The best novelty websites, according to hackers
12 novelty websites were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and November 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
Top pick
The most recommended novelty website with the badge. Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Quirky, engaging, artsy interactive projects
Quirky, engaging interactive web experiments that people enjoy. Main caveat: some ads on the site have led to semi-pornographic pages.
All 12 novelty websites, 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 | Catch a Bird | 39 | 3 | 93% | 1 | — | — |
| 2 | Koi.rest | 18 | 11 | 62% | 1 | — | — |
| 3 | neal.fun | 15 | 5 | 75% | 8 | — | Approved |
| 4 | Zombo.com | 8 | 4 | 67% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 5 | Pumpkins.sh | 7 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 5 | Human Fovea Detector | 7 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | ASCII Clouds | 6 | 1 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Subth.ink | 6 | 1 | 86% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Snow Simulation Toy | 6 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 7 | Holocloth | 6 | 4 | 60% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 11 | Opera Rewind | 5 | 5 | 50% | 1 | — | — |
| Tied 11 | nowhere | 5 | 4 | 56% | 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 novelty website in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to novelty websites 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.