# Tiny C Compiler

20 Hacker News commenters recommended Tiny C Compiler and 2 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Small, free C compiler that builds lean Windows and Win32 programs with no dependencies. Critics note it has had no release in about eight years.

## Why people recommend it

- Small download, lean Windows builds (2 comments): "TCC is my go-to for keeping builds lean. on windows specifically, you get a functional C compiler in a few hundred KB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46930675)) "TCC supports win32 and is less than a meg download and as an added bonus supports linux very well thanks to wine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481768))
- No dependencies on Windows (2 comments): "TCC is my go-to for keeping builds lean. on windows specifically, you get a functional C compiler in a few hundred KB" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46930675)) "No dependencies, no fiddling around with libwhater-1.0.dll or stuff like that when on Windows" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46929472))
- Works well on Windows and Win32 (3 comments): "TCC supports win32 and is less than a meg download and as an added bonus supports linux very well thanks to wine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481768)) "it built and ran ok on windows 10, with tcc" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48527422)) "TCC with win32 is a fantastic target" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50330150))
- Hackable, easy to embed (2 comments): "Very hackable, easy to compile to WASM for some interesting in-browser compilation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46929057)) "One of the coolest tricks is using tcc to compile "on demand."" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46930610))

## What people warn about

- No release in eight years (2 comments): "there has not been any release for _8 years_, and the website is the same one at the top of this conversation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46929216)) "Sad but not surprised to see it's no longer maintained (8 years ago!)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46928822))
- Hard codebase to maintain (2 comments): "It sometimes feel the code id one big unittest including all nasty C edge cases." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48558124)) "too much of a burden to maintain" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47845624))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Fil-C](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fil-c.md): 160 recommend
- [Claude's C Compiler](https://hackerapproved.com/p/claude-s-c-compiler.md): 39 recommend
- [Visual C++](https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-c-plus-plus.md): 29 recommend
- [Tiny C Compiler (TCC)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tcc.md): 22 recommend
- [Microsoft Visual C++ compiler (MSVC)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/msvc.md): 20 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Tiny C Compiler", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tiny-c-compiler/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).