# Orderless (Emacs package)

9 Hacker News commenters recommended Orderless (Emacs package) and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** An Emacs completion style that matches candidates in any order, helping people find commands and stuff in M-x alongside completion packages like vertico.

## Why people recommend it

- Matches candidates in any order (2 comments): "Emacs' M-x can be customized in lots of ways i.e. Orderless and prescient.el matching" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47081401)) "orderless fuzzy match for candidates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45785004))
- Helps command discovery in M-x (2 comments): "with a few other plugins (Orderless), the frequently used commands bubble to the top of the list" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47328264)) "man does vertico, consult, orderless and marginalia help with discovery" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50285296))
- Works well with vertico (2 comments): "Having a good completion package (e.g. `vertico` + `unordered`) goes a long way to finding stuff." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48587902)) "man does vertico, consult, orderless and marginalia help with discovery" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50285296))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Evil mode for Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/evil-mode.md): 39 recommend
- [TRAMP for Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tramp.md): 25 recommend
- [SLIME](https://hackerapproved.com/p/slime.md): 19 recommend
- [Vertico](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vertico.md): 18 recommend
- [Eglot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/eglot.md): 16 recommend

## Cite as

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