# VRChat Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/vrchat/ 21 people recommended VRChat in Hacker News comments, 10 had mixed feelings and 12 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 20 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free social VR platform with large user-made worlds and an active community, praised over Meta's Horizon Worlds. Critics most often warn that it is rough, with harassment and many children present. Summary written by Claude from 51 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 49 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Better than Meta's Horizon Worlds (6 comments in the sample): "VRChat just being the plain superior product in almost every regard, especially for social spaces" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47419671)) "You should give VRChat a try, the predecessor and more successful version of Horizon Worlds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47436937)) "VRChat in comparison is more popular and doesn't feel like a soulless corporate husk" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47419110)) - Popular, growing, cheaply built (4 comments in the sample): "VRChat is reaching record popularity and user counts with tiny fraction of the budget Facebook wasted" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47419390)) "VR Chat continues to grow, driven by young people who worked through the problems." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47565759)) "a core VR experience that continues seeing average player count increases YoY" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49701766)) - Huge, inventive worlds and experiences (4 comments in the sample): "some of them are very complex & are telling stories by their environments that could be comparable to standalone VR games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49706888)) "alive and very active, doing verz innovative and almost marvelous things" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49149041)) "VRChat is way better at finding the edge of what's possible" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45882575)) - Social community and lasting friendships (3 comments in the sample): "The only thing I regularly used a VR headset for, was to join clubs and socialize in VRchat during covid lockdowns." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47565875)) "It was great, I made friends, I spent time socializing for its own sake on a daily basis for hours." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46646264)) "VRChat has been a godsend of socialization and authenticity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49702482)) ## What people warn about - Harassment and children in public spaces (4 comments in the sample): "the new user experience/children yelling slurs situation makes it hard to even bring up to general audiences" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49702987)) "generally VRChat is like a masked ball with a combination of alcoholics, repressed perverted losers, obnoxious personalities and children" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307216)) "On one end you have Second Life and VRChat, which should absolutely have a no kids policy." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46047762)) - Building requires Unity knowledge (2 comments in the sample): "VRChat requires very detailed Unity knowledge. You really need to be a developer for that." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46022527)) "the scripting language in VRChat is 200X-1000X slower than normal Unity scripting" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45885590)) ## What people recommend instead - [Second Life](https://hackerapproved.com/p/second-life/): 5 recommend, 5 mixed, 6 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://hello.vrchat.com) ## 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, "VRChat", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vrchat/ (21 recommend, 10 mixed, 12 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.