pricing
Sponsor sidebar vs Featured launch
When to buy the €29/mo sponsor rails versus a €19 Featured launch day on MakerHunt.
5 min read
Two paid products look similar on a dark homepage. They solve different jobs. Mixing them is the most common money mistake after “I thought Featured-on meant I paid for Featured.”
Full SKU map: pricing explained. Sales pages: pricing and sponsors. Launch mechanics: how to launch.
One-line split
- Featured (€19, one-shot): a launch day entitlement: skip crawl like Premium, Featured pill, compete for the 3-cell home Featured strip while
ongoing(shared with SEO launches). - Sidebar sponsor (€29/mo): always-on advertiser chrome: home Sponsors list + left/right rails on public pages (capped slots). Not a launch type. Not PotD.
Featured-on badge (free crawl) is a third thing. Do not collapse the vocabulary.
Featured launch (€19, one-shot)
- Skips free badge crawl (as Premium €7 does)
- Featured pill on the hunt
- Competes for the three-cell home Featured strip while
ongoing(with SEO €39 launches) - Ends as strip competition when the launch day closes; listing chrome can remain on the project, but the strip rotates with live Featured/SEO
- Still subject to votes for ranks; PotD is not included (PotD ranking)
Pick Featured when you have a launch day and want it visually loud on the feed. UTC open is ~09:00 (UTC playbook). Prep the thread: comments and upvotes.
Do not expect: Product of the Day, month-long homepage logo, or a MakerWall product injected into Today’s hunt as if it shipped today.
Sidebar sponsor (€29/mo)
- Home Sponsors list
- Left/right rails on public pages (slot cap; think on the order of 10)
- Not a product launch and not PotD
- Meant for advertisers who want recurring presence
- Does not waive Featured-on crawl for a separate product launch; launch SKUs are separate
Pick sponsor when you want always-on presence without shipping a new product that day. Start at sponsors.
Do not expect: a ranked hunt row, skip-crawl for Free launches, or “sponsored PotD.”
Decision table
| Goal | Buy |
|---|---|
| Launch a product this week | Free, Premium €7, Featured €19, or SEO €39 |
| Stand out on launch day home strip | Featured or SEO |
| Queued operator SEO article + strip | SEO €39 |
| Cannot place Featured-on badge, no strip needed | Premium €7 |
| Logo on rails for a month | Sponsor €29/mo |
| Both a launch and ongoing ads | Featured (or SEO) and sponsor |
| Buy PotD | Impossible; earn it |
Decision tree
- Is there a product going
ongoingon a UTC date? If no, sponsor (or nothing). If yes, pick a launch SKU first. - Need the 3-cell strip? Featured or SEO. Else Free or Premium.
- Need a review article in queue? SEO. Else stop at Featured if you only wanted strip.
- Need month-long logo presence? Add sponsor. Do not buy Featured every week as a fake retainer unless you actually launch weekly.
- Only saw “Featured” in the badge art? Read Featured-on guide and legal/badges. That path is Free crawl, not €19.
Buyer mistakes
- Buying sponsor the week of launch and wondering why you are not in the Featured strip
- Buying Featured for “brand awareness” with no ship date and no submit
- Stacking SEO + sponsor expecting double PotD odds (PotD still votes-only)
- Calling sponsor “Featured” in ad creative
- Expecting MakerWall startup logos to appear as fresh hunt products
- Treating empty Featured strip cells (which link to pricing) as a bug instead of inventory
What neither buys
- Guaranteed Product of the Day
- Fake traffic or DR metrics (honest proof)
- A MakerWall product injected into the hunt feed
- Instant SEO article publish (SEO is queued ops)
- Waiver of community norms on comments (comments prep)
How they look on the page (operator mental model)
| Surface | Featured launch | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| Today hunt rows | Yes, as a launching project | No (unless you also launched) |
| Home Featured strip | Yes, while ongoing (shared) | No |
| Home Sponsors list | No | Yes |
| Site-wide rails | No | Yes |
| Project PotD chrome | Only if you ranked | Never from sponsor alone |
| Duration | Launch day focus | Monthly |
After close, check winners and trending like everyone else. Sponsor does not change those boards.
Stacking without waste
Reasonable stack: Featured or SEO for the ship week + sponsor if you want residual logo presence. Unreasonable stack: sponsor instead of a launch SKU when you needed a hunt day; or Featured every day as pseudo-sponsorship.
Free still exists. If you can keep a Featured-on badge on the homepage, start there (launch types, add badge). Pay when constraint or strip/article value is real.
Checklist before checkout
- Goal written in one sentence: launch day vs always-on ads
- UTC date chosen if launching
- Featured-on vs Featured SKU vocabulary clear
- PotD expectations removed from the invoice story
- Compared totals on pricing and sponsors
- Skimmed FAQ for payment / entitlement questions
Honesty section
We sell chrome and scheduling, not invented authority. Sponsor is advertising. Featured is a louder launch day. SEO adds a queued article on top of Featured entitlements. None of them are PotD. None of them are a fake DR badge. If a salesperson (including a future version of us) pitches otherwise, this post wins until the product pages change.
Next step
Compare on pricing and sponsors. Launch path: how to launch → submit. Sibling deep dive: pricing explained.