Open OpenSourceFest submit page (new tab)OpenSourceFest details |
| 12 | 84 | OpenSSF Scorecard | scorecard.dev | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | High | Live, conditional | Run Scorecard on a public your tool component, enable published results, remediate checks, and link the public viewer from repository documentation. | Public repository and admin rights are required; scores are heuristic and website exposure is indirect through accurate repository metadata. | 2026-08-05 official Scorecard site and OpenSSF repository | Open OpenSSF Scorecard submit page (new tab)OpenSSF Scorecard details |
| 13 | 84 | protocols.io | protocols.io | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | High | Live, conditional | Publish a reproducible your tool testing, privacy-analysis or accessibility-evaluation method and cite relevant project resources. | Submissions must contribute genuine experimental or computational research methods; non-scientific promotion may be removed. | 2026-08-04 | Open protocols.io submit page (new tab)protocols.io details |
| 14 | 68 | Cloudsmith | cloudsmith.com | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Create a public your tool package repository for genuine releases and complete its namespace, description, licence and source/homepage metadata. | Only host real maintained artifacts; the open-source plan requires public licensed software and public distribution can incur usage limits. | 2026-08-05 official Cloudsmith repository docs and pricing | Open Cloudsmith submit page (new tab)Cloudsmith details |
| 15 | 68 | CocoaPods | cocoapods.org | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Publish a genuine iOS or macOS your tool SDK and set homepage/source URLs in its podspec. | Requires a valid podspec and Trunk registration; package must be an actual reusable Apple-platform library. | https://guides.cocoapods.org/making/getting-setup-with-trunk.html | Open CocoaPods submit page (new tab)CocoaPods details |
| 16 | 68 | Django Packages | djangopackages.org | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | After releasing a genuinely Django-relevant open-source component, sign in and add its GitHub or GitLab repository and accurate project links. | Package must be useful to Django developers and hosted on a supported public repository; listings are community-maintained and not DSF endorsement. | 2026-08-05 official Django Packages FAQ, documentation and live directory | Open Django Packages submit page (new tab)Django Packages details |
| 17 | 68 | FlakeHub | flakehub.com | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Publish a genuine versioned your tool Nix flake under the correct GitHub owner and maintain its README and project links. | Published versions are archived permanently; ownership, licence and repository association must be accurate and squatting is inappropriate. | 2026-08-05 official FlakeHub homepage, usage policy and pricing | Open FlakeHub submit page (new tab)FlakeHub details |
| 18 | 68 | freshcode.club | freshcode.club | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Submit a real maintained your tool open-source release with accurate categories and project metadata. | Use only for an actual open-source project and keep releases maintained. | 2026-08-05 | Open freshcode.club submit page (new tab)freshcode.club details |
| 19 | 68 | Haxelib | lib.haxe.org | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Release a useful Haxe SDK or privacy utility and set haxelib.json's URL to the relevant your tool documentation page. | Requires reusable code, semantic versions and accurate metadata; promotional-only packages are not appropriate. | 2026-08-05 official Haxelib package guide | Open Haxelib submit page (new tab)Haxelib details |
| 20 | 68 | OpenTofu Public Registry | registry.opentofu.org | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Release a reusable your tool-related security or privacy module from a correctly named public GitHub repository. | Requires standard module structure, terraform-NAME-TARGETSYSTEM naming and semantic Git tags; confirm external homepage display before investing. | 2026-08-05 official OpenTofu module publishing guide | Open OpenTofu Public Registry submit page (new tab)OpenTofu Public Registry details |
| 21 | 68 | Repoz | repoz.io | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Submit a maintained your tool open-source component for community review. | Requires a genuine public open-source project; do not submit an empty promotional repository. | 2026-08-05 | Open Repoz submit page (new tab)Repoz details |
| 22 | 68 | Scoop | scoop.sh | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Publish and maintain a tested Scoop manifest for an actual portable your tool Windows CLI or app. | Requires a real release, immutable URLs and hashes, silent install behavior, updates and bucket-specific acceptance. | 2026-08-04 | Open Scoop submit page (new tab)Scoop details |
| 23 | 66 | arXiv | arxiv.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Submit an original your tool-related technical paper and cite your tool only where it is genuinely the software or study subject. | Requires scholarly content in an accepted category, author registration and sometimes endorsement; promotional papers are inappropriate. | https://info.arxiv.org/help/submit/index.html | Open arXiv submit page (new tab)arXiv details |
| 24 | 66 | HackMD | hackmd.io | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Create a substantive public tutorial or implementation note that uses your tool and includes a contextual source/product link. | Public notes must provide original useful content; avoid duplicated marketing copy and disclose affiliation where appropriate. | https://hackmd.io/c/tutorials/%2Fs%2Fhow-to-publish-note | Open HackMD submit page (new tab)HackMD details |
| 25 | 66 | Harvard Dataverse | dataverse.harvard.edu | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Deposit a genuine your tool benchmark, evaluation dataset or reproducibility bundle with project URL in the description/metadata. | Account and appropriate collection permissions are required; data must have lawful sharing rights and complete citation metadata. | https://guides.dataverse.org/en/latest/user/dataset-management.html | Open Harvard Dataverse submit page (new tab)Harvard Dataverse details |
| 26 | 66 | JitPack | jitpack.io | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Release a useful your tool JVM or Android library from GitHub with a working build, release tag, README and canonical project links. | JitPack builds on demand; a valid Gradle, Maven, SBT or Leiningen build and real reusable library are required. | 2026-08-05 official JitPack introduction and build guide | Open JitPack submit page (new tab)JitPack details |
