



Rare Big Deal
Limited-time deals on the best apps, SaaS & AI tools
Table of contents
What is Rare Big Deal?
Rare Big Deal is an open-source, community-driven directory of limited-time deals and discounts on the best iOS Apps, Mac Apps, tvOS Apps, SaaS, AI tools, and Web Apps. It surfaces hand-curated offers—lifetime deals, annual discounts, and coupon codes—with a special focus on seasonal moments like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Makers submit their own deal in about a minute by opening a Pull Request on GitHub, and the rest is automatic: every accepted app gets its own standalone product page plus a backlink from rarebigdeal.com. Shoppers can browse hundreds of apps by category or popularity and discover indie products they'll actually love.
Key Features
- Curated deals across every category: Hundreds of vetted offers spanning developer tools, productivity, design, marketing, finance, health, SEO, and more.
- GitHub Pull Request submission: Add your deal in ~1 minute by editing a single line in the README—no dashboards or forms required.
- Automatic product pages: Each accepted submission is turned into a dedicated, SEO-friendly product page instead of a plain table row.
- Built-in backlink: Every listing earns a backlink from rarebigdeal.com, helping makers with discoverability and SEO.
- Wide platform coverage: iOS, macOS, tvOS, SaaS, AI, and Web apps all live under one roof.
- Category browsing & recommendations: Filter by category and get relevant suggestions as you explore the catalog.
- Most popular & top deals: A "Top 25 Most Popular" view highlights the offers the community loves most.
- Open-source & free: The whole project is open-source and free to submit to, with the source available on GitHub.
Who Can Benefit from Rare Big Deal
- Indie makers & founders: Anyone wanting to promote a launch discount, earn a backlink, and reach a community of buyers during Black Friday/Cyber Monday and beyond.
- Bargain hunters: Deal seekers looking for genuinely discounted software, lifetime deals, and coupon codes in one curated place.
- Developers: Technical users comfortable with GitHub who appreciate a Pull Request-based submission flow.
- Mac & iOS power users: People hunting for native, high-quality apps and utilities at a discount.
- SaaS & AI tool buyers: Teams and individuals shopping for software subscriptions and AI tools with meaningful savings.
What Makes Rare Big Deal Unique
- Developer-native submissions: A GitHub Pull Request workflow makes listing a deal feel natural for the maker community rather than burying it behind a form.
- Pages, not rows: Instead of a giant table, it generates standalone product pages with rich metadata pulled from each site—great for both users and SEO.
- Automagic pipeline: Add one line and the platform handles page generation, categorization, and the backlink automatically.
- Open-source transparency: The entire directory is open-source, so anyone can see how it works and contribute.
- Community-curated quality: Offers are reviewed and curated, keeping the catalog relevant and trustworthy for the 442+ makers who use it.
Pros
- Free and fast to submit: Listing a deal takes about a minute and costs nothing for the standard flow.
- Real SEO value: Each listing includes a dedicated product page and a backlink, which is rare for a deals aggregator.
- High-quality, curated catalog: Human curation keeps low-effort or irrelevant deals out, so the listings stay useful.
- Broad coverage in one place: iOS, Mac, tvOS, SaaS, AI, and Web apps are all browsable from a single directory.
- Open-source and transparent: Being open-source builds trust and lets the community improve the platform.
Cons
- Requires GitHub familiarity: The Pull Request submission flow is friendly to developers but less obvious for non-technical makers.
- Deals expire: Offers are time-limited, so many listings show as expired once their promotion window closes.
- English only: Submissions are accepted in English only, mostly for technical reasons.
- Curation is selective: The team reserves the right to curate deals and tweak metadata, so not every submission is guaranteed.
- Top placement is paid: Standard listings are free, but featuring a deal at the top of the list is a paid option.
Links
Summary
Rare Big Deal is the maker-friendly home for limited-time software discounts. Whether you're hunting for a lifetime deal on a Mac app, a coupon for an AI tool, or a Black Friday SaaS discount, you'll find curated offers organized by category and popularity. For makers, submitting is as easy as opening a GitHub Pull Request—and you walk away with a dedicated product page and a backlink for free. It's open-source, community-driven, and built to make finding (and posting) a great deal effortless.