RepoClean faces a fundamental positioning problem. You're selling a paid solution in a market flooded with free alternatives—multiple GitHub Actions (Remove Stale Branches, Cleaning up Stale Branches, actions/stale) do essentially the same thing at zero cost. GitHub itself offers automatic branch deletion after merge as a native setting. Pull Panda, which had similar functionality, was acquired by GitHub and made free. Your 4-month plateau isn't a marketing problem—it's a market signal.

The good news: the pain point is real. My research surfaced developers consistently complaining about branch sprawl, stale branches slowing CI/CD, and confusion about what's active. Stack Overflow threads, Reddit discussions, and dev.to articles confirm this is a recurring frustration, especially on teams with many contributors. The problem isn't demand—it's that free solutions exist and "good enough" is winning.

Your path forward requires one of two pivots: either go radically simpler than free alternatives (one-click setup, zero configuration, beautiful dashboard that shows the mess before/after) targeting developers who don't want to write YAML, or go deeper into enterprise repository governance where free Actions fall short. Given your 10 hours/week constraint, I recommend the former—become the "set and forget" option for small teams and indie developers who value time over money.

The core issue: You have an activation and retention problem masquerading as an acquisition problem. Getting more signups won't help if they're not converting and not staying. However, since you specified acquisition as your focus, I'll optimize for that while flagging where acquisition efforts will fail without fixing downstream.

Key insight: There is no successful paid competitor in this exact space. Pull Panda was acquired before proving the standalone market. This is either a massive opportunity or a warning that the market won't pay. Given the proliferation of free alternatives, I lean toward the latter for the core feature set.

Channel Explanations

Hacker News (retry): Your first attempt underperformed. The key is framing—don't post "I built a GitHub app for branch cleanup." Post a genuine observation or pain point: "Ask HN: How do you handle branch sprawl in repos with 10+ contributors?" or a Show HN with a hook that acknowledges the free alternatives exist and explains why you built something different anyway. Timing matters—weekday mornings US time, avoid major news days.

GitHub Marketplace: If you're not listed, you're invisible to developers browsing for solutions. The marketplace is low-traffic but high-intent. Your listing copy needs to immediately address "why pay when free Actions exist."

Reddit (non-promotional): Your posts got removed because you were self-promoting. The Reddit playbook for dev tools: answer questions genuinely in r/git, r/github, r/devops, r/webdev. When someone asks "how do you handle stale branches?", give a real answer with multiple options, mention yours as one option with full disclosure. Build karma and credibility over 2-3 months before any direct promotion.

Dev.to: Write the definitive guide to repository hygiene. Cover all the free options, the tradeoffs, the edge cases. Mention RepoClean as your solution at the end. This is SEO and credibility building combined.

Twitter (deprioritized): With 200 followers, you're shouting into the void. Building a Twitter following takes consistent daily effort over 6-12 months. Not compatible with 10 hours/week when you have a product to maintain.

1. Stop random Twitter posting. 200 followers means zero distribution. Either commit to a 6-month daily building-in-public strategy or redirect those hours elsewhere.

1. Stop trying to out-feature free alternatives on core cleanup. You won't win by having more YAML configuration options than a free Action. Win on experience, simplicity, or scope.

1. Stop treating this as purely an acquisition problem. You don't know your activation rate. You don't know why people churn. Spending more to fill a leaky bucket wastes effort.

1. Stop one-shot marketing attempts. One HN post, then nothing. One Reddit post, removed, then quit. Compounding requires consistency over months.

1. Stop hiding the price. If your pricing isn't crystal clear on the homepage, you're attracting freebie-seekers who will never convert. Filter early.

Track weekly starting now:

Template 1: Dev.to Article Structure

Title: "GitHub Repository Hygiene: The Complete Guide to Branch Cleanup in 2025"