# Opera browser 70 Hacker News commenters recommended Opera browser and 40 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Recommended for its speed, built-in features like text reflow, and its early innovation before moving to Chromium. Critics say it became a Chromium fork that shares user data for ads. ## Why people recommend it - Fast, innovative browser for its era (7 comments): "the peak of Opera before it went to Chromium, I considered it to push truly mind-blowing user beneficial innovation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45935191)) "Opera was also essential at this point, not in terms of market share, but of innovation in the browser space" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602935)) "It was far superior for several years, until all of its innovations were copied by other vendors." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46606686)) - Runs well on old, low-power hardware (4 comments): "I started using it specifically because IE6 would crash and lose everything I had open." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50266449)) "Opera 12 was so good, so fast, on ANY hardware, so innovative, so quirky." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47502580)) "it was also the only browser that ran well in the era of 3g mobile phones" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47525499)) - Useful built-in features, text reflow (8 comments): "I loved gestures, built in IRC client, RSS reader, notes and the experimental website hosting from the browser." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47513418)) "It supports text reflow on zoom, and also I can choose the download folder for each file." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48473134)) "On Android, opera browser has text-wrap which fits text into screen on any zooom level." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48335380)) - Good mobile browsing experience (3 comments): "On Android, opera browser has text-wrap which fits text into screen on any zooom level." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48335380)) "it allows word wrap automatically. My mobile experience is almost never broken" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46680046)) "it's literally the only mobile browser which UX isn't completely botched" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506290)) ## What people warn about - Became a Chromium clone (5 comments): "Everything else after opera dropped Presto and became a chrome clone felt like a downgrade to me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47500348)) "It feels like when Opera dropped its own web engine, Presto, to become just another Chrome clone." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46079072)) "Eventually it just felt too bloated, and sadly now they are essentially another Chromium fork." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46647346)) - Sold to investors, collects user data (5 comments): "simply didn't work and led to the insolvency of the browser and having to sell it off to someone harvesting its users as data" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46303216)) "sold the company to overseas investors, shared user data with ad brokers and develop based on Chromium" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46555223)) "Opera collects the prompts and specific active page context you submit when you use the AI button" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49145556)) - Some features broken or buggy (3 comments): "Switching tabs doesn't work like you would expect in Opera for example. The order of tabs gets shuffled randomly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47508538)) "You click History - literally a first class menu item they are bragging about a feature that doesn't even work." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49064518)) "Cloudflare verification never works. It just says "failed, please try again" forever." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49475795)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Firefox for Android](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firefox-for-android.md): 76 recommend - [NetSurf](https://hackerapproved.com/p/netsurf.md): 17 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, "Opera browser", https://hackerapproved.com/p/opera-browser/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).