Supernote
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 15 of 29 e-readers by recommenders
People recommend it as a distraction-free, repairable e-ink notetaker that runs sideloaded apps without a subscription. Its built-in reader is weak and the Nomad has no front light.
People recommend it as a distraction-free, repairable e-ink notetaker that runs sideloaded apps without a subscription. Its built-in reader is weak and the Nomad has no front light.
17 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 14
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 14 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 10 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
Open, sideloadable software
“aren't totally antagonistic to the community who builds the software they profit from”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “PaperOS: A native Linux E Ink OS running on BOOX hardware” “am quite pleased with it given I can sideload Obsidian and other Android apps”
Comment from 11 Dec 2025 in “The New Kindle Scribes Are Great, but Not Great Enough” “all of them can be trivially broken into and re-tooled however you like”
Comment from 16 May 2026 in “Ask HN: When did computers stop being fun?” - Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Remarkable Pro Colors”
- Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “ReMarkable firing up to 40% of their workforce”
Repairable hardware and responsive developers
“designed to have replaceable motherboards/batteries although it's still to be seen whether they will actually be able to support that long-term”
Comment from 7 May 2026 in “Community firmware for the Xteink X4 e-paper reader” “I have a Supernote which I like primarily because it's repairable and the developers are very responsive.”
Comment from 30 Mar 2026 in “Take Better Notes, by Hand” “I went with Supernnote for the repairability even if it cost a bit extra.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Modos Color Monitor Pushes E-Paper Displays Further” Distraction-free for writing
“I specifically do this instead of an iPad because I found it vastly less distracting during meetings.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Using an Engineering Notebook” “I wanted it specifically because it can't do anything not related to me entering words into it.”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Writerdeck.org”
Other e-readers people recommend
The four most recommended other e-readers, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Kindle | 222 | 255 | 47% | 12 | 12 yrs37 owners | — |
| Xteink X4 | 178 | 47 | 79% | 10 | 2 mo31 owners | Approved |
| Kobo e-reader | 154 | 53 | 74% | 12 | 7 yrs14 owners | Approved |
| reMarkable 2 | 93 | 45 | 67% | 12 | 5 yrs13 owners | Approved |
| SupernoteThis page | 14 | 3 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
24 of the 25 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“My Nomad will only send mail with my @icloud.com address”
“digital note-taking tablets are anything but calm for me”
“Having a Supernote means I can share my diagrams live on the call”
“Its own reader isn’t fantastic.”
“hasn't deliberately kneecapped itself with some purity vision that just makes it frustrating to use”
“aren't totally antagonistic to the community who builds the software they profit from”
“the Nomad does not have a front light”
“I went with Supernnote for the repairability even if it cost a bit extra.”
“all of them can be trivially broken into and re-tooled however you like”
“I use it for reading in Kobo and KOReader and note taking at work.”
“Supernote has given up on it becoming an actually open platform”
“designed to have replaceable motherboards/batteries although it's still to be seen whether they will actually be able to support that long-term”
“Supernote and Onyx Boox both do meaningful upgrades with useful new features on their devices.”
“as it seems more open / less locked down at the time”
“are all very good at this”
“I have a Supernote which I like primarily because it's repairable and the developers are very responsive.”
“Its software is leagues better for navigating within books.”
“I specifically do this instead of an iPad because I found it vastly less distracting during meetings.”
“Supernote has full-fledged Linux support in the official pipeline.”
“for my use cases, it fits perfectly”
“You must check out the Supernote line”
“am quite pleased with it given I can sideload Obsidian and other Android apps”
“most importantly no subscription”
“I wanted it specifically because it can't do anything not related to me entering words into it.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.