If you don’t know Product Hunt yet: It’s a popular platform where manufacturers and entrepreneurs can showcase their products to the world. It’s a place where people can discover and discuss new products, and where makers can get feedback and validation for their products.
Now Product Hunt has taken it to the next level with the launch of its new marketplace. In this blog post, we take a closer look at the Product Hunt Marketplace and what it offers both buyers and sellers. We also list the differences with our own SaaS deals marketplace as an alternative.
What is the Product Hunt Marketplace?
The Product Hunt Marketplace is a new platform where SaaS companies offer discounts on their products.
Right now, you’ll find deals for well-know software such as Pipedrive, Mixpanel (for startups), Zendesk (for startups), Intercom, Quickbooks, NordVPN, Amazon AWS, Slack, Notion, Stripe, etc. These are probably the most in demand due to their high reliability (even though no software is perfect) and high compatibility (integration with virtually any existing ecosystem).
There are various types of special access and savings, such as “X months free”, “$X free allowance”, a “% discount on your recurring bill”.
The downside is that most of these discounts are given only at the beginning of the product’s usage and don’t extend for the entire duration of your subscription. Other deals are not more than a simple trial (a couple of weeks) with no further discount.
Visual story generated with Columns AI (SaasZilla deal).
How does the Marketplace work?
There are different categories of tools for buyers, such as Developer Tools, Productivity, Marketing, Hiring & HR, Sales & CRM, Customer Service, FinTech, etc.
The main division we found is between the offers you can get for free (open to all), and the Pro offers available only to “Marketplace Pro subscribers”.
As a buyer, you can easily browse the products by category and see if you find something that fits your business needs. If it falls into the “Free” category, you can buy it directly from the seller (after being redirected to their website) or get a coupon code.
If the offer falls into the “Pro” category, you must first become a “Product Hunt Marketplace Pro Subscriber” to get special access. That means you’ll have to get past the paywall ($720 one-time fee). However, read everything carefully before you consider paying, because some offers have special requirements and you may not be able to use them (even if you pay for the PH Marketplace Pro subscription).
Since the PH Marketplace Pro subscription fee isn’t refundable once you redeem at least one of the offers, you might even lose money. Just make sure that the discount you get is higher than the fee you paid for the access. The funny thing about these offers is that your savings are greater than the cost of access, right?
Who can use the PH Marketplace?
The marketplace is open to anyone, but is clearly geared towards online businesses and SaaS startups. There are some eligibility criteria for both buyers and sellers.
Product Hunt Marketplace makes it easy for entrepreneurs to discover new products to run their business with, while also saving money on their subscriptions.
Sellers can also benefit from the marketplace. By offering their products on the platform, they can attract new users, and by offering them a low entry price, they try to secure future MRR from these users.
Marketplace Requirements for Buyers and Sellers
Buyers might need to meet certain conditions for some deals, such as not already having an account with the service they wish to use, or being a certain type of customer, or meeting other requirements, etc.
Concerns arise from the lack of listing requirements on the Product Hunt Marketplace. Basically, vendors only need to make a monthly payment or offer an affiliate system that generates revenue in order for Product Hunt to list their deals.
Not strictly vetting listed deals could lead to more diversity , but it could also lead to an oversaturation of dubious deals and make the marketplace less resourceful over time. I’m sure that PH Marketplace could become the reference marketplace for SaaS MRR deals, so I wish them the best possible outcome.
What’s the Alternative to Product Hunt Marketplace Deals?
Both patforms (Product Hunt and SaaS Zilla) are focused on providing entrepreneurs, startups, freelancers and online businesses a way of reducing their software spend with special offers. At SaaS Zilla, our goal is to minimize them by curating the best software lifetime deals for your business.
The difference between the products on Product Hunt Marketplace and those on SaaS Zilla isn’t the quality of the products, but their current stage. For proof, some of the biggest companies in the industry listed on Product Hunt Marketplace have been sold as lifetime deals in the past (Intercom, NordVPN, Ruttl…). Other big names not listed there, like Zapier or Dropbox, have also been offered as one-time deals for lifetime access in the past.
Selected SaaS, WordPress plugin or similar software product for entrepreneurs that wants to find a fit with an audience or early adopters for their solution, expand to the international market and escale their product to make it a success can be featured as a SaaS Zilla Deal (as long as it meets the standards of our vetting process).
As a buyer, by relying on Lifetime Deals, you can also reap many benefits that translate into a higher return on investment for your business.
Check out the latest SaaS Lifetime Deals in our SaaS Zilla store.
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