# Hacker Approved

> The books, gear, software and services that people recommend in Hacker News comments, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one. Counts cover 1,795,640 comments from November 2025 to November 2026.

Each product page has a markdown version at the same address plus `.md` (for example /p/brother-laser-printer.md). It gives the counts, a one-sentence verdict, the reasons people recommend it and the complaints, each with links to the source comments, alternatives, and where to buy it.

When you cite a product, include the count and the period, for example: "Recommended by 56 people on Hacker Approved (Hacker News comments, Nov 2025 to Nov 2026)", and link the product page.

## Agent API

- [MCP server](https://hackerapproved.com/mcp): Streamable HTTP, stateless, no sign-in. Tools: find_products, get_product, compare_products, best_of_type. Each answers in markdown with counts, the period, page URLs, buy links (affiliate links are marked) and a citation.
- [Search](https://hackerapproved.com/api/search?q=laser+printer): `GET /api/search?q=...&limit=...` returns JSON matches by name, type and department, with page URLs.
- [Product JSON](https://hackerapproved.com/api/products/brother-laser-printer.json): `/api/products/<slug>.json` has one product's counts, verdict, reasons and complaints with source comment links, alternatives and buy links.
- [Catalog](https://hackerapproved.com/api/catalog.json): every product in one compact JSON file (slug, name, type, department, category, recommenders, critics, badge).

