Luau
Hacker ApprovedRanked 9 of 14 scripting languages by recommenders
A Lua-based scripting language from Roblox, praised as small, consistent and well suited to scripting, with optional type annotations. No critical complaints were recorded.
A Lua-based scripting language from Roblox, praised as small, consistent and well suited to scripting, with optional type annotations. No critical complaints were recorded.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 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
Performant, well-suited scripting language
“probably with more common and performant scripting languages (Rust + Luau for example)”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Godot will no longer accept AI-authored code contributions” “Luau might seem an odd choice, but it's genuinely well-suited here”
Comment from 9 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: xllify: Turn formulas, VBA, or plain English into Excel add-ins” Small, consistent Lua-based language
“Lua and Luau are much smaller and more consistent languages.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “Lute: A Standalone Runtime for Luau” “as is Lua (specifically Luau)”
Comment from 11 Mar 2026 in “Roblox Is Minting Teen Millionaires” Easy nesting and consistent syntax
“Lua and Luau are much smaller and more consistent languages.”
Comment from 26 Apr 2026 in “Lute: A Standalone Runtime for Luau” “makes it a ton easier to nest (especially with elseif)”
Comment from 25 Jun 2026 in “LuaJIT 3.0 proposed syntax extensions”
Other scripting languages people recommend
The four most recommended other scripting languages, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lua | 186 | 62 | 75% | 12 | 10 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| awk | 67 | 18 | 79% | 12 | — | Approved |
| AutoHotkey | 44 | 5 | 90% | 11 | — | Approved |
| GDScript | 22 | 16 | 58% | 9 | — | — |
| LuauThis page | 12 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
11 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“what I've seen so far has pleased me”
“probably with more common and performant scripting languages (Rust + Luau for example)”
“I wish they would include Luau's type annotations”
“makes it a ton easier to nest (especially with elseif)”
“I've had patches submitted to Moonscript, Fengari, and luau.”
“Lua and Luau are much smaller and more consistent languages.”
“as is Lua (specifically Luau)”
“Luau might seem an odd choice, but it's genuinely well-suited here”
“+1 for Luau which is just realy good.”
“it can inspire them to learn programming with Lua(u)”
“Best as a real-time scripting sandbox for LLMs”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.