# Apple Pages 39 Hacker News commenters recommended Apple Pages and 27 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 11 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Free Apple word processor, preinstalled on Macs, that people find fast and pleasant, often over Word. Critics say the redesigned interface and icon are cluttered. ## Why people recommend it - Free and preinstalled on Macs (5 comments): "One of the key advantages to Pages.app and friends is that they are pre-installed and free on MacOS." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46602693)) "Apple suite (Pages, Numbers etc) works well, has good mobility to mobile, and is free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47699375)) "Plus Pages, Numbers and Keynote are free on Macs, minus the new paid features." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47505248)) - Fast and responsive (4 comments): "I wouldn't think twice about having Pages and dozens of Safari tabs open side by side on an iPad." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47249398)) "it's so fast and responsive, it makes any other Office suite behave like an old beat up horse." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48520074)) "native & instantly responsive UI, launches in a handful of milliseconds, collaborative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47482053)) - More pleasant than Word (6 comments): "I don't have to bother with Word's annoying ribbon interface and Copilot AI when I'm writing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46603496)) "I find Apple Pages much more pleasant to work with and by far my favorite word processor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46192978)) "The UX of Pages and Keynote are, IMO, far superior to Word/Powerpoint" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50073480)) - Simple layout and useful styles (4 comments): "style sheets are so well integrated in the UI that you barely need to think when you create a new rule" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46752071)) "there's no simpler layout program out there, & the typographic options are nice to have" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46610906)) "being able to put images anywhere without stuff moving around behind her back" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49487119)) ## What people warn about - Cluttered redesigned interface (5 comments): "I liked the way Pages 09 looked - it was beautiful - but the compatibility wasn't there. Modern Pages is hideous." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47506292)) "I'd like a version of Pages where I can turn off the toolbar, turn off the title bar, fullscreen the remaining window" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47309678)) "The buttons without labels, I have no idea what most of them would do and just glancing at them gives me a headache." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47283219)) - Generic, unclear icon (4 comments): "the pen is lost in the detail of the ink pot, at typical viewing size it's a visually noisy design" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46669217)) "The icon is horrible and generic and has failed to leave an impression on me over multiple years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46664264)) "so abstract that when I first looked at it I had no idea what I was even looking at" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46664310)) - Nags to upgrade to subscriptions (2 comments): "the update nag for Pages and Numbers Applications towards their newer subscription-capable equivalents can't be disabled in the MacOS UI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49802917)) "forced upgrade of Numbers/Pages/Keynote with annoying nags that can't be turned off" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47846370)) - Too limited for long documents (2 comments): "it's not at the level of even Libreoffice or Apple's page in terms of features" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48483873)) "way too limited for proper layouts and doesn't have enough features for long/complex documents like books" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46615600)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Google Docs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-docs.md): 144 recommend - [Microsoft Word](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-word.md): 129 recommend - [WordPerfect](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wordperfect.md): 36 recommend - [LibreOffice Writer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libreoffice-writer.md): 28 recommend - [WordStar](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wordstar.md): 28 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Apple Pages", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pages/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).