Of the 46 AI tool directories DirPilot tracks, 34 let you list for free and 22 are recorded as free and dofollow, as of our October 2026 checks, though two of those 22 (AI Startups and BAI.tools) keep the followed link for paid plans, per their own pages. The catch is in the terms: free queues of 90 days or more beside a paid fast lane, a badge or link required on your site, or a followed link kept for paying customers. Where to start:
- Free and dofollow, no link-back asked: AI Infinity (DR 92), Altern AI Directory (DR 55), AI Tools Directory (DR 50), Insidr AI (DR 48) and AI Library (DR 46).
- Free and dofollow, with a catch: AI Directories (DR 71) wants its badge, AI Tools Inc (DR 66) quotes 30 to 90 days, and AI Hustle (DR 41) needs a link back.
- Free for the audience: Future Tools (DR 69) reviews every tool by hand; its link goes through a redirect.
- Skip if you're after the link: TipSeason, AI Startups, All Top AI Tools and Every AI give free listings a nofollow link and sell the followed one.
Disclosure: DirPilot sells directory submissions. Every DR, link type, price and approval time below comes from DirPilot's directory pages as of our last check, October 2026. Terms change often, so confirm them on each directory's own page before you submit or pay. This post covers only the free routes: our AI tool directories hub ranks all 46, paid ones included, and our best startup directories post covers general directories beyond AI.
What "free" means on an AI tool directory
"Free" on an AI directory can mean five different things:
- Free, no strings. Fill in a form, pass review, get listed, as at AI Infinity, Insidr AI and AI Valley.
- A free queue beside a paid fast lane. AI Tools Inc's free submissions "Enter the queue (30-90 day listing time)"; its $129 Fast Lane promises "24-48 hour placement."
- Free if you link back. AI Hustle, AI Directories and Earlyhunt want a link or badge on your site first.
- Free, but nofollow. A listing and visitors, but a link search engines are asked not to count, as at ScriptByAI, Saas AI Tools and AI Lib. ToolScout marks its links sponsored.
- Free, followed only if you pay. TipSeason, AI Startups, All Top AI Tools and Every AI sell the followed link, and BAI.tools promises do-follow only on paid plans.
A dofollow link is just a link without nofollow, ugc or sponsored in its rel attribute. Our dofollow vs nofollow study explains why it's one factor, not the main one.
Free AI tool directories with a dofollow link
These 12 have a free route and a followed link on the listings we checked. DR is Ahrefs' Domain Rating, not a Google metric. Approval times appear only where the directory states one for free submissions.
| Directory | DR | Free terms and catch |
|---|---|---|
| AI Infinity | 92 | Google Form; newest entry dated May 2024 |
| AI Directories | 71 | Needs its badge on your site; listed within 72 hours |
| AI Tools Inc | 66 | 30 to 90 day queue, placement not guaranteed; Fast Lane $129 |
| Altern AI Directory | 55 | Same human review as paid plans; "a few days" per its FAQ |
| AI Tools Directory | 50 | Undated manual queue; no AI-written or copied text; Fast Track $99 |
| Insidr AI | 48 | The form is just name, email and a message |
| AI Library | 46 | Community form; tools for creators and game developers |
| AI Hustle | 41 | Published only with a link to aihustle.tools on your site |
| AI Tools Capital | 38 | Typically reviewed within 24 hours; weekly community vote |
| WhatTheAI | 36 | Free queue "can take a while"; Fast-Track $49 |
| AI Valley | 35 | No paid options found |
| AI Agents Live | 23 | Agents and agent builders only; priority review $7 or $10 |
Also free and dofollow in our data, all at DR 27 or lower: AI Pulse, WithAI.Top (English copy only), Tools AI Online, AI Tool Board (one free listing), AI Marketing, Free AI Tools Directory, AI Generation (its footer still reads 2023) and FindTools.ai (DR 0).
