# Radarr

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

20 people recommended Radarr in Hacker News comments, 12 had mixed feelings and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 12 months, in 13 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Automates searching for and downloading movies for a self-hosted library, and people say it runs light and needs little attention once set up. The most common caveat is a fiddly initial setup.

Summary written by Claude from 27 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 26 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Easy filters and seamless collection (3 comments in the sample): "the filters in radarr and sonarr make that pretty easy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49620474)) "you add a show in Sonarr or a movie in Radarr." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170379)) "They make the collection process seamless." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50213144))
- Light, stable, low maintenance (2 comments in the sample): "Sonarr and Radarr idle at 157MB and 159MB of memory and approximately no CPU" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50110986)) "they will chug along fine for years with near zero input" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111148))
- Convenient once it's set up (2 comments in the sample): "Once you set it up with Sonarr and Radarr and Plex/Jellyfin you will never go back" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49833008)) "Pain to set up, but once it's there, it's very convenient to use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49832941))
- Core of a working media setup (2 comments in the sample): "most of the arr suite (radarr, sonarr, prowlarr, tunarr) has really been the best choice I've made this year" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999644)) "I literally use all of these now daily." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49748213))

## What people warn about

- Fiddly, complicated setup (4 comments in the sample): "I found it extremely fiddly to set up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113017)) "a whole Rube Goldberg machine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48147687)) "The *arr stack was a pain." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47710854))
- Fixed quality profile per item (2 comments in the sample): "The arrs have extensive and solid capabilities for filtering for the quality you want…" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50129558)) "Currently the profile is fixed. I guess they can delete movies but I can re-downlaod in 5 min so not a massive problem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983988))
- Bad torrents not detected (2 comments in the sample): "Really, sonarr / radarr should have implemented this a long time ago since they're the ones doing the searching, downloading, and inspecting of files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109869)) "it's just a long-standing problem in Sonarr and Radarr that even when it detects that a torrent is bad" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50110326))

## Other media automation tools people recommend

- [Sonarr](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sonarr/): 24 recommend, 13 mixed, 4 criticize
- [*arr stack](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arr-stack/): 19 recommend, 2 mixed, 6 criticize
- [Overseerr](https://hackerapproved.com/p/overseerr/): 10 recommend, 1 mixed, 2 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, "Radarr", https://hackerapproved.com/p/radarr/ (20 recommend, 12 mixed, 4 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

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