# VBA 10 Hacker News commenters recommended VBA and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend VBA for getting automations working fast inside Excel and Office, especially for non-programmers. Critics call it a dead language with a poor editor and a legacy-systems trap. ## Why people recommend it - Fast, workable automation for non-programmers (2 comments): "VBA et al succeeded because they enabled workers to move forward on things they would otherwise be blocked on organizationally" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46649034)) "people liked them because you could get something working fast" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46287132)) - Powerful inside Excel and Access (2 comments): "Excel, VBA and, where you had one knowledgeable employee, MS Access makes for incredibly powerful" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46891414)) "Excel has VBA and a strong API." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48299238)) ## What people warn about - Dead language, legacy systems (2 comments): "a little problematic as is a dead leanguage since 2006" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46256342)) "VBA still has a stranglehold on legacy systems." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296146)) - Poor IDE and error feedback (2 comments): "it would show a modal error message if the line you'd just written contained a syntax error" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48662418)) "the VBA IDE is a horrible dev experience in pretty much every way" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46349210)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Rust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rust.md): 2039 recommend - [Go](https://hackerapproved.com/p/go-programming-language.md): 1254 recommend - [Python](https://hackerapproved.com/p/python.md): 1067 recommend - [Zig](https://hackerapproved.com/p/zig.md): 743 recommend - [TypeScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/typescript.md): 574 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "VBA", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vba/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).