Best Product Hunt Videos of 2021

Welcome to the first annual product video awards. A celebration of the finest product videos in the world of startups and technology.

The judges have watched every product video that was launched on Product Hunt this year and selected the very best.

There are four awards categories:

Best Product Demo 🖥

This award goes to the product with the best product demo. To qualify for this the video must be predominantly a real demonstration of the product. For example, a screen and camera recording of the founder doing a walkthrough. A runner up and honourable mentions will also be recognised.

Best Promo Video 🤩

This award goes to the product with the best promotional video. Promo videos are typically short, advertising-style videos. Their purpose isn’t really to show how the product works. While a promo video can come in many forms, for the purpose of these awards a promo video is generally defined as something that’s not a product demo. A runner up and honourable mentions will also be recognised.

Funniest Video 🤣

This award goes to the funniest product video of the year — demo or promo. The key criteria here is making the judges laugh.

Best Best Video 🚀

This is the grand prize for the best product video of the year — again, demo or promo. What the judges are looking for here is impressiveness. The story has got to be on point, the editing has got to be great, picture and audio quality should be excellent, and of course there must be a bit of x-factor — a certain je ne sais quoi.

Enough chat. Let’s get into the awards.

Best Product Demo 2021

🏆 Winner: Butter

One of the best things about making a video app is being able to make videos using your product. Jakob and his team joined a video call in Butter together and then hit record. The rest of us get to see how Butter works as if we’re there in the workshop with them. This video is fun, human, gets straight to the point, and shows the product nice and clearly. That’s why it’s the best product demo of 2021.

🏅 Runner up: SavvyCal

There were a lot of fun, high-energy demos on Product Hunt this year, but there’s something about Derrick’s calming presence, great product, and no-bullshit walk-through that makes this demo special. This video makes us, the viewer, feel like we’re on a call with Derrick and he’s giving us a well rehearsed demo. SavvyCal is a strong runner up.

👏 Honourable mention: Detail

Demoing a mobile app is hard. Demoing a mobile app and its companion desktop app at the same time is even harder, but Detail nail it. With some smart recording tricks and nicely chosen shots Detail shows how the product works in under a minute. Nice details.

👏 Honourable mention: Wormhole

If you can show how your product works and why it’s awesome in less than 20 seconds, I think you’re onto something. Wormhole to the moon.

Best Promo Video 2021

🏆 Winner: Mighty

Big budget, hype product, memes, good story, and Adam Lisagor’s voice. Is this the ultimate startup video formula? Very hard to beat.

🏅 Runner up: Macro

Most promo videos are a frantic montage of stock footage, big titles, and loud music with claps. But Macro took a different approach with theirs, a ~vibes~ approach. When was the last time you learned about a new product via a Pokemon-style Gameboy intro, 8 bit soundtrack and all? Jamais! I choose you, Macro!

👏 Honourable mention: Liveblocks

I’ve watched nearly every Product Hunt demo video over the past two years and when it comes to devtools launches, the vast majority are demos (nothing wrong with that!). But Liveblocks did a great job bucking that trend with a high energy promo that wouldn’t feel out of place announcing a Gen Z banking app.

👏 Honourable mention: Infinity Maps

There’s nothing I love more than aimlessly zooming in and out on an infinite canvas. Figma, Miro, Excalidraw, whatever. Infinity Maps remind us of this simple joy by making it the main transition between scenes in their demo video — and to great effect.

Funniest Video 2021

🏆 Winner: tl;dv

I watch this video in my spare time. I tell people about it at dinner. I wrote about it in Christmas cards to my family. I was on a date when she asked if I'd seen The Shining — I told her to forget that and watch the tl;dv video. Jack and the bearded Wendy take home this year’s prize of funniest video.

The Very Best Product Video 2021

🏆 Winner: Glide Pages

Webflow have long been the kings of product videos. Their YouTube channel is a shining example of well made tutorials and how to’s. But someone’s coming for their no-code video throne. This year Glide released Glide 2.0, a whole new version of their no-code app builder. They launched it on Product Hunt with a nice video summarising the changes and landed #3 Product of the Week. But it was their launch for and Glide Pages that really caught the judges’ eye. It’s got a great story about Glide’s evolution and the new feature; it’s got concise demos in high definition; and it’s got butter smooth transitions. This is what a great product video looks like. The grand prix for 2021, the product video Palme d’Or, goes to Glide.

Congratulations to all our winners. See you in 2022! 💋