THE BOARD

A StartupBase alternative where the whole page is one ladder and a season ends it

StartupBase has been publishing launches since 2017, and it gives a founder a permanent product page and a dofollow link from a DR 73 domain for $39, or for nothing if you will wear its badge and wait a month. If the page and the link are what you want, submit there.

If what you want is a position on a board where money is the only rule, The Board is one ladder rather than two: a listing is a dollar, rank 01 is a dollar over the holder, thirty days at the top ends the season, and the traffic is counted by Fathom in public.

StartupBase compared with The Board: to be listed, Free to $39 against $1
StartupBaseThe Board
To be listed
Free to $39with a badge and a queue, or $39 to pick the date
$1once, no queue and no badge
Top Outrank card
$360held on 6 September 2026; from $15 to get on
$1 overwhatever rank 01 has paid
Season
NoneOutrank is the total ever paid, for good
30 daysat the top wins it; amounts reset
Reach
60K+its own monthly figure; Similarweb reads about 10K
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 StartupBase were read from its own pages on 6 September 2026 and are linked at the foot.

What StartupBase is, and what it costs

StartupBase is a launch directory with two boards on one homepage. On the first, a product is reviewed, given a launch date and ranked on the day by upvotes and comments, which the pricing page says is earned, not bought; the product page then stays indexed for good. On the second, called Outrank, nothing is reviewed: any amount from $15 lists a card at once, rank is the total ever paid for it, ties go to whoever paid first, and the eight highest payers hold the homepage.

The launch tiers are one-time payments, per the pricing page on 6 September 2026. Free means the StartupBase badge on your own site and a queue of about four to five weeks, or ten or more weeks without the badge. Launch is $39 to pick any date within 30 days with a guaranteed homepage feature; Boost is $99 for 30 days on the homepage; Ultimate is $299 for 60 days, a newsletter feature and a review article. The advertise page adds a review article at $99, Premium Placement at $99 a month and a newsletter sponsorship at $59 an issue. The Outrank board on the same day ran from $15 at the bottom to $360 at the top.

The reach figures are the site's own: 60K+ monthly visitors, 15K+ newsletter subscribers and 18.6K+ users, on the about and advertise pages. Similarweb's July 2026 page reads 29.5K visits over three months, which is about a sixth of the claim. Neither number is per launch.

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 StartupBase’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.

StartupBase and The Board, side by side

QuestionStartupBaseThe Board
To be listedFree with its badge on your site and a queue of four to five weeks (ten or more without); $39 to pick a date within 30 days; Outrank from $15$1, once, for a listing: a logo, a line and a link
What decides your rankVotes and comments on the launch board; on Outrank, the total ever paid, with ties to whoever paid firstWhat the listing has paid. Nothing else, and nobody decides
A guaranteed top positionOutrank: pay more than the top card, $360 on 6 Sep 2026, and hold it until outranked. Boost ($99) and Ultimate ($299) buy 30 and 60 days on the homepage$1 more than whoever holds rank 01 has paid
How long it lastsLaunch day for free and $39, 30 days for Boost, 60 for Ultimate; an Outrank card holds until outranked and never resetsUntil 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 figures: 60K+ monthly visitors, 15K+ subscribers. Similarweb's July 2026 page reads 29.5K visits in three monthsPage views and outbound clicks counted by Fathom on a public dashboard; every listing shows its own impressions and clicks
RefundsNone stated in the terms; the Outrank page says all sales are finalNone. Every payment is final and the terms (dated 25 August 2026) say so
Who you are dealing withFore Studio, founded by Atta, under the law of Pakistan with the courts of Lahore; Paddle as merchant of recordDustin W. Stout, Bakersfield, California. Stripe, with a public Stripe profile
Best forA product that wants a launch day, a permanent dofollow page and a vote it can winA brand that wants one ladder, priced by itself, with an end written into the rules

Eight things to know before you pay either

QuestionStartupBaseThe Board
Terms with a date on them✓ Updated 11 April 2026✓ Dated 25 August 2026
A named operator✓ Fore Studio, founded by Atta; Pakistan law✓ Dustin W. Stout, with a city and a Stripe profile
The price of the top spot published✓ On the Outrank board; $360 on 6 September 2026✓ On the board, live, to the dollar
Reach counted by a third party✕ Its own 60K+ a month; Similarweb reads about 10K✓ Fathom, on a public dashboard
Position lasts past a day✓ Outrank holds until outranked; Boost buys 30 days✓ Until somebody pays more; seasons end it
A refund path✕ None stated; Outrank sales are final✕ None. Every payment is final
No curator between you and the page✕ Launches are reviewed first; only Outrank is not✓ None. Money decides, nobody else
On the page for a dollar✓ Free, with the badge on your site and a queue✓ $1, once

How The Board works, for somebody leaving StartupBase

If you have read the Outrank page you already know the mechanic: pay, and the amount is the rank. The Board is that board without the vote board beside it. Every spot is a brand, a logo, a line and a link, sorted by what it has paid, and a dollar puts you on it today with no badge to place, no queue and no review. Rank 01 is a dollar over the holder.

