# TOML

19 Hacker News commenters recommended TOML and 13 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A config file format people pick for simple, human-edited settings, valued for readability and comments. Critics say nested lists and tables get awkward and it lacks features.

## Why people recommend it

- Readable for simple configuration files (4 comments): "for really simple cases I'm more likely to reach for TOML" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46084465)) "We are using TOML for config files and just do fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49476518)) "for configuration TOML is clearly more pleasant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45962211))
- Good for personal project configuration (2 comments): "It's what I've been using for complex configuration in personal projects" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49476594)) "it's probably my favourite configuration format" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49476282))
- Preferred over JSON or YAML for config (3 comments): "for configuration TOML is clearly more pleasant" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45962211)) "That being said TOML would be my choice." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45957593)) "So what you want is just TOML." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48983975))

## What people warn about

- Nested lists and tables are painful (4 comments): "great at automatically restricting config complexity by making nested lists of tables miserable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48982626)) "inline tables partially solve the long keys problem, lists will still feel relatively painful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46324005)) "Tables in TOML have uniquely bad format" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48984234))
- Poor fit for highly structured data (2 comments): "I'm not really a fan of TOML when the data is highly structured" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48375101)) "TOML and the like don't have enough features." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47212070))
- Hard to read as a human (2 comments): "I find the toml structure impossible to follow as a human." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49550652)) "I find TOML is nowhere near as good as YAML" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49540785))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [CUE](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cue.md): 29 recommend
- [Jsonnet](https://hackerapproved.com/p/jsonnet.md): 12 recommend
- [HCL](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hcl.md): 10 recommend
- [Dhall](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dhall.md): 9 recommend
- [Nickel configuration language](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nickel.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

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