JUCE
Hacker ApprovedC++ framework in Developer tools
Developers recommend JUCE as a cross-platform C++ framework for audio plugins and apps, citing its GUI and reliability. Critics say it is a poor fit for some projects and has licence limits for commercial products.
Developers recommend JUCE as a cross-platform C++ framework for audio plugins and apps, citing its GUI and reliability. Critics say it is a poor fit for some projects and has licence limits for commercial products.
20 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 15
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 75%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 15 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 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
Cross-platform support that works well
“I've settled on JUCE as my cross-platform app framework (not just plugins) of choice”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 on Hacker News “JUCE is the standard for cross platform music plugin development”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 on Hacker News “provides a uniform interface to all these formats and more”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Why Janet?” - Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold”
Standard for audio plugin development
“JUCE is the standard for cross platform music plugin development”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 on Hacker News “I remember it being the absolute best for plugin development”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “Pi 1.0” “I love and use many audio plugins created with it”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 on Hacker News Good, versatile GUI framework
“JUCE' GUI is pretty darn good, I have to say, in face of the onslaught of platform vendor fuckery.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” “I have hundreds of VSTs made with JUCE and I love their UIs.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” “JUCE' GUI framework is extremely versatile”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” Many built-in features and batteries
“provides a uniform interface to all these formats and more”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Why Janet?” “JUCE' primary value is as a runtime environment”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “Brume is a 24-voice multi-timbral desktop synth for the CM5” “it comes with a lot of batteries onboard”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Modernizing a 25-year-old minimal C++ unit testing framework (Part 2)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Poor fit for some projects
“JUCE is a great choice for some things, but this wasn't one of them!”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 on Hacker News “Neither JUCE or any other non-HTML UI framework would be realistic for that!”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 on Hacker News “JUCE has too many downsides to seriously recommend imo”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” UI looks bland and non-native
“The UI in Rowland's demo at 32min is feeling a little DearImGui / Reaper-ish, kinda bland while also being non-native.”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” “those 'out-of-the-box' horizontal sliders it seems to prioritize”
Comment from 6 Apr 2026 in “Microsoft Hasn't Had a Coherent GUI Strategy Since Petzold” Licence limits for commercial products
“PACE who banned scripting in the JUCE 8 license terms”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “How to Synthesize a House Loop” “it has a lot of barriers for commercial products”
Comment from 2 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Audionaut – an open-source cross-platform multitrack audio editor”
What people said
28 of the 30 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I remember it being the absolute best for plugin development”
“very reliable and stable with a well maintained forum”
“it has a lot of barriers for commercial products”
“I learned a lot from it, got a very niche job thanks to it”
“Neither JUCE or any other non-HTML UI framework would be realistic for that!”
“I love and use many audio plugins created with it”
“JUCE is the standard for cross platform music plugin development”
“JUCE is a great choice for some things, but this wasn't one of them!”
“I've settled on JUCE as my cross-platform app framework (not just plugins) of choice”
“it comes with a lot of batteries onboard”
“JUCE' primary value is as a runtime environment”
“JUCE runs great on Raspberry Pi.”
“provides a uniform interface to all these formats and more”
“This is where QT/JUCE can help.”
“its some kind of magic, and you will - most likely - be really inspired to create something great”
“JUCE' GUI framework is extremely versatile”
“those 'out-of-the-box' horizontal sliders it seems to prioritize”
“JUCE has too many downsides to seriously recommend imo”
“The UI in Rowland's demo at 32min is feeling a little DearImGui / Reaper-ish, kinda bland while also being non-native.”
“I prefer that JUCE is a one-off licence at $800 (for small business)”
“JUCE' GUI is pretty darn good, I have to say, in face of the onslaught of platform vendor fuckery.”
“I have hundreds of VSTs made with JUCE and I love their UIs.”
“seen it solve the cross-platform problem beautifully”
“It solves all the problems I need solved on Windows and doesn’t lock me into anything.”
“In the project I worked on it was not noticeably slower than native UI.”
“the recent release of JUCE (JUCE8) just broke compatibility with wine and seem to be sabotaging wine-based usage completely”
“it's not too bad once you learn the basics of how audio and MIDI are handled”
“PACE who banned scripting in the JUCE 8 license terms”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.