The difference is in how it ends. An Outrank card is the total ever paid, for good, so that board only gets taller. On The Board a brand that holds rank 01 for thirty days wins the season: the standings freeze on a permanent page, every amount resets, and the ladder starts again with every brand still on it. Every amount is public, an amount never goes down, and the page views and outbound clicks are counted by Fathom on a dashboard the site cannot edit.

Where StartupBase falls short, and where it wins

Falls short
  • The free launch is not free of conditions. It needs the site's badge on your own page and a wait of four to five weeks, or more than ten without it.
  • The Outrank ladder never resets. Rank is the total ever paid and there is no season, so the $360 top card on 6 September 2026 is the price for as long as its holder wants it.
  • The visitor figure is the site's own and a third party reads it at about a sixth. All sales are final, and the terms are governed by the law of Pakistan, with the courts of Lahore.
Wins
  • Every paid launch comes with a permanent dofollow link from a DR 73 domain, and the product page never expires.
  • It has two honest boards. The launch board says its rank is earned and the Outrank page says its rank is bought, and neither pretends to be the other.
  • It is cheap to be seen for a month: $99 buys 30 days on the homepage, and $15 buys an Outrank card that stays for good.

Which to pick

Pick StartupBase if
  • You want the dofollow link and a product page that stays indexed.
  • You want a launch day with votes and comments and can book it for $39.
  • You are fine wearing a badge and waiting a month to launch for nothing.
Pick The Board if
  • You want one ladder with one rule and no vote beside it.
  • You want an end written into the rules: thirty days at the top and the season is yours.
  • You want the audience counted by somebody who is not selling the card.

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 StartupBase alternative

Is StartupBase free?
Yes, with two conditions: the StartupBase badge on your own site and a queue of about four to five weeks, per the pricing page on 6 September 2026; without the badge the about page estimates ten or more weeks. Paying $39 skips the queue and lets you pick a date within 30 days. The Outrank board is separate and starts at $15.
How does StartupBase Outrank work?
Any amount from $15 lists a card at once with nothing to review. Rank is the total ever paid for the card, ties go to the earlier payer, the eight highest hold the homepage and the top three ride the sidebar and the weekly newsletter. There is no renewal and no reset; on 6 September 2026 the top card was $360 and positions 31 to 50 were $15. All sales are final.
How long is the StartupBase launch queue?
About four to five weeks with the badge on your site and ten or more weeks without, per the pricing and about pages read on 6 September 2026. The $39 Launch tier lets you launch tomorrow or on any date within 30 days, with a guaranteed homepage feature on the day.
Is The Board a StartupBase alternative?
For the Outrank half, directly: both rank a card by what it paid. For the launch half, no; The Board has no launch day, no votes and no review article. What The Board adds is a season that ends and resets the amounts, sabotage and backing between listings, and a Fathom traffic count in public, on a page that says every listing is a paid placement.
What does The Board cost compared to StartupBase?
StartupBase lists a product for nothing with its badge and a wait, for $39 with a date, and from $15 on Outrank, per its pages on 6 September 2026. A listing on The Board is $1, rank 01 costs $1 more than the holder paid, and every amount is on the page. Nothing bills again on either.
Who runs StartupBase?
Fore Studio, per terms and a privacy policy both dated 11 April 2026, founded by Atta, who describes it as independent and self-funded. The terms are governed by the law of Pakistan with the courts of Lahore, and Paddle may act as merchant of record for payments. The Board is run by Dustin W. Stout in Bakersfield, California, with Stripe on the receipt.
What happens when somebody outbids me?
Your listing moves down one place and stays on the board, and what you paid never goes down. You are told once who passed you and what it costs to take the position back, and you can raise by any whole-dollar amount or leave it. There is no charge for waiting.
Can other brands damage my listing?
Yes. Anyone can pay for one of four kinds of sabotage against a listing, which changes how it looks or whether its link works for a few hours and never what it paid or its real rank. It wears off on its own, it can be cleared early or protected against ahead of time, and nobody is told who attacked whom. Backing a listing, by contrast, is public.
Do I get a backlink from The Board?
Not one to buy the listing for, which is the plain difference from StartupBase's DR 73 dofollow. Outbound links from the board go through a counted redirect and the embeddable badge carries rel=sponsored. What the dollar buys is the position and the people who see it and click it, both counted and shown on the listing.

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: AlternativeTo, SaaSHub, KillerStartups, Startup Stash, Launching Next. Every listing site worth submitting to is in the directory list.