# Catalyst Perl web framework

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Catalyst Perl web framework and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Open source Perl web framework that people see as a modern option alongside Moose and Mojolicious, and as an alternative to PHP. Its ambition is praised, though it is said to work only mostly.

## Why people recommend it

- Modern Perl web framework option (2 comments): "things like Moose, DBIC, Catalyst, Mojolicious, etc meant you could write pretty modern stuff with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45983489)) "refer back to an article which suggests Perl with Catalyst as an alternative to PHP" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809342))
- Ambitious, well-regarded system design (2 comments): "Catalyst was an ambitious project, which works… mostly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46419262)) "It seemed like quite a nice system." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46670956))

## What people warn about

- Apple Catalyst ports feel iPhone-like on Mac (2 comments): "some macOS apps are actually iOS ones ported via Catalyst, which is the reason they feel strange" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46574895)) "the iPhonisms brought to macOS with Catalyst" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47658203))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Ruby on Rails](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ruby-on-rails.md): 337 recommend
- [Django](https://hackerapproved.com/p/django.md): 277 recommend
- [Next.js](https://hackerapproved.com/p/next-js.md): 127 recommend
- [Phoenix Framework](https://hackerapproved.com/p/phoenix.md): 85 recommend
- [Laravel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/laravel.md): 71 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Catalyst Perl web framework", https://hackerapproved.com/p/catalyst/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).