# Palantir Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/palantir/ 41 people recommended Palantir in Hacker News comments, 33 had mixed feelings and 573 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 12 months, in 28 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Most people who give an opinion criticize it, mainly over privacy, surveillance and its military work; those who recommend it cite strong data integration and custom software for governments and large companies. Summary written by Claude from the comments below. ## What people warn about - Privacy and surveillance concerns (6 comments in the sample): "Palantir is not just analyzing data, but, it is increasingly wired into operational decisions like deportations, policing, health-data access, military targeting and public-sector workflows." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48145421)) "They're paid to get all kinds of sensitive information from governments and other institutions around the world and store it in their very "secure" data…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47027294)) "Putting all our PII into one huge repository and then letting corps and govts access it sounds like a dystopian nightmare…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47420268)) - Consulting-style with high fees (3 comments in the sample): "An ERP where instead of investing in building up your in-house domain experts, your pay consulting fees to train another company's staff on the knowledge…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46221010)) "they are essentially traditional management consultants with fancy data analytic dashboards instead of PowerPoint decks and charge an even more obscene premium for the privilege" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49498212)) "I am fairly certain that Palantir, like many companies before it, will evolve from a sort-of product company into more of a consulting company." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46149714)) - Ethical concerns about military use (2 comments in the sample): "Its because of the business relationship with the Israeli government and how Palintirs tech has been used as a tool in Israel's genocide of the…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49218238)) "they purposefully named themselves after a super villains magical spy apparatus so I'm not inclined to take his word about them being ethically neutral" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46637980)) - Overhyped marketing and promises (2 comments in the sample): "the ludicrous marketing/communications operation Palantir is running doesn't make any of this any simpler to reason about" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47883778)) "I'm never sure why people assume that Palantir is magically unlike the overwhelming majority of tech startups/companies I've worked at…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46786544)) ## Why people recommend it - Delivers custom software for government clients (2 comments in the sample): "Palantir has somehow managed to actually collaborate with the government, sending forward-deployed engineers to figure out what their actual needs are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47401721)) "Relative to other government contractors, Palantir is pretty good. More so because the bar is typically so low, though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47880585)) - Strong data integration and pipelines (1 comment in the sample): "Palantir is just the data platform. Yeah, they have algorithms and software for aggregating large amounts if data and connecting them." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46795500)) - Trusted by governments and large companies (1 comment in the sample): "it's just a company that—like it or not—has been relatively successful at securing massive contracts with the government and major corporations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47536760)) ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.palantir.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Palantir", https://hackerapproved.com/p/palantir/ (41 recommend, 33 mixed, 573 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.