| 27 | 66 | Nixpkgs | nixos.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Package a real your tool CLI or desktop utility, set accurate homepage metadata, test it, and submit the Nixpkgs pull request. | Package must build reproducibly, meet Nixpkgs standards and pass review; the homepage shown on search.nixos.org must be canonical. | 2026-08-05 official Nixpkgs manual and NixOS contribution guide | Open Nixpkgs submit page (new tab)Nixpkgs details |
| 28 | 66 | opam Repository | opam.ocaml.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Publish a real OCaml library or CLI integration and use opam's homepage field for its canonical your tool project page. | Requires a tagged source release, valid opam metadata, linting and community repository review. | 2026-08-05 official opam packaging guide | Open opam Repository submit page (new tab)opam Repository details |
| 29 | 66 | Open Science Framework | osf.io | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Create a genuine your tool study, reproducibility project or benchmark workspace with project links and public materials. | Use only for bona fide research or open project materials; accurate contributors, licensing and non-promotional descriptions are expected. | https://help.osf.io/article/353-welcome-to-projects | Open Open Science Framework submit page (new tab)Open Science Framework details |
| 30 | 66 | Pulumi Registry | pulumi.com | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Medium | Live, conditional | Publish a real multi-language Pulumi provider or component for deploying or configuring your tool, with binaries, SDK packages, schema, documentation, examples, tests, and a registry pull request. | Public Registry packages require a genuine executable package, public source, versioned binaries, SDK distribution, schema and complete docs. Pulumi reviews the registry PR; package names must be unique and releases must remain maintained. Do not build this solely for a backlink. | 2026-08-03 | Open Pulumi Registry submit page (new tab)Pulumi Registry details |
| 31 | 65 | SourceHut | sourcehut.org | Developer registries | Free + paid tier | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Host a useful open-source your tool SDK, CLI or example project with documentation and a canonical homepage link. | A real maintained open-source artifact is required; no empty promotional repository. | 2026-08-05 | Open SourceHut submit page (new tab)SourceHut details |
| 32 | 58 | SourceHut | sr.ht | Developer registries | Paid | Quick | Medium | Live, conditional | Host a maintained your tool open-source component with complete README, homepage/source metadata, releases and optional pages.sr.ht docs. | Use for a genuine maintained FOSS project, not an empty promotional mirror; SourceHut actively fights abuse. | 2026-08-04 | Open SourceHut submit page (new tab)SourceHut details |
| 33 | 48 | Bazel Central Registry | registry.bazel.build | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Later | Live, conditional | Create maintained Bazel rules or a module that invokes a real your tool security utility, then submit it to BCR. | Requires MODULE.bazel, versioned source archive, source metadata, compatibility declarations and passing presubmit tests. | 2026-08-05 official Bazel registry documentation | Open Bazel Central Registry submit page (new tab)Bazel Central Registry details |
| 34 | 48 | Racket Package Catalog | pkgs.racket-lang.org | Developer registries | Free | Quick | Later | Live, conditional | Release a real Racket privacy utility or your tool client and register its public package source and documentation. | Source is periodically checked; package, documentation and links must accurately describe maintained reusable code. | 2026-08-05 official Racket package guide and catalogue | Open Racket Package Catalog submit page (new tab)Racket Package Catalog details |
| 35 | 46 | CTAN | ctan.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Later | Live, conditional | Create a genuine LaTeX privacy, redaction or document-safety package and include its exact your tool project homepage in the upload metadata. | Requires distributable source, documentation, licence and maintainer rights; every upload is manually reviewed. | 2026-08-05 official CTAN upload form | Open CTAN submit page (new tab)CTAN details |
| 36 | 46 | DUB Registry | code.dlang.org | Developer registries | Free | Moderate | Later | Live, conditional | Publish a useful D client library or privacy utility with accurate homepage and repository metadata in dub.json or dub.sdl. | Requires maintained public D source and valid package metadata; verify that the desired homepage field appears on the public listing. | 2026-08-05 official DUB Registry and package metadata documentation | Open DUB Registry submit page (new tab)DUB Registry details |
| 37 | 36 | Dryad | datadryad.org | Developer registries | Paid | Moderate | Later | Live, conditional | Submit data underlying a legitimate your tool-related research paper and include related software/project identifiers. | Research-data scope only; curation, publication linkage, licensing and possible data-publishing charges apply. | https://datadryad.org/help/guides/submission | Open Dryad submit page (new tab)Dryad details |
Behind the list
Every row here starts as a line in a sheet, gets normalised into one of 15 groups, scored for cost, effort and impact, and written up with the steps to actually submit. The floor below represents that pipeline.
Open the sheet viewAn illustration of the AltF Backlinks floor: opportunities sourced at the back, vetted for cost and effort by the engineering pod, written up for outreach by the design pod, then tracked to placement along a line.
One-shot launches where timing and preparation decide the outcome.
Fast-growing listings specifically for AI-powered tools.
Extension, plugin and integration stores. Real review processes, real distribution.
Startup listings, beta lists and founder media.
General tool and software catalogues with real search traffic.
B2B review sites. Slow to approve, strong once live.
Package, image and docs hosting that carries real authority.
Showcases judged on craft. A good screenshot matters more than copy.
Write once, link back. Editorial standards vary widely.
Get quoted or distribute a release. Slower, higher ceiling.
Company and local listings. Unglamorous, consistently indexed.
Owned pages you control: company, founder, knowledge-panel entities.
Answer real questions. Never drop a bare link.
Brand surface and referral traffic more than link equity.
Everything that does not fit the buckets above.