# MuPDF 11 Hacker News commenters recommended MuPDF and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Fast, simple PDF reader praised for its clean interface and text handling; AGPL licensing blocks use in non-open-source tools. ## Why people recommend it - Simple, intuitive, elegant interface (3 comments): "It is simple and yes it is much easier to just get reading than Koreader" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49102269)) "the built in mupdf much more intuitive and elegant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49098034)) "mupdf may be simple, but it's amazing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49098332)) - Very fast PDF reading (2 comments): "which is very fast and it usually does a better job at formatting pages" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48062071)) "MuPDF is an excellent PDF reader, the fastest that I have ever tested." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46720622)) - Handles Unicode and text extraction (2 comments): "doesn't handle Unicode in contrast to mutool that does" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46439097)) "Mutool extracts the text just fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46439354)) ## What people warn about - AGPL license blocks non-open-source use (2 comments): "the licensing is a huge blocker for using mupdf in non-OSS tools" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46438211)) "your violation of AGPL on the use of MuPDF" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47568014)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Apple Preview](https://hackerapproved.com/p/preview.md): 42 recommend - [Okular](https://hackerapproved.com/p/okular.md): 12 recommend - [SumatraPDF](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sumatrapdf.md): 11 recommend - [pdf.js](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pdf-js.md): 10 recommend - [Foxit Reader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/foxit-reader.md): 6 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "MuPDF", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mupdf/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).