The Lounge
Hacker ApprovedWeb irc client in Productivity & writing
A self-hosted, browser-based IRC client with modern features like media previews and session persistence, that is easy to set up and open to use.
A self-hosted, browser-based IRC client with modern features like media previews and session persistence, that is easy to set up and open to use.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 93%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 13 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, 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
Modern features in a web IRC client
“web-based IRC clients with media previews, session persistence, and all the modern bells and whistles”
Comment from 15 Feb 2026 in “OpenAI Should Build Slack” “web front-ends to IRC that make it more approachable from the modern crowd”
Comment from 13 Jun 2026 in “Leaving Mozilla” “Good v3 clients like The Lounge also offer it”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “IRCv3” Easy to set up and use
“I was able to get Ergo IRCd and TheLounge up and running pretty quickly”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Discord Just Killed Anonymity” “The Lounge is open website, type name, you're in.”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Discord Alternatives, Ranked” Works as front end for IRC
“For the happy-clicky-emoji types one can put TheLounge or Convos in front of IRC”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month” “ergo ircd with The Lounge as a front end”
Comment from 11 Oct 2026 in “IRCv3”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Lacks emoji reactions support
“none of the clients you mentioned actually support emoji reactions (draft/react)”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Mattermost say they will not clarify what license the project is under”
What people said
14 of the 16 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Good v3 clients like The Lounge also offer it”
“ergo ircd with The Lounge as a front end”
“my IRC web client (thelounge)”
“the Automattic Lounge was cool”
“web front-ends to IRC that make it more approachable from the modern crowd”
“Very nice client integrations indeed, tested a few weeks ago.”
“I built Lounge after getting frustrated with my MacBook's notch eating half my menu bar icons.”
“Its easy to contribute to and we have an active irc channel”
“web-based IRC clients with media previews, session persistence, and all the modern bells and whistles”
“I was able to get Ergo IRCd and TheLounge up and running pretty quickly”
“The Lounge is open website, type name, you're in.”
“I think it'll meet our needs”
“For the happy-clicky-emoji types one can put TheLounge or Convos in front of IRC”
“none of the clients you mentioned actually support emoji reactions (draft/react)”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.