# VNC

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

6 people recommended VNC in Hacker News comments, 4 had mixed feelings and 15 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 5 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** More people criticize it than recommend it. Simple, long-established remote desktop protocol that some find better than X11 forwarding or Chrome Remote Desktop. Critics call it laggy, weaker than RDP, and poor on slow links.

Summary written by Claude from the comments below.

## What people warn about

- Laggy with high latency (3 comments in the sample): "VNC is fine but can be laggy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49305654)) "Try getting a usable VNC session when your cell phone hot spot is hitting 2-30 second ping times" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49399207)) "Bad latency, bad quality, bad integration." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49674387))
- Outdated, worse than alternatives (3 comments in the sample): "So much faster and seamless than VNC." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50113416)) "Anything is better than VNC." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47598890)) "VNC is well past its prime." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49674545))
- Poor overall experience (2 comments in the sample): "VNC/TeamViewer/Remote Desktop setups are all mediocre imho" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49438919)) "they're pretty mediocre experience-wise" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48001827))
- Weaker than RDP in features (2 comments in the sample): "VNC is not even remotely close to RDP in features or performance. It just isn't." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46102512)) "The terribleness of VNC (vs RDP) is what gets you." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48436979))

## Why people recommend it

- Default option for remote access (2 comments in the sample): "Maybe it would be easier to just USE VNC instead." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46375923)) "right now remoting into other systems is just VNC" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46530911))

## Other game streaming software people recommend

- [Moonlight](https://hackerapproved.com/p/moonlight/): 56 recommend, 8 mixed, 9 criticize
- [Sunshine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sunshine/): 49 recommend, 6 mixed, 16 criticize
- [RustDesk](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rustdesk/): 24 recommend, 3 mixed, 19 criticize
- [Sunshine and Moonlight](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sunshine-and-moonlight/): 15 recommend, 3 mixed, 5 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, "VNC", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vnc/ (6 recommend, 4 mixed, 15 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.