# NEO Emacs

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/neo-emacs/

5 people recommended NEO Emacs in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 13 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 12 months, in 2 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

4 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “NEO Emacs – GPU-Accelerated Emacs Powered by Rust”.

**Verdict:** Criticized more than recommended: critics say the website looks vibecoded and has broken buttons; those who recommend it see it as a GPU-accelerated, Rust-based fork of Emacs, with people praising its ambition and out-of-box config compatibility.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Website buttons and links don't work (5 comments in the sample): "the "performance" link at the top also doesn't lead anywhere" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703231)) "Some buttons on the front page don't even work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49716688)) "Watch demo button on the website doesn't work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703162))
- Looks vibecoded or Claude-generated (4 comments in the sample): "even if it does smell of vibe-coding based on the README" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703236)) "It's hard to take this seriously when it has wonky Claude website design." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703165)) "the webpage fills vibecoded in the worst way tbh" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703182))

## Why people recommend it

- Ambitious Rust and GPU rewrite of Emacs (3 comments in the sample): "aiming to rewrite the elisp layer and all C code in Rust, incorporating GPU rendering etc along the way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48677888)) "this is exactly the kind of mad-science evolution Emacs needs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49705345)) "However, it's extremely enticing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49857806))
- Readable, well-structured code; promising future (2 comments in the sample): "neomacs will undoubtedly become excellent software" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49726846)) "It seems pretty readable and well-structured" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49703580))

## Other text editors people recommend

- [GNU Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/emacs/): 463 recommend, 122 mixed, 162 criticize
- [Zed](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zed/): 450 recommend, 193 mixed, 376 criticize
- [Vim](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vim/): 412 recommend, 80 mixed, 107 criticize
- [Visual Studio Code](https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-studio-code/): 332 recommend, 112 mixed, 509 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "NEO Emacs", https://hackerapproved.com/p/neo-emacs/ (5 recommend, 5 mixed, 13 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.