Everything to do before, on and after launch day, as a checklist that saves your progress in the browser. Built from what actually moves the needle for indie launches.
How to use the SaaS launch checklist
- Work through the pre-launch section: tracking, SEO basics, social cards and launch assets.
- On launch day, post across your channels and answer every comment.
- After launch, submit to directories, follow up with users and write a recap.
Before launch
Set up analytics and Search Console, write a clear tagline, prepare screenshots and an OG image, make sure sign-up and payments work on mobile, and line up the places you'll post.
Launch day and after
Post on your launch platforms early in the day, reply to every comment quickly, and share progress honestly. Over the following weeks, submit to relevant directories, ask early users for feedback and write a recap: it often brings a second wave of traffic.
How to use the list
There are 29 tasks: 13 for the two to four weeks before launch, 8 for launch day and 8 for the first month after. The bar at the top shows overall progress and each section shows its own count. Ticks are saved in this browser only, so they won't follow you to another device, and Reset clears them all. Many items have a matching free tool on this site: the OG image generator, the favicon generator, the llms.txt generator, the SPF and DKIM checker and the Show HN title scorer.
Choosing where to launch
Most indie products do best with one main launch and three to six smaller ones spread over two weeks. Product Hunt brings the biggest single day but nofollow links. Uneed and Fazier give dofollow links from strong domains. Peerlist and Microlaunch suit makers who want a longer, calmer window. Show HN and DevHunt fit developer tools, BetaList fits the weeks before launch, and DiscoverLaunches gives every product a permanent page built to rank on Google and in AI answers. The launch platform comparisons linked below show domain rating, cost and link type for each.
What to measure after launch
Sign-ups and activation by source (from your UTM links), not just visits. Which launch platforms sent people who stayed. Search Console impressions for your product name and main keywords, which start appearing a few weeks after listings go live. And your Domain Rating, which rises in steps as directories and launch boards with dofollow links get crawled.
Where launches usually slip
Leaving the launch list to the last day: the "20+ people who said they'd try it" item takes weeks. Untested onboarding on mobile, where many launch-day visitors arrive. No analytics goal, so you can't tell which channel brought sign-ups; use UTM links. Posting everywhere in one hour and then disappearing; replies in the first hours matter most. And stopping after launch week, when directory listings, the recap post and Search Console data are what bring the steady traffic.