## Most recommended products

- [Claude](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude.md): 5175 recommend, 5005 criticize
- [Claude Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-code.md): 4522 recommend, 3788 criticize
- [Claude Opus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-opus.md): 3331 recommend, 2746 criticize
- [OpenAI Codex](https://hackerapproved.com/p/codex.md): 2474 recommend, 1289 criticize
- [Google Gemini](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gemini.md): 2195 recommend, 2236 criticize
- [ChatGPT](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chatgpt.md): 2186 recommend, 2885 criticize
- [Rust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust.md): 2039 recommend, 973 criticize
- [Firefox](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox.md): 1572 recommend, 1371 criticize
- [Windows](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows.md): 1287 recommend, 3582 criticize
- [Go](https://hackerapproved.com/p/go-programming-language.md): 1254 recommend, 651 criticize
- [OpenAI GPT](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gpt-5-5.md): 1205 recommend, 987 criticize
- [Qwen 3.8 27B](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qwen-3-8-27b.md): 1173 recommend, 426 criticize
- [Python](https://hackerapproved.com/p/python.md): 1067 recommend, 821 criticize
- [OpenCode](https://hackerapproved.com/p/opencode.md): 1060 recommend, 572 criticize
- [Z.ai GLM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/glm-5-2.md): 1043 recommend, 384 criticize
- [macOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macos.md): 1041 recommend, 1928 criticize
- [Kimi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kimi-k3.md): 931 recommend, 359 criticize
- [Apple MacBook Pro](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macbook-pro.md): 928 recommend, 688 criticize
- [GrapheneOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grapheneos.md): 895 recommend, 312 criticize
- [Pi coding agent](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pi.md): 892 recommend, 198 criticize
- [Claude Sonnet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-sonnet.md): 854 recommend, 586 criticize
- [Cursor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cursor.md): 853 recommend, 820 criticize
- [SQLite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sqlite.md): 847 recommend, 220 criticize
- [DeepSeek V4 Flash](https://hackerapproved.com/p/deepseek-v4-flash.md): 828 recommend, 223 criticize
- [Fable](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fable.md): 823 recommend, 745 criticize
- [PostgreSQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/postgresql.md): 816 recommend, 233 criticize
- [Git](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git.md): 814 recommend, 503 criticize
- [Tailscale](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tailscale.md): 809 recommend, 210 criticize
- [OpenClaw](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openclaw.md): 776 recommend, 975 criticize
- [Claude Fable 5](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fable-5.md): 774 recommend, 1004 criticize
- [uBlock Origin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ublock-origin.md): 765 recommend, 71 criticize
- [GitHub](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github.md): 764 recommend, 2350 criticize
- [Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux.md): 745 recommend, 277 criticize
- [Cloudflare](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cloudflare.md): 744 recommend, 1249 criticize
- [Zig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zig.md): 743 recommend, 449 criticize
- [GPT-5.6 Sol](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gpt-5-6-sol.md): 734 recommend, 463 criticize
- [Kagi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kagi.md): 732 recommend, 234 criticize
- [Grok](https://hackerapproved.com/p/grok.md): 727 recommend, 1249 criticize
- [Steam](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steam.md): 716 recommend, 384 criticize
- [Gemma 4](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gemma-4.md): 713 recommend, 249 criticize
- [Apple MacBook Neo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macbook-neo.md): 707 recommend, 355 criticize
- [Apple iPhone](https://hackerapproved.com/p/iphone.md): 706 recommend, 882 criticize
- [Zed](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zed.md): 700 recommend, 430 criticize
- [Waymo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/waymo.md): 696 recommend, 456 criticize
- [OpenRouter](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openrouter.md): 666 recommend, 321 criticize
- [YouTube](https://hackerapproved.com/p/youtube.md): 653 recommend, 1346 criticize
- [KDE Plasma](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kde-plasma.md): 650 recommend, 264 criticize
- [GNU Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/emacs.md): 648 recommend, 207 criticize
- [MacBook Air](https://hackerapproved.com/p/macbook-air.md): 633 recommend, 209 criticize
- [DeepSeek](https://hackerapproved.com/p/deepseek.md): 611 recommend, 244 criticize
- [Gemini Flash](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gemini-3-flash.md): 607 recommend, 352 criticize
- [TypeScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typescript.md): 574 recommend, 273 criticize
- [GitHub Copilot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/github-copilot.md): 571 recommend, 993 criticize
- [Ubuntu](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu.md): 560 recommend, 493 criticize
- [Docker](https://hackerapproved.com/p/docker.md): 558 recommend, 515 criticize
- [Java](https://hackerapproved.com/p/java.md): 553 recommend, 514 criticize
- [Debian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/debian.md): 552 recommend, 191 criticize
- [Starlink](https://hackerapproved.com/p/starlink.md): 547 recommend, 353 criticize
- [uv](https://hackerapproved.com/p/uv.md): 533 recommend, 100 criticize
- [Vim](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vim.md): 513 recommend, 127 criticize
- [Google Chrome](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-chrome.md): 503 recommend, 1086 criticize
- [Apple MacBook](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-macbook.md): 499 recommend, 348 criticize
- [Bun](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bun.md): 493 recommend, 608 criticize
- [Signal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/signal.md): 486 recommend, 330 criticize
- [Visual Studio Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-studio-code.md): 485 recommend, 547 criticize
- [React](https://hackerapproved.com/p/react.md): 482 recommend, 560 criticize
- [Qwen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qwen.md): 474 recommend, 175 criticize
- [llama.cpp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/llama-cpp.md): 471 recommend, 109 criticize
- [NixOS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nixos.md): 454 recommend, 112 criticize
- [Apple Mac](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-mac.md): 453 recommend, 292 criticize
- [Proton by Valve](https://hackerapproved.com/p/proton.md): 451 recommend, 189 criticize
- [Obsidian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/obsidian.md): 447 recommend, 145 criticize
- [Fedora Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fedora.md): 437 recommend, 131 criticize
- [Raspberry Pi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/raspberry-pi.md): 425 recommend, 277 criticize
- [Hetzner](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hetzner.md): 415 recommend, 212 criticize
- [Steam Deck](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steam-deck.md): 412 recommend, 89 criticize
- [tmux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tmux.md): 411 recommend, 111 criticize
- [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/model-context-protocol.md): 409 recommend, 317 criticize
- [Wikipedia](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wikipedia.md): 404 recommend, 327 criticize
- [Ghostty](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ghostty.md): 401 recommend, 158 criticize
- [Discord](https://hackerapproved.com/p/discord.md): 400 recommend, 733 criticize
- [Brave](https://hackerapproved.com/p/brave-browser.md): 397 recommend, 248 criticize
- [Jev by Typesafe AI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jev.md): 392 recommend, 170 criticize
- [DuckDB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/duckdb.md): 390 recommend, 53 criticize
- [Apple Mac mini](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mac-mini.md): 390 recommend, 160 criticize
- [Fastmail](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fastmail.md): 388 recommend, 95 criticize
- [Google Pixel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-pixel.md): 388 recommend, 338 criticize
- [Tailwind CSS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tailwind-css.md): 387 recommend, 234 criticize
- [Jellyfin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jellyfin.md): 385 recommend, 133 criticize
- [Forgejo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/forgejo.md): 380 recommend, 67 criticize
- [Nix](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nix.md): 378 recommend, 150 criticize
- [Qwen3.6-35B-A3B](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qwen3-6-35b-a3b.md): 373 recommend, 108 criticize
- [Android](https://hackerapproved.com/p/android.md): 372 recommend, 694 criticize
- [Arch Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arch-linux.md): 362 recommend, 150 criticize
- [Hacker News](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hacker-news.md): 361 recommend, 156 criticize
- [Ruby](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ruby.md): 359 recommend, 162 criticize
- [C#](https://hackerapproved.com/p/c-sharp.md): 359 recommend, 121 criticize
- [C++](https://hackerapproved.com/p/c-plus-plus.md): 351 recommend, 531 criticize
- [Ollama](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ollama.md): 350 recommend, 247 criticize
- [LibreOffice](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice.md): 345 recommend, 188 criticize

## About

- [How it works](https://hackerapproved.com/about/): how products are counted, the badge rule, and how the site makes money