DR3 vs DR4: 979 startup, SaaS and AI directories, before and after

Ahrefs replaces its Domain Rating with a new version, DR4, on December 1, 2026. We explained what DR4 changes in our last post. This one is the full before and after for the sites where makers list their products.

On November 8, 2026, we read the DR3 and the DR4 of 1,190 sites: 979 directories on their own domain, 23 more on a subdomain or a hosting platform, and 188 review sites, communities, media and design galleries for comparison. This is what we found:

• The median Domain Rating of the 979 directories goes from 40 to 23. 56% lost more than 5 points, 31% stayed within 5 points, and 13% gained more than 5.
• Launch platforms fell the most. Their median goes from 52 to 15.5. 138 of the 146 lost more than 5 points, and none gained more than 5.
• The "DR 50+" lists shrink by almost half. 360 directories had a DR3 of 50 or more; 203 have a DR4 of 50 or more. Among launch platforms, 80 become 13.
• A third of directories end under 10. 339 directories have a DR4 under 10, against 119 in DR3, and 141 have a DR4 under 1.
• Review sites, communities and business directories held. Review and comparison sites go from a median of 67.5 to 71.5, communities from 56 to 62, and business and web directories from 64 to 67.
• Directories on a subdomain lost the score they borrowed. The 19 on a subdomain go from a median of 51 to 11.

How we checked#

• The sites. Every directory in Submitium's database, sold or not (357 sites), and every link in 11 public lists of directories and launch platforms on GitHub (1,046 more sites).¹ That makes 1,403 sites.
• What we left out. 124 sites that didn't answer, 10 parked, closed or for sale, and 79 links that aren't directories: submission forms, payment pages, design tools, app stores and large software platforms. 1,190 sites remain.
• The kinds. For sites in our database, the kind we recorded when we checked them. For the others, the section of the list they came from. We checked one by one every site named in this post and every site with a DR3 of 70 or more. For sites outside our database, the kind is approximate.
• The scores. We called Ahrefs' free Domain Rating API (opens in a new tab) twice for each site on November 8, 2026, with version=dr3 and version=dr4. Domain Rating by Ahrefs.
• "Held". A site held when its DR4 is within 5 points of its DR3, up or down.

979 directories: from a median of 40 to 23#

The drop is largest in the middle of the scale. Directories with a DR3 between 30 and 69 lost a median of 15 points. Those already under 10 had little left to lose.

"Fell" means a drop of more than 5 points.

In DR3, 656 of the 979 directories had a score of 30 or more. In DR4, 402 do.

By kind of site#

DR3 and DR4 are medians. Fell, held and rose: more than 5 points down, within 5 points either way, more than 5 points up. The 52 directories we couldn't place in one kind count in the totals only.

Ahrefs' explanation fits the split: DR4 gives more weight to links from sites that get search traffic, and review sites, communities, media and old business directories have pages people find through search.

Launch platforms#

Launch platforms are the sites where a product gets a page, a launch day and votes. In DR3, 80 of them had a score of 50 or more. In DR4, 13 do. 60 of the 146 have a DR4 under 10.

The 20 directories that lost the most#

Directories on their own domain, ordered by points lost:

12 of the 20 are launch platforms. 9 of the 20 were in Submitium's catalog on November 8. All of those but EasyLaunch have a DR4 under 10, and they leave the catalog (more on this below).

The 15 directories that gained the most#

Most of the directories that gained are AI tool directories. We checked that each one still works as a directory, nothing more: a score can also rise after a site changes owner or gets a few strong links. Among the sites that gained a lot, several were parked or for sale; we left those out.

The launch platforms and tool directories with the highest DR4#

The list a maker would start from: launch platforms, software and SaaS directories, and AI tool directories, with a DR4 of 72 or more.

Outside these kinds, the highest DR4 scores belong to startup databases and old business listings: Crunchbase 91, Wellfound 89, Built In 87, MerchantCircle 86, PitchBook 85.

Our catalog, and what we changed#

Submitium sells submissions to directories that list a product for free when their badge is on its site. On November 8, we sold 103 of them, all badge directories, 30 of them launch platforms.

• The directories we sold went from a median of 55 to 19, and 98% of them lost more than 5 points.
• The 877 other directories in this study went from a median of 39 to 24. 51% lost more than 5 points.
• Findly.tools and DailyPings, two directories run by the team behind Submitium, went from 82 to 56 and from 66 to 33.

