O'Reilly Learning Platform
Ranked 8 of 11 online learning platforms by recommenders
Recommended for its high quality books and programming video tutorials, and for access by people who cannot afford premium. Main caveat: the apps are widely called buggy and unusable.
Recommended for its high quality books and programming video tutorials, and for access by people who cannot afford premium. Main caveat: the apps are widely called buggy and unusable.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 7
- approval share
- 56%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
High quality books and video tutorials
“pretty good with eBooks and video tutorials on programming in several different languages”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Best way to start coding with tools available today?” “They have tons of high quality content that underpins very useful answers.”
Comment from 12 Dec 2025 in “New Kindle feature uses AI to answer questions about books” Low-cost access for those who cannot afford
“accessible to those less privileged to afford premium access”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me” “at 0 cost it is phenomenal resource”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
App is buggy or unusable
“the app is obviously poorly written despite being created by people in your profession”
Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me” “the app is unusable. I've tried it on my Amazon Fire Tablet, Ipad, different phones - it doesn't work.”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me” “The app is unusable and unstable.”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me” Bookmarks and progress do not save
“it works just fine on iPad Pro (12"), but bookmarks do not work”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me” “every time I login, all my progress is gone”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me”
Other online learning platforms people recommend
The four most recommended other online learning platforms, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khan Academy | 67 | 17 | 80% | 12 | 7 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Coursera | 26 | 37 | 41% | 6 | — | — |
| Udemy | 16 | 44 | 27% | 5 | 10 yrs4 owners | — |
| MIT OpenCourseWare | 14 | 2 | 88% | 7 | — | Approved |
| O'Reilly Learning PlatformThis page | 9 | 7 | 56% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
15 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“that now I pay a month for o'Reilly”
“They have tons of high quality content that underpins very useful answers.”
“It feels much more convenient than using a shitty DRM app”
“the copy-editing did not do it any favors, and then how code snippets were formed broke the simple copy/paste”
“the app is obviously poorly written despite being created by people in your profession”
“Their app has drastically improved since it first came out, IMO.”
“I had no idea that I could access O'Reilly as well. Thanks for mentioning this!”
“The app is unusable and unstable.”
“accessible to those less privileged to afford premium access”
“every time I login, all my progress is gone”
“it works just fine on iPad Pro (12"), but bookmarks do not work”
“at 0 cost it is phenomenal resource”
“the app is unusable. I've tried it on my Amazon Fire Tablet, Ipad, different phones - it doesn't work.”
“pretty good with eBooks and video tutorials on programming in several different languages”
“I really miss having O'Reilly Learning Platform.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.