For SaaS teams pricing a launch campaign
Product Hunt Advertising Cost, Product Hunt Ads and Promotion Pricing Compared
A Product Hunt campaign starts at $5,000. Before you sign, see what published campaigns got back per click, and test paid placement in front of software buyers for $299 a week.
Published $5,000 campaign
Impressions250,000
Clicks616
Cost per click$8.12
Paying customers0
The short answer
Product Hunt sells self serve display ads in a $5,000 to $10,000 budget range, priced per thousand impressions with the CPM capped at $35, and managed campaigns from $10,000. Launching on Product Hunt is free. Published campaigns paid between $3.50 and $8.12 per click, and results ran from about $1,500 per paying customer to no paying customers at all, so a B2B SaaS should test cheaper, buyer focused placement first.
$5,000
Low end of the self serve budget range
$35
Maximum CPM, the price per 1,000 impressions
~1%
Average click through rate Product Hunt reports
$10,000
Starting point for a managed campaign
Figures from the Product Hunt Help Center pages on self service ads and ad campaigns.
What Product Hunt advertising costs next to other ways to reach software buyers
Prices below come from each seller's own help pages where they publish them, and from the buyer who paid where they do not. The last two rows are ours, and they are here because they are the cheaper test.
| Channel | What it costs | How you pay | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Hunt launch | $0 | Free submission, one day on the leaderboard | Early adopters, developer and consumer tools | Product Hunt |
| Product Hunt self serve ads | $5,000 to $10,000 | CPM, capped at $35, paid before launch | Awareness among tech early adopters | Product Hunt Help Center |
| Product Hunt managed campaign | From $10,000 | Fixed CPM, can include the daily newsletter | Funded launches with a brand budget | Product Hunt Help Center |
| Promoted post (2019 deal) | $2,800 a post, $4,000 to $6,000 retail | Flat fee per day, six month commitment | Reference point only, format has changed | GMass |
| Capterra pay per click | Reported $2 minimum bid, about $500 a month floor | Cost per click auction, now run by G2 | B2B tools with a high contract value | Vendor and agency reports |
| SoftwareHome featured week | $299 | Flat price, top of the directory for 7 days | B2B SaaS testing paid placement | Our pricing |
| SoftwareHome listing | $49 once | Permanent listing, live on submit | Every SaaS that wants a comparison page presence | Our pricing |
What a Product Hunt ad click really costs
CPM pricing hides the number that matters. At the $35 cap and the 1 percent average click through rate Product Hunt quotes, you pay about $3.50 for each visitor. That is the good case.
Standard Resume published its $5,000 campaign in 2021: $20 CPM, 250,000 impressions, a 0.25 percent click through rate and 616 clicks. That is $8.12 a click. About 23 percent of those visitors signed up and none of them paid.
Cost per click, US dollars
Capterra range from vendor guides ($1 to $15 a click by category). The featured week here is a flat $299 with no per click charge.
Are Product Hunt ads worth it for your product
Where the math can work
- Developer tools, browser extensions and consumer apps that early adopters install on the spot.
- Products with a self serve free tier where a signup costs you nothing to support.
- A launch week where the ad reinforces an organic top five finish instead of replacing it.
- Brand campaigns aimed at investors and hires, where clicks are not the goal.
Where it usually does not
- B2B software sold on annual contracts, where the reader is a maker, not the person with the budget.
- Tools under about $20 a month: GMass paid roughly $1,500 per paying customer on a $16 plan.
- Any product without a working trial, since the audience rarely books demos.
- Teams that cannot spend $5,000 on a single test, the floor of the self serve range.
The GMass numbers are the most complete public record. Over six months in 2019 it bought 24 promoted post days at $2,800 each, $67,200 in total, for about 600 to 1,200 visitors a day, 498 signups and 41 paid upgrades. The founder wrote that the campaign probably did not pay for itself on a $16 plan with a one year average lifetime. At a $500 a month contract value the same numbers would have been a bargain, which is the whole question: your price, not Product Hunt's audience, decides it.
