# Links web browser Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/links/ 14 people recommended Links web browser in Hacker News comments, 3 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 12 months, in 17 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** A lightweight text-mode browser for reading pages, debugging, and working in a terminal. Critics say it does not work on sites that need JavaScript. Summary written by Claude from 28 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 27 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Works without JavaScript or graphics (4 comments in the sample): "Disable Javascript or use Lynx, Links or Dillo to open the articles from your newsreader." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481544)) "Text-only, no CAPTCHA, no Javascript, no geo-blocking, no DDoS on blogger" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48446747)) "Terminal emulators and lynx/elinks/links/w3c work, too." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46107095)) - Handles Tor and proxy setups (2 comments in the sample): "The best for Tor would just be Links2/Links+ with the socks4a proxy set to 127.0.0.1:9050" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47868527)) "Links can force to pass all connections to a proxy, so a FW might be redundant." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47872839)) - Useful for debugging and simple apps (2 comments in the sample): "links2 is still a work horse in 2025 for occasional debugging." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46261736)) "I built a reservation system that worked in Links2" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48510017)) - More usable than Lynx (2 comments in the sample): "more capable than `lynx` and which has graphics support through the framebuffer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47805471)) "Links is a bit more usable than lynx, I found." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47394852)) ## What people warn about - Fails on sites that need JavaScript (2 comments in the sample): "It's way better than the crusty old lynx and links on sites that need JS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587528)) "I get a blank page with links2 browser." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47658913)) - Not up to modern browser quality (2 comments in the sample): "are… rough… definitely not of the quality we're seeing elsewhere" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45831761)) "vscode server and links2 probably wont cut it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49403715)) ## Other text browsers people recommend - [Lynx web browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lynx/): 34 recommend, 8 mixed, 8 criticize - [w3m](https://hackerapproved.com/p/w3m/): 12 recommend, 5 mixed, 1 criticize - [Chawan terminal web browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chawan/): 12 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize - [Browsh](https://hackerapproved.com/p/browsh/): 7 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Links web browser", https://hackerapproved.com/p/links/ (14 recommend, 3 mixed, 3 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.