AppSumo

Conditional free route launch-board

Researched from public pages — no submission was run · sources read 2026-09-26. Rules change — recheck the platform's own pages before submitting.

What the free route requires

Listing a deal costs nothing up front, but the deal itself is a lifetime deal (LTD): buyers pay once for lifetime access, typically ~70%+ off regular pricing — the 'cost' is the deal economics, not a fee
Submission must pass AppSumo review before it goes live

A real software/digital product that can be sold as a lifetime deal via codes (redemption codes CSV) or licensing (webhook + redirect URLs that pass live tests)
Entry tier recommended at $49 or less with ~70%+ discount vs regular price; deals above that convert worse and are less likely to be accepted
Every image must be an accurate representation of the real product UI — no invented screens or implied capabilities
Dropdown fields (category, alternative-to, integrations, best-for, team size, stage, funding) must pick existing options — invented values are dropped at approval
Copy rules: sentence case, no emoji/exclamation marks/em dashes, banned marketing vocabulary (seamless, robust, leverage, etc.); never mention monthly/annual pricing or trials — it is a lifetime deal
Required before submit: product name (3–50 chars), category, tagline (3–100), secondary tagline, USP (15–40 chars), exactly-2 TL;DR bullets (≤128 chars each), alternative-to (≤3), integrations (≤5), best-for (≤3), media, pricing tiers (1–10), founder narrative, FAQ (6–8 pairs), support email and redemption instructions

Lifetime-deal economics decision: tiers (1–10), entry tier ideally ≤$49, ~70% off, scope limits by volume not core value
Redemption mechanism ready: codes deal = redeem URL + CSV of codes (header row, one per line); licensing deal = webhook + redirect URLs that pass AppSumo's live tests
Media shot list: 512×512 logo mark (no wordmark), ≥960×540 hero image of real UI, one gallery screenshot per feature story — missing images are the #1 stall reason
Company facts: founded date (YYYY-MM-DD), HQ, team size bracket, stage, funding stage
60-day refund window applies to buyers; support email required

Open https://partners.appsumo.com/self-submission and start a listing from the product URL
Fill every section in the editor: basic info, media, highlighted features (2–4 stories), pricing tiers + redemption, product story, FAQ
Optionally use the AppSumo MCP server (setup at /docs/agent-setup.md) to draft and fill fields via an assistant — it cannot submit without partner approval
Review the buyer-facing preview, fix anything the form flags (e.g. entry tier >$49), then submit for review
On approval the deal page goes live on appsumo.com

Self-submission page is a JS app — it renders in a browser; the /docs/listing-brief.md spec is the authoritative field list
Invented dropdown values are silently dropped at approval — use the closest existing option
The editor reads the draft once on open — reload before reviewing edits
Lifetime access is a real commitment: plan feature/data limits and migration/export answers before listing
AppSumo buyers expect support; 60-day refund window means churned refunds if the product under-delivers

The deal has a public product page on appsumo.com that buyers can purchase (not a draft or pending-review state in the partner portal)

Review turnaround and acceptance rate for self-submitted deals
AppSumo's revenue share on each sale (not stated on the pages fetched)
Whether marketplace listing alone yields an indexable public product page before any sales