# Libreboot

16 Hacker News commenters recommended Libreboot and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Free open-source BIOS replacement that removes proprietary firmware from supported laptops and some Chromebooks. Critics note it still ships Intel Management Engine binary blobs.

## Why people recommend it

- Replaces proprietary firmware with open source (3 comments): "It replaces a proprietary component of your system with an open source one." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47134891)) "Assurance that binary blobs and Intel ME support has been properly removed." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104952)) "lots of (older) Thinkpads are supported by Libreboot, so that cuts down on the binary blobs significantly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47242667))
- Supports many older laptops and Chromebooks (4 comments): "lots of (older) Thinkpads are supported by Libreboot, so that cuts down on the binary blobs significantly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47242667)) "Finally an open-source UEFI replacement which can work on nearly every Chromebook" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50108862)) "Alyssa Rosenzweig was doing Libreboots on potato ARM laptops" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46496123))
- Principled project with uncompromising standards (3 comments): "their "radicalism" that gives us the Libreboot project to begin with" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104077)) "the pedantry is more or less the point of the project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50103831)) "At the very least their effort creates a lot of things I do care about!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50106554))

## What people warn about

- Anti-AI policy seen as unhelpful (4 comments): "I wouldn't trust their products simply because AI as a tool works and their refusal to use it means their software will be worse off for it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50105027)) "Neat project. I find their new anti-AI policy to be interesting, but not at all useful to anyone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109735)) "I can't use critical software that rejects AI to this degree for privacy reasons." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50103709))
- Maintainer's conduct seen as erratic (3 comments): "The libreboot maintainer has always seemed irrational, but then again, a rational person would have just left their proprietary bios alone and we would never get projects like this." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113059)) "the way they handled that is incredibly disrespectful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104251)) "libreboot's stuff reads like a parody or a shitpost" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50107768))
- Still contains binary blobs (2 comments): "Libreboot actually isn't free anymore by FSF standards because it has binary blobs for the Intel Management Engine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703201)) "Libreboot is no longer blobless. Libreboot is like decaf." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50105755))
- Missing features like GPU support (2 comments): "thanks to Libreboot, it cannot use the inbuilt Radeon GPU" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49204918)) "Heads has some important features that Libreboot lacks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50104137))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Heads firmware](https://hackerapproved.com/p/heads.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

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