A maintained list of 1,854 legitimate backlink sites: directories, profile creation sites, guest posting sites, launch platforms, registries and marketplaces. 1,532 are free or have a free tier, 44 usually give a dofollow link, and 772 have an estimated DA of 70 or more. Every row shows authority, link type, cost and effort, and links straight to the submit page.
The table is wider than the screen — swipe it sideways for cost, effort and the preparation notes.
| # | Impact (sorted) | Site — sort by this | Est. DA — sort by this | Link | Domain | Type | Cost | Effort — sort by this | Priority | Status | What to prepare | Rules / caveat | Checked | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 86 | Kompass | 75 | Sometimes dofollow | kompass.com | Business directories | Free | Quick | High | Not submitted | Register the legal company and complete a global B2B profile with accurate IT services, contact data, and your tool website. | Provide verifiable company details and choose the correct Kompass classifications; enhanced promotion is paid. | 2026-08-03 | Open Kompass submit page (new tab)Kompass details |
| 2 | 84 | Bear Blog | 60 | Sometimes dofollow | bearblog.dev | Publishing platforms | Free | Moderate | High | Not submitted | Build a small founder-written knowledge blog with genuinely useful local-first privacy and file-safety guides. | The signup page explicitly bans backlink spam and domain squatting; free blogs require manual review before indexing or discovery. | 2026-08-03 | Open Bear Blog submit page (new tab)Bear Blog details |
| 3 | 84 | DevHunt | 50 | Sometimes dofollow | devhunt.org | Launch platforms | Free | Moderate | High | Needs checking | Submit your tool developer utilities; GitHub-auth community. | Best for dev tools; prepare GitHub/repo proof if requested. | 2026-07-30 | Open DevHunt submit page (new tab)DevHunt details |
| 4 | 84 | freeCodeCamp News | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | freecodecamp.org | Publishing platforms | Free | Moderate | High | Verified live | Create a comprehensive tutorial around a reusable privacy, file-processing, accessibility, or security technique, with your tool only as a natural example. | Follow the current contributor and Hashnode workflow; content must teach, be original, and avoid promotional intent. | https://contribute.freecodecamp.org/faq/ | Open freeCodeCamp News submit page (new tab)freeCodeCamp News details |
| 5 | 84 | Joomla Extensions Directory | 85 | Sometimes dofollow | extensions.joomla.org | Marketplaces and app stores | Free | Moderate | High | Verified live | Build a genuine Joomla extension, create a developer profile and submit a complete listing with the official project website. | Author-only submissions; GPL-compatible licensing, update server, installability, working links and review are required. | Official JED submission docs checked 2026-07-30 | Open Joomla Extensions Directory submit page (new tab)Joomla Extensions Directory details |
| 6 | 81 | A List Apart | 80 | Sometimes dofollow | alistapart.com | Publishing platforms | Free | Involved | High | Verified live | Pitch an original standards, accessibility, privacy, or responsible-web essay based on first-hand product engineering experience. | Original 600–2,500-word editorial work only; sales pitches, press releases, and disguised promotion are rejected. | https://alistapart.com/about/contribute/ | Open A List Apart submit page (new tab)A List Apart details |
| 7 | 81 | BetaList | 70 | Sometimes dofollow | betalist.com | Launch platforms | Free + paid tier | Moderate | High | Not submitted | Submit fresh module/your tool beta angle, not stale generic site. | Queue can be slow; must be tech startup. | 2026-07-30 | Open BetaList submit page (new tab)BetaList details |
| 8 | 81 | BetaNews | 80 | Sometimes dofollow | betanews.com | Launch platforms | Free | Involved | High | Verified live | Pitch a genuinely differentiated your tool launch or an original opinion on privacy, security, and useful web tooling. | Story must be timely, accurate, and useful; publication and links are editorially controlled. | https://betanews.com/contact/ | Open BetaNews submit page (new tab)BetaNews details |
| 9 | 81 | Built In | 85 | Sometimes dofollow | builtin.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Needs checking | Apply to the Built In expert contributor network and pitch a technical or tech-career article grounded in your own experience. | Contributors must be practitioners writing under their own name; editors review every link and remove product promotion. | Added 2026-11-01 | Open Built In submit page (new tab)Built In details |
| 10 | 81 | CMSWire | 75 | Sometimes dofollow | cmswire.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Verified live | Apply with founder expertise and pitch an actionable digital-experience, privacy, AI-governance, or trust article. | Requires original, senior-level, non-promotional analysis; acceptance and any contextual AltFTool reference are editorial decisions. | https://www.cmswire.com/about-us/contributor-guidelines/ | Open CMSWire submit page (new tab)CMSWire details |
