# QGIS

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/qgis/

25 people recommended QGIS in Hacker News comments, 8 had mixed feelings and 13 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

14 of the 25 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “QGIS 4.0”.

**Verdict:** Free, open-source GIS desktop app for mapping and managing large spatial data, with a deep feature set; the common caveat is a steep learning curve and a complicated interface.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong open-source project and team (6 comments in the sample): "unique in scope for open source projects and are the centre of large, multi-decade communities" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50056367)) "the QGIS team has a history and proven track record within the GIS community" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50054928)) "QGIS is one of the small number of truly great open source desktop apps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47289570))
- Powerful, feature-rich GIS tool (4 comments in the sample): "Nothing is close to QGIS in terms of features, it deploys 1gig of open tech." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48495787)) "qgis is the best gis software ever… i use it weekly, almost daily." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47286578)) "QGIS is incredibly powerful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47289428))
- Used for years in real work (3 comments in the sample): "Qgis my beloved used it during my Masters extensively and its great. Only ever problem i had was that it did not support circular maps." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47287762)) "all the forests i managed have a complete qgis cartography: species plots, age plots, density/volume, etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47289787)) "QGIS has been a key piece of my career for the past 10 years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47287843))
- Free alternative to paid software (2 comments in the sample): "this piece of (free!) software that essentially runs circles around the software we pay heavily for" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47288848)) "there are very good free alternatives like QGIS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48486467))

## What people warn about

- Complicated and hard to relearn (2 comments in the sample): "While QGIS is incredible and powerful, it is too complicated sometimes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48939572)) "QGIS is an incredibly powerful tool, and it has caused me to swear at so many different pieces of it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47288444))
- Dated, cluttered user interface (2 comments in the sample): "without just recreating the enormous QGIS GTK 2000s era UI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48486972)) "this application needs an entire overhaul on its UI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50058041))

## What people recommend instead

- [GeoLibre](https://hackerapproved.com/p/geolibre-1-0/): 7 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "QGIS", https://hackerapproved.com/p/qgis/ (25 recommend, 8 mixed, 13 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.