HN Companion
Shares rank 12 of 14 web apps by recommenders
People recommend it for keyboard-first navigation, useful utility features and AI summaries that save time reading long Hacker News threads. The most common caveat is that the summaries are verbose.
People recommend it for keyboard-first navigation, useful utility features and AI summaries that save time reading long Hacker News threads. The most common caveat is that the summaries are verbose.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Keyboard-first navigation and utility features
“You might find those utility features useful even if you ignore the summary sidebar entirely.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: HN Companion – web app that enhances the experience of reading HN” “bring the familiar keyboard-first navigation, find interesting viewpoints in the threads”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: HN Companion – web app that enhances the experience of reading HN” AI summaries of long threads
“examine lengthy threads and group them into 3 to 4 topics”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: HN Companion – web app that enhances the experience of reading HN” “If you love summaries on HN, check out”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “Hacker News front page as a site” “The AI summary saves me a ton of time.”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: HN Companion – web app that enhances the experience of reading HN”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Summaries are verbose
“My only gripe, after looking for the cached example, is how verbose it is.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: HN Companion – web app that enhances the experience of reading HN” Robotic tone loses site personality
“It basically kills the entire tone/vibe of the place and makes everything seem like robot-written with no personality.”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: HN Companion – web app that enhances the experience of reading HN”
Other web apps people recommend
The four most recommended other web apps, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bigwords.page | 45 | 3 | 94% | 1 | — | — |
| Jmail | 39 | 10 | 80% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Stowaway | 21 | 4 | 84% | 2 | — | — |
| Scroll Wikipedia like TikTok | 18 | 5 | 78% | 1 | — | — |
| HN CompanionThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“If you love summaries on HN, check out”
“I really like some of the hncompanion features a lot.”
“My only gripe, after looking for the cached example, is how verbose it is.”
“You might find those utility features useful even if you ignore the summary sidebar entirely.”
“It basically kills the entire tone/vibe of the place and makes everything seem like robot-written with no personality.”
“we make the back-links more seamless”
“examine lengthy threads and group them into 3 to 4 topics”
“The AI summary saves me a ton of time.”
“bring the familiar keyboard-first navigation, find interesting viewpoints in the threads”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.