Stratechery by Ben Thompson
Shares rank 13 of 26 newsletters by recommenders
Recommended for influential analysis of tech strategy, platforms and aggregation theory, and for a successful paid newsletter. Critics say recent writing has weakened and grown too uncritical of tech boosterism.
Recommended for influential analysis of tech strategy, platforms and aggregation theory, and for a successful paid newsletter. Critics say recent writing has weakened and grown too uncritical of tech boosterism.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 39%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not 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
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not 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
Platforms and aggregators analysis
“Stratechery's articles on on Platforms and Aggregators”
Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Software Survival 3.0” “Read Ben Thompson to understand aggregation theory.”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “OpenRouter Is Joining Stripe” Widely praised, valuable reading
“Read Ben Thompson to understand aggregation theory.”
Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “OpenRouter Is Joining Stripe” “which is great by the way”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “How I block all online ads” Influential in tech and media
“Ben Thompson is also very influential in Silicon Valley and the overall tech/media industry.”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Nvidia's Risky Business” “like the Acquired podcast, Stratechery, Paul Graham”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 on Hacker News
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Too uncritical of tech boosterism
“Ben also has tended a little too ...uncritical of tech boosterism these days”
Comment from 4 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “Shame on Stratechery for not asking any hard questions or digging deeper.”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “US startup Substrate announces chipmaking tool that it says will rival ASML” “Shame on Stratechery for not asking any hard questions or digging deeper”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “US startup Substrate announces chipmaking tool that it says will rival ASML” Writing quality has declined
“Stratechery reads like it's written to be narrated - rather than exist first as writing.”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “The iPhone's Last Stand” “its part of why I've become so bored of stratechery's articles lately”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “The iPhone's Last Stand” “Even his paid content is lacking.”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Nvidia's Risky Business” - Comment from 12 Jul 2026 in “Migrating a production AI agent to GPT-5.6: 2.2x faster, 27% cheaper”
Recent announcement made subscription worse
“As a subscriber, this makes the offering significantly worse.”
Comment from 22 Oct 2026 in “Presented by Stripe” “This announcement, though, leaves a sour taste in my mouth.”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “Presented by Stripe” “Why pay, if it will become like any other free column?”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 on Hacker News
Other newsletters people recommend
The four most recommended other newsletters, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ed Zitron newsletter | 46 | 42 | 52% | 12 | — | — |
| Simon Willison's blog | 21 | 2 | 91% | 9 | — | Approved |
| SemiAnalysis | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| acoup.blog | 19 | 0 | 100% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Stratechery by Ben ThompsonThis page | 7 | 11 | 39% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Why pay, if it will become like any other free column?”
“As a subscriber, this makes the offering significantly worse.”
“This announcement, though, leaves a sour taste in my mouth.”
“Read Ben Thompson to understand aggregation theory.”
“Even his paid content is lacking.”
“Ben Thompson is also very influential in Silicon Valley and the overall tech/media industry.”
“It's writing is even worse.”
“its part of why I've become so bored of stratechery's articles lately”
“Stratechery reads like it's written to be narrated - rather than exist first as writing.”
“they over-extended the service to a bunch of other things instead of just focusing on the one news letter”
“Don’t miss it to be honest - once a week free is plenty.”
“Stratechery's articles on on Platforms and Aggregators”
“like the Acquired podcast, Stratechery, Paul Graham”
“sites that use unreadably thin fonts, such as https://stratechery.com”
“Seems that not many people on HN read Ben Thompson's Stratechery.”
“which is great by the way”
“the most successful writer in the industry as far as revenue from a paid newsletter”
“Shame on Stratechery for not asking any hard questions or digging deeper”
“Shame on Stratechery for not asking any hard questions or digging deeper.”
“he has someone else narrate quotes and he uses chapter art that goes along with the article”
“Ben also has tended a little too ...uncritical of tech boosterism these days”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.