# GNU Octave

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnu-octave/

16 people recommended GNU Octave in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 12 months, in 9 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

8 of the 16 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “In Defense of Matlab Code”.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source MATLAB-compatible environment for numerical computing and plotting, with syntax people find similar. Caveat: incompatibilities with some scripts and less capability than MATLAB in specialized areas.

Summary written by Claude from 27 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Free alternative to costly MATLAB licenses (4 comments in the sample): "It just had to be decent enough to save $$$$ vs a Matlab license." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47197791)) "GNU Octave if you’re on NIX or you don’t have $40k for a license" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48299528)) "GNU Octave for free since you really pay for toolboxes/packages" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49742182))
- Syntax close to MATLAB, easy to switch (4 comments in the sample): "Octave is the closest thing to being Matlab without being Matlab" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49568426)) "Octave has extended Matlab's syntax with amazing improvements" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46133791)) "Octave saved me there since the syntax is similar." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48564471))
- Good for numerical computing and plotting (2 comments in the sample): "Octave did the math magic, generating tables and saving graphics in png format" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46284959)) "It's really great for numerical computing and plotting." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46279928))

## What people warn about

- Missing MATLAB functionality in some areas (3 comments in the sample): "the former just could not replicate a large enough portion of the latter's functionality" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46283948)) "It does not have the capabilities of Matlab in the areas that I worked in" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46280966)) "Matlab was better than Octave in many ways" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563137))
- Less polished, feels half-baked (2 comments in the sample): "I'm not sure Octave ever really got that polish to compete with MATLAB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47197359)) "I tried GNU Octave, but it felt half-baked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48504320))

## What people recommend instead

- [MATLAB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/matlab/): 28 recommend, 36 mixed, 42 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, "GNU Octave", https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnu-octave/ (16 recommend, 4 mixed, 6 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

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