# ProtonDB

36 Hacker News commenters recommended ProtonDB and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Community site where people report whether Steam games run on Linux, with user comments on fixes. Critics say its ratings are often too optimistic, so read the comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Lookup of game compatibility reports (15 comments): "You can check compatibility reports from https://www.protondb.com/ for whichever games you're interested in." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46574987)) "go to protondb.com, search for Diablo 4, and then filter the list of results by "Distro" for Ubuntu" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49782082)) "ProtonDB.com is a great resource for finding out which "Proton" works best for a given game." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48681202))
- Comments with fixes and workarounds (5 comments): "ProtonDB, community rating, separate comments for Steam Deck and PC, troubleshooting for Nvidia/AMD specific issues" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46634638)) "Shout-out to ProtonDB for the fix when things don't work out of the box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45992662)) "I check on protondb which versions work so I override it per game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47611694))
- Quick checks before buying games (3 comments): "checking protondb before buying a game rather than after" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45794116)) "more like couple seconds on protondb" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48691628)) "I select games based on ProtonDB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129015))

## What people warn about

- Ratings often overstate how games run (11 comments): "ProtonDB's rating is not a perfect indicator (BM:W is rated "platinum")" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46462240)) "operating under an alternate definition of what "platinum" means" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46315218)) "despite protonDB claiming limited compatibility, the game launched immediately with no problems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48974852))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [SteamDB](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steamdb.md): 6 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.protondb.com/)

## Cite as

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