# Have I Been Pwned

29 Hacker News commenters recommended Have I Been Pwned and 26 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Checks whether your email or passwords appeared in known breaches, with free domain-wide search. Critics say it reports exposure without a clear way to act.

## Why people recommend it

- Privacy-conscious design limits data shared (4 comments): "It gives you as much information as you should be given. Any more information would just be spreading around the hacked dataset." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45841663)) "they are not storing more info along the email address, because that would be way too risky" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45846058)) "Only the first 5 characters of a SHA-1 hash go to HIBP" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50125048))
- Free domain-wide breach alerts (3 comments): "they give me a list of every address @my-domain that’s been leaked" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844443)) "I get notified if any email of our family domain get leaked" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442570)) "HIBP has a domain-wide search feature which is free" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45841151))
- Long-standing, careful, trusted operator (3 comments): "HIBP is a very, very well established site with a long history of operating in good faith." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45847595)) "they tend to be pretty careful when checking the veracity of claims" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46932618)) "he's been a leader in this space and walking the walk for a decade." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840728))
- Tells you when accounts leaked (2 comments): "Have I been pwned will tell me if the associated password for that site leaked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840209)) "That's literally what Have I Been Pwned is for." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48442454))

## What people warn about

- Says you're exposed, not what to do (4 comments): "HIBP is an invaluable service, but, on the other, it does nothing more than stating you’re in trouble, with no clear way forward." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45844373)) "the site does not give me any way to take action" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840447)) "haveibeenpwned is also useless for me, it will tell me that my email was compromised but not which sites or passwords" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840546))
- Paywalled features cost money (5 comments): "I don't think it's cool to unilaterally privatize the service and turn it into a commercial one." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840714)) "For me, with a similar wildcard setup, it became something I wasn't willing to spend money on." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48443642)) "The problem is the cost of haveibeenpwned is too much for me as an individual." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45842116))
- Misses some leaks and needs exact emails (4 comments): "I know for a fact that a certain email of mine have been exposed, but it never appears on the site." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45845102)) "can only find "exact email" addressed, as in, you must search for myname@gmail.com" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45846205)) "you can't enter your email and find leaked passwords associated with the address" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46285629))
- Privacy worries about searched data (2 comments): "the risk of typing my passwords into his website" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45842073)) "this tool inadvertently exposes users's full web history, including sensitive sites" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46785739))

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://haveibeenpwned.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Have I Been Pwned", https://hackerapproved.com/p/have-i-been-pwned/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).