# Pkl by Apple

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Pkl by Apple and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as a configuration language with programming-language features and a big step up from Helm, used internally at Apple for years. Critics note weaker adoption.

## Why people recommend it

- Used for real configuration work (2 comments): "I use PKL for most of my configuration needs these days." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46808923)) "after several years of using it internally at Apple" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50137457))

## What people warn about

- Weaker adoption than alternatives (1 comments): "would _still_ have better adoption if it was written in something else" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46445904))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [CUE](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cue.md): 29 recommend
- [TOML](https://hackerapproved.com/p/toml.md): 19 recommend
- [Jsonnet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jsonnet.md): 12 recommend
- [HCL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hcl.md): 10 recommend
- [Dhall](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dhall.md): 9 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Pkl by Apple", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pkl/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).