Hacker News (Show HN)
Hacker News is a link and discussion site for "anything that good hackers would find interesting", with a Show HN section for sharing something you made. Its rules say Show HN is "for something you've made that other people can play with", so HN users can try it, give feedback and ask questions in the thread.
Price to list
Free
Free with an HN account
Link type
Varies
Checked on a live listing
Review time
Not published
Account needed
Yes
Domain Rating
DR 91
Ahrefs
Niche
Community
Where it ranks
Hacker News (Show HN) among 216 directories
Every directory on LaunchIt, grouped by Ahrefs Domain Rating.
DR 91
Higher than 96% of the 216 directories we track
| Domain Rating | Directories |
|---|---|
| 0–9 | 16 |
| 10–19 | 27 |
| 20–29 | 24 |
| 30–39 | 22 |
| 40–49 | 22 |
| 50–59 | 27 |
| 60–69 | 26 |
| 70–79 | 28 |
| 80–89 | 16 |
| 90–100 (includes Hacker News (Show HN)) | 8 |
In their words
Pricing and review time
Pricing
None of HN's pages mention a fee. Posting only needs an HN account.
Fit
Who Hacker News (Show HN) is for
Makers of a working product that people can try right away (software, or hardware shown in a video or detailed post) who want direct technical feedback.
How to get listed
Submitting to Hacker News (Show HN)
- An HN account (the submit page asks you to log in or create one)
- The title must begin with "Show HN"
- It must be something you made yourself that people can try, and you must be around to discuss it
- Off topic for Show HN: blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists, other reading material, landing pages and fundraisers
- The project should be non-trivial: "Don't post quickly-generated one-offs"
- New features and minor upgrades generally don't qualify, but a major overhaul probably does
- Don't ask friends to upvote or comment, and don't delete and repost
Submission page: news.ycombinator.com/submit
Your listing
What a listing includes
- A post whose title links to your URL, with optional text shown at the top of the thread
- A comment thread where HN users give feedback and ask questions
- Every Show HN appears on the new Show HN page, and moves to the main Show page once it clears a small points threshold
Tips
Getting the most out of Hacker News (Show HN)
- Follow the moderators' tips: write the post text by hand with no AI editing, explain the backstory and what is different, say clearly what it does, and drop marketing language.
- Make it easy to try without signups or confirmation emails; the Show HN rules say you will get more feedback that way.
- Use a personal username rather than your company or project name, and keep friends and users from posting booster comments.
- Only relaunch for a significantly different version (moderators suggest once or twice a year at most), and link the previous Show HN in a comment.
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Founder reviews
How it went for founders who submitted there.
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FAQ
Hacker News (Show HN), in short
Hacker News is a link and discussion site for "anything that good hackers would find interesting", with a Show HN section for sharing something you made. Its rules say Show HN is "for something you've made that other people can play with", so HN users can try it, give feedback and ask questions in the thread.
Checked on September 29, 2026 on Hacker News (Show HN)'s own pages: news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html, news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html, news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22336638, news.ycombinator.com/show Directories change their terms often, so confirm on the site before you pay.