The best discussion forums, according to hackers
17 discussion forums 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 discussion forums with the badge. Each figure is 25 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Informed, high-quality discussion
Recommended for informed, well-moderated discussion of tech news and for its fast, minimal pages without dark patterns, though many feel quality has declined and the dated interface lacks features.
More technical, less startup culture
An invite-only, HN-like tech forum with tag filters (including for AI content), stronger moderation and more technical, less startup-focused discussion; critics cite hard joining, groupthink and heavy-handed moderation.
Engaging discussion, unlike mainstream platforms
People recommend Tildes for engaging, thoughtful discussion and interesting submissions, with a layout similar to Hacker News. Critics note it is fairly low volume.
All 17 discussion forums, 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 | Hacker News | 361 | 156 | 70% | 12 | 10 yrs17 owners | Approved |
| 2 | 261 | 988 | 21% | 13 | 14 yrs54 owners | — | |
| 3 | Lobsters | 105 | 31 | 77% | 12 | 10 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| 4 | Old Reddit | 60 | 47 | 56% | 12 | — | — |
| 5 | Slashdot | 32 | 18 | 64% | 12 | — | — |
| 6 | 4chan | 28 | 23 | 55% | 11 | — | — |
| 7 | Tildes | 20 | 1 | 95% | 8 | — | Approved |
| 8 | Something Awful | 16 | 1 | 94% | 9 | 20 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Tied 9 | LessWrong | 14 | 17 | 45% | 8 | — | — |
| Tied 9 | Stack Exchange | 14 | 24 | 37% | 7 | 15 yrs4 owners | — |
| 11 | MetaFilter | 12 | 1 | 92% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Tied 12 | Blind | 6 | 7 | 46% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 12 | Quora | 6 | 30 | 17% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 12 | Math Stack Exchange | 6 | 1 | 86% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 15 | AskHistorians | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 15 | Cloudy Nights | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 15 | Clacker News | 5 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
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 discussion forum in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to discussion forums 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.