Catalyst Perl web framework
Shares rank 58 of 63 web frameworks by recommenders
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.
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.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 56%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Modern Perl web framework option
“things like Moose, DBIC, Catalyst, Mojolicious, etc meant you could write pretty modern stuff with it”
Comment from 19 Nov 2025 in “What Killed Perl?” “refer back to an article which suggests Perl with Catalyst as an alternative to PHP”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “SAML: A fractal of bad design” Ambitious, well-regarded system design
“Catalyst was an ambitious project, which works… mostly.”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “Last Year on My Mac: Look Back in Disbelief” “It seemed like quite a nice system.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “jQuery 4.0.0 Released”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Apple Catalyst ports feel iPhone-like on Mac
“some macOS apps are actually iOS ones ported via Catalyst, which is the reason they feel strange”
Comment from 11 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft May Have Created the Slowest Windows in 25 Years with Windows 11” “the iPhonisms brought to macOS with Catalyst”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold”
Other web frameworks people recommend
The four most recommended other web frameworks, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby on Rails | 337 | 145 | 70% | 12 | 14 yrs38 owners | Approved |
| Django | 277 | 97 | 74% | 12 | 15 yrs38 owners | Approved |
| Next.js | 127 | 256 | 33% | 12 | 3 yrs6 owners | — |
| Phoenix Framework | 85 | 11 | 89% | 12 | 8 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| Catalyst Perl web frameworkThis page | 5 | 4 | 56% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“refer back to an article which suggests Perl with Catalyst as an alternative to PHP”
“the iPhonisms brought to macOS with Catalyst”
“It seemed like quite a nice system.”
“some macOS apps are actually iOS ones ported via Catalyst, which is the reason they feel strange”
“it was barebones and doesn't tie into the snippets”
“Catalyst was an ambitious project, which works… mostly.”
“Then Catalyst, the old MVS monster.”
“things like Moose, DBIC, Catalyst, Mojolicious, etc meant you could write pretty modern stuff with it”
“Catalyst was literally a UX catalyst, introducing two competing UX standards for MacOS.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.