# Pylance

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Pylance and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Microsoft's free VS Code Python language server, praised as the first good alternative to PyCharm and helpful in large projects. Main caveat: it is closed-source and proprietary.

## Why people recommend it

- Helpful and satisfying for most work (2 comments): "I've had it turned on for a while in a large web project and it's been very helpful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46856276)) "I'm very satisfied with it for most things" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48393142))

## What people warn about

- Closed-source proprietary Microsoft code (5 comments): "I don't like the Microsoft monoculture nor the importance of proprietary plugins (like remote development and pylance)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45945164)) "For the same reason Pylance etc. aren't open source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49826602)) "Pylance is MS-proprietary and so no one can use it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46035580))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [rust-analyzer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust-analyzer.md): 19 recommend
- [clangd](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clangd.md): 15 recommend
- [Rust Glancer](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust-glancer.md): 10 recommend
- [gopls](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gopls.md): 9 recommend
- [markdown-oxide](https://hackerapproved.com/p/markdown-oxide.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

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