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LWN.net subscription

Hacker Approved

Ranked 3 of 15 online magazines by recommenders

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.

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.

67 people gave an opinion

recommend it
53
criticize it
14
approval share
79%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 11 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: not recommended
  4. February 2026: recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: recommended
  10. August 2026: recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Owned for 22 years

Median of the 4 owners who said how long they have had it.

Each square is one year.

Why it carries the badge

  • 53 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 3.8 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 11 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

  • High-quality technical writing without clickbait

    “the quality (both of the technical content and the lack of advertising/sensationalism/clickbait) when I do read an article”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “just the weekly exposure to absolutely top notch technical writing was foundational to me.”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “I just can't think of anything else that comes close in terms of quality of information.”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”
  • Worth subscribing to and supporting

    “if you're getting value from it, you should be interested in its continued existence and therefore subscribe”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “The prices you ask are well worth it for the incredible value that LWN provides.”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “If you enjoy well-written technical content, please subscribe and support them.”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”
  • Good coverage of kernel and open source

    “those were very helpful backgrounds on the situation in Fedora”

    Comment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Debian votes to allow "responsible use of generative AI"”

    “For a more general changelog I’d recommend the LWN articles”

    Comment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Linux 7.2 Released”

    “fully human-written, LWN posts it every development cycle”

    Comment from 9 Apr 2026 on Hacker News
  • Long-running, trustworthy, respects readers

    “They've always respected their readers and I hope that continues to pay off.”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “given that they have been a cornerstone of your very successful career”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “Kudos to them for their longevity, integrity, high quality journalism”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Subscription pricing seen as too high

    “If the price is too high, many users maybe think it is not worthy of the price”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “LWN doesn't even come close to compete in the value that provides to me”

    Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

    “Their pricing is at US levels not world levels.”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”
  • Dated, hard-to-read website design

    “dark mode has pitch-black background with bold 100% white glowing text in foreground, shitty font, way to wide text”

    Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Debian decides not to decide on AI-generated contributions”

    “the LWN website's look and feel (and the reasoning behind it) perfectly illustrates why this project is doomed”

    Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop”

    “a site with a 1999 html style like LWN”

    Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop”
  • Paywall pushes and obstacles annoy users

    “insistent begging to the point of inserting additional obstacles = angry/insulted users that are less likely to pay”

    Comment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Moving beyond fork() + exec()”

    “the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe”

    Comment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

Other online magazines people recommend

The four most recommended other online magazines, 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.

LWN.net subscription compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
The Economist877554%1210 yrs11 owners—
New York Times subscription6819026%1210 yrs8 owners—
LWN.net subscriptionThis page531479%1122 yrs4 ownersApproved
Quanta Magazine362064%11——
Apple News298326%7——
See all 15 online magazines, ranked

What people said

40 of the 73 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“a site with a 1999 html style like LWN”

CriticizesComment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop”

“the LWN website's look and feel (and the reasoning behind it) perfectly illustrates why this project is doomed”

CriticizesComment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Ideas on modernizing the open-source desktop”

“LWN doesn't even come close to compete in the value that provides to me”

CriticizesComment from 3 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“They truly put an outstanding effort into their articles.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“Since having my HN account I always read LWN articles shared here, but this has convinced me to finally subscribe”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“Kudos to them for their longevity, integrity, high quality journalism”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“If you enjoy well-written technical content, please subscribe and support them.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“Very happy 10+ years subscribed here and I'll keep subscribing.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“They've also done good coverage of CPython development”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“LWN is one of the services I keep subscribing to”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“Their pricing is at US levels not world levels.”

CriticizesComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“I highly recommend subscribing if you can. It's really one of the great ones”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“I just can't think of anything else that comes close in terms of quality of information.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“If the price is too high, many users maybe think it is not worthy of the price”

CriticizesComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“This is the single biggest feature that makes me keep my subscription going.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“if you're getting value from it, you should be interested in its continued existence and therefore subscribe”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“the quality (both of the technical content and the lack of advertising/sensationalism/clickbait) when I do read an article”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“what they do is extremely important and hard to do”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“given that they have been a cornerstone of your very successful career”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“They've always respected their readers and I hope that continues to pay off.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“just the weekly exposure to absolutely top notch technical writing was foundational to me.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“the week-long delay isn't nearly enough an incentive to actually subscribe”

CriticizesComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“I certainly hope they figure that out or how to get new ways to earn revenue without having to go the ad route.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“It's easily the most worthwhile subscription I currently have.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“The prices you ask are well worth it for the incredible value that LWN provides.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“one of the, if not the single, highest signal tech publications around”

RecommendsComment from 2 Sep 2026 in “A note on subscription prices from LWN”

“those were very helpful backgrounds on the situation in Fedora”

RecommendsComment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Debian votes to allow "responsible use of generative AI"”

“LWN tends to be the best bet for these things, but you have to follow their reporting long term”

RecommendsComment from 29 Aug 2026 in “Debian votes to allow "responsible use of generative AI"”

“For a more general changelog I’d recommend the LWN articles”

RecommendsComment from 20 Aug 2026 in “Linux 7.2 Released”

“All HN readers should, obviously, subscribe to LWN.”

RecommendsComment from 13 Jul 2026 in “Kitty Chases the Mouse”

“Fantastic and anti-sensationalism write-up from LWN, as usual.”

RecommendsComment from 20 Jun 2026 in “AURpocalypse now: a look at the recent AUR attacks”

“insistent begging to the point of inserting additional obstacles = angry/insulted users that are less likely to pay”

CriticizesComment from 7 Jun 2026 in “Moving beyond fork() + exec()”

“is a goldmine of great contents about Linux kernel”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “Understanding the Linux Kernel: The Linux Kernel Startup”

“fully human-written, LWN posts it every development cycle”

RecommendsComment from 9 Apr 2026 on Hacker News

“dark mode has pitch-black background with bold 100% white glowing text in foreground, shitty font, way to wide text”

CriticizesComment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Debian decides not to decide on AI-generated contributions”

“lwn.net does that well, highlighting unread comments as a perk for higher-tier subscribers”

RecommendsComment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Remember Fidonet?”

“you might like to come look at the website directly and see some of the wider content mix that we work on”

RecommendsComment from 20 Feb 2026 in “Micropayments as a reality check for news sites”

“LWN.net has a form of this, where a subscriber can share a "guest" link for a subscriber-only article”

RecommendsComment from 20 Feb 2026 in “Micropayments as a reality check for news sites”

“LWN is a second-to-none publication that on this rare occasion couldn't resist the joke”

RecommendsComment from 10 Dec 2025 in “Rust in the kernel is no longer experimental”

“I sometimes use lwn.net as an exemplary showcase of things non-tech journalists should learn”

RecommendsComment from 8 Nov 2025 in “My friends and I accidentally faked the Ryzen 7 9700X3D leaks”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.