Product Hunt: Reviewed
Product Hunt takes an old idea (upvoting) and revitalizes it with incredibly valuable content and a well-designed, consistent aesthetic.
Purpose & Functionality
The Product Hunt team does a wonderful job of explaining its purpose, so I’ll share their description.
“Product Hunt surfaces the best new products, every day. It’s a place for product-loving enthusiasts to share and geek out about the latest mobile apps, websites, hardware projects, and tech creations.”
Each day new products are submitted—typically by their creators. The products are ranked by upvotes. Tapping/clicking on a product shows a link to its website, a short description and a comments section.
Collections are another extremely helpful portion of Product Hunt. They’re just a grouping of products, but I've found them useful when looking for a solution to a specific problem. For example, if you're interested in finding a better photo editting app, check out the iPhoneography collection, and if you've ordered an Apple Watch, you can view the Apple Watch Accessories and Apple Watch Apps collections.
Along with the daily products list and collections, Product Hunt has user profiles that show what each user has upvoted, the products they have shared and the collections they have compiled.
Product Hunt keeps its content quality high by limiting comments and product submissions to users who have been invited by someone in the community. This can be annoying, but I’ve found the content quality worth it.
Rating: simplicity, usefulness, beauty and necessity
- Simplicity. (10/10) The content is what provides value. The functionality of the app is quite simple.
- Usefulness. (9/10) As some one who loves high-quality products, Product Hunt is a gold mine for interesting new things.
- Beauty. (8/10) Product Hunt’s superior design differentiates it from its close competitors.
- Necessity. (6/10) If you’re a tech/product enthusiest, Product Hunt will save you search time and be a valuable resource.
- Stickiness. (8/10) If the content quality remains high, I’ll continue to visit Product Hunt several times a week.
Alternatives
Download the Product Hunt Chrome extension and iOS app.