Kefir C compiler
Shares rank 12 of 18 c compilers by recommenders
Small C compiler praised for passing the full GCC torture tests and its test suite. Caveat: critics say public development stopped and it became proprietary.
Small C compiler praised for passing the full GCC torture tests and its test suite. Caveat: critics say public development stopped and it became proprietary.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 89%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not 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: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not 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
Passes GCC torture tests and test suite
“One of the very few small compilers which passes the full gcc torture tests”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “Cessation of public development of Kefir C compiler” “The test suite alone is pretty impressive.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Kefir C17/C23 Compiler” Fantastic, impressive single-developer project
“I think it is fantastic to have more compiler implementations.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Kefir C17/C23 Compiler” “Very impressive for a single dev project.”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Kefir C17/C23 Compiler” “I agree on it being fantastic.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Kefir C17/C23 Compiler” Optimizing compiler with new pipeline
“it looks like a great (even optimizing) compiler”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “Cessation of public development of Kefir C compiler” “Congrats for the new optimizing pipeline”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Kefir C17/C23 Compiler” Useful extra compiler for testing
“these could have been avoided with just an automatic build job in the CI with kefir or slimcc”
Comment from 21 Apr 2026 in “Kefir C17/C23 Compiler” “I think it is fantastic to have more compiler implementations.”
Comment from 20 Apr 2026 in “Kefir C17/C23 Compiler”
Other c compilers people recommend
The four most recommended other c compilers, with 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fil-C | 160 | 60 | 73% | 13 | — | Approved |
| Claude's C Compiler | 39 | 83 | 32% | 5 | — | — |
| Visual C++ | 29 | 17 | 63% | 12 | — | — |
| Tiny C Compiler (TCC) | 22 | 3 | 88% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Kefir C compilerThis page | 8 | 1 | 89% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
9 of the 10 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it looks like a great (even optimizing) compiler”
“it is dead since now it became the proprietary toy of its author”
“One of the very few small compilers which passes the full gcc torture tests”
“Very impressive for a single dev project.”
“these could have been avoided with just an automatic build job in the CI with kefir or slimcc”
“Congrats for the new optimizing pipeline”
“The test suite alone is pretty impressive.”
“I agree on it being fantastic.”
“I think it is fantastic to have more compiler implementations.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.