If you do run a campaign, write the creative for makers and send the click to a page that lets them try the product in under a minute. An AI ad generator that turns your product URL into ad copy and images is a quick way to get three or four variants to rotate, since self serve ads cannot be edited once they launch.
How a $299 featured week works here
The people browsing SoftwareHome are comparing tools in a category they already need to buy, on pages like software alternatives and competitors and category comparisons. That is the opposite of a launch leaderboard, and it is priced as a flat fee.
Pick a plan
1 Week Boost at $299, 1 Month Advanced at $999, or All In at $2,999 for the year.
Send your product
Tell us which listing to feature and where the call to action should point.
Go to the top
Your card moves to the top of the directory with a highlighted border and your own button text.
Measure it
Tag the link with UTM parameters and compare the week against a Product Hunt quote.
How to buy Product Hunt ads without wasting the budget
Self serve campaigns are set up at producthunt.com/ads. You enter a budget and a run length, the tool shows the minimum impressions you will get at a $35 CPM, and you pay before the campaign goes live. Product Hunt reviews ads within one business day. Once a campaign launches you cannot edit it, so the creative has to be right the first time.
Three checks save most of the money. First, set a target cost per paying customer before you spend, using your real trial to paid rate, and stop the moment the campaign is clearly above it. Second, time the campaign with your organic launch so the ad and the leaderboard post point at the same page. Third, compare the quote with placements where buyers are already shortlisting, which our guide on where to advertise a SaaS product prices channel by channel.
If you are still choosing launch sites rather than paying for ads, the Product Hunt alternatives comparison lists the boards where a launch costs $0 to $49, and the Capterra advertising cost breakdown covers the pay per click side for B2B tools with a larger contract value.
Product Hunt advertising questions
How much does it cost to advertise on Product Hunt?
Product Hunt self serve display campaigns are sold in a $5,000 to $10,000 budget range, priced per thousand impressions with a CPM that moves with demand but never exceeds $35. Managed campaigns, which can add the daily newsletter, start at $10,000. Launching a product on Product Hunt itself costs nothing.
Are Product Hunt ads worth it?
They can be for a consumer or developer product with a low price and a big top of funnel, and they rarely pay back for a B2B tool that needs a sales cycle. Published results range from about $1,500 per paying customer to zero paying customers from a $5,000 campaign, so test small before committing.
How much does a promoted post on Product Hunt cost?
The only public figures are old but concrete: GMass reported paying $2,800 per promoted post on a six month commitment in 2019, against a single post retail price in the $4,000 to $6,000 range. Product Hunt now sells placements through self serve and managed campaigns, so ask [email protected] for a current quote.
What is a good CTR for Product Hunt ads?
Product Hunt says its campaigns average a click through rate of about 1 percent. One published $5,000 campaign got 0.25 percent: 616 clicks from 250,000 impressions, or $8.12 a click. At the $35 CPM cap and a 1 percent CTR, a click costs about $3.50.
Is it free to launch on Product Hunt?
Yes. Creating an account, submitting a product and getting upvoted to the top of the daily leaderboard cost nothing. What you pay for on Product Hunt is extra reach: display ads next to the leaderboard, promoted placements and newsletter sponsorship, all sold separately from the launch.
What is a cheaper alternative to Product Hunt ads for B2B SaaS?
Paid placement on a software directory where buyers compare tools in your category costs a fraction of a Product Hunt campaign. On SoftwareHome a featured week is $299, a month $999, and a permanent listing with your own description is $49, all flat prices with no auction.
Test paid placement for $299 before a $5,000 campaign
One week at the top of a directory where software buyers compare tools. Flat price, no auction, no minimum spend.
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Capterra Advertising, Capterra PPC Cost and Minimum Budget
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