BSD
Hacker ApprovedRanked 17 of 87 operating systems by recommenders
Free Unix-like operating system people recommend for stability, simplicity and independence from big tech. Critics say it demands more expertise and has weaker hardware and driver support than Linux.
Free Unix-like operating system people recommend for stability, simplicity and independence from big tech. Critics say it demands more expertise and has weaker hardware and driver support than Linux.
52 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 44
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 85%
Recommended in 13 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 44 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 13 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
Free of big tech influence
“BSD is much less invested in chasing the next big thing, and also has much less contributions from big tech.”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “GrapheneOS refuses to comply with new age verification laws for operating system” “the social and political aspects of Linux and the BSDs make them the best we can achieve as a society”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “8086 Segmented Memory was a good idea” “I would much rather see my OS made by hobbyists like myself with the same goals as myself”
Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “Store birth date in systemd for age verification” - Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Microsoft confirms Windows 11 is about to change”
- Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “What's wrong with EU age verification? (Nothing)”
- Comment from 30 Jun 2026 in “European digital ID wallets are a gift to Google and Apple”
Stable, reliable long uptime
“With cloud infra, people have forgotten just how stable the Unixken are.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Ephemeral infrastructure: Why short-lived is a good thing” “They are chosen for it's performance, stability and HA features.”
Comment from 1 Dec 2025 in “A Love Letter to FreeBSD” “Solaris and BSD would have months of uptime on similar hardware”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Tim Cook to become Apple Executive Chairman” Proven track record in production
“Linux and BSD exist and they probably already run most of your hardware.”
Comment from 12 Sep 2026 in “I'm a Proud Luddite. That's Why I Use Linux” “switched to BSD and Linux around 2000 and haven't looked back”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “Windows native app development is a mess” “BSD does a few things right, hence it's used by Netflix”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it” - Comment from 7 Dec 2025 in “Bikeshedding, or why I want to build a laptop”
Simple and easy to set up
“with their relative simplicity and low system requirements”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Linux from Scratch Ends SysVinit Support” “BSD and Linux seem to be fine for the average person.”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help” “bsd is super easy for this kind of setup tbh.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Slightly safer vibecoding by adopting old hacker habits”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Needs expert hands, hard for beginners
“the *BSD init and SysVinit systems require direct human administration. You break it, you fix it.”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Linux from Scratch Ends SysVinit Support” “I love the philosophy but they're for the initiated.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “A brief look at FreeBSD” “you had to install BSD first, compile the kernel”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” Stability claims disputed
“much more stable than MacOS or the BSDs”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “GLM 5.2 and the coming AI margin collapse” “The same is hardly true for the BSDs.”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Moss: a Rust Linux-compatible kernel in 26,000 lines of code” Niche and declining use
“they get sued by the phone company and nobody uses it”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “In the Beginning was the Command Line (1999)” “For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “FreeBSD 14.4-Release Announcement” Architectural problems and weaknesses
“BSD has its own share of problems and architectural weaknesses”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Theo de Raadt: "You've been smoking something mind altering" (2007)” “Under current BSD's and worse... GNUs, it's a nightmare.”
Comment from 6 Feb 2026 in “C Isn't a Language”
Other operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other operating systems, 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 87 operating systems, rankedWhat people said
40 of the 61 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“post-systemd Linux has low belonging vs the bsd communities”
“By default, you get the program name, what its blocked on, and info about real/user/sys time and memory use.”
“I'll stick with MacOS, BSD, and OpenSuse as desktop systems”
“Linux and BSD exist and they probably already run most of your hardware.”
“Linux has been weaponized for self-promotion.”
“there is still some BSDs left so people will not be left without choice”
“BSD has its own share of problems and architectural weaknesses”
“much more stable than MacOS or the BSDs”
“Luckily with Linux (most distros) and the BSDs, you can easily avoid being "watched".”
“We already have free operating systems: Linux, BSD.”
“the social and political aspects of Linux and the BSDs make them the best we can achieve as a society”
“leave it behind and move on to Linux, BSD or whatever doesn't require a cloud account to work”
“I'd recommend BSD. any flavor will do.”
“I have a BSD box and work on a hobby project which is all in C.”
“Solaris and BSD would have months of uptime on similar hardware”
“if you care for privacy maybe go to BSD”
“bsd is super easy for this kind of setup tbh.”
“BSD is much less invested in chasing the next big thing, and also has much less contributions from big tech.”
“switched to BSD and Linux around 2000 and haven't looked back”
“I like *BSD, I have like 4 machines in my home running Free or Open”
“I would much rather see my OS made by hobbyists like myself with the same goals as myself”
“For all practical purposes, *BSD is dead”
“You shouldn't ignore BSD for example.”
“Under current BSD's and worse... GNUs, it's a nightmare.”
“the *BSD init and SysVinit systems require direct human administration. You break it, you fix it.”
“with their relative simplicity and low system requirements”
“Android, Linux, BSD (incl iOS and Mac) absolutely dominate the market”
“you had to install BSD first, compile the kernel”
“Gentoo, duvian and all the bsds will keep x11 around until the heat death of the universe.”
“BSD does a few things right, hence it's used by Netflix”
“they get sued by the phone company and nobody uses it”
“Linux or BSD are there for many good reasons.”
“BSD and Linux seem to be fine for the average person.”
“BSD was the once (and hopefully future) king”
“With cloud infra, people have forgotten just how stable the Unixken are.”
“They are chosen for it's performance, stability and HA features.”
“The same is hardly true for the BSDs.”
“the time has never been better to switch to *BSD and illumos where true freedom awaits”
“I love the philosophy but they're for the initiated.”
“BSD remains the only ecosystem offering a complete, usable desktop”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.