saas · ai

Alternative.tools: requirements, how to submit, and what you actually get

Visit

A curated alternatives directory whose free tier wants DR 25, real traffic, a permanent badge and three clicks on this week's launches.

alternative.tools
Alternative.tools homepage
Eligibility

Who Alternative.tools accepts

You need
Ahrefs DR 25 or higher (free tier)
1,000+ monthly visitors (free tier)
Their badge on your site, kept permanently
A product that survives editorial review
You'll be rejected if
Crypto, adult, gambling or illegal content
Low-quality or thin products; not every submission is approved
SaaS toolsAI toolsDeveloper toolsProductivity apps
What you actually get
A permanent dofollow backlink and an AI-written listing (up to 1,000 characters on free). The directory is young, so this is a long-tail link-equity and AI-citation play, not a traffic event.

How to submit to Alternative.tools

  1. Pass the eligibility check yourself
    Free needs DR 25+, 1,000 monthly visitors and a permanent badge; the $19 tier waives all of it. Decide before you type anything.
  2. Click through the discovery gate
    The free path opens with 'visit 3 of this week's launches'. Open any three, wait for 3/3, then Confirm free submission.
  3. Fill the form
    URL, name, a 160-character description, up to 1,000 characters of markdown introduction, categories, tags. No account needed.
  4. Upload the cover and contact details
    One 16:9 cover image under 1MB, contact email, two required policy checkboxes.
  5. Submit and wait out the review
    Past the upsell layer, free submissions get an editorial review within 14 days; the badge must already be live on your site.

Alternative.tools requirements

DR 25+ and 1,000+ monthly visitors (free tier)
Badge live on your site permanently
16:9 cover image (1MB max)
160-char description + 1,000-char intro
Contact email
LinkedIn and X profile linksoptional

Gotchas

The free flow makes you open three of this week launches before the form unlocks, tracked as a 0/3 counter; it is a traffic scheme dressed as community, but it costs nothing but three clicks.
The eligibility floors sit on the FREE tier only; the $19 tier waives DR, traffic and the badge, which tells you what the floors are for.
The DR 25 and 1,000-visitor floors are printed as red crosses on the free card and never asked for anywhere on the form, so nothing stops you submitting under them: the rejection happens editorially, after you have spent the time.

Let your agent submit to Alternative.tools

Connect SubmitMap to your AI over MCP and this page stops being something you read and copy. Your agent asks for the Alternative.tools playbook and gets the brief for this exact form, with the values already taken from your submission pack instead of placeholders you fill in by hand.

What it does for this platform
Checks your product against the 6 Alternative.tools rules above, so you find out you would be rejected before you open a tab.
Hands your agent all 6 fields this form asks for, 1 of them optional, already filled from your pack.
Warns you that Alternative.tools looks for its badge on your site, so it has to be live before you submit rather than after.
Tells you what paying buys here, so you pick it on purpose: $19 instant listing, no floors; $69 adds a review article.
Types it into Alternative.tools in your own browser, and stops for you when the form wants a sign-in.
Records what it sent, so the dashboard can answer "did I ever submit to Alternative.tools?".
Connect your agentHow this worksTools and endpointsWorks with Claude Code, Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code and Hermes.

Alternative.tools FAQ

How long does Alternative.tools approval take?
Alternative.tools's typical time from submission to going live is 1-2 weeks.
How much does it cost to submit to Alternative.tools?
Alternative.tools has a free submission option plus paid placement ($19 instant listing, no floors; $69 adds a review article).
Does Alternative.tools give a dofollow backlink?
Yes, a listing on Alternative.tools carries a dofollow link. The site has a domain rating of 13.
Does Alternative.tools require a backlink to your site?
Yes, Alternative.tools expects a link back from your site as part of listing.
What gets you rejected from Alternative.tools?
Crypto, adult, gambling or illegal content; Low-quality or thin products; not every submission is approved.