# Netflix 181 Hacker News commenters recommended Netflix and 538 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 15 years (10 owners). **Verdict:** Recommended as a convenient, good-value streaming service that works on almost any device, though many find its original content declining and its recommendations unhelpful. ## Why people recommend it - Easier than piracy (5 comments): "Some of the most effective mechanisms in history for shifting people away from copyright infringement have been iTunes and Netflix." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48728946)) "When Netflix started streaming, they fixed all this. We all stopped BitTorrenting because Netflix was easier." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46168093)) "Netflix killed piracy until the platform fragmented and now you need half a dozen subs to watch everything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46427420)) - Good value for money (5 comments): "There are no adverts on netflix, and I have a lot of subscriptions, but its still less (pro-rata) than I paid for satelite tv with adverts in the 00s." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45856960)) "Totally worth it. The non-ads packages are ridiculously expensive now and the ads they show are few and far between." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49786355)) "Lots of complaints about Netflix, but for the money, combined with Prime, I only miss affordable NHL" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46162796)) - Works on many devices (5 comments): "The Wii had the best and most responsive Netflix interface on any system I've used before or since." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46655181)) "Netflix works fine. While rooting, this does not replace the app store and these are official apps" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50218516)) "Netflix support for FreeBSD is one reason I've continued to subscribe through price increases" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47330821)) - Enables good shows and movies (3 comments): "Netflix has made a lot of the best movies and series of the past few years possible or accessible." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46164758)) "Netflix is actually a real company that, like, makes use of IPs and publishes back catalogues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160793)) "Injecting a huge catalog into Netflix is a win for consumers who want just one subscription" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46162852)) ## What people warn about - Low-quality original content (6 comments): "Same reason why people pay Netflix despite the low quality of most of their shows and the constant termination of tv series after 1 season." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46158782)) "Their TV shows are definitely better than the movies by far but even then I can't think of one that I watched that didn't decline in quality as time went on" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48109815)) "What I really dislike is this bland, characterless, boring, inauthentic, unengaging, but neverending stream of pulp that Netflix is producing and promoting." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46044588)) - Unhelpful, commercialized recommendations (3 comments): "I'm assuming that once their fancy LLM spits out some user recommendations, they are then run through another process to 'commercialise' the results" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49311346)) "I have a difficult time trusting their recommendations when those come along with more and more difficult to even know what exists in the rest of the catalog." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46171396)) "today where they optimized out the recommendation algo to the point I haven't found something recommended to be watch worthy in years" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46164806)) - Fragmented streaming landscape (3 comments): "Streaming turned everything to shit. Netflix in 2003-2008 was its golden era: any movie you could think of from the past century was available." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46164990)) "Netflix killed piracy until the platform fragmented and now you need half a dozen subs to watch everything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46427420)) "Netflix was ok when it was the only platform. Now that there are 10(?) platforms, and each of them has tiers, it is a service problem" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47769875)) - Rising prices, worse terms (2 comments): "Netflix prices will probably increase though, and they will probably ruin a lot of golden IP like always" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160988)) "the way you get squeezed year on year for what was standard before e.g. 4K or no ads to be gradually offered worse terms and degraded output quality" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48358772)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [YouTube Premium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/youtube-premium.md): 197 recommend - [Nebula](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nebula.md): 58 recommend - [HBO](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hbo.md): 32 recommend - [Amazon Prime Video](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-prime-video.md): 29 recommend - [Disney+](https://hackerapproved.com/p/disney-plus.md): 23 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.netflix.com/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Netflix", https://hackerapproved.com/p/netflix/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).