THE BOARD

A Microlaunch alternative with no queue, no Pro tier and no score to earn

If you want a month of ranking against other makers, with scores, written roasts and a community that reads them, Microlaunch does that and most launch sites do not. Its premium page on 6 September 2026 sells Pro Launch at $49 (offered at $39 that week with a code) to skip a queue it puts at two to three months or more, and forty spots a month go that way.

If you want a position rather than a campaign, The Board lists a brand for a dollar, ranks it by what it paid, prints every amount, and leaves it there until somebody pays more, with the traffic counted by Fathom in the open.

Microlaunch compared with The Board: to launch, Free against $1
MicrolaunchThe Board
To launch
Freeafter a two to three month queue; Pro is $49
$1once, on the board today
Skip the queue
$49Pro Launch, 40 spots a month, per the premium page
No queuethe payment is the listing
Attention lasts
30 daysa campaign; the leaderboard turns over monthly
Until outbidand 30 days at the top wins the season
Reach
Its own25,000 or 150,000 a month; the page says both
Fathompage views and clicks, in public

The Board is ours, so read this with that in mind. Every listing on it is a paid placement, its position is decided by money and by nothing else, and nothing on it is editorial. The figures for Microlaunch were read from its own pages on 6 September 2026 and are linked at the foot.

What Microlaunch is, and what it costs

Microlaunch is a monthly launch platform run from Paris by Stimpack SAS. Products rank over a whole month rather than a day; each listing carries an Idea score and a Product score out of five, a count of roasts and the votes, and the leaderboard has month and week views, a countdown and a Hall of Fame. You sign in with X or Google, submit for review, and either wait in the free queue for automatic scheduling or pay to go live when you choose. How the votes and the two scores combine into a rank is not published.

The premium page (read 6 September 2026) has two routes. The Regular launch is free and, in the page's own words, involves a two to three month or longer wait, unverified status and no-follow links. Pro Launch is $49, shown that week as $39 with a code, limited to forty spots a month, and buys skipping the queue, featured spots including a Product of the Day, a verified badge and do-follow links. A separate Product Review and Action Plan is $129, down from $149, and is a founder review rather than a listing. No refund policy is on the premium page, the terms or the privacy policy, and the terms were last updated in 2023.

The reach figures are Microlaunch's own and they do not agree with each other. The stats block on the premium page, last updated November 2025, says 25,000 unique visitors and 40,000 page views a month; the FAQ on the same page says 150,000 unique users and 300,000 page views a month over the previous eleven months. The home page banner on 6 September 2026 read 997 daily visitors. Launch Directories (updated 5 September 2026) estimates a thousand visits a month. None of the figures is counted by anybody but the site.

The price of a place, and the price of the top

Two prices matter: what it costs to be on the page at all, and what it costs to be the one everybody sees first. Drawn to scale, with The Board’s top spot read live from the board.

A log scale: every gridline is ten times the last, which is the only way a dollar and a five-figure sum fit on one line. Prices on the left are Microlaunch’s as read on 6 September 2026; the top spot on The Board is $101 as this page was built and changes as the board does.

Microlaunch and The Board, side by side

QuestionMicrolaunchThe Board
To be listedFree, after a queue of two to three months or more; Pro Launch at $49 skips it, 40 a month$1, once, for a listing: a logo, a line and a link
What decides your rankCommunity votes and Idea and Product scores over a month; the formula is not publishedWhat the listing has paid. Nothing else, and nobody decides
A guaranteed top positionNot sold. Pro buys featured spots and a Product of the Day; no monthly top is for sale$1 more than whoever holds rank 01 has paid
How long it lastsA 30-day campaign; the page stays up and the month's leaderboard is keptUntil somebody pays more. Hold rank 01 for 30 days and the season is yours: the standings freeze on a permanent page and every amount resets
Reach you can verifyIts own: 25,000 or 150,000 unique visitors a month, depending on which part of the page you readPage views and outbound clicks counted by Fathom on a public dashboard; every listing shows its own impressions and clicks
RefundsNo refund policy foundNone. Every payment is final and the terms (dated 25 August 2026) say so
Who you are dealing withStimpack SAS, Paris, France, with a SIREN number and terms last updated in 2023Dustin W. Stout, Bakersfield, California. Stripe, with a public Stripe profile
Best forA maker who wants a month of scores and feedback from other makers, and can wait for a slot or pay for oneA brand that wants a position it can price today, with the rule for the order in writing

Eight things to know before you pay either

QuestionMicrolaunchThe Board
Terms with a date on them✓ Last updated in 2023, per the terms page✓ Dated 25 August 2026
A named operator✓ Stimpack SAS, Paris, with a SIREN number✓ Dustin W. Stout, with a city and a Stripe profile
The price of the top spot published✕ Rank is scored; Pro buys features, not the top✓ On the board, live, to the dollar
Reach counted by a third party✕ Its own figures, and they disagree✓ Fathom, on a public dashboard
Position lasts past a day✓ A 30-day campaign, then the archive✓ Until somebody pays more; seasons end it
A refund path✕ No refund policy found✕ None. Every payment is final
No curator between you and the page✕ Submitted for review; the free queue is scheduled✓ None. Money decides, nobody else
On the page for a dollar✓ Free, after a two to three month queue✓ $1, once

How The Board works, for somebody leaving Microlaunch

Microlaunch runs a month; The Board runs until somebody pays more. A listing is a logo, a line and a link, it costs a dollar, and it is on the page at once, at whatever rank a dollar buys on a ladder ordered by what each brand has paid. There is no queue to wait out and no Pro tier to skip it with, because the payment is the listing. Nobody scores the idea or the product, nobody roasts it, and there is no formula to guess at: the amount is the rank and every amount is on the page.

