Chawan terminal web browser
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 8 text browsers by recommenders
A free, text-based web browser for the terminal that people use daily for sites like HN, valued as a real browser implementation and for being customizable, fast and regularly updated.
A free, text-based web browser for the terminal that people use daily for sites like HN, valued as a real browser implementation and for being customizable, fast and regularly updated.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: 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 carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 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
Used often as daily driver
“depending on the sites you browse daily (like HN - which works fine), you might be able to use one of these as a daily-driver”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “Gemini, Gophers, and Fingers. Oh My Alternative Internets Beyond HTTPS” “chawan is really good. I use it very often, and it looks very promising.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Text-Based Web Browsers” “I use this one pretty often. It's great.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Ratatui – App Showcase”
Other text browsers people recommend
The four most recommended other text browsers, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynx web browser | 42 | 10 | 81% | 12 | — | Approved |
| w3m | 19 | 1 | 95% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Links web browser | 18 | 4 | 82% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Chawan terminal web browserThis page | 12 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| EWW (Emacs Web Wowser) | 8 | 2 | 80% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“depending on the sites you browse daily (like HN - which works fine), you might be able to use one of these as a daily-driver”
“it's generally just a lot of fun to mix old web 1.0 layers with a new one”
“chawan is better than all of them, even has basic support for CSS and Javascript”
“I liked chawan from the first time it was shown here on HN”
“chawan is really good. I use it very often, and it looks very promising.”
“it's an actual browser implementation rather than "cheating" by using an existing browser”
“Very customizable. Regular updates. Fast.”
“This actually looks pretty reasonable.”
“I use this one pretty often. It's great.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.