Finding hackathons
Email notifications
Every email HackathonRadar sends you, when it arrives, and the switch at /settings/notifications that controls it.
HackathonRadar sends a small set of emails: a weekly round of new hackathon alerts, a weekly digest, alerts for your saved searches, and a few one-off messages around signing up and billing. You control almost all of them from /settings/notifications. These switches are free on every plan.
The notification settings page
Open Settings from your account menu. It opens on Notifications. The page has two parts.
What do you care about? is a free-text box for your interests, for example "Women in tech / WIT hackathons in London." Click Save to keep it. HackathonRadar uses it to pick which new hackathons to email you. Leave it blank and you get popular new events instead.
Hackathon Updates holds the email switches. Each change saves as soon as you flip it and shows Setting updated successfully.
| Switch | What it controls |
|---|---|
| The master switch. Turn it off to stop the three types below. The other switches are hidden while it is off. It does not pause saved search alerts | |
| New hackathon alerts | The weekly new hackathon alerts, and the saved search reminder |
| Weekly digest | The weekly digest |
| Product news & offers | The Discord invite, the account credit offer, and feature launch emails |
Every email we send
| When it arrives | Controlled by | |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | Right after you sign up | Not switchable (sent once) |
| Discord invite | A day or two after you sign up | Product news & offers |
| Account credit offer | A few days after you sign up, if you have not upgraded | Product news & offers |
| Feature launches | Occasionally, when something new ships | Product news & offers |
| New hackathon alerts | Once a week | New hackathon alerts |
| Weekly digest | Once a week | Weekly digest |
| Saved search alerts | When a saved search has new matches | Each saved search's own switch (see below) |
| Saved search reminder | Once a week, if an active saved search has matches but no channel turned on | New hackathon alerts |
| Billing notes | When you upgrade, when a payment fails, or when you cancel | Not switchable (account messages) |
New hackathon alerts
Once a week, HackathonRadar emails you up to 10 hackathons first listed in the past week. The subject line is "Awesome Hackathons just for you!".
- With interests set, you get the new events that match them. If nothing matches well that week, you get no email.
- Without interests, you get popular new events.
- On the free plan, only events starting in the next 7 days are included. Paid plans get every new upcoming event.
Weekly digest
The digest is a roundup of the week on HackathonRadar. It is skipped in any week with no new hackathons. Depending on what we know about you, it includes:
- Picks: up to 5 new hackathons chosen for you.
- Your saved hackathons starting soon: favorites that start in the next two weeks.
- Near you: upcoming in-person events near a city you watch.
- Judging: if you use HackathonRadar as a judge, how many new judging opportunities appeared that week.
On the free plan the picks come from the next 7 days, and the digest tells you how many more matched further out.
Saved search alerts
Saved search alerts are not controlled by the switches on this page. Each saved search has its own Active switch and channel choices at /settings/saved-searches. To stop them, pause or delete the search there. See Saved searches and alerts.
Welcome and billing notes
The welcome email arrives once when you create an account. It points you to your notification settings so you can set your interests.
Billing notes are short plain-text emails from Sam, the founder, sent when your plan changes: when you first upgrade to a paid plan, when a payment fails, and when you cancel. You can reply to any of them and it goes straight to him.
Unsubscribe from an email
Use the link in the email
Alert, digest and product emails end with a link to your notification settings. Saved search alerts link to your saved search settings instead.Flip the switch
Turn off the type of email you no longer want, or turn off Email to stop all of them.Pause saved searches separately
If you also get saved search alerts, pause or delete those searches at /settings/saved-searches.
Other ways to get alerts
- Saved searches can also post to Slack, Discord or your own webhook on Enterprise.
- The Discord community posts hackathons as they enter the free 7-day window, at no cost.
- The Discord bot posts hackathons into your own server.
Troubleshooting
- No new hackathon alert this week. If you set interests, nothing new may have matched them well enough. On the free plan, there may have been no new events starting within 7 days.
- Emails stopped after you changed a switch. Check that Email is still on. While it is off, the other switches are hidden.
- Still getting saved search alerts after turning off Email. Pause the search at /settings/saved-searches.