# HAL (hal.science)

7 Hacker News commenters recommended HAL (hal.science) and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free open archive for research papers, used especially in mathematics and well integrated with arXiv; critics say it is second-tier to arXiv and dredge is a problem.

## Why people recommend it

- Simple, low-friction, lightweight (2 comments): "HAL is enough and way less friction" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47367160)) "I like how simple and lite it is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47366246))
- Blocks destructive commands via shared rules (2 comments): "It sits in the hook, checks every command against a set of rules, and blocks the destructive ones." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47365104)) "Plus, this enables shared rules across our company’s engineers/teams" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47365208))

## What people warn about

- Dredge is a huge problem (1 comments): "dredge is a huge problem with HAL, but it's getting better" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47456673))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [arXiv](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arxiv.md): 83 recommend
- [Sci-Hub](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sci-hub.md): 17 recommend
- [Zenodo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zenodo.md): 9 recommend
- [ACM Digital Library](https://hackerapproved.com/p/acm-digital-library.md): 9 recommend
- [JSTOR](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jstor.md): 7 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://hal.science/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "HAL (hal.science)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/hal/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).