The best code review tools, according to hackers
17 code review tools were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 5 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended code review tools with the badge. Each figure is 5 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Stacked, commit-by-commit review
People recommend Gerrit for commit-by-commit code review, stacked changes, and comments kept tied to code between commits. The most common caveat is a steep learning curve.
Stacked pull requests ease rebasing
People recommend it for stacking dependent pull requests and speeding up PR review on GitHub, which eases rebasing pain. Critics say it is complex, the AI review is weak and paid, and it is worth less than GitHub alone.
Useful, good results overall
Google's agentic AI reviewer for Linux kernel patches; people praise its focus on real bugs like race conditions and few opinion-based comments. Common caveat: it burns through many tokens.
All 17 code review tools, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Approval share is recommenders out of everyone who gave an opinion; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 13, in which someone recommended it.
| Rank | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GitHub Stacked PRs | 64 | 63 | 50% | 3 | — | — |
| 2 | Gerrit | 60 | 12 | 83% | 12 | — | Approved |
| 3 | Graphite code review | 52 | 16 | 76% | 9 | — | Approved |
| 4 | CodeRabbit | 34 | 32 | 52% | 11 | — | — |
| 5 | Stage | 32 | 11 | 74% | 3 | — | — |
| 6 | Whiteboard IDE | 29 | 12 | 71% | 2 | — | — |
| 7 | Sashiko | 14 | 4 | 78% | 5 | — | Approved |
| 8 | Alibaba Open-Code-Review | 13 | 2 | 87% | 4 | — | Approved |
| 9 | Crit | 11 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| 10 | tuicr | 9 | 1 | 90% | 3 | — | — |
| 11 | git-spice | 8 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| 12 | GitHub Pull Requests | 7 | 20 | 26% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 13 | Codiff | 6 | 1 | 86% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 13 | Ito AI | 6 | 2 | 75% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 13 | Pinrail | 6 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 16 | Devin Review | 5 | 3 | 63% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 16 | Farol | 5 | 2 | 71% | 1 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment over the past year. Someone who praises the same code review tool in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to code review tools that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.