*arr stack
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 5 media automation tools by recommenders
Recommended for automating media downloads, metadata and subtitles with little hands-on work once configured. Common caveat: complex setup across several interlinked apps.
Recommended for automating media downloads, metadata and subtitles with little hands-on work once configured. Common caveat: complex setup across several interlinked apps.
27 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1.1 years
Median of the 5 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 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
Hands-off and reliable once configured
“My *arr stack is so rock solid and hands-off”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” “it's up and running now without any issues”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Disney+ and Hulu raise prices by up to 13 percent after doubling profits” “it has never missed a beat”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” - Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Netflix Prices Went Up Again – I Bought a DVD Player Instead”
- Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “State of Homelab 2026”
Self-serve, effortless media watching
“searches online sources for wishlisted items, downloads them, equips with metadata and subtitles, and presents for viewing or listening WITHOUT ANY USER INPUT”
Comment from 1 Aug 2026 in “Twenty-five years ago it was cryptography, today it's model weights” “make it completely effortless to watch any movie or TV show I can think of”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “click click watch that one can achieve with *arr stack”
Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: CineCLI – Browse and torrent movies directly from your terminal” - Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Someone on Torrent Sites Kept Fucking with My Sonarr”
Saves time managing media
“If you're sailing the high seas, *arr stack saves you a ton of time managing anything related to that.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” “they just make media management easier for us hoarders with huge libraries”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Someone on Torrent Sites Kept Fucking with My Sonarr” “it saves me a ton of time managing new media”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” Easy to set up
“they are really well designed pieces of software, that are relatively simple to set up”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” “I followed this guide for setup and it was pretty straight forward”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Netflix Prices Went Up Again – I Bought a DVD Player Instead”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Complex to configure and link
“have been running it happily for a bit over a year but found the interplay to be annoying”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” “sure it has more configuration needed upfront”
Comment from 27 Mar 2026 in “Netflix raises prices for every subscription tier by up to 12.5 percent” “The interfaces of arr stack are ugly, and linking qbit to indexer manager to arr app is needlessly complex.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” Poor architecture and data models
“it needs to stop storing configuration in a database”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Jellyfin 12.0” “it sure is a case study in poor architecture”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” “the data models are all screwed up”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “What I self-host” Too many separate apps
“Now you need 9 different pieces of software that end in *arr, all of which implement parts of the solution that you want and parts that you don't”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Someone on Torrent Sites Kept Fucking with My Sonarr” “If there is one thing that needs to be re-written and consolidated it is the arrs ecosystem.”
Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “Jellyfin 12.0”
Other media automation tools people recommend
The four most recommended other media automation tools, with 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.
See all 5 media automation tools, rankedWhat people said
All 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“If you're sailing the high seas, *arr stack saves you a ton of time managing anything related to that.”
“the data models are all screwed up”
“it sure is a case study in poor architecture”
“My *arr stack is so rock solid and hands-off”
“The interfaces of arr stack are ugly, and linking qbit to indexer manager to arr app is needlessly complex.”
“they just make media management easier for us hoarders with huge libraries”
“have been running it happily for a bit over a year but found the interplay to be annoying”
“it saves me a ton of time managing new media”
“it has never missed a beat”
“they are really well designed pieces of software, that are relatively simple to set up”
“Family loves being able to self serve media requests.”
“Now you need 9 different pieces of software that end in *arr, all of which implement parts of the solution that you want and parts that you don't”
“it's up and running now without any issues”
“the *arr stack can be automated to make sure you have the best quality versions”
“it needs to stop storing configuration in a database”
“If there is one thing that needs to be re-written and consolidated it is the arrs ecosystem.”
“searches online sources for wishlisted items, downloads them, equips with metadata and subtitles, and presents for viewing or listening WITHOUT ANY USER INPUT”
“there's options available such as the *Arr stack”
“My *ars provide a better experience.”
“it's been the best decision I've ever made”
“I followed this guide for setup and it was pretty straight forward”
“it did everything for me to my satisfaction”
“sure it has more configuration needed upfront”
“Add an *arr stack to that bad boy.”
“I think a jellyfin/ARR/Seedbox setup is going to be the solution this year.”
“I'll just setup ARR stack and have a better experience than I can pay for - for free.”
“click click watch that one can achieve with *arr stack”
“The *arrs (once configured) offer a better service in every single way”
“make it completely effortless to watch any movie or TV show I can think of”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.