Hacker ApprovedDepartments

RaTeX

Ranked 3 of 3 math rendering libraries by recommenders

Recommended as a KaTeX-compatible LaTeX math renderer in pure Rust for native use without a browser, though critics say its output looks blurry or aliased.

Recommended as a KaTeX-compatible LaTeX math renderer in pure Rust for native use without a browser, though critics say its output looks blurry or aliased.

13 people gave an opinion

recommend it
9
criticize it
4
approval share
69%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 1 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: not recommended
  2. December 2025: not recommended
  3. January 2026: not recommended
  4. February 2026: not recommended
  5. March 2026: not recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: not recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: not recommended
  12. October 2026: not recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
  • 2.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Promising, likeable Rust typesetting project

    “I found this kind of Rust-powered typeset modernization promising.”

    Comment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

    “Otherwise it's a super cool looking project”

    Comment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

    “I really like the project”

    Comment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Page reads LLM-assisted; claims untrustworthy

    “The webpage also does read like it was at least heavily LLM assisted, which makes it a bit hard to trust it.”

    Comment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

    “It also contains LLM dishonesties like that the bundle size is 0 KB.”

    Comment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”
  • Bundle size and WASM size unclear

    “It also contains LLM dishonesties like that the bundle size is 0 KB.”

    Comment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

    “I guess you should mention how much is WASM, right?”

    Comment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

Other math rendering libraries people recommend

The two most recommended other math rendering libraries, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.

RaTeX compared with 2 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
MathJax12475%4—Approved
KaTeX11665%3——
RaTeXThis page9469%1——
See all 3 math rendering libraries, ranked

What people said

All 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“RaTeX has either a lot of aliasing going on or appears blurry.”

MixedComment from 8 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“I really like the project”

RecommendsComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“seeing this run in the browser... but that does not change the question”

MixedComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“should make math rendering much easier to integrate into Rust based static site generators”

RecommendsComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“I found this kind of Rust-powered typeset modernization promising.”

RecommendsComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“there's not even an alternative text or an ARIA label, so this seems completely invisible to anybody relying on a screen reader”

CriticizesComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“Come back when the html output works.”

CriticizesComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“Otherwise it's a super cool looking project”

MixedComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“Where this clearly wins is native rendering use cases where there is no browser or JS engine involved at all.”

RecommendsComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“I guess you should mention how much is WASM, right?”

CriticizesComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“Pixel-diff CI against a golden suite is the right discipline for layout libraries”

RecommendsComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“The webpage also does read like it was at least heavily LLM assisted, which makes it a bit hard to trust it.”

MixedComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

“It also contains LLM dishonesties like that the bundle size is 0 KB.”

CriticizesComment from 7 May 2026 in “RaTeX: KaTeX-compatible LaTeX rendering engine in pure Rust”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.