# Ant JavaScript runtime 16 Hacker News commenters recommended Ant JavaScript runtime and 17 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Sandboxed JavaScript runtime that people find promising for serverless and embedding. Critics say performance claims lack benchmarks and the site and releases look broken. ## Why people recommend it - Sandboxing stands out to people (3 comments): "The sandboxing and quick startup make this an interesting foundation for a FaaS system." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876286)) "The thing that caught my eye immediately was the sandboxing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876002)) "The sandboxing really stands out to me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876079)) - Serverless and FaaS use (2 comments): "The sandboxing and quick startup make this an interesting foundation for a FaaS system." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876286)) "This is cool, imagine this in a serverless environment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48075383)) - Clean design and API (2 comments): "Appreciate the typography and simple design of the site and its registry." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48880166)) "clean ergonomics and API surface" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48880505)) - Encouragement for new competition (3 comments): "It's good to see more competition within this space so good luck with that!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48875660)) "its really interesting and I wish the project luck" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48875560)) "Slick project. Very cool." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876391)) ## What people warn about - Lacks benchmarks, performance claims doubted (4 comments): "Looks really good on the surface. But if you really want to sell it, link to a comprehensive benchmark suit and more comparisons." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48880425)) "if this is trying to competing with v8/llvm thats compiler stuff u gotta be benching and comparing assembly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48877180)) "I wouldn't expect that to be particularly fast or efficient" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876751)) - Broken site and app pages (4 comments): "I bounced when I saw the three broken columns but never even saw the dark mode switch. It's that slow." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48879148)) "with a broken /jobs page, and yet is developing the project under their personal GitHub account" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876428)) "Completely broken on iOS as well. Feels like AI slop." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48877901)) - Doubts about honesty and seriousness (3 comments): "Failure to do so certainly makes me think the new project isn't very serious." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48877317)) "Saying it's hand built when it's not is false advertising" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48877491)) "definitely hard to trust the project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876320)) - Name clashes with known project (2 comments): "could not be bothered to make the tiniest cursory check to see if the name was already in use by a well known project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48882198)) "name it ant if you wanted to taint the first impression" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876516)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Bun](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bun.md): 493 recommend - [Node.js](https://hackerapproved.com/p/node-js.md): 257 recommend - [Deno](https://hackerapproved.com/p/deno.md): 234 recommend - [workerd](https://hackerapproved.com/p/workerd.md): 13 recommend - [Mystral Native](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mystral-native.md): 7 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Ant JavaScript runtime", https://hackerapproved.com/p/ant-javascript-runtime/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).