| 11 | 81 | CSS-Tricks | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | css-tricks.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Verified live | Propose a lived-experience frontend article on accessible tool interfaces, privacy-safe browser APIs, CSS, or performance. | Attach a rough draft or outline and demonstrate real expertise; the article must be useful rather than an AltFTool promotion. | https://css-tricks.com/guest-writing/ | Open CSS-Tricks submit page (new tab)CSS-Tricks details |
| 12 | 81 | DevDojo | 55 | Sometimes dofollow | devdojo.com | Publishing platforms | Free | Involved | High | Not submitted | Join as the developer and publish an original technical tutorial about a privacy-safe browser workflow, citing your tool only where relevant. | Community content must teach something; avoid copied blog posts, thin launch announcements, or promotional comment drops. | 2026-08-03 | Open DevDojo submit page (new tab)DevDojo details |
| 13 | 81 | FolioHD | 50 | Sometimes dofollow | foliohd.com | Design galleries | Free + paid tier | Moderate | High | Verified live | Publish authentic your tool UX screenshots and case studies, then add a custom page or navigation link to the matching live tool. | Use genuine owned work and accurate project text; no misleading keywords, spam promotion or impersonation. | 2026-08-04 | Open FolioHD submit page (new tab)FolioHD details |
| 14 | 81 | Launching Next | 50 | Sometimes dofollow | launchingnext.com | Launch platforms | Free + paid tier | Moderate | High | Not submitted | Submit your tool with founder-friendly short pitch. | Free review exists; paid 1-business-day option. | 2026-07-30 | Open Launching Next submit page (new tab)Launching Next details |
| 15 | 81 | LogRocket Blog | 75 | Sometimes dofollow | logrocket.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Needs checking | Apply as a guest author with code samples, then write frontend or mobile tutorials the editors assign or approve. | Tutorials must be original, technically accurate and include working code; links are added only where they help the reader. | Added 2026-11-01 | Open LogRocket Blog submit page (new tab)LogRocket Blog details |
| 16 | 81 | Moz Blog | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | moz.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Needs checking | Read the blog's submission guidelines, then send a detailed pitch for an in-depth SEO tutorial or case study with original data. | Moz accepts only a small number of expert posts; recycled advice and link-driven pitches are declined. | Added 2026-11-01 | Open Moz Blog submit page (new tab)Moz Blog details |
| 17 | 81 | Search Engine Journal | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | searchenginejournal.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Needs checking | Apply to become a contributor with writing samples, then pitch practical, data-backed SEO or PPC pieces to the editors. | Editors reject promotional or thin articles and control all outbound links; expect heavy editing and a firm no on self-serving links. | Added 2026-11-01 | Open Search Engine Journal submit page (new tab)Search Engine Journal details |
| 18 | 81 | Search Engine Land | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | searchengineland.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Needs checking | Use the contributor link in the site footer to apply, then pitch original search marketing analysis or tactics from your own work. | Contributors must be practitioners, not ghostwriters; vendor pitches and links to your own product are generally not allowed in the body. | Added 2026-11-01 | Open Search Engine Land submit page (new tab)Search Engine Land details |
| 19 | 81 | Smashing Magazine | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | smashingmagazine.com | Publishing platforms | Free | Involved | High | Verified live | Pitch a practical privacy-by-design, accessibility, frontend-security, or local-first tooling article backed by real your tool lessons. | No press releases, product walkthroughs, listicles, or content marketing; AltFTool may be cited only when editorially useful. | https://www.smashingmagazine.com/write-for-us/ | Open Smashing Magazine submit page (new tab)Smashing Magazine details |
| 20 | 81 | Stack Overflow Blog | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | stackoverflow.blog | Publishing platforms | Free | Involved | High | Verified live | Pitch a rigorous developer-facing article about secure file handling, browser privacy, accessibility testing, or tool architecture. | Strict technical quality and editorial review apply; avoid product marketing and disclose conflicts or affiliations. | https://stackoverflow.blog/2020/01/27/blog-contributor-guidelines/ | Open Stack Overflow Blog submit page (new tab)Stack Overflow Blog details |
