# journalctl

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/journalctl/

7 people recommended journalctl in Hacker News comments and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. The built-in systemd log viewer, recommended for troubleshooting and for its JSON output. Critics find it complicated, hard to read, and sometimes slow.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Complicated, hard-to-read output (3 comments in the sample): "journalctl makes me want to pull my hair out; just let me grep a regular file" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49051182)) "journalctl makes logging needlessly complicated and log files slow to read" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48381572)) "journalctl is so bad at rendering text" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293041))
- Requires reading the manual (2 comments in the sample): "I still have to read the manual of journalctl." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48379961)) "journalctl practically requires its own book" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45987926))
- Slow or stalls sometimes (1 comment in the sample): "seems to stall for on the order of 5 to 10s, sometimes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49329287))

## Why people recommend it

- Designed for troubleshooting use cases (2 comments in the sample): "some of the most often misunderstood or unknown tools that I find useful for troubleshooting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49920837)) "journalctl is designed for these use cases and has options to solve those issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46255474))
- Intended, obvious way to read logs (1 comment in the sample): "it is the obvious and intended way to do this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258753))

## Other log viewers people recommend

- [lnav](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lnav/): 12 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize
- [GoAccess](https://hackerapproved.com/p/goaccess/): 6 recommend, 2 mixed, 2 criticize
- [Log File Viewer for the Terminal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/log-file-viewer-for-the-terminal/): 5 recommend, 2 mixed, 2 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "journalctl", https://hackerapproved.com/p/journalctl/ (7 recommend, 0 mixed, 10 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.