Crowd Supply
Shares rank 3 of 5 crowdfunding platforms by recommenders
Crowdfunding platform for open-source hardware, recommended for its expertise in bringing projects to market and for finding unusual open hardware. Common caveat: slow support when hardware arrives faulty.
Crowdfunding platform for open-source hardware, recommended for its expertise in bringing projects to market and for finding unusual open hardware. Common caveat: slow support when hardware arrives faulty.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 63%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not 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: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 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
Expertise getting projects to market
“they provide all the expertise to actually get projects to market”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Reparaible and open source paper printer” “CrowdSupply is great - I ran a successful project through them.”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Using e-ink tablet as monitor for Linux” Successful projects and purchases
“I bought quite a few projects via CS and never been disappointed.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “How to build a printer” “CrowdSupply is great - I ran a successful project through them.”
Comment from 14 Dec 2025 in “Using e-ink tablet as monitor for Linux” Wide range of open hardware
“to see the plethora of fun and useful OSHW out there”
Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Project Patchouli: Open-source electromagnetic drawing tablet hardware” “might carry what you’re looking for”
Comment from 17 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What exists if I want a premade SoC/MCU/screen/enclosure/battery?” Good for buying and selling
“both to buy but also consider selling your own work”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Building an Open-Source Robot Vacuum – Meet Oomwoo” “I bought quite a few projects via CS and never been disappointed.”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “How to build a printer”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow, unhelpful support for faulty hardware
“The hardware was faulty, which was no big deal, but it took 3 months (!!!) of back and forth with their support”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Crowd Supply – GoFundMe for hardware development”
Other crowdfunding platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other crowdfunding platforms, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kickstarter | 12 | 8 | 60% | 8 | — | — |
| Open Collective | 8 | 2 | 80% | 5 | — | — |
| Crowd SupplyThis page | 5 | 3 | 63% | 5 | — | — |
| Pieces | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| CleverCrow | 5 | 7 | 42% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
All 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The hardware was faulty, which was no big deal, but it took 3 months (!!!) of back and forth with their support”
“might carry what you’re looking for”
“I bought quite a few projects via CS and never been disappointed.”
“service quality has declined, and shipping times are slower”
“they provide all the expertise to actually get projects to market”
“both to buy but also consider selling your own work”
“please turn down your VPN check. I am not stripping my privacy protection to use your site.”
“everything on crowd supply is overpriced”
“to see the plethora of fun and useful OSHW out there”
“CrowdSupply is great - I ran a successful project through them.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.