| 21 | 81 | The New Stack | 80 | Sometimes dofollow | thenewstack.io | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Needs checking | Find the contributor guidelines on the site and pitch a vendor-neutral piece on cloud-native, DevOps or developer tooling. | Contributed pieces must teach rather than sell; product mentions and links are limited and decided by editors. | Added 2026-11-01 | Open The New Stack submit page (new tab)The New Stack details |
| 22 | 81 | VentureBeat | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | venturebeat.com | Guest posting sites | Free | Involved | High | Verified live | Pitch original your tool data, an AI/privacy industry argument, or a consequential product launch to the relevant desk. | Follow the contact and guest-post rules; a generic launch email or self-promotional draft will not earn placement. | https://venturebeat.com/contact/ | Open VentureBeat submit page (new tab)VentureBeat details |
| 23 | 78 | AppSignal Blog | 60 | Sometimes dofollow | appsignal.com | Publishing platforms | Free + paid tier | Involved | High | Verified live | Apply with a code-heavy observability, Node, Ruby, Python, or Elixir tutorial using a real your tool engineering problem as the case study. | Mid or senior expertise, original long-form content, working code, and editorial review are required; no thin beginner or promotional post. | Official AppSignal write-for-us requirements checked 2026-08-07 | Open AppSignal Blog submit page (new tab)AppSignal Blog details |
| 24 | 78 | Creativepool | 60 | Sometimes dofollow | creativepool.com | Design galleries | Free + paid tier | Involved | High | Verified live | Create a free your tool company profile and upload polished UX, privacy-tool, or brand work as documented case studies. | Project uploads are allowed; article publishing is invite-only, and review or link spam is removed. | Official Creativepool signup, plan, and project guidance checked 2026-08-07 | Open Creativepool submit page (new tab)Creativepool details |
| 25 | 78 | Curated | 60 | Sometimes dofollow | curated.co | Publishing platforms | Free + paid tier | Involved | High | Verified live | Launch a consistent Trustworthy Tools digest that mixes independent sources with occasional relevant your tool research, adding original commentary to every selected link. | Use consented subscribers and a real editorial cadence; the optional publication site provides searchable back issues. Do not publish AltFTool-only issues or undisclosed promotions. Archive links are publisher-controlled content, not independent endorsements, and no indexing or followed-link outcome is guaranteed. | 2026-08-03 | Open Curated submit page (new tab)Curated details |
| 26 | 78 | Featured | 65 | Sometimes dofollow | featured.com | PR and source platforms | Free + paid tier | Involved | High | Needs checking | Create expert source profile and answer tech/privacy/tool queries. | Earn editorial backlinks only from real quotes; no generic AI replies. | 2026-07-30 | Open Featured submit page (new tab)Featured details |
| 27 | 78 | Mind the Product | 70 | Sometimes dofollow | mindtheproduct.com | Publishing platforms | Free + paid tier | Involved | High | Verified live | Submit a founder-written your tool product or privacy case study with concrete decisions, evidence, failures, and lessons for product practitioners. | Product practitioners only; no advertising, SEO outreach, or republished content, and editorial scope and exclusivity rules apply. | Official Mind the Product contributor and content guidance checked 2026-08-07 | Open Mind the Product submit page (new tab)Mind the Product details |
| 28 | 78 | Podnews | 70 | Sometimes dofollow | podnews.net | PR and source platforms | Free + paid tier | Involved | High | Live, conditional | Email a genuinely newsworthy your tool podcast or audio-tool launch story with concise facts, human artwork, and release timing. | No paid guest posts or link insertions; coverage is selective and only relevant to podcasting or on-demand audio. | 2026-08-05 | Open Podnews submit page (new tab)Podnews details |
| 29 | 77 | DevOps.com | 75 | Sometimes dofollow | devops.com | Publishing platforms | Not stated | Involved | High | Not submitted | Submit a 600–1,000 word practitioner article on secure CI/CD, dependency privacy, or local-first developer tooling based on real engineering experience. | The article must be original, exclusive to Techstrong Media, practitioner-focused, vendor-neutral, vendor-agnostic, and entirely non-promotional, including its links. | 2026-08-03 | Open DevOps.com submit page (new tab)DevOps.com details |
