Podcast apps Hacker News commenters recommend
4 podcast apps were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and October 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 1 earns the Hacker Approved badge.
On Hacker News, the most recommended podcast app that earns the badge is AntennaPod: 12 people recommended it, 5 had mixed feelings and none criticized it between November 2025 and October 2026.
Top pick
The most recommended podcast app with the badge. Each figure is one person. RecommendsMixed feelingsCriticizes One comment
Excellent, well-regarded podcast player
“Antenna Pod is a great podcast player!”
Comment from 17 May 2026 in “I turned a $80 RK3562 Android tablet into a Debian Linux workstation” Free, open-source Android podcast app that people call an excellent player; some with mixed feelings find its polish and defaults behind paid rivals.
All 4 podcast apps, ranked
Select a column heading to sort. Mixed counts the people with mixed feelings, who count toward neither side. Approval share is recommenders out of recommenders and critics; the tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs. Months counts the months, out of 12, in which someone recommended it. Had for is the median time people say they have had or used it, shown when 10 or more said.
| Rank | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AntennaPod | 12 | 5 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
| 2 | Overcast podcast app | 9 | 6 | 3 | 75% | 7 | — | — |
| 3 | Apple Podcasts | 7 | 3 | 27 | 21% | 4 | — | — |
| 4 | Pocket Casts | 6 | 3 | 2 | 75% | 2 | — | — |
How we rank
Rank is the number of separate people who recommend a product in a Hacker News comment between November 2025 and October 2026. Someone who praises the same podcast app in five threads counts once, in the column of their latest opinion.
A podcast app earns the badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it.
Rankings are never for sale. We may earn a commission when you buy through our links. It never changes the order.
Counts come from Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How it works