Free, but nofollow, unchecked or followed only if you pay
These still help with discovery; just don't count on the link. "Unchecked" means we couldn't confirm the link type.
| Directory | DR | Link on a free listing | Terms and wait |
|---|---|---|---|
| Future Tools | 69 | Unchecked; goes through a redirect | Most tools rejected; about 7 days |
| Earlyhunt | 66 | Nofollow; dofollow for weekly top 3 or $19 | Link to earlyhunt.com required; about 2 days |
| Saas AI Tools | 53 | Nofollow, through a redirect | Account needed; Featured $67 a month |
| ScriptByAI | 51 | Nofollow | Free or freemium tools live 3+ months; long queue |
| BAI.tools | 47 | Dofollow seen, but promised only on paid plans | Up to 6 months; $19.90 for 24 hours |
| TipSeason | 46 | Nofollow; dofollow from $49 | 90+ day queue |
| AI Startups | 44 | Nofollow; dofollow for $49 | About 3 months |
| ToolScout | 29 | Sponsored | A week or more |
| AI Lib | 26 | Nofollow | Russian-language catalog |
| ThatsMyAI | 23 | Nofollow | Up to 90 days |
| Every AI | 7 | Unchecked; site says free is no-follow | Auto-approved after 48 hours |
Also free, with nofollow links on the listings we checked: All Top AI Tools (about three months, or $49 for dofollow) and AI Top Hub (30 days, or $49 for 24 hours). AI Tools List is free but has no tool pages, so its link is unchecked.
Where to submit your AI tool for free: the best picks
Future Tools (DR 69) is Matt Wolfe's hand-curated database. It says "Over 75% of the tools that are submitted to this site do not get approved," and it turns away waitlist-only products, custom GPTs, newsletters, aggregators and chat bots. It writes your summary with AI from your homepage and uses your Open Graph image, so fix both before you use the submit form. Not listed after a week? Resubmit once; sooner "will almost guarantee we will not add it." Clicks go through a futuretools.io/go/ redirect, so you're there for the audience.
AI Infinity (DR 92) has the category's highest DR and a dofollow link, through a Google Form. But it's a Notion database with an estimated 2K visits a month and a newest entry from May 2024. Quick to do; don't expect traffic.
Altern AI Directory (DR 55, an estimated 17K visits a month) has a person review every submission against the same bar, paid or not. Use the full submission and list the tools yours replaces, so your page can appear as an alternative to them.
AI Tools Directory (DR 50, an estimated 44K visits a month) writes its own description for every tool, which is why its free queue is slow. Its submit page is blunt: "If regular people can't figure it out in 5 seconds, it's not going on the directory." No waitlists, hidden pricing or crypto.
Insidr AI (DR 48) has a three-field form, so put your link, pricing and category in the message.
Niche and language picks
- AI agents: AI Agents Live lists agents and agent builders for free, alpha and beta products included.
- Creators and game developers: AI Library, the Phygital+ catalog.
- Free and open-source tools: ScriptByAI takes only free or usable freemium tools that have run stably for three months.
- Education and research: Easy With AI normally charges $125, but lists free or open-source education and academic research tools at no cost. Email first.
- Russian: AI Lib is free; write in Russian.
- Chinese and MCP servers: no free route in our data. AI Bot sells Chinese write-ups from 99 CNY (about $14), and OpenTools lists MCP servers on a paid subscription.
- Developer tools: see our developer tool directories.
Free with conditions: link-backs, badges and paid-only follows
Link-back and pay-for-follow rules are where to slow down. Google's spam policies list as link spam "Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking" and "Exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links". Paid links are fine "as long as they are qualified with a rel="nofollow" or rel="sponsored" attribute value".
One badge for a listing you want anyway isn't a link scheme; a footer full of badges traded for followed links starts to look like one. Before you add a badge, ask whether you'd want the listing with a nofollow link. ScriptByAI's fast track wants a followed link on your homepage; its standard form asks for none. And don't pay just to flip the attribute: the $49 "forever do-follow link" at All Top AI Tools and AI Startups also publishes you right away, so judge it on the speed.
Redirects are a quieter catch: Future Tools and Saas AI Tools send clicks through their own /go/ pages, so the listing doesn't link straight to you.
Is it worth paying instead?
Sometimes, and some of the best-known AI directories have no free route at all; the hub ranks the paid ones. From our data:
- A permanent listing before a featured spot. There's An AI For That (DR 78, dofollow on the listings we checked) charges $49 once for a listing that "never expires", reviews in 1 to 2 days on average and refunds automatically if it doesn't publish you. TopAI.tools charges $47 for a permanent listing and refunds rejected tools. Featured spots are short: $229 for 7 days at TopAI.tools, $299 for 7 days at Easy With AI, $99 for 14 days at ToolScout.
- Skip a queue only when the date matters. AI Tools Inc's $129 Fast Lane promises 24 to 48 hours, refunded if your tool doesn't meet its standards; BAI.tools' $19.90 plan goes live within 24 hours.
