How to get your startup covered by Ars Technica
TL;DR
Ars Technica is a technology news site owned by Condé Nast, with its own reader forum, the Ars OpenForum. News coverage is free and editorial: you send a tip or press release through the contact form, and the editors decide whether a story exists. The forum is free to join and suits founders who take part in technical discussions as members.
What is Ars Technica?
Ars Technica has covered technology for over 25 years, by its own description, with sections on gadgets, science, AI, security, policy, cars and gaming. Its readers are technical: developers, IT administrators, scientists and hardware enthusiasts who check the method behind every claim.
The Ars OpenForum at arstechnica.com/civis is the site's discussion board. In October 2026 its statistics showed about 512,000 members and over 31 million messages. Sections include The Boardroom (business, careers and starting a company), Programmer's Symposium, Linux Kung Fu, The Server Room and Agora Classifieds.
Who should pitch Ars Technica?
- Startups with technical news: a new chip, an open source release, security research, or a science result with data behind it.
- Founders who can explain exactly how their product works, with numbers and a method that readers can check.
- Developer tool and hardware founders who want blunt feedback from experienced engineers in the forum.
- Skip it for marketing announcements, funding rounds without a technical story, and lifestyle apps.
How much does Ars Technica cost?
Editorial coverage is free and cannot be bought. Advertising is a separate business: the site lists adinquiries@condenast.com, and the contact form has separate departments for advertising and event partnerships. Joining the OpenForum is free with registration. Ars also sells a subscription, and The Lounge forum accepts posts from subscribers only.
The domain authority of 92 belongs to arstechnica.com as a whole; judge a forum post by the readers and feedback it brings.
How do you share your startup on Ars Technica?
- Read recent stories in your field on Ars Technica and note which reporter covers it.
- Open the Ars Technica contact form and choose the department "Tips, Suggestions, and Press Releases". The form asks for your name, a username, your email, a subject and a message, and ends with a CAPTCHA.
- Keep the message short: what is new, the technical detail behind it, the release date, and one link to documentation, a paper, a repository or a demo.
- For the forum, register at the Ars OpenForum and read the posting guidelines. They ban personal attacks, trolling and second accounts, and moderators judge the grey areas.
- Join threads in the section that matches your topic, such as The Boardroom for founders. Keep your product out of Agora Classifieds: it is open to private individuals only, with no vendors or dealers.
Tips to get more out of Ars Technica
- Lead with evidence: benchmark numbers, the test method, a paper or the source code.
- Build a posting history before you mention your company. The guidelines say accounts without an established posting history can be banned outright for egregious violations.
- Answer questions in your field for a few weeks, then share your product once, with your role stated openly.
- Prepare for tough comments under any article about you, and reply with facts rather than slogans.
Our verdict
Ars Technica suits deep tech, open source and hardware founders whose story holds up in front of expert readers. Coverage is never guaranteed, and nobody has to reply to your tip. The OpenForum is the slower, free way in: take part as a member and the community gets to know you before your launch.
More options: see all tech media, blogs and newsletters. Planning a launch around press coverage? The Fe/male Switch startup game walks women founders from idea to first customers.