Libreboot
Boot firmware in Privacy & security
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.
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.
25 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 64%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 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
Replaces proprietary firmware with open source
“It replaces a proprietary component of your system with an open source one.”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “I Ported Coreboot to the ThinkPad X270” “Assurance that binary blobs and Intel ME support has been properly removed.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “lots of (older) Thinkpads are supported by Libreboot, so that cuts down on the binary blobs significantly.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Lenovo's New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability” Supports many older laptops and Chromebooks
“lots of (older) Thinkpads are supported by Libreboot, so that cuts down on the binary blobs significantly.”
Comment from 4 Mar 2026 in “Lenovo's New ThinkPads Score 10/10 for Repairability” “Finally an open-source UEFI replacement which can work on nearly every Chromebook”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “Alyssa Rosenzweig was doing Libreboots on potato ARM laptops”
Comment from 5 Jan 2026 in “Linux is good now; to feel like you actually own your PC, put Linux on it” - Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Used ThinkPad Buyer's Guide (2019)”
Principled project with uncompromising standards
“their "radicalism" that gives us the Libreboot project to begin with”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “the pedantry is more or less the point of the project”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “At the very least their effort creates a lot of things I do care about!”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Anti-AI policy seen as unhelpful
“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.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “Neat project. I find their new anti-AI policy to be interesting, but not at all useful to anyone.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “I can't use critical software that rejects AI to this degree for privacy reasons.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” - Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support”
Maintainer's conduct seen as erratic
“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.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “the way they handled that is incredibly disrespectful”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” “libreboot's stuff reads like a parody or a shitpost”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” Still contains binary blobs
“Libreboot actually isn't free anymore by FSF standards because it has binary blobs for the Intel Management Engine.”
Comment from 28 Jun 2026 in “Previewing GPT‑5.6 Sol: a next-generation model” “Libreboot is no longer blobless. Libreboot is like decaf.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support” Missing features like GPU support
“thanks to Libreboot, it cannot use the inbuilt Radeon GPU”
Comment from 7 Aug 2026 in “Hardware Devices That Support GNU/Linux” “Heads has some important features that Libreboot lacks.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Libreboot 26.10 "Ominous Olive" released with UEFI, Chromebook support”
What people recommend instead
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LibrebootThis page | 16 | 9 | 64% | 6 | — | — |
| Heads firmware | 6 | 2 | 75% | 8 | — | — |
What people said
All 28 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“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.”
“Neat project. I find their new anti-AI policy to be interesting, but not at all useful to anyone.”
“Finally an open-source UEFI replacement which can work on nearly every Chromebook”
“libreboot's stuff reads like a parody or a shitpost”
“which feels like anti-AI dogmatism for me”
“At the very least their effort creates a lot of things I do care about!”
“Libreboot is no longer blobless. Libreboot is like decaf.”
“It's easy to do and you dont need to keep track of how to configure coreboot.”
“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.”
“an opposition to unverified machine generated code seems not only justifiable but sensible.”
“Assurance that binary blobs and Intel ME support has been properly removed.”
“the way they handled that is incredibly disrespectful”
“Huh, good to see sane people still exist. Good on them.”
“Heads has some important features that Libreboot lacks.”
“their "radicalism" that gives us the Libreboot project to begin with”
“the pedantry is more or less the point of the project”
“the UEFI/EDK integration and Chromebook support is a massive step forward”
“I can't use critical software that rejects AI to this degree for privacy reasons.”
“Cool, that's why open source projects get left behind.”
“I should see if it can get Libreboot now.”
“There is also the Libreboot which may be of your interest”
“3.25 or so usable thanks to Libreboot”
“I think you are doing much better with an optiplex 3050 micro and libreboot.”
“thanks to Libreboot, it cannot use the inbuilt Radeon GPU”
“Libreboot actually isn't free anymore by FSF standards because it has binary blobs for the Intel Management Engine.”
“lots of (older) Thinkpads are supported by Libreboot, so that cuts down on the binary blobs significantly.”
“It replaces a proprietary component of your system with an open source one.”
“Alyssa Rosenzweig was doing Libreboots on potato ARM laptops”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.