The best filesystems, according to hackers
10 filesystems were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 4 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The three most recommended filesystems with the badge. Each figure is 25 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Instant snapshots and quick restores
Recommended for cheap snapshots, replication and checksumming that catches and repairs corruption, with long-term reliability; caveats are Linux licensing/integration friction and caching or performance quirks.
Stable, boring and rock solid
Default on most Linux systems and praised as a boring, reliable choice; critics note small-extent fragmentation and inode settings needing tuning.
Working well for daily use
People recommend it for mixing drive sizes and types, per-file replication, strong performance, and outperforming Btrfs and ZFS. Common caveat: it was removed from the mainline Linux kernel and many feel it needs more years to mature.
All 10 filesystems, 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.
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 filesystem in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to filesystems that at least 10 people recommend, with recommenders outnumbering critics at least 2 to 1, recommended in at least 4 of the 13 months.
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