The best sanitizers, according to hackers
6 sanitizers 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 sanitizers with the badge. Each figure is 2 people. RecommendsCriticizes One comment
Routine check alongside tests
Free tool that finds memory errors and leaks in native code, recommended as a routine check. Caveats: it is slow and sometimes reports false positives.
Catches undefined behavior at runtime
Free Rust tool that runs your tests and flags undefined behavior and memory violations in unsafe code. Critics say it has bugs and limitations and cannot catch everything.
Runs in CI and test suites
People recommend it for catching memory bugs during testing, such as leaks and out-of-bounds access. Critics say its runtime cost makes it too slow for production use.
All 6 sanitizers, 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 | Valgrind | 29 | 8 | 78% | 13 | — | Approved |
| 2 | Miri | 26 | 3 | 90% | 12 | — | Approved |
| 3 | AddressSanitizer | 21 | 4 | 84% | 7 | — | Approved |
| 4 | UndefinedBehaviorSanitizer | 12 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Tied 5 | Go race detector | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 5 | ThreadSanitizer | 5 | 1 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
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 sanitizer in five threads counts once.
The badge goes to sanitizers 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.