Wine/Proton
Hacker ApprovedRanked 10 of 27 compatibility layers by recommenders
Recommended for running Windows games and apps on Linux, often better for older titles than Windows 11. Main caveat: online games with kernel anticheat.
Recommended for running Windows games and apps on Linux, often better for older titles than Windows 11. Main caveat: online games with kernel anticheat.
22 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 73%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 2.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 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
Runs Windows software on Linux
“Immense research of running Windows programs on Linux was already done by Wine/Proton teams.”
Comment from 29 Jun 2026 in “Microsoft Needs Windows Lite” “have made far more in-roads in being able to run Windows software on non-Windows systems”
Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “30 Years of ReactOS” “given the success of WINE/Proton with Windows applications”
Comment from 2 Aug 2026 in “Show HN: Kakehashi – Experimental userspace to run macOS binaries on Linux ARM” Works for most games and software
“Often playing older Windows games is easier and more reliable on Linux with Wine/Proton than on Windows 11.”
Comment from 5 Aug 2026 in “Xbox goes down. You can't play games you own on disc” “proton/wine works more or less for everything”
Comment from 24 Mar 2026 in “Epic Games to cut more than 1k jobs as Fortnite usage falls” “It does work reliably enough though.”
Comment from 25 Jan 2026 in “Wine-Staging 11.1 Adds Patches for Enabling Recent Photoshop Versions on Linux” Improving quickly for gaming
“these days even gaming through tools like Wine/Proton has improved a lot”
Comment from 3 May 2026 in “Why TUIs Are Back” “cutting edge gaming tech like wine/proton staging versions per default”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “Linux gaming is faster because Windows APIs are becoming Linux kernel features” Good investment for Linux
“invested (wisely, I think) in Linux infrastructure like Wayland, Wine/Proton”
Comment from 16 Nov 2025 in “I don’t need a Steam Machine” “Targeting Wine/Proton is the best of both worlds for everyone”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Valve reveals it’s the architect behind a push to bring Windows games to Arm”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Feels cobbled together, not ready
“Windows games now work too (under Wine/Proton) but isn't ready for prime time yet”
Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “KDE Plasma 6.8 Will Go Wayland-Exclusive in Dropping X11 Session Support” “cobbled together components like FEX and wine/proton”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: 100 Million splats, a whole town, rendered in M2 MacBook Air”
Other compatibility layers people recommend
The four most recommended other compatibility layers, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proton by Valve | 451 | 189 | 70% | 13 | 2 yrs31 owners | Approved |
| Wine | 329 | 88 | 79% | 13 | 10 yrs11 owners | Approved |
| Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) | 159 | 101 | 61% | 12 | 3 yrs9 owners | — |
| WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux) | 115 | 55 | 68% | 12 | — | Approved |
| Wine/ProtonThis page | 16 | 6 | 73% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
All 23 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Often playing older Windows games is easier and more reliable on Linux with Wine/Proton than on Windows 11.”
“Solvable with Wine/Proton (or a Proton fork).”
“given the success of WINE/Proton with Windows applications”
“I see it as yet another cross-platform library for doing development on *nix systems”
“Immense research of running Windows programs on Linux was already done by Wine/Proton teams.”
“I'm fine with most of the work going into Wine/Proton”
“the compatibility and frame rate issues make me stick to native Windows for now”
“it still leaves Microsoft in control of the future”
“we can just call Proton/WINE a 'native' API for gaming on Linux”
“cutting edge gaming tech like wine/proton staging versions per default”
“these days even gaming through tools like Wine/Proton has improved a lot”
“proton/wine works more or less for everything”
“The only things that don’t run well under wine/proton now I feel like are online games with kernel anticheat”
“It does work reliably enough though.”
“have made far more in-roads in being able to run Windows software on non-Windows systems”
“Photoshop still does not work.”
“The problem is games over Wine/Proton doing weird things with the sound.”
“cobbled together components like FEX and wine/proton”
“Targeting Wine/Proton is the best of both worlds for everyone”
“Windows games now work too (under Wine/Proton) but isn't ready for prime time yet”
“invested (wisely, I think) in Linux infrastructure like Wayland, Wine/Proton”
“might as well put effort into Windows compatibility and just start running Windows apps”
“relying on Wine/Proton inherently means you will always lag behind the bleeding edge in terms of DX APIs”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.