Hacker News “Show HN” is free, high-intent tech traffic — but the audience is ruthless about substance. One shot at the front page; no guaranteed placement or permanent listing.
Hacker News is free to list on, gives a nofollow link, and is best used for launch & referral traffic — with a very high domain rating of 91.
Top pick best for Launch & referral traffic
Developers, technical founders, and YC-adjacent builders
One shot — no re-posts within ~6 months; promotional tone gets downvoted
Use the Submit page. Title format matters: “Show HN: [Product] – [concrete value prop]”. Link directly to your product or demo, not a landing-page wall.
Post a top-level comment explaining what you built, who it’s for, what’s different, and what feedback you want. HN rewards transparency and technical honesty.
Tuesday–Thursday, 8–10 AM ET tends to perform best. Avoid major tech news days when the front page is crowded.
Answer every question without marketing fluff. Acknowledge limitations. The community downvotes promotional tone quickly.
Duplicate Show HNs for the same product get flagged. Save it for meaningful launches (v1, major pivot, open-source release).
Nofollow links from HN. Value is qualified traffic and occasionally inbound links from blogs that pick up your launch — not direct DR transfer.
Hacker News Show HN delivers high-intent technical traffic in short bursts — the audience rewards demos, honesty, and substance over marketing copy.
Hacker News provides a nofollow link. It won't pass direct link equity, but it still drives referral traffic and helps brand discovery.
Yes — Hacker News offers a free way to get listed. Free listings are often reviewed manually, so approval can take from a few days to a few weeks.
Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com) currently has a domain rating of 91 on Ahrefs' 0–100 scale — a very high score. Higher DR generally means a stronger backlink profile, which is one signal of how much weight a link from the site may carry.
One shot — no re-posts within ~6 months; promotional tone gets downvoted