# Meetup.com 26 Hacker News commenters recommended Meetup.com and 44 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (3 owners). **Verdict:** People recommend it for finding local groups and in-person meetups around hobbies. The most common caveat is steep price increases and a worsening app. ## Why people recommend it - Finds groups for hobbies and interests (7 comments): "I always like to join hobby groups on meetup.com (say cycling or DIY crafts or book clubs) and get to meet new people that way. It helps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297164)) "Search for in-person meetups in your area and if any look interesting, sign up and go to some events." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47306788)) "I use it for ongoing hiking clubs and book clubs and movie clubs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47380378)) - Meeting new people, some becoming friends (4 comments): "I always like to join hobby groups on meetup.com (say cycling or DIY crafts or book clubs) and get to meet new people that way. It helps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47297164)) "Meetup.com has allowed me to meet countless people in multiple countries, of whom some became friends." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48382227)) "my interactions were great. Meetup was scheduled, people showed up, we had a good time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50097287)) - Easy filtering and scheduled events (2 comments): "my interactions were great. Meetup was scheduled, people showed up, we had a good time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50097287)) "You could filter for the right stuff, pretty easily." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48447599)) - Large base of users and meetups (2 comments): "sometimes, groups are on Meetup because it is one of the least bad options" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50112710)) "Eg meetup at least has critical mass of users and meetups" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49777964)) ## What people warn about - Price increases after changes in ownership (4 comments): "Meetup used to be that until they got greedy and started charging everyone. It collapsed very quickly after that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48703034)) "Meetup has been nothing but finding ways to raise prices and revenue and not about building the site to be better" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49648241)) "jacked up prices so high after acquiring it that it's no longer a viable platform for consumers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49378187)) - Declining quality and app changes (4 comments): "Meetup got enshittified years ago already, and the changes drove away the small communities that once made up so much of the site" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49914886)) "I've had some success with Meetup (tech meetups specifically). The app/site is terrible though" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46417481)) "they're actively trying to kill it with every new change to the app / web experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50098634)) - Spammy events, Zoom calls, repeated listings (4 comments): "Meetup became a crappy stew of for-profit low effort AI flyer events designed to harvest money from people." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49783631)) "meetup used to work but it has become a cesspool of zoom calls and pay meetings" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46641230)) "They show the same events over and over. They don't enforce categorization." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46427108)) - Owned by Bending Spoons and holding companies (2 comments): "Considering what Bending Spoons did to Meetup.com after buying the site, I wouldn't trust them to improve a product." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46711480)) "WeWork sold Meetup to a series of increasingly awful holding companies." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46474400)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Radius](https://hackerapproved.com/p/radius.md): 13 recommend - [Luma](https://hackerapproved.com/p/luma.md): 11 recommend - [Partiful](https://hackerapproved.com/p/partiful.md): 9 recommend - [Whirligig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/whirligig-live.md): 9 recommend - [TeamOut](https://hackerapproved.com/p/teamout.md): 7 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.meetup.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Meetup.com", https://hackerapproved.com/p/meetup/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).