The best social networks, according to Hacker News commenters
20 social networks were recommended on Hacker News between November 2025 and October 2026. We rank them by how many separate people recommend each one, and 2 earn the Hacker Approved badge.
On Hacker News, the most recommended social network that earns the badge is Lemmy: 48 people recommended it, 24 had mixed feelings and 20 criticized it between November 2025 and October 2026. Next is Blacksky (18 recommend, 7 mixed, 3 criticize), most often for “Runs its own full stack”. More people recommend Mastodon (201), but 202 criticize it, so it misses the 2 to 1 line.
Top picks
The two most recommended social networks with the badge. Each figure is 5 people. RecommendsMixed feelingsCriticizes One comment
Good alternative to Reddit
“Lemmy is great btw. I started putting “lemmy” instead of “reddit” in my searches and it often works.”
Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “No Socials November” People recommend Lemmy as a federated Reddit-like forum with no algorithm, good moderation tools and a calmer, older-internet feel. Critics say activity is thin and some communities are hostile.
Runs its own full stack
“Blacksky is the/one of the furthest along in building competing versions of each part of the AT proto stack”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Be Wary of Bluesky” An independent AppView for the AT Protocol that runs its own full stack and kept working during a Bluesky outage. Caveat: Bluesky moderation can still limit interaction with its users.
All 20 social networks, 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 | Mastodon | 201 | 56 | 202 | 50% | 12 | 3 yrs12 people | — |
| 2 | Bluesky | 180 | 103 | 347 | 34% | 12 | — | — |
| 3 | X (formerly Twitter) | 119 | 102 | 920 | 11% | 12 | 13 yrs13 people | — |
| 4 | 79 | 111 | 666 | 11% | 12 | 5 yrs10 people | — | |
| 5 | 70 | 166 | 1,260 | 5% | 12 | 12 yrs39 people | — | |
| 6 | Lemmy | 48 | 24 | 20 | 71% | 11 | — | Approved |
| 7 | TikTok | 46 | 65 | 529 | 8% | 11 | — | — |
| 8 | Moltbook | 21 | 24 | 155 | 12% | 5 | — | — |
| 9 | Blacksky | 18 | 7 | 3 | 86% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Tied 10 | Pixelfed | 15 | 2 | 8 | 65% | 10 | — | — |
| Tied 10 | MySpace | 15 | 13 | 16 | 48% | 8 | — | — |
| 12 | Threads by Meta | 13 | 18 | 85 | 13% | 9 | — | — |
| 13 | Friendster | 10 | 16 | 23 | 30% | 2 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Eurosky | 9 | 3 | 8 | 53% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 14 | Orkut | 9 | 5 | 14 | 39% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 16 | Mu | 7 | 2 | 1 | 88% | 6 | — | — |
| Tied 16 | GoToSocial | 7 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Tied 18 | Primal | 6 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
| Tied 18 | Beacon app | 6 | 0 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
| 20 | 5 | 1 | 35 | 13% | 4 | — | — |
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 social network in five threads counts once, in the column of their latest opinion.
A social network 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