# FoxPro 33 Hacker News commenters recommended FoxPro and 23 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for fast database work and easy form-based app building in one tool. Common caveat: its local-first design struggles over networks and with modern team tooling. ## Why people recommend it - Productive all-in-one tool for developers (8 comments): "its significance was huge as it was the peak of an era where small/single developers could deliver business solutions by knowing a single tool" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49812288)) "was really nice to developed the db, GUI front end and printable reports all in single runtime" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49810944)) "As you say the productivity it (xBASE/FoxPro/Clipper) offered was remarkable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47046947)) - Fast database handling and bulk operations (4 comments): "Foxpro's local DB handling was amazing at pulling down tables, doing complex bulk operations, and pushing the changes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49815712)) "It ships database files over the network and does that blazingly fast." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49815206)) "it was fast if the database was designed correctly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49819372)) - Easy to learn and build (4 comments): "It's a super easy language to get started with programming and the fact that you can drag your widgets on the screen helps a lot." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49816055)) "I worked with FoxPro and do all the DB code was not only a joy, it makes too much sense!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49778560)) "the coding was insanely easy (just a bunch of CRUD process)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49810047)) - Nostalgia for early FoxPro days (5 comments): "I loved visual fox pro as a kid (~10). I made little UIs to open my favorite sites and files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808375)) "rose-colored affinity for the dBase III, FoxPro and CA Clipper apps that I used to work on" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48687305)) "I really liked the early DOS versions of FoxPro with their extensive mouse-driven TUI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48083010)) ## What people warn about - Fragile file sharing over networks (4 comments): "They rarely fit today since they were all (or mostly) local-first or even local-only." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47457611)) "using it over a network drive gave all sorts of file locks and issues with multiple people changing the same record" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808920)) "All the users have to have read/write access to the files or the application won't work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809540)) - Hard to rewrite or migrate away (2 comments): "I hate that it's the hand I'm dealt, but aside from AI rewrites (underway), there's no good answer." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49809743)) "there is not a way to "rewrite" a foxpro app without tons of stuff along the way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49808896)) - Dated, aging software (3 comments): "I'm very well aware of the limitations of Fox, is ancient software! but the style of programming?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49810991)) "aging in house Electronic Medical System built on FoxPro 1999 running on SQL Server 2000" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46273662)) "systems such as dBase, FoxPro, and Paradox were starting to show the strain" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48098886)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [PostgreSQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/postgresql.md): 816 recommend - [MySQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mysql.md): 124 recommend - [Microsoft SQL Server](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-sql-server.md): 73 recommend - [Microsoft Access](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-access.md): 62 recommend - [Turso](https://hackerapproved.com/p/turso.md): 53 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "FoxPro", https://hackerapproved.com/p/foxpro/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).