The best Emacs packages, according to hackers
24 Emacs packages were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 11 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended Emacs packages with the badge. Each figure is 2 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Vim keybindings inside Emacs
Brings Vim-style modal editing to Emacs, so Vim users keep their muscle memory. Common caveat: Vim behavior differs in some edge cases.
Native experience inside Emacs
Free Emacs package that runs AI coding agents like Claude Code inside Emacs; fans like its keyboard-driven, customizable feel. Some critics find it behind the official Claude terminal interface.
No install needed on remote machine
Built into Emacs, it edits remote files over SSH and containers without installing anything remotely. Common caveat: it is slow on high-latency connections.
All 24 Emacs packages, 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 | Evil mode for Emacs | 39 | 7 | 85% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Tied 2 | agent-shell | 25 | 6 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Tied 2 | TRAMP for Emacs | 25 | 10 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| 4 | gptel | 20 | 1 | 95% | 12 | — | Approved |
| 5 | SLIME | 19 | 2 | 90% | 11 | — | Approved |
| 6 | Vertico | 18 | 1 | 95% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Tied 7 | Eglot | 16 | 9 | 64% | 8 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Consult (Emacs package) | 16 | 1 | 94% | 6 | — | Approved |
| 9 | which-key | 13 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Tied 10 | Paredit | 11 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Tied 10 | Embark for Emacs | 11 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| 12 | Avy for Emacs | 10 | 1 | 91% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Tied 13 | Orderless (Emacs package) | 9 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 13 | Dired | 9 | 1 | 90% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 15 | Parinfer | 8 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 15 | undo-tree | 8 | 1 | 89% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 17 | Corfu | 7 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 17 | use-package for Emacs | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 19 | wgrep | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 19 | lsp-mode | 6 | 2 | 75% | 3 | — | — |
| Tied 19 | god-mode | 6 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 22 | Ivy (Emacs package) | 5 | 2 | 71% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 22 | Projectile | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 22 | claude-code-ide.el | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
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 Emacs package in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to Emacs packages 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.