# CachyOS 200 Hacker News commenters recommended CachyOS and 59 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 0.5 years (44 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** An Arch-based Linux distro with optimized kernels and packages that works out of the box, runs games well and suits Windows switchers, though critics doubt its long-term stability. ## Why people recommend it - Works out of the box (8 comments): "If you use a distro like CachyOS for example, you'll find that they use a kernel tuned for desktop use-case, so you don't need to tinker with anything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594087)) "Fantastic experience all around. KDE Plasma is an excellent window manager and everything just worked out of the box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46414957)) "Games work with minimal farting about, the desktop is great out of the box and customisable in plenty of ways" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49037457)) - Fast, CPU-optimized kernel and packages (6 comments): "While cachyOS is so much more powerful it doesn't abuse that power like Windows and OSX with so many background processes and telemetry." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47227486)) "CachyOS is the way to go as they provide highly optimised (PGO/LTC etc) and CPU-family specific kernel" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49445794)) "CachyOS has been smooth sailing for me! It is an arch derivative and it is blazing fast and stable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46751971)) - Easy switch from Windows (6 comments): "Normal people can definitely install an OS. Last weekend I set aside time help a friend install CachyOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47462372)) "It was so painless that I switched my desktop over as well, and I no longer have a windows device." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46801929)) "I installed CachyOS for my 8-year old son and his desktop instead of Windows. It's been wonderful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47995927)) - Great for Linux gaming (4 comments): "Games work with minimal farting about, the desktop is great out of the box and customisable in plenty of ways" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49037457)) "Many of my games run better on Linux with the open source AMd drivers. (CachyOS rolling rolling rolling)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228769)) "Here's my quick intro to anyone interested in running a Linux machine for gaming and everyday use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150766)) ## What people warn about - Doubts about long-term stability (5 comments): "I'm sure cachyOS will work a treat out of the box, but i'm also sure that one day things will stop working" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45986188)) "I still can't trust my CachyOS desktop not to do something surprising during important calls." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46600478)) "I don't see how this could ever be stable enough that I'd want to run a real business on it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46421984)) - Performance gains small or placebo (3 comments): "To be honest, I don't notice a lot of difference and I think I'm as fine with Arch as with CachyOS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46096244)) "I think a lot of cachy performance is placebo, because Steam games use the container runtime's Debian 11 libraries" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46576931)) "CachyOS is for the kind of gamer who'd de-bloat Windows, etc. to squeeze 1 fps more out of their hardware." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575162)) - Confusing installer and software choices (3 comments): "The default install comes with 3 different GUIs for installing software, all of them confusing and inconsistent." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48720909)) "That distro asking you to pick one out of 5 bootloaders and one out of 13 desktop environments?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46575333)) "I was only able to install the latest CachyOS image by modifying the boot arguments in grub" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48128773)) - Arch and AUR risks (2 comments): "i think cachyos actually does interesting things, but i still would never recommend an arch based distro to anyone" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49508950)) "distributions like CachyOS are being broadly promoted to a user base who can't be reasonably expected to check over AUR packages themselves." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518301)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Ubuntu](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ubuntu.md): 560 recommend - [Debian](https://hackerapproved.com/p/debian.md): 552 recommend - [Fedora Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fedora.md): 437 recommend - [Arch Linux](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arch-linux.md): 362 recommend - [Linux Mint](https://hackerapproved.com/p/linux-mint.md): 277 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "CachyOS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/cachyos/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).