# Wired magazine

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Wired magazine and 22 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended for in-depth reporting and long-form articles, though critics say its paywalls, pop-ups and unwanted renewals are a serious drawback.

## Why people recommend it

- In-depth reporting and articles (6 comments): "Which is fine if I want the relationship, like with Ars Technica, Wired where I'm usually interested in their reporting." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48402434)) "A nice article on the underlying systemic causes of the crash" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46081371)) "Wired write-up on it is a recommended reading" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47169094))
- Still seen as good (3 comments): "The Verge, Engadget, Lifehacker, Wired, and NYT Wirecutter are still good among many many others." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46447212)) "Wired is doing pretty well on that front, too" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46829709)) "Wired still seems to write some good pieces." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47005448))

## What people warn about

- Paywalls and pop-up interruptions (6 comments): "And that's not even getting into Verge and Wired's paywalls or syndication over to outrage-farm 404 media" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47236002)) "if you're going to post an article, don't make people pay someone to read it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49189266)) "the paywall claimed I had used all of my free articles" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48853094))
- Unwanted charges and hard cancellations (3 comments): "tried for a second year in a row to charge me for Wired, which i do not subscribe to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186764)) "took me hours to cancel some autorenewing subscription i never subscribed for" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48402717)) "sent my dad to collections for an automatic renewal that wasn't even due yet" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48402997))
- Hyperbolic, outrage-driven coverage (3 comments): "Everything has to be presented in such a breathless, hyperbolic, drawn out way." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49258747)) "pure outrage reporting with like 80% political focus" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47010399)) "Wired (Conde Nast) is peak psyop." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47810088))
- Quality seen as declining since 2017 (3 comments): "has clearly deteriorated in reporting quality and focus since 2017 or so" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47884504)) "there used to be a time when wired magazine was worth reading" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46107572)) "Years ago Wired use to write with quite a bit more flair." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47796896))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Economist](https://hackerapproved.com/p/economist.md): 87 recommend
- [New York Times subscription](https://hackerapproved.com/p/new-york-times.md): 68 recommend
- [Apple News](https://hackerapproved.com/p/apple-news.md): 29 recommend
- [Wall Street Journal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wall-street-journal.md): 21 recommend
- [The Atlantic magazine subscription](https://hackerapproved.com/p/atlantic.md): 21 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Wired magazine", https://hackerapproved.com/p/wired/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).