How to promote your open-source project 💎

TL;DR

Hello! Today we’ll be discussing a rather important topic that rarely comes up in conversations. Let’s talk about marketing.

However, not in the usual sense, when people show ads for some kind of food on TV, but in the sense of another product — open‑source code.

Yes, it may seem simple to you, but it’s not. In this article, I will try to share a few points that I’ve understood over the 3 years of working on code.

Well, let’s get started! 🏎️

🔎 Understanding the target audience of the product

The most basic and simplest thing possible. Why does anyone need your product at all? Who should use it in their work? And many similar questions.

Understand that just because you found something interesting to do rather than playing games or watching shows doesn’t mean it’s as important to others as it is to you. This only means that you’ve created a very slim chance that someone will find your project useful.

Today, with AI, your products are no longer needed by anyone, because there are so many of them that people are already sick of yet another open‑source project that will simply stop being supported until the author runs out of money or finds a new project to develop.

Understanding this, you will see that people don’t register in the app or buy a subscription from you not because they’re mean, but simply because your project doesn’t matter. So, for the project to matter at all, you need to create a unique value proposition. The reason why people will choose you and not anyone else. Understanding this will make it easier for you to promote your product.

👀 Thanks! What's next?

You’ve created a product — some mobile app or SaaS — and you want people to use it. You have an idea of how to promote it, but you don’t know where.

That’s already a good question. However, no matter how many articles I read on this topic, everyone starts describing social media, like how great it is to promote your products there. Thank you very much, as if we didn’t know! In 2026, it’s probably not obvious :|

Also, I’ve read equally silly advice about how you need to make a good README file, as if that’s not obvious? As if you, who are reading this article, are completely stupid.

I won’t do that; I’ll just say that it might work.

📋 Lists

These are various lists where people post projects on different topics. For example, the best projects in JavaScript, and so on.

Let’s say there’s ProductHunt:

My experience has shown that the third place there will give you 10–15 stars and that’s it. More emails from people who are advertising their services.

I came up with something, no, not another ProductHunt clone :). It’s the same list, but its distinguishing feature is the embed.

I came up with something, no, not another ProductHunt clone :). It’s the same list, but its distinctive feature is the embed. I’ve created a platform where you can share what you’ve created and show it to everyone on your project.

With profiles, followers, and much more. The cool thing is that you won’t need to pay anyone to get to the top spot on ProductHunt. On the platform, you’ll be able to create your own embed and share it with others — not as an achievement, but as your own creative work.

https://embedcatalog.com

🌐 Subreddit

I hate Reddit, and if I had my way, I’d never be on this social network, but the fact is that the community doesn’t care about my opinion or anyone else’s.

There are many different subreddits. There’s programming, SaaS, and others. When I create a new repository, I’ll post it on coolgithubprojects once or twice, but no more than that.

Read the Reddit rules, don’t post links on new accounts, and post rarely, only responding to comments. This platform bans accounts for everything. For an image, for several identical texts in a row, and, of course, for a link.

𝕏 Twitter

The most effective method of all existing ones. Apart from money, this is the only platform for real marketing of your project. On par with YouTube, and even better.

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-2111806952439443772-879'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=2111806952439443772&theme=dark" }

But there’s the most obvious drawback: you have to spend a lot, a lot of free time on it. Literally every day, you have to sit and come up with something. If you don’t have the money to pay bloggers $500 per post, then there’s no other option on this platform.

💻 HackerNews

There’s a tiny, literally negligible chance that your app, which no one needs, might suddenly catch other people’s interest, get a lot of upvotes and comments, and you’ll end up with hundreds of stars on the repository.

But it seems to me that the chances of winning the jackpot in a lottery are greater than the chances of getting more than 100 upvotes with AI. This is impossible, mainly without money or people who have a karma of around 100,000.

✒️ Articles

If you’re reading (dev to, daily dev, etc.) this, it means you’ve been drawn into promoting my project platform through the article. I don’t think there’s anything to explain within the article itself.

I can only say from my own experience that if you don’t like writing articles, don’t even try. A seemingly simple article can take from several hours to several days. No one is saying you’ll be writing a book, but it’s a very challenging format, and because people don’t like reading, your efforts will be in vain. It’s much easier to watch a silly video on TikTok, so keep that in mind.

✅️ Conclusion

Marketing is not coding. It doesn’t have algorithms (which we’re discussing), and it doesn’t have any secrets. It’s about daily work and the talent of understanding your audience. You can make 100 posts on Reddit and get 10 stars, or you can upload a video to TikTok or YouTube Shorts and get 1,000 stars in a day. No one knows what will work, but if you don’t create content, your product will remain unwanted by anyone.

If you’ve read this far, I hope I’ve helped you in some way.

Also, I want you to give it a star. I didn’t write this for nothing :)

💎 Star the EmbedCatalog repository ☆

Thanks for your attention! ❤️