Berkeley Mono
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 25 monospace fonts by recommenders
Developers who use it for coding and terminals praise its sharpness and customization; critics mainly point to its high price.
Developers who use it for coding and terminals praise its sharpness and customization; critics mainly point to its high price.
33 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 27
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 82%
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: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 27 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.5 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
Customizer lets users tweak glyphs
“I really enjoy the customizer that comes with it, I use the font on all my terminal/IDE environments”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” “It's so good. Perfect even. And they have a really neat customization tool.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” “their "compiler" lets you get a dashed one _very_ easily”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “The Title Cards in Blade Runner Are Fucking Amazing” Excellent for coding and terminals
“Berkeley Mono is an excellent font. Highly recommended if you still code.”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “The Title Cards in Blade Runner Are Fucking Amazing” “reminds me a lot of Berkeley Mono, which is an incredible terminal font”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “Nordwand Mono – A monospace font for coders and adventurers” “It also works really well for programming.”
Comment from 25 Dec 2025 in “Volvo Centum is Dalton Maag's new typeface for Volvo” - Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Iosevka is an open-source, sans-serif and slab-serif monospace font”
Users switch and never go back
“I switched to it everywhere in a week or so, and never looked back”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Iosevka is an open-source, sans-serif and slab-serif monospace font” “Berkeley Mono ruined everything else for me. It's so, so good.”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Iosevka is an open-source, sans-serif and slab-serif monospace font” “I was unable to find anything that comes close to it”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” - Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font”
Sharp rendering, especially on high-PPI displays
“Berkeley for high-PPI displays is at 450 rather than 500 and looks better for it”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Iosevka is an open-source, sans-serif and slab-serif monospace font” “It does look pretty sharp.”
Comment from 18 May 2026 in “Iosevka + Berkeley = Ioskeley”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
High price for a font
“225 bucks for a font though is bonkers”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Iosevka is an open-source, sans-serif and slab-serif monospace font” “its italic is just not up to it (and particularly not to the price)”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Iosevka is an open-source, sans-serif and slab-serif monospace font” Narrow, blocky letterforms
“the font is a narrow font with low spacing between characters”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)” “too blocky for my personal taste”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Iosevka is an open-source, sans-serif and slab-serif monospace font”
Other monospace fonts people recommend
The four most recommended other monospace fonts, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iosevka | 108 | 10 | 92% | 9 | 5 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| Nordwand Mono | 40 | 4 | 91% | 1 | — | — |
| Myna | 29 | 10 | 74% | 1 | — | — |
| Berkeley MonoThis page | 27 | 6 | 82% | 7 | — | Approved |
| JetBrains Mono | 23 | 4 | 85% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
32 of the 40 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it's so good that it's invisible”
“reminds me a lot of Berkeley Mono, which is an incredible terminal font”
“rounded-corner–brackets Berkeley”
“Berkeley for high-PPI displays is at 450 rather than 500 and looks better for it”
“too blocky for my personal taste”
“its italic is just not up to it (and particularly not to the price)”
“225 bucks for a font though is bonkers”
“Berkeley Mono ruined everything else for me. It's so, so good.”
“I switched to it everywhere in a week or so, and never looked back”
“Then i found Berkeley Mono, that has been the daily deiver for the past 5-6 years.”
“It has very poor character coverage”
“Its almost near perfect for coding!”
“the font is a narrow font with low spacing between characters”
“their "compiler" lets you get a dashed one _very_ easily”
“So glad to see two of my favorite fonts in your list, namely IBM Plex Mono and Berkeley Mono.”
“you should have a look at their newest TX-02, you will be pleasantly surprised”
“Berkeley Mono is an excellent font. Highly recommended if you still code.”
“Thanks a ton for Berkeley Mono”
“I'm a happy customer of Berkeley Mono”
“an incredible font that is now being copied”
“One of the best purchases I did ever.”
“It does look pretty sharp.”
“The trial version reportedly has swapped / \ and # * glyphs which makes it an odd choice for first place.”
“it totally looks like something that would sit right with me”
“It's so good. Perfect even. And they have a really neat customization tool.”
“refuse to use anything else”
“Been running Berkeley Mono for years.”
“I was unable to find anything that comes close to it”
“I really enjoy the customizer that comes with it, I use the font on all my terminal/IDE environments”
“It also works really well for programming.”
“Berkeley Mono as the only choice”
“I love the above fonts, but there's a few characters or quirks that drive me bananas on certain days”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.