Get Your First Beta Users: The Best Web App Directories to Submit To

The best thing I did for my company right before we launched was submit our web app to as many directories as possible. This really put us on the map! Within a few days we went from 15 beta users to 400. This got my entire team fired up to deploy the product as soon as possible.

My main objective was to be better ranked on Google. Not only were we better ranked within 2 weeks but a bunch of bloggers reached out to us asking for interviews.

I compiled a list of the best and easiest web directories you can submit your web app to. It should take  6-8 hours to submit your site to the entire list but it is totally worth it. I promise.

Top 4* Directories:

  1. Go2Web2.0
  2. Feed My App
  3. CSS Mania
  4. Museum of The Modern Beta

* Based on the total amount of traffic it brought me. Your experiences might differ.

The Rest:

  1. Killer Startups
  2. Listio
  3. Mashable
  4. Springwise – not a directory but if you “wow” them they will write about you
  5. CrunchBase
  6. StartupMeme
  7. 101 Best Websites
  8. LaunchFeed
  9. WebDev 2.0
  10. On The App
  11. DIY Startup New
  12. Stumble Upon
  13. * Startups Sub-Reddit
  14. Hacker News
  15. * Delicious
  16. * ProductHunt
  17. AppUseful
  18. Startup Booster
  19. Submit Startup
  20. Netted
  21. Minisprout
  22. Startuplift
  23. KickoffBoost
  24. Side Projectors
  25. The Startup Pitch
  26. Erli Bird
  27. Angel List
  28. Startup List
  29. Fire Spotting
  30. Web Menu

* Only submit if you have an active presence on these sites already. Best case scenario someone that has a ton of followers will submit your site for you.

Please note: I didn’t pay to submit my website to any of these sites. Feel free to skip the directory that asks you to pay.

Did this list work for you? Let me know in the comments.

Update 1 5/13/2011: Removed 2 non-working directories (thank you Christopher!). Added top 5 directories people should focus on.

Update 1 5/23/2015: Updated this listing based on request – thank you Ankit! Removed 3 non-working sites and added 8 more!