SETI@home
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 3 distributed computing clients
People recommend it as an early distributed computing project that let home computers search for signals, and as a fun screensaver to run. One critic says its main benefit was the idea rather than its results.
People recommend it as an early distributed computing project that let home computers search for signals, and as a fun screensaver to run. One critic says its main benefit was the idea rather than its results.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, 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
Early distributed computing pioneer
“Seti@home was one of, if not the first distributed projects, the predecessor of cloud computing”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation” “This is basically what seti and the computing @home projects did.”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “A Dynamic and Distributed Virtual GPU Cloud Built on Idle Apple Silicon Devices” Cool, easy-to-install screensaver
“the screensaver was trivial to install and neat to look at”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation” “seti@home was definetly a cool screensaver, though.”
Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Flags 100 Signals After Sorting 12B Others” “That screensaver was a total vibe”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation” - Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation”
Fun sense of contributing
“It felt really cool as a 12 year old to be contributing to the project in some small way.”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation” “Loved it - felt like I was a part of something bigger than me.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Autonomous community research lab powered by agents” “It was fun to walk though there and think we were "helping"”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation” - Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation”
Fun to run at home
“It was really interesting watching it do FFT back in the day.”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “SETI Home Is in Hiberation” “was fun to run on your computer”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “Enthusiasts used their home computers to search for ET”
Other distributed computing clients people recommend
The two most recommended other distributed computing clients, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SETI@homeThis page | 16 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | Approved |
| Folding@home | 15 | 1 | 94% | 7 | — | Approved |
| BOINC | 8 | 5 | 62% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Loved it - felt like I was a part of something bigger than me.”
“This is basically what seti and the computing @home projects did.”
“was fun to run on your computer”
“It was such an exciting thing to participate in!”
“It was fun to walk though there and think we were "helping"”
“That screensaver was a total vibe”
“As a pre-teen, I loved it. SETI@Home running on our family's Pentium 100”
“Seti@home was one of, if not the first distributed projects, the predecessor of cloud computing”
“the screensaver was trivial to install and neat to look at”
“Such a satisfying screensaver!”
“It was really interesting watching it do FFT back in the day.”
“it's main benefit was the idea, and not the results it generated”
“It felt really cool as a 12 year old to be contributing to the project in some small way.”
“No, they just published two papers in 2025.”
“seti@home was definetly a cool screensaver, though.”
“I wish we had a similar project nowadays.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.