- Read the checkout. aitools.fyi's submit link leads to a $37 third-party form that doesn't name aitools.fyi.
- Plan There's An AI For That first. Its launch page offers one free route, a monthly X thread: "We choose one tool from each thread and list it for free." Its PPC ad credit bonus requires that "Your tool must not appear on any other platform before the launch", so if you want it, go there before the free directories.
How to prepare a free submission so it gets approved
- A public, working product. Future Tools rejects waitlist-only tools, AI Tools Directory skips waitlists and hidden pricing, and ScriptByAI wants three months of stable operation.
- A homepage that explains the tool fast. Future Tools, AI With Me and There's An AI For That build your listing from your site.
- Your own descriptions, short and long. AI Tools Directory warns "Content written using AI tools or copied content will be detected and discarded." Mind limits such as TipSeason's 30-word short description.
- Pricing type and category, which most forms ask for, from fixed lists.
- Visuals: a square logo (ThatsMyAI wants at least 200x200 px, up to 2 MB), screenshots and a demo video link, which AI Startups asks for. Our free launch asset kit makes "every size directory and launch forms ask for" in your browser.
- A clear difference. Future Tools usually rejects concepts "already listed many times."
- A schedule. Join the long queues first, and submit once: AI Tools Capital ignores duplicates.
Our guide on how to submit your startup to directories has description templates and a log to copy. The free directory shortlist builder asks five questions (pick "AI tool" and a "Free" budget) and returns a ranked shortlist with price, link type and approval time for each.
After you submit: check the listing, the link and the index
Free listings go live quietly; Future Tools says "you will likely not hear back from us either way." Track each one in a sheet (date, stated wait, listing URL, link type, indexed), then check:
- It links to your site. One All Top AI Tools page we sampled pointed its Visit button at a different domain.
- The rel attribute. Our free dofollow link checker reads it, checks for noindex, robots.txt, canonicals and redirects, and flags links routed through /go/ pages. Our guide to checking dofollow backlinks covers the manual methods.
- It's indexed. Search for the listing's address; a page Google never indexes passes nothing.
- Again later. TopAI.tools and AI NavHub used different rel values on different listings.
FAQ
Are there free AI tool directories that give dofollow links?
Yes: 22 of the 46 we track are recorded as free and dofollow, led by AI Infinity (DR 92), AI Directories (DR 71, badge required), AI Tools Inc (DR 66, long queue) and Altern (DR 55). At AI Startups and BAI.tools, the followed link appears to come with a paid plan. For other categories, see our free dofollow directories.
How long do free AI directory submissions take?
A day to six months. AI Tools Capital says "typically reviewed within 24 hours" and Every AI auto-approves after 48 hours; at the slow end, TipSeason quotes 90+ days and BAI.tools up to six months. Many give no time at all.
Do AI directories accept AI-written descriptions?
Some refuse them: AI Tools Directory discards AI-written or copied text, and ScriptByAI may reject it. Others write your page with AI themselves, like Future Tools (checked by a human) and AI With Me. Write your own copy and keep your homepage clear.
Is it worth paying for a featured spot?
Rarely as a first purchase. Featured spots last days or weeks; a one-time permanent listing, like $49 at There's An AI For That, is easier to judge. If you pay, pick one that refunds rejected tools.
How many AI directories should I submit to?
There's no right number, and Google doesn't publish one. As our hub puts it, "a few well-chosen profiles do more than dozens of thin ones." Start with the free ones here that fit your product, then add more once you see which send visitors. Our full directory list covers other categories.
Do free AI directory backlinks help SEO?
They can be among a new site's first links, but no one outside Google can say how much one counts. DR describes the directory, not your listing page (see what a good domain rating is and Ahrefs UR vs DR), and Google's spam policies name "Low-quality directory or bookmark site links" as link spam. Treat a followed link as a bonus; more in do directory submissions work.
Rather hand it over?
Free AI directories cost time instead of money: forms, badges, follow-ups, long queues and checks. DirPilot picks the directories that fit your product, sends you the list before we start, writes a different description for each, submits by hand and reports which listings are live, which links are dofollow and which pages Google has indexed at day 30.
- Economy, $99: 30+ free, medium-DR directories.
- Business, $149: 60+ high-DR free and paid directories, listing fees included.
- First, $199: 100+ directories, plus help on launch day.
Each plan is a one-time payment, and work starts within one business day. If a directory rejects you, we replace it with one of similar authority at no extra cost. Compare the plans, or use the tables above and do it yourself.