Maple Mono
Hacker ApprovedRanked 7 of 25 monospace fonts by recommenders
Recommended for its distinct characters, like I, l and the 0/O difference, plus easy readability and attractive looks. Most common caveat: the lowercase a looks jarring to some.
Recommended for its distinct characters, like I, l and the 0/O difference, plus easy readability and attractive looks. Most common caveat: the lowercase a looks jarring to some.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 4
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 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
Distinct I, l and 0/O characters
“I like that the I and l are distinctive, and of course the distinction between 0 and O.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” “The cursive l I actually like. We learn to write that here at elementary school”
Comment from 3 Apr 2026 in “Update on the eBay Scam” Readable and easy to scan
“It has amazing readability, looks nice, is compatible with NF if you use that.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” “Easily scannable like Maple Mono”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “What do you want out of a coding monospace font?” Attractive look, instantly likable
“This looks pretty incredible, I wish it got more attention today.”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Maple Mono: open-source monospace font” “Checked it out and instantly liked it.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Lowercase a looks jarring
“Incredibly jarring lowercase 'a' in that. Far too prominent to the point of affecting readability.”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font” “every word that includes one is very jarring”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “CodingFont: A game to help you pick a coding font”
Other monospace fonts people recommend
The four most recommended other monospace fonts, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iosevka | 108 | 10 | 92% | 9 | 5 yrs7 owners | Approved |
| Nordwand Mono | 40 | 4 | 91% | 1 | — | — |
| Myna | 29 | 10 | 74% | 1 | — | — |
| Berkeley Mono | 27 | 6 | 82% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Maple MonoThis page | 17 | 4 | 81% | 4 | — | Approved |
What people said
14 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“These days I'm using Maple Mono though.”
“Easily scannable like Maple Mono”
“The cursive l I actually like. We learn to write that here at elementary school”
“it's also implemented/designed poorly”
“Incredibly jarring lowercase 'a' in that. Far too prominent to the point of affecting readability.”
“Checked it out and instantly liked it.”
“every word that includes one is very jarring”
“I like that the I and l are distinctive, and of course the distinction between 0 and O.”
“It looks amateurish in the same way Comic Sans looks to me.”
“Italics turn into cursive”
“Mostly because of the "single storey" `a`”
“It has amazing readability, looks nice, is compatible with NF if you use that.”
“it's alright, the links are on the page”
“This looks pretty incredible, I wish it got more attention today.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.