BoringSSL
Ranked 6 of 7 cryptography libraries by recommenders
Recommended as a low-level TLS and crypto library, and was unaffected by several January 2026 OpenSSL advisories.
Recommended as a low-level TLS and crypto library, and was unaffected by several January 2026 OpenSSL advisories.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Named among top alternatives to OpenSSL
“there's RustTLS, GnuTLS, BoringSSL, LibreSSL, WolfSSL, NSS, and AWS-LC that come to mind immediately”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “GitHub appears to be struggling with measly three nines availability” “compared to WolfSSL, LibreSSL, BoringSSL, etc.”
Comment from 15 Nov 2025 in “SSL Configuration Generator” “isn't true in LibreSSL, BoringSSL, or AWS-LC”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “The State of OpenSSL for pyca/cryptography” Good low-level crypto library
“The arguments against those libs don't apply if using them just for the low level crypto algorithms.”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “WolfSSL Sucks Too, So Now What?” “BoringSSL and AWS-LC are the best we have.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “OpenSSL 4.0.0” Unaffected by recent OpenSSL advisories
“BoringSSL was not affected by any of the January 2026 OpenSSL advisories”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “AI found 12 vulnerabilities in OpenSSL” “isn't true in LibreSSL, BoringSSL, or AWS-LC”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “The State of OpenSSL for pyca/cryptography”
Other cryptography libraries people recommend
The four most recommended other cryptography libraries, 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 7 cryptography libraries, rankedWhat people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“BoringSSL has an unstable API, and Google specifically recommends against using it”
“BoringSSL and AWS-LC are the best we have.”
“there's RustTLS, GnuTLS, BoringSSL, LibreSSL, WolfSSL, NSS, and AWS-LC that come to mind immediately”
“The arguments against those libs don't apply if using them just for the low level crypto algorithms.”
“Googled and Amazoned to death; they don't care about anyone but their own use cases”
“I thought most everyone migrated to libressl or boringssl after the heartbleed fiasco”
“BoringSSL was not affected by any of the January 2026 OpenSSL advisories”
“isn't true in LibreSSL, BoringSSL, or AWS-LC”
“compared to WolfSSL, LibreSSL, BoringSSL, etc.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.