# LWN.net subscription

53 Hacker News commenters recommended LWN.net subscription and 14 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 22 years (4 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend LWN for high-quality, non-sensational technical journalism on Linux and open source, and many say it is worth paying for. The most common caveat is the price, with some finding it high for the value.

## Why people recommend it

- High-quality technical writing without clickbait (7 comments): "the quality (both of the technical content and the lack of advertising/sensationalism/clickbait) when I do read an article" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536771)) "just the weekly exposure to absolutely top notch technical writing was foundational to me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536089)) "I just can't think of anything else that comes close in terms of quality of information." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49537945))
- Worth subscribing to and supporting (9 comments): "if you're getting value from it, you should be interested in its continued existence and therefore subscribe" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536862)) "The prices you ask are well worth it for the incredible value that LWN provides." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49535923)) "If you enjoy well-written technical content, please subscribe and support them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539648))
- Good coverage of kernel and open source (5 comments): "those were very helpful backgrounds on the situation in Fedora" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49493091)) "For a more general changelog I’d recommend the LWN articles" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49378166)) "fully human-written, LWN posts it every development cycle" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47703381))
- Long-running, trustworthy, respects readers (3 comments): "They've always respected their readers and I hope that continues to pay off." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536108)) "given that they have been a cornerstone of your very successful career" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536341)) "Kudos to them for their longevity, integrity, high quality journalism" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49539679))

## What people warn about

- Subscription pricing seen as too high (3 comments): "If the price is too high, many users maybe think it is not worthy of the price" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49537619)) "LWN doesn't even come close to compete in the value that provides to me" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49547487)) "Their pricing is at US levels not world levels." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49538253))
- Dated, hard-to-read website design (3 comments): "dark mode has pitch-black background with bold 100% white glowing text in foreground, shitty font, way to wide text" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47327006)) "the LWN website's look and feel (and the reasoning behind it) perfectly illustrates why this project is doomed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49828359)) "a site with a 1999 html style like LWN" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49835753))
- Paywall pushes and obstacles annoy users (2 comments): "insistent begging to the point of inserting additional obstacles = angry/insulted users that are less likely to pay" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48430484)) "the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536068))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Quanta Magazine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/quanta-magazine.md): 36 recommend
- [Low-tech Magazine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/low-tech-magazine.md): 15 recommend
- [Strong Towns](https://hackerapproved.com/p/strong-towns.md): 8 recommend
- [IEEE Spectrum](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ieee-spectrum.md): 6 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://lwn.net/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "LWN.net subscription", https://hackerapproved.com/p/lwn-net/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).