Pluto.jl
Hacker ApprovedRanked 3 of 7 computational notebooks by recommenders
Reactive Julia notebook that updates dependent cells automatically, keeping state consistent and pleasant for exploratory work. Critics mainly cite fixed output placement and new environments each session.
Reactive Julia notebook that updates dependent cells automatically, keeping state consistent and pleasant for exploratory work. Critics mainly cite fixed output placement and new environments each session.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Enjoyable for exploration and learning
“Pluto has been quite nice for me to use over the last few years”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia” “was one of those exercises that actually were fun and educative”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia” “Pluto is designed specifically for it, and is lovely.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Calculus with Julia” - Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia”
- Comment from 3 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: Do you still physical calculators?”
Reactive updates between dependent cells
“The way Pluto handles dependencies between code cells is really just so nice.”
Comment from 11 Nov 2025 in “The terminal of the future” “Pluto.jl and Marimo solve that by using reactivity to make state transparent”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Marimo Now Runs in PyCharm” “Pluto's reactivity eliminates this issue altogether.”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia” - Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia”
Handles state and compilation well
“It runs all sorts of compilations in the background, as well as handles state much better for Julia.”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “Show HN: A physically-based GPU ray tracer written in Julia” “Pluto.jl and Marimo solve that by using reactivity to make state transparent”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “Marimo Now Runs in PyCharm”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Output shown above command, no toggle
“I also would like if they gave you a toggle option to display the output below the code boxes”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia” “the output of a command being shown above the command that creates it”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia” Creates a new environment each session
“I like Pluto, what is a small annoyance is it creates a new environment in each session”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia” “isn't that just a `Pkg.activate` away?”
Comment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Pluto.jl 1.0 release – reactive notebook for Julia”
Other computational notebooks people recommend
The four most recommended other computational notebooks, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jupyter Notebook | 67 | 39 | 63% | 12 | — | — |
| marimo | 53 | 7 | 88% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Pluto.jlThis page | 21 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Google Colab | 18 | 7 | 72% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Deepnote | 12 | 16 | 43% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
20 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Pluto is designed specifically for it, and is lovely.”
“One thing I miss from Pluto.jl workflow is `let` for lowering friction for exploratory or plot cells”
“Pluto.jl and Marimo solve that by using reactivity to make state transparent”
“Pluto's reactivity eliminates this issue altogether.”
“isn't that just a `Pkg.activate` away?”
“It's so close to being something that I really love, but it's just not quite there for me.”
“it makes notebooks reproducible on other machines, rather than tying them to your system environment.”
“Pluto is great. I use it all the time.”
“make it annoying to use as a tool”
“I like Pluto, what is a small annoyance is it creates a new environment in each session”
“In Pluto, you sort of rely on your calculations being quick.”
“was one of those exercises that actually were fun and educative”
“Reactive notebooks are so much better.”
“I am not sure that a pure play Julia notebook thing is long run better than a pure play Python thing”
“Pluto has been quite nice for me to use over the last few years”
“I also would like if they gave you a toggle option to display the output below the code boxes”
“the output of a command being shown above the command that creates it”
“It runs all sorts of compilations in the background, as well as handles state much better for Julia.”
“Very ergonomic for that type of work.”
“The way Pluto handles dependencies between code cells is really just so nice.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.