# PeerTube 66 Hacker News commenters recommended PeerTube and 30 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free, decentralized video platform that lets people share videos without ads or big-company control. Common caveat: little content and no way to earn money. ## Why people recommend it - Ad-free sharing, no corporate control (5 comments): "IMO state universities should be posting their material online like this, and on a platform that does not require the public to watch ads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48768130)) "making software for themselves to host their own videos without being beholden to the likes of Google" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48766096)) "For people who want to share videos without making people watch ads, that's perfect." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48776986)) - Easy self-hosting for personal videos (4 comments): "It is such a great piece of software and I use it locally to host family videos" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46088432)) "a self-hosted or externally paid hosted peertube site might be a good option" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46708850)) "If you want to avoid censorship, self-host Peertube and have peave of mind." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45852421)) - Real alternative to YouTube (4 comments): "The reason PeerTube and Nebula are important is it provides the potential for a true alternative destination for people looking for videos." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48765336)) "consider alternatives alongside youtube (like peertube), and promote the alternative platforms" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46835782)) "If all of them used peertube maybe we'd have a solid competitor." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47690311)) - Good for public educational video (4 comments): "IMO state universities should be posting their material online like this, and on a platform that does not require the public to watch ads" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48768130)) "It would perhaps be a good fit for MIT to host their OCW videos, or for Khan Academy to host their material" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48765201)) "if your goal is to share educational content for free, provided that the hosting platform is sound" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767672)) ## What people warn about - No way for creators to earn (3 comments): "The lack of a method for monetizing videos on PeerTube is also like the black mark for a video platform." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48766339)) "it cannot sustain creators and thus will only either 1) freeboot off of platforms that do or 2) be flooded by low effort slop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48767965)) "Any platform which doesn't let creators monetize effectively will be stuck with what people produce in their free time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48765486)) - Too little content and audience (5 comments): "This peertube instance[1] has a good experience but it only has a few channels." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47787961)) "neither the content you want nor audience is there on PeerTube at the moment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763981)) "Technically it works fine, but it's not going to displace YouTube." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48768288)) - Weak discovery and federation (4 comments): "it does certainly suffer from the fact that all federated instances can't pull in videos from other platforms" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48768340)) "Content discovery on it is still difficult, mostly because of the bizarre decision to make federation whitelist based." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46215059)) "federation was whitelist based, that is you could only follow people on instances added by the admin of your instance" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48763696)) - Clunky, unclear, overkill for casual users (4 comments): "the average user will turn away immediately if there is no clear guidance on how to do the basic things" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48771588)) "tools like PeerTube, Mastodon, etc are clunkier and more limited than things like YouTube" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46208500)) "the software is good technically but is overkill for home users and small entities" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46208235)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [YouTube](https://hackerapproved.com/p/youtube.md): 653 recommend - [YouTube Shorts](https://hackerapproved.com/p/youtube-shorts.md): 21 recommend - [Loops app](https://hackerapproved.com/p/loops.md): 21 recommend - [Twitch](https://hackerapproved.com/p/twitch.md): 12 recommend - [Rumble](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rumble.md): 8 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "PeerTube", https://hackerapproved.com/p/peertube/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).