Pinterest knockoffs taking off

Pinterest is a fascinating startup not only because the visual bookmarking site has been around for nearly two years and many believe it is brand new, but because it has inspired so many knockoffs. It is easy to say they will all fail because they don’t have the traffic, funding or notoriety of Pinterest, but it is a little more complicated than that.

Many of the Pinterest clones will fail because they are nothing more than clones, but there are a select few that solve problems that Pinterest has yet to overcome, for example Gentlemint which is aimed at male users that are overwhelmed by how many women users are on Pinterest (86 percent of American users are female), or Wanelo that successfully adds the social shopping element to Pinterest.

These niche sites are inspired by Pinterest rather than a knockoff, as Pinterest has inspired web design to focus on visual sharing via tiles. They did not invent this design, no, even Blogger has offered a tile layout for the last year, and designers have been toying with tile design for years, particularly with portfolio sites. Pinterest simply made popular the idea, refined it and has gone mainstream.

---

---

Below are 33 sites, some inspired by Pinterest, others a near replica. The sites that are solving a problem with Pinterest or do something Pinterest cannot or will not do (like porn) will likely thrive, while the cheap knockoffs like Pinspire which offer nothing new will fail. Crowds will flock to the real thing where the rest of the crowd is, and that continues to make improvements, while the copycat will remain behind with a small demand, just like Foakley sunglasses or Prahda bags in mall kiosks.

33 Pinterest clones:

1. Alibaba, Chinese social shopping.
2. Chill, a Pinterest for video.
3. Discover, a Pinterest for designers.
4. Everplaces, a Pinterest for the real world
5. Fyndesters, a Pinterest for art and design.
6. Gentlemint, a Pinterest for gentlemen.
7. GetVega, a Pinterest for compulsive listers.
8. Gtrot, a Pinterest for travel and deals.
9. Hunuku, a Pinterest for families.
10. I Wanna Nom, a Pinterest for recipes.
11. Kulisha, a Pinterest for social commentary.
12. LittleMonsters, a Pinterest for Lady Gaga fans.
13. Loverly, a Pinterest for weddings.
14. Manteresting, a Pinterest for men.
15. MarkPic, another Chinese social sharing clone.
16. Minglewing, a Pinterest for discussion.
17. PinClub.com, a Pinterest for “sexy stuff” (aka porn).
18. Pingram, a Pinterest for Instagram.
19. Pinspire, an exact replica of Pinterest.
20. Reclip.it, a Pinterest for deals.
21. Singterest, a Pinterest for Singapore.
22. Snatchly.com, a Pinterest for porn.
23. SnipIt, a Pinterest for news.
24. SparkRebel, a Pinterest for fashion.
25. Stylepin, a Pinterest for fashion.
26. Sworly, a Pinterest for music.
27. Tailored, a Pinterest for weddings.
28. TheComplete.Me, a Pinterest for dating.
29. TheFancy, a Pinterest for shopping, deals.
30. Thinng, a Pinterest for things.
31. Trippy, a Pinterest for travel.
32. Wanderfly, a Pinterest for travel recommendations.
33. Wanelo, a Pinterest for shopping.

• Permalink