I've launched quite a few products by now, and have a bit of an unpopular opinion: most entrepreneurs abuse the use of Product Hunt for the wrong reason and then blame the platform for failing to do what it cannot even begin to do.
It's tempting to think of a launch as distribution. Ten years ago, it was. #1 Product of the Day would generate fifteen to twenty thousand visits to your website in a matter of hours, and a fair share of people actually visited it. Do the same thing in 2026 and a #1 launch position would bring you somewhere between three and eight thousand views. And they are people who visit launches the same way you are going to visit mine. The traffic is real. Just not the traffic you expected, and gone within 48 hours.
But this does not mean that Product Hunt is useless. I launch my products there, too. I just launch my products for one very specific purpose, and traffic is not among those.
What can a launch be good for
A launch earns you a credibility badge. A "Top 5 Product of the Day" badge on your landing page, a sentence in a cold email, or a slide in a pitch deck. This badge works on people who have no idea about you, and that is priceless.
