Launch catalog / Playbook
TheDevToolsDir
Conditional free route directory
Researched from public pages — no submission was run · sources read 2026-09-25. Rules change — recheck the platform's own pages before submitting.
What the free route requires
- Free plan requires embedding their dofollow badge HTML on your site and passing the in-form 'Verify Badge' check
Requirements
- Developer-tool products — categories are dev-infra-specific (CI/CD, Observability, Databases, APIs, Auth, Testing, Containers, etc.)
- No account needed — the form is anonymous and asks only for an email 'for listing updates only'
- Up to 3 categories per product
Prepare before opening the form
- Product URL (form has an auto-fill step that scrapes details)
- Product name, tagline, description, screenshot, tags (comma-separated)
- An email address for listing updates
- Badge snippet deployed on the site — must be rel="dofollow": <a href="https://thedevtoolsdir.com/product/<your-product>?ref=badge" rel="dofollow"><img src="https://thedevtoolsdir.com/badge/your-product.svg"></a> — the snippet updates with your product URL after submission
Workflow
- Open https://thedevtoolsdir.com/submit/ (?tier=free preselects the free plan)
- Step 1: enter the product URL and run auto-fill
- Step 2: confirm name/tagline/description, screenshot, ≤3 categories, tags, email
- Step 3: choose Free / Paid $19 / Multiple Listings $29
- Step 4 (free only): embed the badge and click 'Verify Badge', then Submit Product
Watch for
- Honeypot field at the top — 'Leave this field empty'; filling it likely fails the submission
- Badge verification happens INSIDE the form — the badge must be deployed before you finish submitting
- The badge link must be dofollow (explicit rel="dofollow") — a nofollow badge won't verify
- Multiple Listings ($29) cross-posts to sister directory TheSaaSDir for one price; Paid ($19) gives 3 dofollow links + featured, no badge
What counts as live
A public product page at thedevtoolsdir.com/product/<slug>/ listed under its chosen categories.
Not verified
- Whether free-tier outbound links are dofollow immediately or only after badge verification
- Human review latency if any
- Whether paid plans also undergo review before going live