# ipset

5 Hacker News commenters recommended ipset and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Linux tool for grouping large numbers of IP addresses into sets, so iptables can block known bad addresses and regions without a rule per address.

## Why people recommend it

- Blocklists instead of per-IP rules (3 comments): "People might not know about ipset - dont use individual rules in iptables." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47691454)) "You'd probably want script to populate a "hash:net" ipset instead" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45891544)) "add blocks of IPs to a blocklist (eg. ipset on Linux)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966203))
- Blocks malicious IPs and regions (2 comments): "IPset and GeoIP banning of known malicious IPs and regions (using block-lists) also keeps the footprint of "unwanted" use very, very small" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706363)) "add blocks of IPs to a blocklist (eg. ipset on Linux)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45966203))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [pf (OpenBSD Packet Filter)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pf.md): 53 recommend
- [nftables](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nftables.md): 29 recommend
- [LuLu firewall](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lulu.md): 27 recommend
- [iptables](https://hackerapproved.com/p/iptables.md): 15 recommend
- [UFW](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ufw.md): 12 recommend

## Cite as

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