The SaaS Launch Checklist (For People Who Have Launched Before)

Most SaaS launch checklists are useless. They're padded for SEO, stuffed with generic items like "define your ICP" and "announce on social media." They're written for people who have never launched anything.

This is a checklist for people who have launched before and are tired of forgetting the same operational things every single time. Thirty-five specific items. Each one has a clear purpose. If you skip it, something specific breaks.

Use it as a pre-launch review. Not a one-time read.

Brand (6 items)

1. Project name is consistent everywhere

Check your site, your email footer, your social profiles, your app store listing, and your Stripe descriptor. Capitalization, spacing, trademark symbols, all the same. Inconsistency makes your project look like a draft.

2. Favicon is not the framework default

The Next.js triangle. The Vite lightning bolt. The Create React App atom. Replace it. A favicon that reads "I forgot to finish this" is worse than a blank one.

3. Logo exists in a usable format

SVG ideally, PNG as a fallback. Large enough for print and social. You need this for Product Hunt, app stores, press kits, and your OG image.

4. OG image is set and loads correctly

1200 by 630 pixels, absolute URL, not JavaScript-rendered. See your OG image is broken: how to fix it for the full test sequence.

5. Browser tab title is meaningful

Not "Untitled". Not "localhost:3000". Not just the project name. A real title that tells the reader what this is. "Your Project: one-line description."

6. No placeholder content left over

Search your codebase for "lorem ipsum", "Your Company", and template strings. Remove them all.

Trust and Legal (5 items)

7. Privacy policy exists and is linked from the footer

8. Terms of service exists and is linked from the footer

9. Refund policy exists if you take any payment

Even if your policy is "no refunds," you need to state it. Read the five legal pages every SaaS needs for what each page has to cover.

10. Contact page with a real email address

Not a contact form that disappears into a void. A real email you actually monitor.

11. About page that names the founder or business

Trust signals. Anonymity looks like a scam.

Discoverability (7 items)

12. Every page has a unique title tag

Not the site name on every page. Actual page titles.

13. Every page has a meta description

Under 160 characters. Describes the page, not the entire site.

14. Sitemap.xml exists and is submitted

Check yoursite.com/sitemap.xml. Submit it to Google Search Console. Without a sitemap, Google crawls slowly or misses pages entirely.

15. Robots.txt allows crawlers

Check yoursite.com/robots.txt. Make sure it doesn't have Disallow: / left over from staging.

16. No accidental noindex tags in production

Read how to find a hidden noindex tag. This is one of the most common and damaging SEO mistakes.

17. Canonical URL set on every page

Prevents duplicate content issues. Tells search engines which version of a page is the real one.

18. Basic JSON-LD structured data on the homepage

At minimum, an Organization or SoftwareApplication schema. Helps with search visibility and AI answer engine pickup.

Conversion (5 items)

19. Hero headline answers what/who in under 5 seconds

Not clever. Clear. "X helps Y do Z without A." If a visitor closes the tab before reading the second paragraph, nothing else matters.

20. Primary CTA is obvious and above the fold

One primary action. Not five. The word matters. "Start free" outperforms "Sign up" or "Get started."

21. Pricing page exists (if you charge)

Even if you're free for now. Saying "pricing coming soon" is better than no page. Customers and Stripe both check.

22. First action after signup is clear

The user just made an account. What's the one thing you want them to do next? Make that one thing obvious.

23. Basic FAQ or objection handling exists

"Is it free?" "Do I need a credit card?" "Can I cancel?" Answer the questions that prospects ask before they email you.

Monetization (4 items, skip if free)

24. Payment processor fully onboarded

Not just API keys plugged in. Go through the full business verification, bank account linking, and tax info. If Stripe asks for documents, send them.

25. Statement descriptor matches your brand

The thing that shows up on customers' credit card statements. Make sure it's recognizable. See Stripe froze your account for why this matters.

26. Subscription lifecycle handles cancellation

If users subscribe, they will cancel. The cancellation flow has to work, and the downgrade to free (or access loss) has to happen correctly. Test it by creating a real subscription and canceling.

27. Post-purchase email is sent

A receipt or welcome email. Without it, customers think the charge didn't go through and file disputes. High dispute rate triggers Stripe freezes.

Analytics (3 items)

28. Analytics installed and receiving data

Pick something simple: Plausible, Fathom, Umami, or GA4 if you want more depth. Verify it's receiving pageviews in a real session (incognito window, load your site, check the dashboard).

29. Key events tracked

At minimum: signup, first action completed, subscription started (if paid). You can add more later. These three give you the core funnel.

30. Revenue tracking connected (if paid)

Either through your payment processor's dashboard or through analytics integration. You need to know how much came in, not just how many signed up.

Launch Ops (3 items)

31. Custom domain connected with working SSL

Not a yourname.vercel.app URL. A real domain, and HTTPS working without certificate warnings.

32. 404 page is not the framework default

Custom, on-brand, with a link back to the homepage. Users will hit 404s. Don't dump them into a framework error.

33. Production has no debug output or error traces

Disable debug mode. Strip console.log statements. Error messages to users should be friendly, not stack traces.

Support (2 items)

34. Support email is live and monitored

If you said "email support@yourapp.com" on your site, make sure that inbox exists, forwards somewhere, and you actually check it.

35. Bug report or feedback path exists

Doesn't have to be fancy. A simple "Found a bug? Email us" link works. What matters is that users have a way to tell you when something breaks.

How to actually use this

Read it the day before you launch. Not the day of. Anything you can't check off is a blocker. Fix the blockers. Ship.

If you don't want to do this manually every launch (you'll forget at least three items), CalmLaunch runs all 35 of these automatically based on your project type, plus 77 more constants that aren't on this list. Adaptive, scored, and free for the first three projects. No account needed to start.

Common questions

Is 35 items too many?

No. Most SaaS launch checklists have 50 to 80 padded items. 35 is the minimum set where skipping any one of them causes a specific, known problem. It's the shortest the list can be without missing something important.

What if I'm launching in stealth / no marketing?

You can skip some of the Conversion and Discoverability items. But the Trust and Legal, Monetization, Analytics, and Launch Ops items still apply. Your first customer will want to know who you are, how they get refunded, and whether their payment went through.

How is this different from a Notion template?

A Notion template is a static document. This is a reference. CalmLaunch takes it a step further: it actually checks your site and tells you which items are done and which aren't, based on a real scan.