Blacksky
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 11 of 31 social networks by recommenders
An independent AppView for the AT Protocol that runs its own full stack and kept working during a Bluesky outage. Caveat: Bluesky moderation can still limit interaction with its users.
An independent AppView for the AT Protocol that runs its own full stack and kept working during a Bluesky outage. Caveat: Bluesky moderation can still limit interaction with its users.
32 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 26
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 26 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 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
Runs its own full stack
“Blacksky is the/one of the furthest along in building competing versions of each part of the AT proto stack”
Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Be Wary of Bluesky” “Blacksky has their own full appview for bluesky nowadays + relays and PDS w/ something like 60-70k users”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “Publishing on the ATmosphere” “Blacksky finishing their full forking does finally give them a much stronger leg to stand on”
Comment from 19 Jun 2026 in “There Are No Instances in ATProto” - Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “I Regret Migrating to Codeberg”
- Comment from 21 Feb 2026 in “Be Wary of Bluesky”
- Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Bluesky Trademarks ATProto”
- Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Gleam Is Now on Tangled”
- Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Bluesky Trademarks ATProto”
Keeps working during Bluesky outages
“a completely independent AppView with different moderation that was up for the entirety of a 24hr outage”
Comment from 29 Apr 2026 in “Tangled – We need a federation of forges” “If Bluesky goes down, Blacksky will probably be fine. They are, however, yet another US company”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “Bluesky Trademarks ATProto” “I was able to use Blacksky to post onto Bluesky while Bluesky was down”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “There Are No Instances in ATProto” - Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “There Are No Instances in ATProto”
Practical working alternative AppView
“many people switched to using another AppView like Blacksky and things worked just fine”
Comment from 21 Jun 2026 in “There Are No Instances in ATProto” “Seems to be fine if you're using another appview like blacksky's one”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Bluesky Is Down” “Blacksky is extremely practical in its formation & purpose”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Blacksky AppView” Broader vision for AT Protocol
“The Blacksky team has a much broader vision for which they decided ATProto was the right architecture.”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Blacksky AppView” “It's facetious when people question why BlackSky need to exist 40+ years after the "14 words"”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Blacksky AppView” “I support what Blacksky is doing”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Bluesky Trademarks ATProto”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Interaction limited by Bluesky moderation
“Bluesky users can interact with Blacksky users and vice versa unless Bluesky has applied moderation to the Blacksky user”
Comment from 19 Jun 2026 in “There Are No Instances in ATProto” “when logged into BlueSky, I can't interact with BlackSky accounts at all”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Blacksky AppView” Pushes sign-in to Bluesky
“The link in the article for Blacksky (blackskyweb.xyz) has a dark pattern that attempts to get you sign up for bluesky instead of blacksky”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Why I'm betting on ATProto (and why you should, too)” “I can't comment, follow, like, or anything like that without getting the "Sign in or create your account to join the cookout!" popup”
Comment from 9 Mar 2026 in “Blacksky AppView”
Other social networks people recommend
The four most recommended other social networks, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky | 317 | 401 | 44% | 12 | 1 yr5 owners | — |
| 289 | 1,338 | 18% | 13 | 14 yrs42 owners | — | |
| Mastodon | 273 | 220 | 55% | 12 | 3 yrs12 owners | — |
| X (formerly Twitter) | 264 | 984 | 21% | 13 | 13 yrs13 owners | — |
| BlackskyThis page | 26 | 6 | 81% | 6 | — | Approved |
What people said
35 of the 38 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Host your own PDS, use an alternative relay and App Server, like Blacksky.”
“Blacksky, they're doing amazing work running a whole separate ATProto system”
“blacksky is an example of a fully independent stack”
“If Bluesky goes down, Blacksky will probably be fine. They are, however, yet another US company”
“I support what Blacksky is doing”
“see Blacksky who run their own stack for everything”
“Not only do we run a fully independent stack”
“many people switched to using another AppView like Blacksky and things worked just fine”
“When Blacksky got an independent app database running, they overrode it.”
“I was able to use Blacksky to post onto Bluesky while Bluesky was down”
“Blacksky was still working fine”
“as Blacksky and Eurosky have proven”
“Blacksky finishing their full forking does finally give them a much stronger leg to stand on”
“Bluesky users can interact with Blacksky users and vice versa unless Bluesky has applied moderation to the Blacksky user”
“Swapping one broken chair for another broken chair won't cut it.”
“a completely independent AppView with different moderation that was up for the entirety of a 24hr outage”
“Seems to be fine if you're using another appview like blacksky's one”
“The link in the article for Blacksky (blackskyweb.xyz) has a dark pattern that attempts to get you sign up for bluesky instead of blacksky”
“I can't comment, follow, like, or anything like that without getting the "Sign in or create your account to join the cookout!" popup”
“It's facetious when people question why BlackSky need to exist 40+ years after the "14 words"”
“The Blacksky team has a much broader vision for which they decided ATProto was the right architecture.”
“when logged into BlueSky, I can't interact with BlackSky accounts at all”
“Blacksky is extremely practical in its formation & purpose”
“Even though it will probably self select in a way that makes it inhospitable for new comers.”
“But if they do, so does Blacksky.”
“Maybe it's good for end users but that doesn't mean much if it can fall into the same enshittification trap as the others.”
“And yet its full of black supremacy / afrocentrism.”
“The racially segregated bluesky will definitely solve some problems, agreed”
“They're the first alternative full stack, the first alternative AppView”
“it doesn’t change anything in the grand scheme of things”
“There are some groups that have taken that offer and moved off of Bluesky's infrastructure (see Blacksky).”
“Blacksky is the/one of the furthest along in building competing versions of each part of the AT proto stack”
“Blacksky has their own full appview for bluesky nowadays + relays and PDS w/ something like 60-70k users”
“Blacksky's app view, for instance, was the trigger for me to try to finally try to set up an account”
“It isn't stable yet, but it works, and there are active users who are banned on bluesky”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.