Koi.rest
Ranked 2 of 12 novelty websites by recommenders
People recommend it as a soothing koi pond with zen background sounds for relaxation. The most common caveat is laggy performance, with some critics reporting very low frame rates.
People recommend it as a soothing koi pond with zen background sounds for relaxation. The most common caveat is laggy performance, with some critics reporting very low frame rates.
29 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 18
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 62%
Recommended in 1 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: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 18 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 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
Calming, zen-like relaxation
“I'm listening to the sound and not watching the koi, and that is incredibly soothing/relaxing for my ADHD mind.”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “The sounds and visuals are a great way to recenter.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “Top of bookmark list for a daily zen!”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” - Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance”
Zen background sounds
“The sounds and visuals are a great way to recenter.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “I like the zen background sounds.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” Polished UI and visuals
“I dig the voronoi used as an approximation of caustics!”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “I really like the UI especially the about page.”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Laggy, slow performance
“I'm on a laptop with 96 GB ram and a Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, and it's running at 3 FPS.”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “Seems like quite laggy (I suppose bcz of heavy assets and rendering)”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “increase the frame rate of the fish animation”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” - Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance”
- Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance”
Too many fish overwhelm screen
“there were some any fish that they fully covered the screen, couldn't see the bottom of the pond”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “Too many koi fish is stressful (and slow)”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” AI-built code concerns
“You don't know what's causing it to run this badly because you didn't write it.”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance” “this was vibe coded so yes it has terrible performance”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Show HN: Koi.rest – watch some fish and regain your balance”
Other novelty websites people recommend
The four most recommended other novelty websites, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Catch a Bird | 39 | 3 | 93% | 1 | — | — |
| Koi.restThis page | 18 | 11 | 62% | 1 | — | — |
| neal.fun | 15 | 5 | 75% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Zombo.com | 8 | 4 | 67% | 4 | — | — |
| Pumpkins.sh | 7 | 0 | 100% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
24 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“You don't know what's causing it to run this badly because you didn't write it.”
“I'm listening to the sound and not watching the koi, and that is incredibly soothing/relaxing for my ADHD mind.”
“Overall it's brilliant and I'm grateful that you went the ai route and launched.”
“I'm on a laptop with 96 GB ram and a Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370, and it's running at 3 FPS.”
“I dig the voronoi used as an approximation of caustics!”
“there were some any fish that they fully covered the screen, couldn't see the bottom of the pond”
“the audio kept cutting off arbitrarily after some minutes”
“This digital version is probably less messy and just as effective.”
“Seems like quite laggy (I suppose bcz of heavy assets and rendering)”
“it's running silky smooth for me on iPhone. No lag at all.”
“I want more koi fish swimming around my saas.”
“This is great! I would really like this as live background on Android.”
“This is honestly super cool, and a lot of fun.”
“this was vibe coded so yes it has terrible performance”
“I just thought this was janky crap.”
“the website was running quite slow for me”
“increase the frame rate of the fish animation”
“Choice about busyness would be nice.”
“Too many koi fish is stressful (and slow)”
“Top of bookmark list for a daily zen!”
“The sounds and visuals are a great way to recenter.”
“I really like the UI especially the about page.”
“I like the zen background sounds.”
“We are big fans of having AI agents "own" koi's”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.