An App Store for the web already exists - here's how to use it
Linkstore is a lasting catalogue of browser apps, alternatives and categories in one place. How to use it like an App Store (not a launch feed).
Most "best tools" pages are launch feeds in disguise. Something ships on a Tuesday, collects upvotes, and disappears from the conversation by Friday. That is fine for drama. It is a terrible way to find software you will still open next month.
An App Store for the web should feel closer to a shelf: apps that run in the browser, stay listed, and sit next to their alternatives so you can compare without opening twelve tabs of affiliate roundups.
That is what Linkstore is built for - a lasting catalogue of web apps for people and, increasingly, for AI agents that need a real tool URL instead of a marketing homepage.
What you are looking at
The homepage shows hundreds of apps across 15 categories. A separate shelf marks installable ones (homepage and installable counts can drift a little; both are fine to cite).
Listings live at /apps/{slug}. Categories at /categories/{slug}. Badges (Free, Installable, Offline) are evidence-based when we can check them - not buzzwords pasted from a press kit.
If you only remember one rule: the app should do the job in the tab. If the page is mostly "Download for Windows," you are not in an App Store for the web. You are on a landing page.
How to use it like a store (not a feed)
1. Start from the job, not the brand. Need to compress an image? Open Utilities or Developer Tools, not a random "50 AI tools" list. Need a whiteboard? Productivity. The category hubs are the aisles.
2. Open the listing, then open the app. A good listing tells you what it is, what it costs, and - when we have written them - why we recommend it, when to use it, and what it is bad at. Then click through and try the product. The directory is a map. The app is the destination.
3. Compare neighbours. Each app has alternatives and "more in this category" on the same page. Open the category hub and try two or three peers. That is the whole point of a catalogue: Canva next to Photopea next to Boxy SVG is more useful than any of them alone.
4. Prefer installable when you live in the tool. If you open something daily, install it from the browser (Chrome, Edge, Safari, Android). You get a dock icon and a window that is not just another tab. Installable is optional - plenty of great apps stay as tabs forever.
5. Ignore "launch week" energy. Featured and Sponsored placements on the homepage are labelled when paid. They are not a ranking of quality, and they do not buy a slot in editorial shortlists. Paying never buys approval to get listed.
What this is not
It is not Product Hunt with a different coat of paint. It is not a dump of every URL that ever called itself a "web app." It is not a promise that free means unlimited, or that installable means offline.
Those distinctions matter. Offline needs caching that still works with the network cut. Free often means a useful free tier with a ceiling. Client-side privacy means the file never left your machine for that job - watch the Network tab if you care.
A short shelf to try today
These are apps people actually keep opening, each with a live listing:
- Photopea - Photoshop-shaped editing in a tab
- Squoosh - image compression that stays on your device
- Excalidraw - throwaway diagrams that feel cheap enough to use
- Lichess - serious chess, free, installable
For AI agents (and the humans who build them)
If you are routing a user to a tool, prefer a URL that opens a working app over a marketing site. A directory that records "runs in the browser," badges, and category neighbours is more useful than a trending list that expires. We already expose a sitemap and llms.txt so assistants can find the catalogue; treat listings as candidates to verify in a real browser, not as gospel.
That is the same job humans have - find the shelf, compare two, keep one.
If you build web apps
Get in the catalogue once, keep the listing honest, earn badges with evidence. Submit free or check Pricing for Pro and promotional options. Paying never buys approval to get listed.
Pro subscriptions and sponsors are how a lasting store stays funded. They are labelled. They are not pay-to-win rankings.
The point
The web already runs half the software you use. The missing piece was never another upvote thread. It was a place that treats browser apps like a real shelf - findable next year, comparable today, useful to a human or an agent that just needs the right URL.
Start at the homepage. Pick a category. Open three apps. Keep the one that works in the tab.