Exercism
Ranked 6 of 8 coding practice platforms by recommenders
Free site for practicing programming with test-driven exercises in many languages, suited to learners at all levels; critics cite too many features.
Free site for practicing programming with test-driven exercises in many languages, suited to learners at all levels; critics cite too many features.
8 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: 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: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Test-driven practice exercises in many languages
“a site I liked called exercism which also had a multi language track unit test passing style which I really value”
Comment from 11 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Learn by rebuilding Redis, Git, a database from scratch” “If I had a suite of tests, I could just run code against them. Just like Exercism.”
Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Learn by rebuilding Redis, Git, a database from scratch” Good for learners at all levels
“Exercism.io is excellent for exactly the experience you're seeking.”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Exhaused by AI looking for some advice on how to keep moving forward” “making it suitable for learners of all levels”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 on Hacker News Good for practicing programming
“Exercism.io is excellent for exactly the experience you're seeking.”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: Exhaused by AI looking for some advice on how to keep moving forward” “Perhaps use Exercism to practice.”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Emacs Turns 50”
Other coding practice platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other coding practice 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LeetCode | 50 | 63 | 44% | 11 | — | — |
| Project Euler | 45 | 6 | 88% | 5 | 12 yrs9 owners | Approved |
| Advent of Code | 31 | 5 | 86% | 6 | 4 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Codecrafters | 14 | 3 | 82% | 4 | — | Approved |
| ExercismThis page | 6 | 2 | 75% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 8 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Perhaps use Exercism to practice.”
“with its million features”
“If I had a suite of tests, I could just run code against them. Just like Exercism.”
“a site I liked called exercism which also had a multi language track unit test passing style which I really value”
“there is nothing to learn.”
“Exercism.io is excellent for exactly the experience you're seeking.”
“making it suitable for learners of all levels”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.