What we changed: Submitium now sells only directories with a DR4 of 10 or more. 68 of the 103 directories we sold on November 8 pass; the others leave the catalog. The 68 have a median DR4 of 27. We read each directory's DR4 from Ahrefs and show it in the directory list.

The 25 badge directories we sell with the highest DR4, measured on November 8:

Findly.tools and DailyPings are run by the team behind Submitium. "AI products only" directories list AI tools only.

This doesn't mean a listing raises your own Domain Rating. We don't promise any change to it: Domain Rating is Ahrefs' score, and Ahrefs decides how it counts each link.

Directories on a subdomain or a hosting platform#

In DR3, a subdomain borrowed the score of its root domain. In DR4, it gets its own. The 19 directories in our list that live on a subdomain of a larger site went from a median of 51 to 11. A list of AI tools on a subdomain of an SEO company's site went from 91 to 6.

The 4 directories hosted on Notion, Gumroad, Beehiiv or Lovable had a DR3 of 91 or 92, the score of the platform. Their DR4 is 0, 0, 2.3 and 34.

What this means for directory links#

A link is still a link#

Ahrefs changed how it scores links, not the links themselves. A listing that links to your site on November 30 links to it on December 1, with the same attribute.

• Links help search engines find you. Google finds many new pages because it "extracts a link from a known page to a new page", as its guide to how Search works (opens in a new tab) explains. We saw it on 1,000 new websites.
• Listings put a product in front of people. A directory's visitors see your listing, whatever its score. And directory pages are read by AI assistants: in our study of 200 AI answers, directories and review sites were 5% of the sources cited.
• Google doesn't use Domain Rating. John Mueller, of Google, in a 2023 Ask Googlebot video reported by Search Engine Journal (opens in a new tab): "Google does not use scores from third-party SEO tools for search."

But not every directory counts the same in DR4#

Ahrefs' announcement (opens in a new tab) says DR4 gives more weight to links from sites it estimates have organic search traffic. A directory with a DR4 near 0 adds little to a backlink profile as Ahrefs now measures it. In our data, that is 141 of the 979 directories under 1, and 339 under 10.

What to do#

1. Sort your list by DR4, not DR3. A directory sold as "DR 70" this month may be 15 in December. Check its DR4 with Ahrefs' free API or the comparison page linked in our first post.
2. Skip directories with a DR4 near 0 if links are why you submit. Keep them only if their visitors are your buyers.
3. Check whether people visit a directory. Search Google for your category and note which directories show up, and look at whether listings show visits or votes.
4. Add the sites that held. Review sites, communities and the larger launch platforms kept their scores. They ask for more work than a badge directory.
5. Don't buy a Domain Rating. A score one tool computes can change when the tool changes, as it does on December 1.

Questions#

Which directories lost the most Domain Rating in DR4?#

Launch platforms: their median goes from 52 to 15.5, and 138 of the 146 we checked lost more than 5 points. The 20 largest drops in our data were directories with a DR3 between 56 and 75 and a DR4 between 0 and 20.

Which kinds of sites kept their Domain Rating?#

Review and comparison sites (median 67.5 to 71.5), communities (56 to 62), media (79 to 79) and old business and web directories (64 to 67). They all have pages people find through search.

How many directories still have a DR of 50 or more?#

In our data, 203 of 979 in DR4, against 360 in DR3. Launch platforms at 50 or more go from 80 to 13.

Is a directory with a DR4 of 0 worth submitting to?#

For links, as Ahrefs measures them, it adds little. It can still be worth it if its visitors are the people you want to reach. Check whether it has any.

Does Submitium still sell launch platforms?#

Yes, the ones with a DR4 of 10 or more. Since this study, Submitium only sells directories with a DR4 of 10 or more: 68 of the 103 we sold on November 8.

Footnotes#

1. The lists, as published on GitHub on November 8, 2026: awesome-startup-directories (opens in a new tab), Awesome-SaaS-Launch-List (opens in a new tab), awesome-ai-directories (opens in a new tab), awesome-directories-list (opens in a new tab), awesome-startup-directories (opens in a new tab) (a second list with the same name), awesome-saas-directories (opens in a new tab), awesome-directories (opens in a new tab), ai-directories (opens in a new tab), Awesome-Startup-Launch (opens in a new tab), Startup-Launch-List (opens in a new tab) and PlacesToPostYourStartup (opens in a new tab). We took the addresses only. ↩