# ugrep

6 Hacker News commenters recommended ugrep and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** A grep-compatible search tool with approximate matching that several people use as their default grep, valued as a solid replacement for GNU grep.

## Why people recommend it

- Grep-compatible drop-in replacement (2 comments): "ugrep will get you most of the way there relative to gnu grep, and should be fully grep compatible in terms of syntax" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462797)) "This is what my default grep is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47505832))
- Good project, used as default (2 comments): "upgrep, which is quite a good project" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47502177)) "This is what my default grep is." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47505832))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [ripgrep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ripgrep.md): 122 recommend
- [ast-grep](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ast-grep.md): 21 recommend
- [Semble](https://hackerapproved.com/p/semble.md): 20 recommend
- [Graft (Claude Code hooks)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/graft.md): 13 recommend
- [Lat.md](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lat-md.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

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