# IMDb 6 Hacker News commenters recommended IMDb and 34 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend it for quick movie facts, reliable overviews and ratings. Critics say user reviews now need an account and the site is full of ads since Amazon bought it. ## Why people recommend it - Useful movie information and ratings (3 comments): "many were interesting, by clarifying whether a movie is worth viewing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47931054)) "The overviews on IMDB are usually pretty reliable, too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46521151)) "show you actually useful metrics, like the IMDB rating" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181863)) ## What people warn about - Reviews now require an account (6 comments): "now that reviews are gone I guess I should stop checking their reviews and ditch this site completely" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47932040)) "amazon changing imdb.com, so that you need to actually be logged in to read any of the reviews" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48958302)) "you now must be logged in to IMDB.com in order to view the User Reviews for movies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008359)) - Heavy advertising, including Amazon ads (3 comments): "Even the mobile IMDB app now has ads for random products on amazon.com. It's gross." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45816167)) "Plenty of my work on there. Nothing to show for it, and they advertise on there." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49962568)) "a list of movies, directors and actors, wrapped in megabytes of ads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052261)) - Accounts created without consent (2 comments): "IMDb account was automatically created using the email alias I use for Amazon" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47816100)) "I never wanted or asked for any account on some site I happened to visit" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47843789)) - Amazon ownership hurt trust (2 comments): "The imdb move was truly stupid of Amazon, imo. I use to go there all the time for movie info but now its wikipedia and other alternatives and don't even bother with imdb." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49454871)) "Same goes for amazon buying imdb and they've already used that to adjust scores for at least one film" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49849541)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Letterboxd](https://hackerapproved.com/p/letterboxd.md): 16 recommend - [Criterion Closet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/criterion-closet.md): 13 recommend - [JustWatch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/justwatch.md): 11 recommend - [CineCLI](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cinecli.md): 6 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.imdb.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "IMDb", https://hackerapproved.com/p/imdb/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).