Curlie
Curlie operates a volunteer-edited web directory indexing nearly 3 million websites across 1 million categories in 92 languages, serving general web users who prefer curated, topic-based browsing over algorithmic search.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersRichmond, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Curlie does
Curlie is a privately held web directory platform that organizes approximately 2,995,693 websites into 1,031,466 categories, maintained by 92,259 volunteer editors across 92 languages. Functionally, it serves general web users who prefer topic-based browsing over keyword search, providing a human-curated alternative to algorithmic discovery engines. The underlying platform is a category-hierarchy web application with multilingual interface support and a community contribution system that allows registered users to add, edit, and curate directory entries.
The platform's architecture centers on a crowdsourced editorial model inherited from the Open Directory Project (DMOZ), which Curlie succeeded upon its 2021 launch. Volunteer editors self-organize around topic categories and apply human judgment to listing quality, taxonomy structure, and cross-language coverage. No APIs, SDKs, or enterprise integrations are offered; the entire product surface is a single consumer-facing website at curlie.org.
Curlie's business model is donation-funded with no commercial pricing tiers, subscription products, advertising, or enterprise offerings. The company has no disclosed investors, no funding rounds, no management team data, no partnerships, and no M&A history in the available source material. Headcount is listed at 11-50 employees, and the organization operates with no institutional ownership, functioning instead as a community-supported directory. The absence of revenue disclosure and the explicit solicitation of donations on the homepage indicate a sub-scale operation sustained primarily by volunteer labor and small-dollar contributions rather than commercial monetization.
Curlie firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Curlie
- Legal name
- Curlie.org
- Website
- https://curlie.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Curlie operates a volunteer-edited web directory indexing nearly 3 million websites across 1 million categories in 92 languages, serving general web users who prefer curated, topic-based browsing over algorithmic search.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Curlie industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Web Directory
- NAICS
- Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (519290), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Web Directories & Link Indexes (BPAMAAAK)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Domain, Website & App Discovery Portals (BPAMAAAM), Recommendation & Discovery Engines (content/product) (BPAMAAAG)
Keywords
Where Curlie is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Richmond
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Curlie business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Personnel
Revenue model
- Donations: The website explicitly solicits donations to support operations and improvements, indicating a donation-funded model.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels1 record
Curlie product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Curlie operates a community-edited web directory that organizes and categorizes websites by topic, allowing users to search or browse a curated collection of web resources. The platform indexes 2,995,693 websites across 1,031,466 categories, maintained by 92,259 volunteer editors with interface support for 92 languages. It functions as a human-curated alternative to algorithmic search engines for organized web discovery.
Product overview
Curlie is a single unified web directory product, often described as 'The Collector of URLs.' It provides a searchable and browsable catalog of websites organized by topic categories, serving as a curated web resource discovery platform. The service is community-edited with contributions from a global network of volunteer editors who curate and maintain the website listings within the directory structure.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Curlie Web Directory
Companies that use Curlie
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Curlie technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Curlie partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights2 records
Curlie competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons): A non-profit, community-driven open knowledge platform. Comparable in mission and volunteer-editor operating model to Curlie, and competes for the attention of users seeking human-curated, categorized knowledge on the open web.
Direct peers
- Best of the Web (BOTW): A long-running human-edited web directory organized by topic. Directly competes with Curlie for editors and users seeking curated web discovery, though it is smaller in scale.
- GoGuides.org: A volunteer-edited web directory presenting categorized site listings. Closely comparable in product model and target audience to Curlie.
- Open Directory Project (DMOZ): Direct predecessor of Curlie. DMOZ was the original volunteer-edited web directory; Curlie was launched in 2021 explicitly to succeed it after DMOZ shut down. Same category, same model, same volunteer ethos.
- Jasmine Directory: An editor-reviewed web directory offering curated listings by category. Operates the same human-curation, category-browsing model as Curlie at a smaller scale.
Emerging players
- AllTop: An aggregated content discovery platform organized by topic and niche. Comparable in helping users discover web resources by category, though AllTop focuses on headlines/feeds rather than full site indexing.
Broad incumbents
- Yelp: A major category-based business discovery platform. Comparable in the directory-by-category browsing model and community-contributed content, though focused on local businesses rather than general web resources.
- Internet Archive (Wayback Machine): A large-scale web archiving and discovery platform that indexes and surfaces web content globally. Overlaps with Curlie's role as a web resource discovery layer, though Internet Archive focuses on historical snapshots rather than topical categorization.
- About.com (now Dotdash Meredith): Originally a topic-based directory of expert-written content. Shares the category-organized, editorial-curation heritage with Curlie, but has evolved into a large commercial content publisher.
Regional players
- AOL Top Sites Directory: An older large-scale web directory service. Operated in the same category-discovery space as Curlie and represents the historical incumbent model of curated web listings.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Curlie social profiles
Digital presenceCurlie financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Curlie leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Curlie funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Curlie M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Curlie
What does Curlie do?
Curlie operates a community-edited web directory that organizes and categorizes websites by topic, allowing users to search or browse a curated collection of web resources. The platform indexes 2,995,693 websites across 1,031,466 categories, maintained by 92,259 volunteer editors with interface support for 92 languages. It functions as a human-curated alternative to algorithmic search engines for organized web discovery.
Is Curlie a public or private company?
Curlie is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Curlie founded?
Curlie was founded in 2021. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Curlie based?
Curlie is headquartered in Richmond, United States, in the North America region.
How does Curlie make money?
One revenue line is on record: donations.
Who are Curlie's main competitors?
Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons) is listed as an others. Direct peers are Best of the Web (BOTW), GoGuides.org, Open Directory Project (DMOZ) and Jasmine Directory. AllTop is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Yelp, Internet Archive (Wayback Machine) and About.com (now Dotdash Meredith). AOL Top Sites Directory is listed as a regional player.
Does Curlie have an API?
No public API is recorded for Curlie.
What industry is Curlie in?
Curlie's product category is Web Directory. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAAAK, Web Directories & Link Indexes, with a secondary code of BPAMAAAM, Domain, Website & App Discovery Portals. Its NAICS code is 51929 and its SIC code is 7370.