Rank 01 costs a dollar more than the holder paid. Where Microlaunch's leaderboard turns over on the first of the month, The Board's ends only when one brand has held the top for thirty days, at which point the standings freeze on a permanent page and every amount resets, with every brand still listed. Fathom counts the page views and outbound clicks and publishes the dashboard, and every listing shows its own impressions and clicks, so there is one set of numbers rather than two that disagree.

Where Microlaunch falls short, and where it wins

Falls short
  • The free queue is two to three months or more by the site's own account, and the paid route is capped at forty a month. Getting on is a wait or a purchase, and either way somebody else picks the date.
  • The rank is a mix of votes and two scores, and the mix is not published. You can see your Idea and Product scores; you cannot see what they weigh.
  • The reach figures disagree on the same page, 25,000 unique visitors a month in the stats block and 150,000 in the FAQ, and no third party counts either. The terms date from 2023 and say nothing about refunds.
Wins
  • A month is a long time on a launch site. Most give a day; Microlaunch keeps a product ranked for thirty and the page up afterwards.
  • The feedback is real. Scores out of five for the idea and the product, and written roasts, tell you more than a vote count does.
  • It is a registered company with an address, a SIREN number and a named founder, which puts it ahead of most launch sites on the question of who you are paying.

Which to pick

Pick Microlaunch if
  • You want a month of scores and written feedback from other makers, not only a rank.
  • You can wait two to three months for a free slot, or $49 is worth skipping it.
  • A verified badge and a Product of the Day mean something to the people you sell to.
Pick The Board if
  • You want to be on the page this afternoon, with no queue and no review.
  • You want the rule for the order written down and the same for everyone.
  • You want the traffic counted by somebody who is not selling the slot.

Claim a spot from $1

A listing is a logo, a line and a link. Rank 01 costs $1 more than whoever holds it, every amount on the page is public, and the traffic is on a Fathom dashboard anyone can open.

Questions people ask about a Microlaunch alternative

Is there a free Microlaunch alternative?
Microlaunch itself is free if you can wait two to three months or more. Peerlist Launchpad is free and weekly, Dev Hunt is free for developer tools with a wait of about six months, and Show HN is free for anything with a demo. The Board is a dollar, and buys a position that stays until somebody pays more rather than a campaign.
How long is the Microlaunch queue?
Two to three months or more for a Regular launch, in the words of the premium page's own FAQ on 6 September 2026, with the slot scheduled automatically. Pro Launch skips it and lets you launch any time, and is limited to forty spots a month.
How much does Microlaunch Pro cost?
$49 on the premium page as of 6 September 2026, shown that week as $39 with a code. It buys skipping the queue, featured spots including a Product of the Day, a verified badge, do-follow links and founder support, and it is sold as credits. The Product Review and Action Plan is a separate $129 service, down from $149.
How does Microlaunch rank products?
By community votes and two scores, Idea and Product, each out of five, over a month, with written roasts alongside. The exact formula is not published, and whether a Pro boost changes the leaderboard score is not stated. The Board publishes its rule in one sentence: the amount is the rank.
Is The Board a Microlaunch alternative?
Yes, for a different job. Microlaunch runs a thirty-day campaign ranked by scores and votes, with feedback from other makers. The Board is a public leaderboard where every listing is a paid placement, the order is what each listing paid and nothing else, and the position lasts until somebody pays more.
What does The Board cost compared to Microlaunch?
Microlaunch is free with a queue, or $49 for Pro. A listing on The Board is $1, once, and rank 01 costs $1 more than the holder paid. There is no cap on spots, no credits, and nothing bills again unless you choose to raise.
What happens when somebody outbids me?
You drop one place and your listing stays where it lands; a paid amount never goes down. One mail names who passed you and what taking the place back costs, and there is no second mail until you have moved yourself. You can raise by any whole-dollar amount, or leave it, which costs nothing.
Can other brands damage my listing?
Yes, and it is part of the game. Four kinds of sabotage are for sale against any listing, and each changes how it looks or whether its link works for a few hours, never what it paid or its real rank. It wears off on its own, can be cleared early or protected against ahead of time, and nobody is told who attacked whom.
Do I get a backlink from The Board?
Not one to buy the listing for. Microlaunch sells do-follow links as a Pro feature; The Board's outbound links go through a counted redirect, and the badge you can embed carries rel=sponsored, which is what an honest paid placement has to do. Buy the position for the people who see it and click it, both of which are counted and shown.

Sources

Read on 6 September 2026. Prices on these sites move, and a figure here that no longer matches its source is a figure to tell us about: hello@toptheboard.com.

Also compared: Product Hunt, BetaList, Uneed, Peerlist Launchpad, Fazier, Dev Hunt, LaunchIgniter, Tiny Startups, BetaPage. Every listing site worth submitting to is in the directory list.