Encore
Hacker ApprovedRanked 28 of 63 web frameworks by recommenders
Recommended for letting developers write backend application logic while infrastructure is generated from code and deployed to various clouds. Critics worry about tight coupling between application code and infrastructure.
Recommended for letting developers write backend application logic while infrastructure is generated from code and deployed to various clouds. Critics worry about tight coupling between application code and infrastructure.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not 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.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, 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
Infrastructure declared in application code
“The key difference is the toolbox you get + the fact that you're writing application logic, not infrastructure config.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” “you don't write any infrastructure config - you just declare what you need in your code”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “An Update on Heroku” “Encore.ts is great on the backend with its Infrastructure as Code implementation”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “What next after react/Next.js in webdev world?” Cloud-agnostic, portable application code
“Encore is cloud-agnostic and works for any backend architecture (monoliths, microservices, containers, functions).”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” “you only declare the semantics in code, and then at deploy you decide which infra to use”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” “your application code is actually more portable than with Terraform”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” Services, infrastructure and deployment together
“Between it and convex they are the best things right now in building backends.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” “Encore handles services + infrastructure + deployment as one thing.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” Quick, responsive team support
“It just works, and on the rare occasion it doesn't the team has been super quick to resolve it.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” “We work alongside you, not against you.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Tight coupling of app code and infrastructure
“all infrastructure declared in application code eventually leads to crying if you get big enough”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code” “I'd be skeptical of having this much coupling between application code and infrastructure.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Encore – Type-safe back end framework that generates infra from code”
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 |
| EncoreThis page | 12 | 3 | 80% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
22 of the 24 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Encore’s free hosting for hobby projects, then GCP Cloud Run + Neon for relatively cheap production hosting.”
“Encore looks basically what I'd need, but doesn't seem to support Cloudflare or Railway”
“I think Encore is great and do really cool things”
“Couldn't find it so I built it.”
“AI tools get this traversability for free”
“you don't write any infrastructure config - you just declare what you need in your code”
“Encore.ts is great on the backend with its Infrastructure as Code implementation”
“Pretty interesting. I wish this was available for .net.”
“looks brittle and hard to test”
“sounds like a solution for a problem PaaS has solved 10 years ago”
“We work alongside you, not against you.”
“all infrastructure declared in application code eventually leads to crying if you get big enough”
“you only declare the semantics in code, and then at deploy you decide which infra to use”
“Between it and convex they are the best things right now in building backends.”
“support sucks and the Environment Destruction feature does not work properly”
“Encore is cloud-agnostic and works for any backend architecture (monoliths, microservices, containers, functions).”
“The key difference is the toolbox you get + the fact that you're writing application logic, not infrastructure config.”
“I'd be skeptical of having this much coupling between application code and infrastructure.”
“It just works, and on the rare occasion it doesn't the team has been super quick to resolve it.”
“excited about prospects of it in other languages like Python”
“Encore handles services + infrastructure + deployment as one thing.”
“your application code is actually more portable than with Terraform”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.