The best linkers, according to hackers
3 linkers were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 2 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
Top picks
The two most recommended linkers with the badge. Each figure is 2 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Much faster than other linkers
Fast open-source linker that people credit with cutting large project build times. Common caveat: the Rust rewrite draws LLM-origin concerns and forced forks.
Much faster linking than mold
Developers recommend Wild as a free, open-source linker that is often faster than mold. One caveat: the speedup depends on the kind of project.
All 3 linkers, 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 | Mold linker | 24 | 9 | 73% | 6 | — | Approved |
| 2 | Wild linker | 10 | 1 | 91% | 4 | — | Approved |
| 3 | lld linker | 9 | 1 | 90% | 6 | — | — |
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 linker in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to linkers 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.