How to write a Product Hunt tagline

Your Product Hunt tagline is one line of up to 60 characters, and it does more work than anything else on the listing. Product Hunt's own launch preparation page calls it “typically the main element that drives someone to click on a product from the homepage”. This guide is about writing one: a process, six formulas, examples, the mistakes to avoid, and how the tagline fits with the rest of your launch. Already have a tagline? Paste it into the free Product Hunt tagline checker for a live count and a checklist.

What Product Hunt asks for

• 60 characters at most. Both the Launch Guide and the launch preparation page give the same limit.
• A very short description, with no gimmicks or over-the-top language. Product Hunt's good example is “Send your friends a voicemail meow from a real cat.” Its not-allowed example is “The most ameozing app in the app store”.
• The name field takes only the name. No description or emoji unless they are part of the name, according to the help center. So the tagline is where the description goes.
• Plain words. The Launch Guide asks makers to skip the marketing gloss and “say what the product does so someone gets it on the first read”, with the Mom test as the bar.

The checker's rules section covers the mechanical checks. The rest of this page is about the writing.

Start from a one-sentence brief

Most weak taglines come from writing the tagline first. Write down three facts before you write any tagline:

1. Who it is for, as specifically as you can honestly say. “Shopify store owners” beats “businesses”.
2. The job it does for them, as a verb and an object: “find duplicate orders”, “turn a CSV into a dashboard”.
3. What is different: the input it takes, the step it removes, or the constraint it works under, such as offline, open source or no account.

Then write ten versions without editing, and only then start cutting. Read the best three aloud and keep the one a stranger could repeat back to you. If you built your app with an AI builder, write the brief from what the app actually does, not from the prompt you gave it; how to launch a vibe-coded app explains why.

Six formulas that work

The checker page already covers [Outcome] for [who] and [Action] without [pain]. Here are six more. Treat them as starting points, not templates. Each example is for a made-up product and fits in 60 characters.

Good vs weak tagline examples

Every line below fits the 60-character limit, and every product is made up. The weak versions are the kind of line that gets written in the submit form at the last minute.

Common mistakes

The tagline checker flags the mechanical problems as you type: going over 60 characters, a trailing full stop, all caps, emoji, hype words and repeating the product name. These are the ones a checker can't catch:

• Describing the technology instead of the result. Model names and frameworks belong in the maker comment.
• Writing for investors. “The operating system for” and “reimagining” describe ambition, not a product someone can use today.
• Insider words. Your internal feature names and acronyms mean nothing to someone scrolling the homepage.
• A feature list. “Notes, tasks, calendar, chat and docs” gives the reader five things to forget. Lead with one.
• A slogan that needs context. A pun that only lands once you know the product won't earn the click that would give people the context.
• Claims you can't back up. “#1”, “fastest” and “best” invite doubt, and break Product Hunt's no over-the-top language rule.
• An audience of everyone. “For teams” or “for creators” tells nobody it is for them.
• Repeating the tagline in the description. You have 60 characters plus 260 more. Don't spend the second allowance saying the same thing.

How the tagline works with the rest of the listing

People meet your launch in stages, and each field has its own job. Make them add to each other rather than repeat each other.

• Name: just the name, per Product Hunt's rules. It tells people what to call you, nothing more.
• Thumbnail: the square image next to your name and tagline in the feed. The help center recommends 240×240. Together, name, thumbnail and tagline are everything people see before they click.
• Tagline: what it does, and for whom. Its one job is the click.
• Description: the next level of detail on your launch page. The Launch Guide and help center cap it at 260 characters (the older launch preparation page still says 500, so write to 260). Cover the problem, how the product works and one detail only you can claim.
• Gallery: at least two images, with 1270×760 recommended, according to the help center. Make the first image show the tagline's promise happening. If the tagline says “CSV to dashboard”, image one is a CSV becoming a dashboard.
• First comment: the story. The Launch Guide calls it the Maker comment, says it sets the tone for the whole conversation, and suggests covering your product, your team, what makes it unique and the story behind the build.

A worked example

Here is how the fields fit together for a made-up product:

• Name: Gridcast
• Tagline: Turn a CSV into a dashboard you can share by link
• Description: Drop in a CSV or paste a Google Sheets link. Gridcast picks a chart for each column and gives you a dashboard at a public or password-protected link. No SQL and no setup, and nothing leaves your browser until you publish.
• First gallery image: a spreadsheet on the left, the finished dashboard on the right.
• First comment: why it was built (tired of pasting spreadsheet screenshots into Slack), what is free, and the feedback the maker wants.

The tagline promises the outcome, the description explains how, the image proves it, and the comment makes it personal. None of them repeats another.

Test it before launch day

• Try the Mom test the Launch Guide suggests. Read the tagline to someone outside tech and ask what the product does. If they can't say, rewrite it.
• Cover the name and thumbnail. The tagline should still make sense on its own.
• Read it next to today's Product Hunt homepage. Would yours stand out, or blend in with the lines around it?
• Run it through the tagline checker for the length and the mechanical checks.
• Reuse it. A good tagline also works as your landing page subheadline, your Open Graph title and your X bio. If it doesn't fit there, it probably isn't clear enough yet.

Next steps

With the tagline settled, the rest of the launch gets easier. The Product Hunt launch checklist covers timing, images and launch-day steps. Launching on Hacker News too? It works differently, so follow the Show HN launch checklist.

LaunchLoop reads your repo and live site and drafts your tagline, description, maker comment, X thread, LinkedIn post and launch images, all inside each platform's limits. The free preview includes the tagline; see pricing for the full kit.

Sources

• Launch Guide, Product Hunt Help Center
• How to post a product, Product Hunt Help Center
• Preparing for launch, Product Hunt