AI tools directory website template
Launch an AI tools directory: paid submissions with multiple price levels, badge verification, auto-crawled tool info, SEO-optimized pages and a CMS — built on ShipAny.
Last updated: Oct 8, 2026
Directories are one of the classic indie business models: curate tools in a fast-growing category, rank in search, and charge makers to get listed or featured. The AI Tools Directory template gives you the whole site.
What you get out of the box
- A directory UI with sidebar and card layouts, mobile-friendly.
- Paid submissions with multiple price levels, plus badge verification for submitted tools.
- Auto-crawled tool information to speed up adding listings, with full editing afterwards.
- SEO-optimized pages for every tool and category.
- A CMS backend to manage users, orders and tools, with Redis caching for fast pages.
The business model
- Seed the directory with a few hundred tools in one focused category.
- Rank for "best [category] tools" and "[tool] alternatives" searches with category and tool pages.
- Charge for submissions and featured spots once traffic arrives — and add AdSense for extra revenue.
The template is a Next.js community template; regular price $199, $99 with ShipAny Premium.