Refined Hacker News
Shares rank 55 of 70 browser extensions by recommenders
People recommend it as a free add-on that makes Hacker News easier to read and navigate. Critics say the underlying code is weak and the project has not been updated in years.
People recommend it as a free add-on that makes Hacker News easier to read and navigate. Critics say the underlying code is weak and the project has not been updated in years.
7 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 86%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 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
Great product overall
“Great product, but the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read” “Personally I am really happy by HN refined though so kudos to @plibither8”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read” Good base to fork
“Let https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news be your inspiration.”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Stories removed from the Hacker News Front Page, updated in real time” “Fork https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news and enhance!”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: Why is HN missing a "go to top" link on long posts?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Underlying code is poor
“Great product, but the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read” “the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read” Abandoned, not updated in years
“Great product, but the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it.”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read” “the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read” “which hasn't received an update in 4 years”
Comment from 8 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: Orange Juice – Small UX improvements that make HN much easier to read”
Other browser extensions people recommend
The four most recommended other browser extensions, 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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SponsorBlock | 137 | 4 | 97% | 13 | — | Approved |
| Firefox Multi-Account Containers | 76 | 13 | 85% | 10 | 7.5 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| NoScript | 61 | 11 | 85% | 12 | 10 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| Claude in Chrome | 53 | 42 | 56% | 9 | — | — |
| Refined Hacker NewsThis page | 6 | 1 | 86% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Fork https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news and enhance!”
“Refined didn't do it fully, mine covers a lot more edge cases.”
“One thing I miss is the orange mark identifying the OP of a post.”
“Great product, but the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it.”
“which hasn't received an update in 4 years”
“the underlying code was meh, and the author abandoned it”
“Personally I am really happy by HN refined though so kudos to @plibither8”
“the refined HN extension has had this feature for a long time”
“Let https://github.com/plibither8/refined-hacker-news be your inspiration.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.