w3m
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 3 of 7 text browsers by recommenders
Text-based web browser people use for quick lookups, HTML email and non-JavaScript pages; it lacks JavaScript support, so many modern sites break.
12 people recommended w3m in Hacker News comments, 5 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 18 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 17 of those comments still count.
18 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- mixed feelings
- 5
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 7 of 12 months
In 11 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 12 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 11 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 17% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 17 of the 18 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Renders tables and HTML email well
“it does a pretty good job especially with tables, which are still used a lot in HTML email.”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “Putting email in its place with Emacs and Mu4e” “I can run all html through w3m and still have nicely rendered emails”
Comment from 10 Dec 2025 in “Putting email in its place with Emacs and Mu4e” Surprisingly usable on the web
“was able to have a reasonably pleasant time on the web”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Mosh in a Lift (2012)” “It unwieldy but surprisingly usable.”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux” Quick lookups without opening a browser
“w3m is still the goat for quick lookups when you dont want to open a browser”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “W3M: Fork of Debian's W3M” “things work well enough to quench my thirst”
Comment from 27 Jan 2026 in “Places to Telnet”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Breaks on JavaScript-dependent sites
“w3m also works but I want to be able to browser with full w3m images support but most sites just break on needing JavaScript”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Hacker News CLI” “Later they also blocked other non-JS browsers like links or w3m”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Dillo, a multi-platform graphical web browser” Rough and unwieldy around the edges
“are… rough… definitely not of the quality we're seeing elsewhere”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Ratatui – App Showcase”
Other text browsers people recommend
The four most recommended other text browsers, 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 | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lynx web browser | 34 | 8 | 8 | 81% | 11 | — | Approved |
| Links web browser | 14 | 3 | 3 | 82% | 7 | — | Approved |
| w3mThis page | 12 | 5 | 1 | 92% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Chawan terminal web browser | 12 | 0 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Browsh | 7 | 0 | 1 | 88% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
17 of the 18 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I always use a browser that doesn't run any scripts (w3m) for both this reason and others.”
“Imagine Lynx, (E)Links(2), W3M on that. Which were perfectly usable then!1!!”
“I recently discovered how well it works to do exactly what you are asking.”
“was able to have a reasonably pleasant time on the web”
“fire up a text-based web browser (w3m, lynx, etc.”
“w3m if you want support for images”
“w3m is still the goat for quick lookups when you dont want to open a browser”
“w3m also works but I want to be able to browser with full w3m images support but most sites just break on needing JavaScript”
“It unwieldy but surprisingly usable.”
“things work well enough to quench my thirst”
“I usually go with w3m for my weirder needs that lie somewhere between a pure HTTP client and a regular web browser”
“it does a pretty good job especially with tables, which are still used a lot in HTML email.”
“I can run all html through w3m and still have nicely rendered emails”
“Terminal emulators and lynx/elinks/links/w3c work, too.”
“have both existed for more than three decades at this point”
“are… rough… definitely not of the quality we're seeing elsewhere”
“Later they also blocked other non-JS browsers like links or w3m”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.