Show HN vs Launch HN: only one of them is open to you

Founders read “Launch HN” and assume it is the premium version of Show HN, the one to graduate to once the product is good enough. It is not a level you reach. It is a separate door, and it has a guest list.

That is worth knowing before you plan a launch around it. A week spent trying to qualify for something that is not open to you is a week you did not spend making your demo easy to try. Everything below comes from Hacker News's own two guideline pages, so you can check each claim yourself.

What is the difference between Show HN and Launch HN?

Show HN is something you post. Launch HN is something you apply for. Show HN is for a project you built that other people can try. Launch HN, in the words of the official Launch HN instructions, is “a way for YC startups to launch on Hacker News.”

Here is the whole comparison in one place. Every cell is taken from the Show HN guidelines or the Launch HN instructions, and nothing else.

Show HN: what qualifies, in HN's own words

The guidelines open with one sentence: Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with. Visitors should be able to try it, give feedback and ask questions in the thread. Everything else follows from that test, and it is a stricter test than most founders expect.

The test is “can someone use this right now?” A product with a working demo passes. A page that collects emails for a product that does not exist yet does not, and neither does a post about your product. The guidelines call out blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters and lists as off topic, and say plainly not to post landing pages or fundraisers.

Three more lines in the guidelines matter for a solo founder. The project must be something you worked on personally and are around to discuss, so you cannot hand the thread to someone else. It should be non-trivial, and the guidelines are blunt that a quickly generated one-off is not enough. And it does not have to look slick, because the community is comfortable with early-stage work. A rough project that works beats a polished one that does not.

One more rule belongs in every launch plan: do not ask friends to upvote or comment. The guidelines say it is not okay on HN. If you want the rule-by-rule version, including which titles get a post flagged, that lives in our Show HN rules guide, and this post will not repeat it.

Launch HN: who can post one, and how is it arranged?

Only YC startups. The instructions open by saying so, and the steps are written to that audience: read the page on how to write about your startup, fill out a form, and wait for the HN team to make an editorial decision. If the answer is yes, they get back to you within two weeks.

Two sentences in that process surprise people. The first is that the decision is not about how good your startup is. It is about what the team thinks may appeal to the HN community. The second is that each YC startup only gets one Launch HN, so the HN team can help you choose when to use it.

The mechanics are also different from Show HN. The title follows a fixed format of 80 characters or fewer: Launch HN, then the company name, the YC batch in brackets, a dash and a neutral tagline. You agree a day with the team, submit from your YC founder account, and put your blurb in the text field. The software then places the post on the front page a few minutes after you submit. There is also a dedicated Launch HNs page that lists them all in one place.

Two warnings in the instructions are worth borrowing even if you will never use the form. Launch HN outs you as YC-funded, so be sure you want that to be public. And do not coordinate the launch with press articles. All HN needs, the instructions say, is enough free time to engage with commenters on the day.

What the two threads look like in practice

The difference shows up in how each post is meant to read. A Show HN is a project post. Someone made a thing, it is open, and the thread is people trying it. A Launch HN is a company post. The instructions give a template that runs from who you are, through what the company does in one clear sentence, the problem, your backstory, your solution and what is different about it, to an invitation for feedback.

Despite the different shape, the writing advice rhymes. Both ask you to talk like a builder rather than a marketer. The Launch HN page says not to write in a marketing, sales or PR style, to avoid superlatives and to be cheerfully self-critical. The Show HN guidelines ask for the same thing in a different way: share what is personal and interesting to you, and explain how and why.

Both pages also agree on the one thing that gets founders in trouble. Launch HN calls booster comments from friends the worst mistake you can make on HN, and Show HN says not to ask friends to upvote or comment. A thread that looks coordinated reads worse than a thread with three honest replies.

Where they differ is in how much runway you need. A Show HN can be ready the day your demo works. A Launch HN needs an application, a decision and an agreed date, which is why it suits a company with a plan and not a founder who wants to post this afternoon.

If you cannot do a Launch HN, what do you do instead?

Do a Show HN, and do the parts of the Launch HN advice that transfer. The instructions say outright that for non-YC startups the process does not apply but the advice still does. That advice is a short, concrete list.

• Make it easy to try. Both pages ask you to remove signup barriers, at least for the day, because you get more and better feedback. If your product cannot work that way, offer a demo or a video.
• Write plainly. Lead with one clear sentence on what it does, explain the problem, give technical details and skip feature lists. No superlatives.
• Be there. Reply when comments appear. The Launch HN page warns that a thread left unanswered falls down the page faster.
• Take criticism as a favor. Find something to agree with first. You are writing for the large silent audience, not for the one critic.
• Be open about money. The instructions say to make pricing transparent and to say how you make money, or what you are thinking if you do not know yet.

There is a quiet upside here. The instructions note that some startups get funded by YC after a successful Show HN, so the open door is not a consolation prize.

The harder part is not the post. It is having people ready to try the product and say something specific when it goes up. That is the gap the Favors.dev launch calendar fills: founders in the founder marketing co-op earn points in the points economy by trying a product and leaving real feedback, so your first hour has people in it. The feedback has to be genuine. Asking for votes is the thing both pages tell you not to do, and asking someone to try it and tell you what broke is the thing that works.

For where a Show HN fits in a bigger plan, the launch directories guide puts it in order with the other places to post. If you are deciding between launch venues, our Product Hunt launch guide covers the other big one, and the Peerlist Launchpad guide covers a quieter weekly option.

Frequently asked questions