# NetSurf

17 Hacker News commenters recommended NetSurf and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Small, free browser that runs on old and minimal systems and has a clean, modular codebase. Common caveat: many modern websites do not render well.

## Why people recommend it

- Runs lightly, works on framebuffer (2 comments): "If you want to stay low on resources you can use Netsurf." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46707130)) "I use netsurf because I can use it in the framebuffer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48734768))
- Clean, modular C codebase (2 comments): "I consider Netsurf to be a beautiful and excellently well-done browser in its own right" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45830572)) "I found the netsurf browser to have a pretty and modular C codebase" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45935544))
- Lightweight alternative to text browsers (2 comments): "NetSurf or elinks/lynx etc. is the way to go" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46190099)) "ladybird? netsurf? links? dillo? netscape 3?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46689431))
- Loved by long-time users (2 comments): "while keeping the great classic NetSurf" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50023354)) "I am a big fan of NetSurf" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48821041))

## What people warn about

- Breaks on many modern websites (3 comments): "Netsurf isn't fun on many websites but it should be enough for rendering HTML content from RSS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46107095)) "Dillo (from git) has worse CSS capabilities than netsurf but more than often the webs aren't broken as often as NetSurf." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48734065)) "Netsurf had certain limitations for modern web page" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46904778))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Firefox for Android](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox-for-android.md): 76 recommend
- [Opera browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/opera-browser.md): 70 recommend
- [Dia browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dia-browser.md): 14 recommend
- [Floorp Browser](https://hackerapproved.com/p/floorp.md): 13 recommend
- [Konqueror](https://hackerapproved.com/p/konqueror.md): 12 recommend

## Cite as

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