# ELinks

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/elinks/

5 people recommended ELinks in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Lightweight terminal web browser that people recommend for stable, text-only browsing; one critic calls it marginally useful on the modern web.

Summary written by Claude from 7 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Long-running personal favorite for years (2 comments in the sample): "the other good browser I was happily using on old machines" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45834938)) "ELinks is the TUI browser I've used since… forever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45832518))
- Ranked above lynx and links (2 comments in the sample): "Terminal emulators and lynx/elinks/links/w3c work, too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46107095)) "elinks is better than both of them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47805648))

## Other text browsers people recommend

- [Lynx web browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lynx/): 34 recommend, 8 mixed, 8 criticize
- [Links web browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/links/): 14 recommend, 3 mixed, 3 criticize
- [w3m](https://hackerapproved.com/p/w3m/): 12 recommend, 5 mixed, 1 criticize
- [Chawan terminal web browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chawan/): 12 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "ELinks", https://hackerapproved.com/p/elinks/ (5 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.