# BitTorrent Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/bittorrent/ 40 people recommended BitTorrent in Hacker News comments, 10 had mixed feelings and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 12 months, in 33 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Recommended for moving large files and serving content durably; people say it just works. Critics note it is mostly used for piracy and v1 lacks per-file checksums. Summary written by Claude from 49 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Works reliably and is usable (6 comments in the sample): "Ultimately the better balance which is why BitTorrent is still going strong today" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48268928)) "People have no problem using bittorrent because the software is actually usable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49818648)) "that's why bittorrent still exists and works fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47742575)) - Decentralized content distribution model (6 comments in the sample): "Similarly I would argue that technology like bittorrent or bitcoin favor decentralization over centralization." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49364199)) "I guess I’d rather have something approaching bittorrent, edonkey/kad, ipfs, blockchain, webarchives." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47346669)) "I always pick BitTorrent as the most successful example of such networking protocol" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47347248)) - Better for downloading large files (4 comments in the sample): "Bit torrent is a superior way to move data around (as compared with http downloads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49429693)) "Bitorrent is the best for all these read-only model files laying on SSDs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49466691)) "I have a lot of (actual) Linux disk images, and it works well for that!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48620959)) - Scales and resists DDoS (2 comments in the sample): "its model of redundant copies scaled better than Gnutella" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48269043)) "BitTorrent does not have this same DDoS problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45949871)) ## What people warn about - BitTorrent v1 hashing and seeding weak (3 comments in the sample): "The main drawback of BitTorrent v1 file hashing scheme inside the .torrent file" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48754246)) "The biggest problem with BTv1 was the lack of per-file checksumming" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49777600)) "BitTorrent V1 makes long term seeding annoying" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49777353)) - Buggy, rough, confusing client (2 comments in the sample): "It's a little buggy and super rough around the edges" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46376338)) "It was a very confusing BitTorrent client. I struggled to use it, and wasted time waiting for a download to complete" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49780152)) - Not a full replacement for the web (2 comments in the sample): "Bit torrent only did the parts that scaled pretty well, so it wasn't a true replacement" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48273234)) "It's a bad fit for anything that's supposed to replace the traditional web." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49432602)) ## What people recommend instead - [Gnutella](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnutella/): 7 recommend, 2 mixed, 6 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "BitTorrent", https://hackerapproved.com/p/bittorrent/ (40 recommend, 10 mixed, 11 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.