| 30 | 77 | InfoWorld Expert Contributor Network | 90 | Sometimes dofollow | infoworld.com | Guest posting sites | Not stated | Involved | High | Not submitted | Have a named senior practitioner apply with evidence-backed lessons from building local-first privacy tooling, secure developer utilities, or responsible AI-adjacent systems. | The network seeks real IT leaders and practitioners, not anonymous brand copy; editorial independence and the publication's ethics policy apply, and admission is reviewed. | 2026-08-03 | Open InfoWorld Expert Contributor Network submit page (new tab)InfoWorld Expert Contributor Network details |
| 31 | 77 | LWN.net | 85 | Sometimes dofollow | lwn.net | Publishing platforms | Not stated | Involved | High | Not submitted | Pitch a timely, deeply researched Linux or open-source security story with primary sources and explain the author's direct expertise before drafting. | Contact the editors with a detailed pitch first. LWN requires factual, authoritative, concise, sourced, human-written work and explicitly does not publish text from large language models. | 2026-08-03 | Open LWN.net submit page (new tab)LWN.net details |
| 32 | 77 | Open Source For You | 65 | Sometimes dofollow | opensourceforu.com | Publishing platforms | Not stated | Involved | High | Not submitted | Pitch a vendor-neutral tutorial on building privacy-preserving local web tools or reviewing a genuinely open-source your tool component, then wait for topic and outline approval. | Pitch the idea first, then submit a table of contents and article for technical review. Topics must serve the open-source audience; acceptance is editorial and not guaranteed. | 2026-08-03 | Open Open Source For You submit page (new tab)Open Source For You details |
| 33 | 77 | Semaphore Blog | 60 | Sometimes dofollow | semaphore.io | Publishing platforms | Not stated | Involved | High | Verified live | Pitch a reproducible tutorial about CI checks for client-side privacy, dependency security, or accessible web tools, with your tool only as a genuine example. | Editorial approval applies; tutorials must be tested, source-cited, educational, and meet the stated depth and length expectations. | Official Semaphore community author guidance checked 2026-08-07 | Open Semaphore Blog submit page (new tab)Semaphore Blog details |
| 34 | 77 | Tripwire State of Security | 75 | Sometimes dofollow | tripwire.com | Publishing platforms | Not stated | Involved | High | Not submitted | Apply with a named security practitioner, writing sample, biography, and a concrete proposal based on defensible privacy or scam-protection research. | The publication seeks security expertise and reviews prospective contributors; send real credentials and a useful topic, not a company-written backlink article. | 2026-08-03 | Open Tripwire State of Security submit page (new tab)Tripwire State of Security details |
| 35 | 74 | CSS Weekly | 45 | Sometimes dofollow | css-weekly.com | Design galleries | Paid | Moderate | High | Verified live | Sponsor an your tool frontend, accessibility, CSS, or developer utility with a useful demo and audience-specific copy. | Official page advertises a permanent dofollow link, but paid links should be marked rel=sponsored for search-policy compliance; prioritize audience value. | https://css-weekly.com/advertise | Open CSS Weekly submit page (new tab)CSS Weekly details |
| 36 | 71 | Codrops | 75 | Sometimes dofollow | tympanus.net | Design galleries | Paid | Involved | High | Verified live | Pitch a crafted, original interactive tutorial or demo about client-side privacy visualization, inclusive motion, or accessible creative tooling, with source and a working demo. | Codrops seeks fresh ideas and high-quality work for web professionals; the editorial and visual craft bar is high. Use a real author identity and pitch original teaching value, not a promotional guest post. | 2026-08-03 | Open Codrops submit page (new tab)Codrops details |
Four steps that work for a new site, a SaaS or a side project. No paid link packages, nothing that risks a penalty.
Before submitting anywhere, have a one-line description, a 150-word description, a square logo and two or three screenshots ready. Every form asks for some mix of these.
Start with the free, quick rows: profile creation sites and free directories. They are one form each and build the entity signals search engines use to understand who you are.
Then pick a handful of high DA and dofollow sites that fit your niche, and write proper guest posts or launch posts for them. Ten relevant links beat a hundred random ones.
Note where you submitted and when. Recheck after a month, update stale descriptions, and never pay for bulk link packages: they put the whole site at risk.
Behind the list
Every row here starts as a line in a sheet, gets normalised into one of 16 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.
Publications that accept contributed articles. Slow and editorial, but the links are earned.
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.