FUSE
Ranked 6 of 10 filesystems by recommenders
Lets developers build filesystems in userspace without kernel code, valued for flexibility and portability. Critics say it is slow and hard to set up.
Lets developers build filesystems in userspace without kernel code, valued for flexibility and portability. Critics say it is slow and hard to set up.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 10
- approval share
- 64%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 10 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
Easy and fun to write against
“I didn't really see the appeal until I learned how to use FUSE.”
Comment from 18 Jan 2026 in “What is Plan 9?” “extremely fun and easy to write against”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “FUSE is All You Need – Giving agents access to anything via filesystems” Flexible way to expose anything as files
“can't stop thinking about what else I can filesystem”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “FUSE is All You Need – Giving agents access to anything via filesystems” “It mapped to a filesystem concept nearly flawlessly.”
Comment from 8 Aug 2026 in “As a Windows user, it's a surreal way to install a program” Portable across operating systems
“so I swapped to Fuse (which I also use on Windows)”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Native Amiga Filesystems on macOS / Linux / Windows with FUSE” “FUSE is great for portability, too”
Comment from 13 Sep 2026 in “TailTalk: A modern async user space AppleTalk stack with Rust and Tokio” Good fit for file-based designs
“Could totally have FUSE over the chunks and then there is no shell emilation.”
Comment from 4 Apr 2026 in “We replaced RAG with a virtual filesystem for our AI documentation assistant” “I'd either go with a FUSE-based design”
Comment from 4 Apr 2026 in “We replaced RAG with a virtual filesystem for our AI documentation assistant”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Slow performance compared to alternatives
“FUSE is dog slow and it's a bad hack compared to mount anything anywhere in 9front”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “Filesystems Are Having a Moment” “FUSE is a phenomenal idea but anyone who has used it knows how slow it can be.”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “We made our filesystem 47× faster by deleting it” “anyone who has used it knows how slow it can be”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “We made our filesystem 47× faster by deleting it” - Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “Filesystems Are Having a Moment”
Requires kernel and permission trade-offs
“It requires Fuse and giving permissions to the kernel.”
Comment from 27 Apr 2026 in “Apple is dropping AFP/TimeCapsule support in macOS 27” “FUSE on Mac seems to be a kernel/permissions mess.”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “SQLite as an Application File Format” Poor fit for some designs
“using fuse as a wrapper for a REST API is ineffective and redundant”
Comment from 12 Jan 2026 in “FUSE is All You Need – Giving agents access to anything via filesystems” “we used fuse and we learnt we shouldn't for a sandbox filesystem”
Comment from 23 May 2026 in “We made our filesystem 47× faster by deleting it”
Other filesystems people recommend
The four most recommended other filesystems, 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.
See all 10 filesystems, rankedWhat people said
All 31 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“FUSE is great for portability, too”
“It mapped to a filesystem concept nearly flawlessly.”
“I keep trying to use it for remote systems, but also keep getting into the how to set it up pain.”
“I think what makes FUSE/FSKit great here is that agents usually only need to see the file metadata”
“fuse/libusb interfaces are significantly more stable that kernel internal structures”
“we used fuse and we learnt we shouldn't for a sandbox filesystem”
“FUSE is not slow. Our distributed file system pipes over 70 GB/a through a single mount point.”
“anyone who has used it knows how slow it can be”
“FUSE is a phenomenal idea but anyone who has used it knows how slow it can be.”
“I am a bit dubious of the use of fuse (though it clearly works well!)”
“It requires Fuse and giving permissions to the kernel.”
“it creates its own issues with snapshots/backups (fsfreeze)”
“still has no working GPS support two years later.”
“I'd either go with a FUSE-based design”
“Could totally have FUSE over the chunks and then there is no shell emilation.”
“if there were no resource tradeoffs, then a FUSE mount would probably be the way to go”
“100% agree a FUSE mount would be the way to go given more time and resources.”
“FUSE is actually a really cool idea”
“FUSE is dog slow and it's a bad hack compared to mount anything anywhere in 9front”
“FUSE it's a dog slow toy in comparison”
“sample "drivers" in easily-modified python that are fast enough for casual use”
“with FUSE providing exceptional utility”
“I didn't really see the appeal until I learned how to use FUSE.”
“I've tried pipes, overlays, and FUSE to no avail.”
“using fuse as a wrapper for a REST API is ineffective and redundant”
“can't stop thinking about what else I can filesystem”
“it turned out to be really bad architecture”
“extremely fun and easy to write against”
“so I swapped to Fuse (which I also use on Windows)”
“Of course, there is stuff like FUSE that can throw a wrench into this”
“FUSE on Mac seems to be a kernel/permissions mess.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.