Do you think Product Hunt should verify domain ownership for submitted products? 😄
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Product Hunt is great for discovery 🚀, but sometimes there are concerns about authenticity and trust 🤔 when products are submitted by people not affiliated with them.
Would verifying domain ownership (e.g., via email or DNS) help ensure that only legitimate makers or teams can submit a product? ✅ Or would it add too much friction to the launch process? 🧱
Curious to hear what this amazing community thinks! 🙌💡
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Indie.Deals
Product Hunt as a community and platform has evolved over the past decade into what it is today because there has always been very little friction for anyone to discover, hunt, or engage with products.
In the earlier years, the goal wasn’t to push for the top products of the day but to have genuine conversations about them. That has changed quite a bit. Now, every hunt feels somewhat gamified, with launches carefully planned to reach the top ranks. Unfortunately, in doing so, the community has lost some of its original charm, where great products could naturally gain the attention they deserved.
To sum up, verifying domain ownership doesn’t really add value in determining whether a product is good or not, finding great products is what Product Hunt should truly be about.
That defeats the original premise of Product Hunt.
Many tools that I hunt on Product Hunt are not mine. But I find them interesting so I share it with the community.
Product "Hunt" means hunting products you discovered and you find interesting.
Only verified makers get access to Product Pages that's were authentication is already in place. If you have alternate suggestions, feel free to share with the community and the PH team. :)
@rohanrecommends Totally agree that discovery by hunters is a key part of what makes Product Hunt special. I’m just exploring whether optional domain verification for makers could add trust, especially when a launch is being shared by both hunters and the team. One of the makers could verify domain ownership to show it's legit, without adding friction for hunters. What are your thoughts on this approach?
@1001binary Interesting, I think it will be a nice-to-have, not a must-have feature. :)
Uxia
@rohanrecommends
That’s true!
However, my impression is that platforms will evolve toward having only Makers publish their products — just a guess based on trends I’ve been noticing :)
Raycast
@borja_diazroig it'd be great to see some real stats on that. Maybe @mikekerzhner can run some numbers and validate or invalidate the trends you've been noticing. 😉
@borja_diazroig Then there will be no differentiation between PH and other platforms who are trying to copy PH.
Furthermore, I think hunters like me, @thisiskp_ @zaczuo @chrismessina @saaswarrior @benln @kevin @fmerian bring a lot of flavours to the leaderboard. :)
Not to mention, you can hunt your own product too. I believe the only benefit of having a Hunter is to leverage their experience and their followers.
Uxia
@thisiskp_ @zaczuo @chrismessina @saaswarrior @benln @kevin @fmerian @rohanrecommends
Thats also true!
Seasoned hunters like you bring valuable perspective, credibility, and reach to the Product Hunt community - Im only starting here so Im sure I can learn a lot from you.
Speaking of which, we are launching soon Uxia (end of August) and we don't have a Hunter - would be honored if you considered it! Happy to share more details 🙌
https://www.producthunt.com/products/uxia
Raycast
It would add infinity friction for hunters such as myself.
Domains were historically how Product Hunt identified products, but it's not a perfect solution.
For example, if I launch a Raycast extension (e.g. Product Hunt for Raycast) in the Raycast store, the URL of my launch starts with raycast.com. I wouldn't be able to verify ownership of that domain, so would that mean I couldn't launch?
My Financé
interesting suggestion. I think one thing this conflicts with is the "hunter" mechanic. i.e it isnt actually the case that the person submitting the product is related to it.
I think one of the original intentions behind product hunt was "woah look at this cool thing i just found"
over time it sort of morphed into the majority of cases being people intentionally launching their product.
@catt_marroll Thanks for sharing that perspective. I completely agree that the “hunter” mechanic is a core part of what makes Product Hunt unique and exciting. The idea of discovering and sharing cool things you find is really powerful.
My suggestion is more about adding a layer of clarity and trust when the launch is by the actual product team, without taking away from the open discovery aspect. So hunters could still freely share anything interesting, but when a product is officially launched by its makers, domain verification could help confirm authenticity and reduce confusion.
It’s definitely a balancing act between openness and trust, and I’m curious how others feel about finding that sweet spot.
