Learnings from 170K Product Hunt Launches
I've analyzed every single Product Hunt launch. Here's what I've learned.
According to Semrush, Product Hunt averages 3-6 million visitors a month. I went on a deep dive and analyzed every single product hunt launch since the start of the platform in 2013. Keep reading to learn when to launch for maximum attention or success.
The launch explosion
Product Hunt has been around for over 11 years. The volume of monthly launches has been pretty stable for most of this time. But something curious started happening around February of 2024. The number of launches started exploding from 800-1600 a month to 2900-4900 launches a month. A cool 3x-3.5x. If you've been feeling like ranking in the top spots on Product Hunt has become more difficult, it's not just you.
Monthly Product Hunt launches over time, showing the sharp increase starting in early 2024
But why is this happening? I think it's pretty obvious that tools like Cursor and Lovable.dev play a large part in this change. With AI pumping out MVPs left and right, no wonder launching has become more competitive.
If you want to succeed on Product Hunt despite the competition, it's more important than ever to launch at the right time.
When to launch
Total number of Product Hunt launches by weekday
If you have a huge following, launching on a Tuesday is your best bet to get maximum attention. Of course the likelihood of your launch not being featured and thus being buried among hundreds of other products is extremely high.
I've analyzed the exact number of upvotes necessary to place 1st of a Tuesday over time, since the inception of the platform. It seems you should be confident you can get 1000-1400 upvotes for a good shot at 1st place.
Upvotes required to rank #1 on a Tuesday, tracked over time
If you have a smaller or no audience, and just want to secure one of the top spots, I'd suggest launching on a Saturday, which generally has the lowest number of launches out of all weekdays. Less competition == better chances. 300-350 upvotes give you a good shot at ranking in third place.
Upvotes required to rank #3 on a Saturday
For a full breakdown of the votes required to rank 1st-3rd, for every weekday, check out my tweet thread here.
