# PRQL

15 Hacker News commenters recommended PRQL and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** A cleaner, pipelined query language that extends SQL without replacing it, starting with FROM so autocomplete and reading the query both get easier.

## Why people recommend it

- Cleaner, more readable syntax than SQL (3 comments): "Just having the `FROM` clause first does wonders for autocomplete." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46547332)) "See languages like PRQL for better syntax" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49347567)) "I think the PRQL syntax is beautiful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47129091))
- Fixes SQL's warts (3 comments): "It solves all the warts of sql while still being true to its declarative execution." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840422)) "good fix for nearly everything I dont like about SQL" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48396300)) "This is indeed close to what I want from SQL!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45962300))
- Reusable named subqueries (2 comments): "PRQL allows defining named subqueries that can be reused, like J1 and J2 in your example." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47140372)) "cannot build it up piecemeal as easily as something like PRQL" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49410719))
- Stays declarative, closer to meaning (2 comments): "which has a representation closer to the semantic meaning and mostly avoid the big diff in the first place" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47096860)) "PRQL is declarative. They are just heeding the maxim "If it's broke, fix it"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47123389))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [GraphQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/graphql.md): 52 recommend
- [Prela](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prela.md): 5 recommend
- [PRQL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/prequel.md): 5 recommend
- [JSONata](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jsonata.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

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