# Keybase

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Keybase and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for tying identities to cryptographic keys through social proofs and for making PGP easier to use; critics say it was left to rot after Zoom bought it.

## Why people recommend it

- Identity proofs tied to cryptographic keys (2 comments): "Keybase was kind of unique in the way the facilitated social proof of identity tied to cryptographic keys." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49276938)) "It was such a simple web of trust that went viral enough that I still occasionally see it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48055554))
- Easy verification and PGP use (2 comments): "Keybase did a lot, for me, to smooth out the pgp/gpg experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45932298)) "it was a great balance between verification and ease of use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47192589))

## What people warn about

- Failed to gain adoption (3 comments): "Keybase tried to do something about it and also failed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46482025)) "Keybase had the right idea, but no one used it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569308)) "a trust network that was unceremoniously and unduly strangled" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48295791))
- Neglected since Zoom acquisition (2 comments): "Then Zoom bought it (for some reason) and left it to rot." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49276693)) "completely fossilized for six years now" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342144))
- Broken proofs and implementation (2 comments): "Twitter account proofs were broken by the API changes years ago and nobody is at the wheel to fix or even just deprecate them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47342349)) "Keybase just happened to have been a wildly broken implementation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45921293))
- Poor UX and rigid key pinning (2 comments): "certificates pinned so hard that I almost couldn't sign my new device" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50216582)) "the UX was so terrible that it was inevitable it won't stick" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49283560))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Persona identity verification](https://hackerapproved.com/p/persona.md): 27 recommend
- [Didit](https://hackerapproved.com/p/didit.md): 11 recommend
- [World ID](https://hackerapproved.com/p/world-id.md): 8 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://keybase.io/)

## Cite as

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