"Launch Directory Domain Rating Before and After DR4: A Case Study of 27 Sites"

Ahrefs is changing how it calculates Domain Rating (DR), the score many founders use to decide which launch sites and directories are worth a submission. The new version is called DR4. Ahrefs says it will appear in its main interface on 1 December 2026, and it published a preview so people can compare. We used that preview to look at the sites founders actually submit to.

This is a case study of 27 launch platforms, directories and communities, plus a few free hosting domains. It shows which sites held their score, which fell, and what that means for where you spend your time.

What we measured

For each site we recorded the old score (DR3) and the new score (DR4) on 7 November 2026. The numbers come from the DR4 comparison preview that Ahrefs published, shown on Detailed's public comparison page. We chose the sites from the launch places in our own Where to Launch Finder, then added a few well-known directories and review sites.

Three points about how to read the numbers. DR is a score of backlink strength only. Ahrefs says it does not measure content quality, age or search traffic. It is relative, so it moves when other sites move. And the numbers are a preview: they can differ when Ahrefs switches over.

The results at a glance

• 27 sites compared.
• Median change: minus 14 points.
• Average score fell from 73.1 to 56.4.
• 13 sites held steady (a drop of 8 points or less, or a rise).
• 6 sites dropped between 9 and 25 points.
• 8 sites dropped by more than 25 points.
• Sites scoring 60 or higher: 24 before, 15 after.

The pattern was not "everything fell a little". It was a split. Some sites barely moved. Others lost most of their score.

The full table

Sorted from the biggest drop to the smallest. Scores are Ahrefs Domain Rating on a 0 to 100 scale.

Who held steady

The sites at the top of the DR4 list are the best known: Product Hunt, Hacker News and G2 all stayed at 91. Indie Hackers and AlternativeTo each moved by one point. Several directories lost only a handful of points: SaaSHub lost 5, There's An AI For That lost 4, FutureTools lost 5, and Peerlist and BetaList lost 6 and 7. Two launch platforms, DevHunt and Tiny Startups, went up by 1 and 3 points.

What these have in common, based on the table, is that they are established places with a wide audience. We do not know the reason for each site, and a steady score does not make a site a good fit for your product.

Who fell

A group of newer launch platforms and directories lost far more. Noonlaunch fell from 60 to 4.9, SmolLaunch from 77 to 28, Launch Llama's tools site from 74 to 30, CodeHype from 72 to 31, and EarlyHunt and NickLaunches by 35 points each. A middle group, including Fazier, Uneed and Microlaunch, lost 15 or 16 points.

Fazier still scores 69 and Uneed 62, so a fall does not mean a link is worthless. It means the score you may have read a month ago is out of date.

Why newer directories fell: our reading

Ahrefs says two things changed. DR4 puts more weight on links from sites, and from individual subdomains, that it estimates get organic search traffic. And it lowers the scores of domains its system labels as spam. The first change fits what we see. This is our inference, not something Ahrefs said about these sites: a directory whose score came mostly from links among other small directories and launch sites would lose more than one linked to by sites with real readers.

If you submit to many small directories, it is worth asking where each one's links come from. A long list of links from sites that nobody visits adds little.

Free hosting addresses

The change that surprised us most is about hosting. Under DR4, subdomains get their own score and do not inherit the main domain's. A free hosting address can sit under a domain with a high score and still score close to nothing itself.

The first six rows are the shared host's main domain. The last row is a single real product hosted as a subdomain on workers.dev. It showed 91 under the old score, because it inherited the host's score, and 0 under the new one. A link from a subdomain like that carries almost nothing, and a link to it gives the owner little.

What founders should do

• Check DR4, not an old number. Use the free Domain Rating Checker or Ahrefs' own tools, and note the date.
• Choose a few good places. Two or three launch platforms for launch week, then a small number of reputable directories, spread over weeks. Ahrefs itself says bulk submission to low-quality directories has not worked for about 15 years.
• Put your product on your own domain. A free hosting subdomain has almost no link value of its own.
• Do not chase DR. Ahrefs says Google ranks pages, not websites, and that DR is only a measure of link popularity. Write something people want to link to.
• Expect a mix of link types. Directory links are often nofollow. Ahrefs notes that a natural profile contains both kinds. Read dofollow vs nofollow for directory links before you decide a nofollow link is worthless.

What this means for CapyLaunch

CapyLaunch is new, and the same comparison gives capylaunch.com a score of 0.8 on DR3 and 0 on DR4. We are not hiding that. A link from a new site passes very little today, and we do not sell, trade or promise ranking. What we do is review every submission, keep the dofollow listing link for products on their own domain, mark paid links as sponsored, and check listings every week so dead sites come off.

We will rerun this comparison after Ahrefs switches over on 1 December and publish the update. See also our guide to the best startup directories and check your own site with the Launch Readiness Grader.

Limits of this study

• It is one snapshot, taken from a preview, on one day.
• DR measures backlinks only. A lower score does not say a site is bad, and a higher one does not say it will send you customers.
• The 27 sites are not a random sample. They are places founders commonly submit to.
• We do not know why each site moved. Where we offer a reason, we say it is our reading.
• Scores change as the web changes, and the figures here may differ after Ahrefs' rollout.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between DR3 and DR4?

DR3 is the Domain Rating Ahrefs has used for years. DR4 is the new version. According to Ahrefs, it gives subdomains their own scores, puts more weight on links from sites that get organic search traffic, lowers the scores of domains it labels as spam, and rates about half as many sites.

Did a lower Domain Rating mean the directory got worse?

No. Ahrefs says a lower DR is not a judgment on a site's content or quality. It only means Ahrefs sees fewer strong links pointing at it under the new method.

Should I still submit to launch directories?

Yes, if the place suits your product and audience. Pick a few reputable ones, check the current score, and spread submissions out. A directory is also a way for real people to find you, which a score does not measure.

Do nofollow directory links help?

They do not pass ranking credit in the usual way, but Ahrefs notes that a natural backlink profile includes nofollow links, and they can bring visitors who later link to you with a followed link.

Does a free hosting address hurt my listing?

It does not hurt your product, but under DR4 a free hosting subdomain scores close to zero by itself, so links involving it carry little SEO value. A product on its own domain is better placed.