Every category scored by demand signal, competition, opportunity & solo maker edge. Find your niche before you launch.
Based on 101,402 products · Last updated: April 19, 2026
The Product Hunt Category Map is a free, interactive visualization that scores 30 categories across four data-driven dimensions. Use it to identify high-opportunity niches, assess AI competition, and decide where your product has the best chance of standing out.
| Category | Demand Signal | Competition | Opportunity↓ | Solo Maker Edge | Products | Avg ▲ | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 6.4→ | 3.9→ | 4.7→ | 4.2→ | 1,326 | 24 | → |
| Analytics | 5.6→ | 4.1→ | 4.6→ | 0.9→ | 1,677 | 21 | → |
| Software Engineering | 10.0→ | 3.5→ | 4.5→ | 2.0→ | 622 | 50 | → |
| Web Apps | 3.0→ | 4.1→ | 4.5→ | 1.0→ | 1,827 | 11 | → |
| Travel | 3.0→ | 3.6→ | 4.4→ | 2.7→ | 733 | 11 | → |
| Artificial Intelligence | 7.5→ | 5.0→ | 4.4→ | 1.3→ | 3,355 | 28 | → |
| Open Source | 10.0→ | 4.3→ | 4.3→ | 1.8→ | 2,078 | 42 | → |
| Developer Tools | 8.2→ | 4.5→ | 4.3→ | 1.7→ | 2,476 | 31 | → |
| APIs | 7.7→ | 4.0→ | 4.2→ | 1.7→ | 1,543 | 29 | → |
| Education | 3.6→ | 4.7→ | 4.2→ | 0.6→ | 2,741 | 13 | → |
| Marketing | 4.6→ | 5.3→ | 4.2→ | 1.3→ | 3,888 | 17 | → |
| SaaS | 4.2→ | 5.4→ | 4.2→ | 1.2→ | 4,097 | 15 | → |
| 6.2→ | 3.8→ | 4.1→ | 1.5→ | 1,193 | 23 | → | |
| Social Media | 3.9→ | 4.4→ | 4.1→ | 1.3→ | 2,269 | 14 | → |
| Fintech | 3.7→ | 4.5→ | 4.1→ | 0.9→ | 2,440 | 13 | → |
| Music | 5.1→ | 3.7→ | 3.9→ | 1.0→ | 1,015 | 19 | → |
| User Experience | 3.6→ | 4.1→ | 3.9→ | 1.0→ | 1,672 | 13 | → |
| Hiring / Recruiting | 4.4→ | 4.1→ | 3.9→ | 0.7→ | 1,789 | 16 | → |
| Writing | 4.5→ | 3.8→ | 3.7→ | 1.1→ | 1,108 | 17 | → |
| Design | 5.2→ | 6.9→ | 3.7→ | 1.2→ | 6,941 | 19 | → |
| Messaging | 4.3→ | 3.7→ | 3.5→ | 0.8→ | 934 | 16 | → |
| Browser Extensions | 5.5→ | 4.7→ | 3.5→ | 1.6→ | 2,748 | 20 | → |
| Task Management | 3.3→ | 3.5→ | 3.4→ | 0.7→ | 729 | 12 | → |
| Health & Fitness | 2.9→ | 5.4→ | 3.0→ | 1.4→ | 4,028 | 11 | → |
| Mobile | 4.6→ | 7.6→ | 2.8→ | 0.9→ | 8,104 | 17 | → |
| Productivity | 5.3→ | 10.0→ | 2.7→ | 0.9→ | 17,792 | 20 | → |
| Tech | 2.0→ | 3.5→ | 2.5→ | 2.5→ | 663 | 7 | → |
| Other | 3.7→ | 10.0→ | 2.2→ | 1.1→ | 20,461 | 14 | → |
| Gaming | 1.8→ | 3.5→ | 2.0→ | 5.8→ | 566 | 6 | → |
| Crypto | 1.9→ | 3.5→ | 2.0→ | 2.2→ | 587 | 6 | → |
Based on analysis of 101,402 products across 30 categories. Scores updated weekly. Product data updated daily.
Measures upvote demand based on top-5 average performance, normalized across all categories.
clamp((z_score(top5_avg_upvotes) + 2) / 4 × 10, 0, 10)
Z-score normalization of monthly launch volume relative to all categories.
clamp((z_score + 2) / 4 × 10, 0, 10)
Composite of demand signal, success rate, and inverse competition.
demand_signal × 0.4 + success_rate × 0.3 + inverse_competition × 0.3
How solo makers (≤500 followers) perform vs. established teams.
avg_upvotes_solo / avg_upvotes_established × 10 (capped at 10)
AI classification uses Groq (Llama 3.3 70B) to categorize products as AI-native, AI-enhanced, or non-AI based on taglines. Last scored: April 19, 2026.
As of April 2026, Productivity is the most competitive with a competition density score of 10.0/10 and 1369 launches per month.
Open Source leads with a demand signal score of 10.0/10, meaning top launches in this category attract significantly more upvotes than average.
Gaming offers the highest Solo Maker Edge at 5.8/10, meaning solo makers get comparable upvotes to established teams.
Scores are computed weekly every Sunday at 3AM UTC from the latest product data. Product data is scraped and classified daily. Historical snapshots are retained for 12 weeks.
Demand Signal measures the average upvotes of top-5 ranked products in each category, normalized across all categories using z-score. A high score means top launches attract significantly more upvotes, indicating strong audience demand.
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