# Unscii

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/unscii/

10 people recommended Unscii in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 12 months, in 2 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

8 of the 10 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “Unscii”.

**Verdict:** Free pixel font with broad script coverage and careful glyphs, good for ASCII art and terminals. Critics note a tilted apostrophe that hurts it as a programming font.

Summary written by Claude from 10 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Terminal and ANSI art rendering (2 comments in the sample): "meant for ascii art but still works well in a terminal" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48283931)) "The ANSI color rendering looks phenomenal." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46271619))

## What people warn about

- Tilted apostrophe hurts programming use (1 comment in the sample): "That ' is tilted kinda ruins it for me as a programming font" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46273532))

## Other bitmap fonts people recommend

- [GNU Unifont](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gnu-unifont/): 10 recommend, 6 mixed, 15 criticize
- [Spleen font](https://hackerapproved.com/p/spleen-font/): 6 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Unscii", https://hackerapproved.com/p/unscii/ (10 recommend, 1 mixed, 1 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 3 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.