# How to submit to Hacker News

Hacker News is Y Combinator's link aggregator. A Show HN post that reaches the front page can send tens of thousands of technical visitors in a day; the link is nofollow.

> Full guide: https://toolfio.com/directories/hacker-news

## Is Hacker News free to submit to, and how long does approval take?

- Website: https://news.ycombinator.com
- Submission page: https://news.ycombinator.com/submit
- Domain Rating (Ahrefs): 91
- Link type: nofollow
- Pricing: Free
- Cost: Submitting to Hacker News is free. Use a "Show HN:" title for a product launch.
- Account required: yes

## How much traffic does Hacker News get? (DataForSEO, Google US)

- Estimated organic visits per month: 2947038
- Ranking keywords: 531486 (129205 in the top 10)
- Referring domains: 121025
- Backlinks: 48953714
- Domain first seen: 2019-01-15
- Monthly searches for "hacker news": 201000

## What does Hacker News rank for on Google?

- "speedtest net" — position 9, 9140000 searches/month
- "translation" — position 54, 45500000 searches/month
- "hacker news y combinator" — position 1, 201000 searches/month
- "bython" — position 4, 450000 searches/month
- "r/nba" — position 5, 450000 searches/month

![Hacker News homepage](https://pub-eeb530e026d34faa8a9a65fd7ba87f09.r2.dev/uploads/directories/hacker-news.webp)

## What does the Hacker News submission form ask for?

- Title
- URL

## What should you know before submitting to Hacker News?

Use "Show HN" for launches. Best for technically interesting products. A front-page hit can send 10k+ visitors in a day.

## Which directories are similar to Hacker News?

- [Product Hunt](https://toolfio.com/directories/product-hunt) — DR 91, Free, nofollow
- [TechCrunch](https://toolfio.com/directories/techcrunch) — DR 92, Paid, nofollow
- [Reddit](https://toolfio.com/directories/reddit) — DR 95, Free, nofollow
- [AngelList](https://toolfio.com/directories/angellist) — DR 87, Freemium, dofollow
- [StartupFA.me](https://toolfio.com/directories/startupfa-me) — DR 82, Paid, dofollow
- [Twelve Tools](https://toolfio.com/directories/twelve-tools) — DR 80, Freemium, dofollow

_Facts verified on Hacker News's own site on 2026-09-09._