# JSONata

5 Hacker News commenters recommended JSONata and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend JSONata for its terseness, expressiveness and detailed spec. Critics warn that AI-generated code can carry subtle bugs.

## Why people recommend it

- Terse and expressive query language (2 comments): "due to its terseness and expressiveness, which is a great combination for AI generated queries" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47538829)) "it is a fantastic and expressive framework with a very detailed spec" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47539803))
- Detailed spec and full test suite (2 comments): "it is a fantastic and expressive framework with a very detailed spec" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47539803)) "passes the full set of tests and is safe" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47538918))

## What people warn about

- Regret choosing it as it grew (3 comments): "Likely, had we known what it would evolve into, we would have decided on a different solution (perhaps not JSONata at all, for example)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47542706)) "a very very simple JSON expression language to become a 500k/year cost burden" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47540490)) "they fixed their existing bad technology choice" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47539243))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [GraphQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/graphql.md): 52 recommend
- [PRQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prql.md): 15 recommend
- [Prela](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prela.md): 5 recommend
- [PRQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prequel.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

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