Let’s jump into how Product Hunt has evolved over the past few years, according to two successful launches of 2PR.io—one in summer 2023 and one in February 2025.
TL;DR: The game has changed.
Editorial curation (featuring) is now prominent. Your product must be shortlisted by the PH team to be exposed and have any possibility of Product of the Day.
Competition has increased exponentially. In 2025, a mere 5 of 135 products were featured on the launch day of 2PR.io.
If a product is not featured, it hardly receives any attention. Here, it took four tries before it finally did.
1/ The Greatest Hurdle: Being Featured
One of the most frustrating things is that there’s no transparency—you’re never told why some products are included in the shortlist and others are not. But the reason this system exists is obvious:
– The number of new products launching daily has exploded.
– Previously, around 50 products launched every day from 2023—today numbers are even higher.
2/ What Gets You Featured?
✔️ An excellent, unique product that differentiates and offers tangible value. (Here, the product was AI-powered marketing—a hot but also divisive niche.)
✔️ A hunter is not necessary, but it can be useful. Some of the best hunters can skip editorial curation. The team approached them but was rejected.
✔️ Good quality visuals & copy. The initial try did not have well-designed text, images, and video—that proved to be a huge blunder.
✔️ Selecting the appropriate day. The product was released on weekdays thrice and did not get featured. On Sunday, it did, finally.
3/ Key Lessons from the 2025 Launch
How to see if you’re featured?
Go to the bottom of your launch page. If it says “Featured”, you’re all set. If it says “Posted”, you didn’t get in. You’ll find out within 24 hours prior to launch—sometimes just minutes before.
You can reschedule your launch anytime—even after posting—just contact PH support.
Winning on PH is significantly more difficult now. Marketing competition is more difficult on every channel, and PH is no different.