# Modafinil

16 Hacker News commenters recommended Modafinil and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 10 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for focus and wakefulness with few side effects and no apparent tolerance; critics say it is intense at useful doses and stops working well as a performance booster.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong focus and wakefulness effect (3 comments): "For me it was a much stronger focus effect than caffeine and a much weaker effect than amphetamine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50177813)) "100mg modafinil makes me a LOT more productive" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47114107)) "it's extremely effective at keeping you awake" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48872037))
- Few or no side effects (2 comments): "it was incredible for the most part and had zero side-effects" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49516138)) "effectively zero side effects" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45960465))
- Effective paired with amitriptyline (3 comments): "a combination of weak ligands like Modafinil and Amitriptyline can really help with dysautonomia" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47903112)) "The Modafinil / Amitryptiline is probably the most effective treatment I've tried" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48707088)) "I landed on Modafinil in the morning and Amitryptiline at night" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47681935))

## What people warn about

- Weaker stimulation than amphetamine or caffeine (2 comments): "For me it was a much stronger focus effect than caffeine and a much weaker effect than amphetamine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50177813)) "it's not even on the level of caffeine for stimulation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50176202))

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Modafinil", https://hackerapproved.com/p/modafinil/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).