ImHex
Hacker ApprovedHex editor in Developer tools
Recommended as a feature-rich free hex editor with pattern templates for parsing binary and proprietary file formats. The most common caveats are that debugging pattern templates can be painful and that it is large for a hex editor.
Recommended as a feature-rich free hex editor with pattern templates for parsing binary and proprietary file formats. The most common caveats are that debugging pattern templates can be painful and that it is large for a hex editor.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 24
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 24 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 12 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Strong feature set for hex editing
“ImHex is a great hex editor, lots of features.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Xilem – An experimental Rust native UI framework” “It really is by far the best hex editor I ever used”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Your hex editor should color-code bytes” “it's by far the best hex editor out there”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Godecompose: Go decompiler that uses pattern matchers” - Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “Your hex editor should color-code bytes”
Pattern language for parsing binary formats
“I've had a lot of fun with Pattern Language lately”
Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “Your hex editor should color-code bytes” “I have never seen a language that mixes logic into definitions of data structures quite like that before.”
Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Reverse Engineering Unknown File Formats with ImHex” “I've had a lot of luck with ImHex looking at various binary formats”
Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “Reverse Engineering Unknown File Formats with ImHex” - Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Reverse Engineering Unknown File Formats with ImHex”
Built-in parsers and format patterns
“Plus the built-in parsers for well known formats!”
Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “Your hex editor should color-code bytes” “It really is by far the best hex editor I ever used”
Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Your hex editor should color-code bytes” “is also a really nice Hex editor with tons of plugins (patterns, file support, etc.)”
Comment from 23 Apr 2026 in “Your hex editor should color-code bytes”
What people recommend instead
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ImHexThis page | 24 | 2 | 92% | 5 | — | Approved |
| 010 Editor | 6 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
27 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“stuff like wireshark and imhex remain vulnerable, even on their latest repo commits”
“Just opened it up and opened a zip with no issues.”
“Past attempts to use after downloading and running it natively have revealed it to be very crashy.”
“I have never seen a language that mixes logic into definitions of data structures quite like that before.”
“there is some kind of limit to the parsers you write”
“Love imhex and recognised the author straight away.”
“it doesn't quite fit the need I have”
“I use both ImHex and Kaitai struct, give it a try maybe you'll like it”
“The program is so good, and has enough of a reputation that I knew to reach for it”
“ImHex makes tackling proprietary formats so much less painful.”
“the pattern templates work pretty well, though debugging is sometimes painful”
“I've had a lot of luck with ImHex looking at various binary formats”
“I've been using ImHex[0] for this purpose, to pretty good effect.”
“it's by far the best hex editor out there”
“The imhex patterns repo also contains so many formats”
“It really is by far the best hex editor I ever used”
“it's also kind of huge for a hex editor”
“This is another fine tool I can add to my collection.”
“ImHex is amazing! It's actively maintained, sponsored by FUTO, and is very hackable”
“if I had this when I had been working on Omnet connector to the HKEX, I would have win my life”
“Plus the built-in parsers for well known formats!”
“I've had a lot of fun with Pattern Language lately”
“is also a really nice Hex editor with tons of plugins (patterns, file support, etc.)”
“Imo the best feature is the data structure editor.”
“ImHex is a great hex editor, lots of features.”
“ImHex will tell you if it's compressed.”
“Something like 010 Editor or ImHex.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.