Telnet client
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 3 command-line clients
Recommended as a quick way to check whether a TCP port responds and for debugging, since it is widely packaged. Caveat: it sends data in plaintext, so critics prefer SSH.
Recommended as a quick way to check whether a TCP port responds and for debugging, since it is widely packaged. Caveat: it sends data in plaintext, so critics prefer SSH.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 19
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 68%
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: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 19 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 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
Checks whether a TCP port responds
“I [ab]use telnet regularly as a debugging tool than its intended purpose. Pretty handy tool to check TCP connectivity.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Reports of Telnet's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” “Yeah it's an easy way to check if a port is responding, and you can actually drive some protocols using telnet.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Reports of Telnet's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” “it's an easy way to check if a port is responding”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Reports of Telnet's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” Useful debugging tool for protocols
“I [ab]use telnet regularly as a debugging tool than its intended purpose. Pretty handy tool to check TCP connectivity.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Reports of Telnet's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” “Yeah it's an easy way to check if a port is responding, and you can actually drive some protocols using telnet.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Reports of Telnet's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” “it is a cool debugging tool, so used it for that”
Comment from 11 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” Simple commands that are easy to memorize
“the commands are easily memorized”
Comment from 19 Jul 2026 in “curl can be used to send emails with SMTP” “is simpler and more reliable”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Places to Telnet” Installable from OS package managers
“Search your OS repositories for something like inetutils-telnet.”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “Places to Telnet” “apt-get install telnet (or whatever the package is called)”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Places to Telnet”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Sends data in plaintext
“Telnet is not completely plaintext and has control characters in the upper byte range”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “TIL: You can make HTTP requests without curl using Bash /dev/TCP” “it's a strictly inferior choice these days for poking arbitrary plaintext services”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died” “The point is that the password leaves my machine.”
Comment from 12 Feb 2026 in “Reports of Telnet's Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated” Control character handling problems
“Telnet is not completely plaintext and has control characters in the upper byte range”
Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “TIL: You can make HTTP requests without curl using Bash /dev/TCP” “telnet had its corner cases with control characters”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “The Day the Telnet Died”
Other command-line clients people recommend
The two most recommended other command-line 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telnet clientThis page | 19 | 9 | 68% | 4 | — | Approved |
| psql | 8 | 6 | 57% | 5 | — | — |
| emacsclient | 5 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
25 of the 29 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I still keep it around mostly for retro computing purposes to interact with very old operating systems”
“that's where telnet isn't a good fit imho”
“the commands are easily memorized”
“Telnet is not completely plaintext and has control characters in the upper byte range”
“it's an easy way to check if a port is responding”
“The point is that the password leaves my machine.”
“Yeah it's an easy way to check if a port is responding, and you can actually drive some protocols using telnet.”
“Telnet is one of those things that probably keeps this world function properly.”
“I [ab]use telnet regularly as a debugging tool than its intended purpose. Pretty handy tool to check TCP connectivity.”
“you can modify / manipulate a telnet session in ways you just can't via SSH”
“Telnet continues to be widely used for select use cases”
“Because it's 172 kilobytes.”
“99% of Mac users never use it, directly or indirectly.”
“it is a cool debugging tool, so used it for that”
“I still habitually use telnet today even if netcat and many other tools have replaced it.”
“do not buy equipment that has acquired so much tech debt that it still requires telnet”
“Telnet continues to be widely used for select use cases and being told we're naughty by not including it feels punitive”
“Apple removing the telnet client from OS X was a stupid move”
“the Telnet-implementation, the program, the client, was so inadequate for playing on MUD servers”
“telnet had its corner cases with control characters”
“it's a strictly inferior choice these days for poking arbitrary plaintext services”
“is simpler and more reliable”
“apt-get install telnet (or whatever the package is called)”
“Search your OS repositories for something like inetutils-telnet.”
“it's a lot of overhead for an open-to-the-whole-internet game where latency is critical”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.