My Financé
ya good point. i guess it can be like a commit on github where it can have a verified badge, but it isnt requisite to make the launch. just additive information! i like it
Verifying domain ownership could make Product Hunt more trustworthy. It would help ensure that products are submitted by their real creators.
Great convo starter authenticity is the currency of trust, especially in early adoption. Domain-level verification could absolutely help filter noise, but the launch magic often lives in speed and spontaneity. Maybe a lightweight badge system for verified makers could balance credibility and flexibility?
Raycast
@vivek_sharma_25 that kind of badging already exists — but it's kind of buried. You have to visit someone's profile to see it.
Rather than creating absolute friction for launching (e.g. domain verification), I'd be more in favor of addressing @1001binary's concern by giving makers several ways to verify their launches, including posting a link to their launch from their corresponding social account or by adding a metatag to their website (similar to domain verification).
I'd rather see a number of verification options provided more visibly than to prioritize one, which might not be universally relevant (again, if someone is launching an iOS app but doesn't have a domain to verify, should they not be able to launch here?).
Pro: Absolutely. PH gets cloaked with tons of ai produced copy cats.
Contra: Adding verification could unintentionally gatekeep the plattform.
findable.
I think mandatory domain ownership verification would be a bit too much for Product Hunt, like @chrismessina already mentioned: it adds friction for hunters and in some cases it is not feasible (e.g. app store links).
That said: I think it would be interesting to have something like verification for hunters and makers.
For example, Findable is #2 🏆 on Product Hunt today.
I also see that the landing page of the product links back to the Product Hunt launch, so this is some kind of domain verification that already exists for those who want to do it.
Pete is a friend and Tosh my boyfriend, so I know they really made the product they launched :) They also have a track record of engaging with the community like many other makers and hunters who are active in this thread here 👋
But with other hunts I often wonder if the tagged makers are really the makers of the products. Especially when they are popular products by Apple, Google or OpenAI.
I think I've seen launches in the past where makers were tagged that were not really the makers.
Any thoughts on maker verification? Even if it is just voluntary?
Flowtica Scribe
This is a really interesting topic. The way I see it, there's a natural tension here between what makes Product Hunt special (its discovery "magic") and its growing influence, which makes makers want more control.
This problem usually happens when a maker team wants to control their own launch story, but a hunter gets excited and shares it first. It's a great thing that makers care so much about their launch. But let's imagine if only makers could post products. I think PH would be a lot less busy and fun every day, and we'd lose the charm of spontaneous sharing and "hunting." The truth is, most maker teams don't put a ton of special energy into organizing a PH launch; the few who are very active are the exception, not the rule.
From another angle, automatically verifying domain ownership for every launch is also really hard. Take a typical iOS app, for example. The URL is on apps.apple.com. How could the real maker automatically verify a domain they don't own? Product Hunt does have a system for verifying and claiming a product hub page, but that requires submitting materials for a manual review. Imagine if every single launch needed that kind of manual work—the workload for the PH team would be impossible. It just doesn't scale.
So, I think the current system is a balance that has been figured out over the last 10 years of testing. If a maker team wants to take over a launch, they can already contact the PH editors to modify or delete a post they think is inappropriate, and then organize their own. That's usually not a problem. Or, they can plan ahead and schedule their own launch page in advance to avoid unexpected hunts.
But then again, I always tell the makers I work with (I just told a maker this today!): an unexpected hunt is actually a good sign. It's proof that your product is getting real-world buzz. The most important thing is to just keep a level head. :)
Domain verification sounds like a solid move — but only if it doesn’t kill momentum. Product Hunt thrives because it’s fast and maker-friendly. Add too many steps, and you risk discouraging genuine indie builders from sharing early versions.
That said, trust and authenticity do matter, especially as more AI-generated or rebranded tools pop up. A lightweight verification option (like DNS or email proof) could be great for credibility, without making it mandatory.
At Growstack, we’ve seen how small signals of trust (like verified logos or domain proof) can boost user confidence — especially in B2B workflows. So a balance might be ideal: optional domain verification for those who want extra trust, without blocking spontaneous launches.