The Verge
Ranked 7 of 16 news outlets by recommenders
Readers praise its original reporting and tech journalism, though many say quality has slipped into opinion pieces. Common caveat: paywall blocks many articles.
Readers praise its original reporting and tech journalism, though many say quality has slipped into opinion pieces. Common caveat: paywall blocks many articles.
42 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 26
- approval share
- 38%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1 year
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.6 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong original reporting and journalism
“Some of the best reporting, tech or otherwise, is being done there.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Best Gas Masks” “Verge's brilliant reporting on Supernatural recently”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer; pulls story” “the only ones actually doing any journalism here”
Comment from 22 May 2026 in “Microsoft Drops Claude Code After Budget Overrun” - Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Best Gas Masks”
Less regurgitated filler than rivals
“Other than Verge and Wired maybe, all of the listed publications are mostly putting out late, regurgitated stories.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “The Internet's Top Tech Publications Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024” “The Verge is a surprise because it is relatively new and was relatively free of this crap for a long time.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “The Internet's Top Tech Publications Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024” “Of all the tech sites I've been visiting for the past decade it is the only one that hasn't gone to shit.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “The Internet's Top Tech Publications Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024” - Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer; pulls story”
Clear coverage of recent stories
“Verge's brilliant reporting on Supernatural recently”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer; pulls story” “The Verge had some good coverage about this”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “RAM now represents 35 percent of bill of materials for HP PCs” “I really like how The Verge discusses this.”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Anthropic ditches its core safety promise” Worth paying for subscribers
“I've never so happily subscribed to something.”
Comment from 22 Mar 2026 in “PC Gamer Recommends RSS Readers in a 37MB Article That Just Keeps Downloading” “This is journalism, and it is worth money.”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Best Gas Masks”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Paywall blocks articles without subscription
“The Verge’s paywall is ridiculous, especially given that they still live off slimy affiliate revenue and ads”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash” “They have horrid policies with regards to displaying sources, and put half their articles behind a paywall.”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “EA is shutting down BioWare” “Some sites now demand money in return for 'fewer' ads, like The Verge!”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “EU Member States (and Google) suddenly want to keep cookie banners” - Comment from 23 May 2026 in “Microsoft Drops Claude Code After Budget Overrun”
- Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I stopped trusting USB-C cable labels and started testing them”
- Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “LG TVs caught spying even when offline or on standby”
- Comment from 19 Aug 2026 in “Pixel 11 Pro Fold feels like the end of an era”
Declining quality, opinion, mainstream focus
“The low ratio of quality original reporting vs political and opinion pieces made stop reading the verge.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “The Internet's Top Tech Publications Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024” “dumped The Verge a few years ago for their hard turn into popularism”
Comment from 14 Feb 2026 in “Ars Technica makes up quotes from Matplotlib maintainer; pulls story” “the likes of the Verge only run the most mainstream kind of articles”
Comment from 23 Sep 2026 in “'We hacked the FBI:' Hackers say they have data on all FBI employees” - Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Traffic to top tech publications has plummeted since 2024, new analysis shows”
- Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “Digg”
Trust and editorial integrity concerns
“The Verge's infamous "how to build a gaming PC" tutorial video made me stop visiting their site and mostly stop trusting most tech news.”
Comment from 23 Nov 2025 in “Show HN: Forty.News – Daily news, but on a 40-year delay” “sometimes they quietly fix it and delete your comment. So much for their free speech stance and editorial practice.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Ars Technica Fires Reporter After AI Controversy Involving Fabricated Quotes” “Will The Verge publish stories about these problems, too? No, they won't!”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “I spent a year on Linux and forgot to miss Windows” - Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now lets you turn off Shorts”
Ads and affiliate revenue complaints
“The Verge’s paywall is ridiculous, especially given that they still live off slimy affiliate revenue and ads”
Comment from 13 Feb 2026 in “Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash” “Some sites now demand money in return for 'fewer' ads, like The Verge!”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “EU Member States (and Google) suddenly want to keep cookie banners”
Other news outlets people recommend
The four most recommended other news outlets, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNN Lite | 34 | 54 | 39% | 12 | — | — |
| The Guardian | 33 | 44 | 43% | 12 | — | — |
| Ars Technica | 32 | 62 | 34% | 9 | 16 yrs6 owners | — |
| text.npr.org | 23 | 1 | 96% | 8 | — | Approved |
| The VergeThis page | 16 | 26 | 38% | 7 | 1 yr3 owners | — |
What people said
40 of the 43 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Verge hardly ever brings anything to the table on stories”
“They have horrid policies with regards to displaying sources, and put half their articles behind a paywall.”
“The design of theverge.com is now completely unreadable”
“the likes of the Verge only run the most mainstream kind of articles”
“I wish people would stop supporting this trash site and let it die.”
“Posted on a website where you can't read without subscribing”
“Sadly, I can't read this article due to the hard paywall.”
“The Verge sold out to Big Tech a long time ago.”
“Can't actually read the Verge without a subscription either.”
“should be the default as it seems to be the first party source”
“Some sites now demand money in return for 'fewer' ads, like The Verge!”
“they won't take money from any company they talk about”
“Similar. They both don't belong here.”
“Verge does similar making up of facts.”
“now it just spouts the same crap as everyone else”
“it's so frustrating that The Verge puts a paywall at the fold”
“the only ones actually doing any journalism here”
“The Verge is not to be trusted with technical FAANG editorial content.”
“I've never so happily subscribed to something.”
“the experience and quality of the content fell off a cliff”
“Of all the tech sites I've been visiting for the past decade it is the only one that hasn't gone to shit.”
“The low ratio of quality original reporting vs political and opinion pieces made stop reading the verge.”
“The Verge is a surprise because it is relatively new and was relatively free of this crap for a long time.”
“Other than Verge and Wired maybe, all of the listed publications are mostly putting out late, regurgitated stories.”
“sometimes they quietly fix it and delete your comment. So much for their free speech stance and editorial practice.”
“I really like how The Verge discusses this.”
“The Verge had some good coverage about this”
“dumped The Verge a few years ago for their hard turn into popularism”
“Other than that I've found that the Verge fulfills the need that I used to get from Ars.”
“Verge comments aren't much better either”
“The Verge is definitely on the upswing right now.”
“Verge's brilliant reporting on Supernatural recently”
“The Verge’s paywall is ridiculous, especially given that they still live off slimy affiliate revenue and ads”
“they are a very politically biased organization”
“I have a lot of criticisms on The Verge and stopped reading it a long time ago”
“This is journalism, and it is worth money.”
“Some of the best reporting, tech or otherwise, is being done there.”
“Will The Verge publish stories about these problems, too? No, they won't!”
“The Verge, Engadget, Lifehacker, Wired, and NYT Wirecutter are still good among many many others.”
“The Verge's infamous "how to build a gaming PC" tutorial video made me stop visiting their site and mostly stop trusting most tech news.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.