AES
Cryptographic algorithm in Privacy & security
Widely used standard cipher with 128-bit blocks and keys, recommended for random output and general encryption. Critics say it is hard to implement securely.
Widely used standard cipher with 128-bit blocks and keys, recommended for random output and general encryption. Critics say it is hard to implement securely.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good for uniform random numbers
“When you want truly uniform random numbers, then encrypting with AES-128, then truncating, is best.”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “Don't pass on small block ciphers” “It should be faster than PCG, and higher quality.”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “Xorshift Generators” Trusted standard for general encryption
“AES is also the most successful cryptography standard ever created”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand” “Just use AES and other conventional encryption algorithms.”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Is it enough to use XOR encryption for my journal app?” “You can keep using those.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “GnuPG – post-quantum crypto landing in mainline”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
S-box design considered outdated
“nobody would put something like a S-Box in a cipher created today.”
Comment from 25 Nov 2025 in “NSA and IETF, part 3: Dodging the issues at hand”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML-KEM | 12 | 9 | 57% | 5 | — | — |
| AESThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It should be faster than PCG, and higher quality.”
“the keys are big enough (128-bit or 256-bit commonly) and the blocks are too (128 bits)”
“You can keep using those.”
“The problem is that AES needs a 128-bit block.”
“When you want truly uniform random numbers, then encrypting with AES-128, then truncating, is best.”
“Just use AES and other conventional encryption algorithms.”
“AES is not trivial to implement securely”
“nobody would put something like a S-Box in a cipher created today.”
“AES is also the most successful cryptography standard ever created”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.