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Get leads who fit nuanced criteria with team of AI Agents :origami:
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The "Featured" Gate
This is the #1 thing people miss. In 2025, Product Hunt has two tabs: Featured and All. If your product isn't on the Featured tab, you're invisible. Zero homepage traffic. Zero chance of winning.
The PH team manually curates what gets Featured. They evaluate products on four criteria: Useful, Unique, Well-Made, and Creative. You don't need to nail all four, but you need to clearly nail at least two.
The Algorithm (what we know)
The exact algorithm is a black box, but here's what experienced launchers have confirmed:
- Vote velocity matters more than total votes. A steady stream of engagement all day beats a huge spike in the first hour followed by silence.
- Comments are weighted heavily. Products that generate real discussion rank higher, even with fewer upvotes. A thoughtful comment thread is worth more than 50 silent upvotes.
- Account age and activity matter. Votes from established, active PH accounts carry significantly more weight than votes from brand-new accounts. Some reports suggest 10x the weight.
- The first 4 hours are randomized. During 12:01–4:00 AM PST, the leaderboard shuffles randomly and vote counts are hidden. But your actual velocity during this window still matters enormously for where you land when rankings go live.
- Editing your live page can reset your trending score. Get everything right before you go live.
The Numbers
- ~30-60 products launch per day
- Top products typically get 400–1,000+ upvotes
- Weekday #1 usually requires 700–1,000+ upvotes
- Weekend #1 can be achieved with 400–600 upvotes
- #1 Product of the Day = ~5,000–10,000+ unique visitors
- Bottom of front page = ~2,000+ unique visitors
- Top 5 = featured in next-day Product Hunt digest email (this can send 3x more traffic than the launch day itself)