# IBM Rational ClearCase 12 Hacker News commenters recommended IBM Rational ClearCase and 18 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Powerful, long-established centralized version control for controlled organizations. Critics most often cite high cost and a steep learning curve needing dedicated admins. ## Why people recommend it - Suits controlled, centralized environments (2 comments): "continued use of centralized version control systems (e.g. Perforce, ClearCase) at organizations that need these things." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49645219)) "Great for controlled environments, but not really built for open collaboration or community growth" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47952026)) - Shared binary caches for compilation (2 comments): "I loved the views, you could actually have snapshots git style, and best of all binary caches for distributed compilation of C and C++" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48234059)) "those headers were uploaded to the server so that other users didn't have to recompile them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49547124)) - Snapshots and file history (2 comments): "I loved the views, you could actually have snapshots git style, and best of all binary caches for distributed compilation of C and C++" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48234059)) "which has something similar if you use their NFS based thing, you could see file or directory history and info" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48228808)) ## What people warn about - Needs dedicated admins and teams (2 comments): "a dedicated admin working full-time to keep it from falling over" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48015225)) "quite complex and requires a dedicated team" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48234077)) - Hard to learn and unfriendly (4 comments): "I found it nice and powerful, but 90% of the developers did not understand it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48231096)) "those config specs were a language in themselves and the amount of times people would get in trouble with them was a real drag" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47485651)) "it was too powerful for people that did and didn't know how to use it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48246802)) - High cost and poor value (3 comments): "IBM buying a popular software product at great expense and running it into the ground" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47436658)) "Clearcase was way ahead of it's time, the main issues there were really just cost" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50090040)) "it wasn't just the price that was wrong with it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49639242)) - Slow checkouts and waiting (4 comments): "There was an uncomfortable amount of time wasted waiting for someone to do something in ClearCase" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49641300)) "Centralized servers worsened the problem by doing everything in a synchronous manner" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979385)) "You had to get there at 6AM to be one of the first five people to log in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48226619)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Git](https://hackerapproved.com/p/git.md): 814 recommend - [Jujutsu (jj)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jujutsu.md): 335 recommend - [Mercurial](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mercurial.md): 121 recommend - [jj (Jujutsu)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jj.md): 115 recommend - [Fossil](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fossil.md): 106 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.ibm.com/products) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "IBM Rational ClearCase", https://hackerapproved.com/p/clearcase/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).