# Sonarr

38 Hacker News commenters recommended Sonarr and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free app that automates finding and organizing TV episodes, and people say it is convenient once running. The most common caveat is that setup is fiddly and hard to configure.

## Why people recommend it

- Automates TV collection once configured (4 comments): "You can also automate 99% of it with the *arr stack and completely forget about it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50110580)) "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)) "you add a show in Sonarr or a movie in Radarr." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46170379))
- Convenient to use day to day (3 comments): "it's amazing how much my tv usage went down, simply due to having to actually choose" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50208701)) "Pain to set up, but once it's there, it's very convenient to use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49832941)) "I literally use all of these now daily." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49748213))
- Works with Plex and Jellyfin (3 comments): "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)) "Now I torrent everything using Transmission, Sonarr and Plex stack and couldn't be happier." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50212572)) "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))
- Hardlinks create organized library (2 comments): "it will make a second library directory for you comprised of hardlinks organized in the right structure" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48988088)) "try out sonarr/radarr with hard links" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031137))

## What people warn about

- Fiddly, hard setup and configuration (2 comments): "I found it extremely fiddly to set up" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113017)) "Gosh config of radarr and sonarr seemed impenetrable to me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47710183))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Radarr](https://hackerapproved.com/p/radarr.md): 33 recommend
- [*arr stack](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arr-stack.md): 21 recommend
- [Overseerr](https://hackerapproved.com/p/overseerr.md): 11 recommend
- [Bazarr](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bazarr.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Sonarr", https://hackerapproved.com/p/sonarr/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).