Books, tools, and services programmers keep recommending.
Ranked by how many separate people recommend each one, from 652,515 Hacker News comments over the past year. Every claim links to the comment behind it.
Most recommended
Things to buy, recommended by the most separate people this year.
- TailscaleRecommended for reaching home servers and devices from anywhere without opening ports, thanks to WireGuard-based NAT traversal and easy setup; critics question trusting a third party and its ACL defaults.809recommend
- KagiA paid search engine people choose for cleaner results without ads or tracking, with domain blocking, customization and opt-in AI answers; critics object to its Yandex data and pricing.732recommend
- MacBook AirA light, silent, fanless laptop with long battery life and enough everyday performance for years, though it throttles under sustained heavy loads and base RAM and storage feel tight.633recommend
- ObsidianA note app built on a local folder of plain Markdown files, with backlinks and a rich plugin ecosystem that works well with AI agents; critics flag risky community plugins and weak collaboration.447recommend
- Steam DeckA handheld PC that runs much of a Steam library well on Linux and is open to tinkering, though critics cite its bulk, modest power and mode-switching freezes.412recommend
- Apple Mac miniA small, fast, power-efficient Mac whose unified memory suits local AI models and always-on macOS work, though storage upgrades are costly and it struggles with big LLMs.390recommend
- FastmailA paid email service praised for its fast web app, custom domain and alias support, easy migration and responsive human support, though critics worry about US legal reach.388recommend
- Framework Laptop 13Recommended for repairability and upgradability, letting owners swap parts and mainboards instead of replacing the laptop; critics cite weaker battery life, especially on Linux, and quality glitches.336recommend
Built to last
Gear owners say they have used for a median of five years or more.
- Apple MacBook ProApple Silicon models stay fast for years, have long battery life, practical ports and enough memory to run local AI models; some dislike macOS and find the 16-inch heavy.928recommend
- Apple iPhoneRecommended for strong security, a protective walled garden and tightly integrated hardware and software, though critics dislike the lock-down and bugs that never get fixed.706recommend
- MacBook AirA light, silent, fanless laptop with long battery life and enough everyday performance for years, though it throttles under sustained heavy loads and base RAM and storage feel tight.633recommend
- Apple MacBookRecommended for long battery life, excellent trackpad, screen and build quality, and fast, quiet Apple Silicon performance; critics cite soldered, hard-to-repair parts and past keyboard problems.499recommend
- Apple MacRecommended for excellent build quality and tight hardware-software integration that makes it reliable and easy to use, though critics dislike macOS UI changes and pricey upgrades.453recommend
- Raspberry PiRecommended for its reliable long-term software support, huge community and flexibility as a small Linux box with GPIO, though critics say prices have climbed and performance-per-watt lags.425recommend
- Lenovo ThinkPadDurable, easily repaired laptops with excellent Linux support, often bought cheaply used, though critics say build quality, keyboards and trackpoints have declined from the classic models.332recommend
- Apple TV 4KRecommended as a fast, private replacement for spammy smart TV software, controllable with one remote via CEC, though Apple pushes its own promotions and it is pricey.323recommend
Books
The books hackers recommend most.
- Project Hail Mary by Andy WeirA fun, hopeful science-driven sci-fi story about friendship, with an acclaimed audiobook and a faithful film adaptation; critics find the plot too convenient and the movie simplified.117recommend
- Careless People by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsAn insider's account of Facebook's executives and political dealings, praised as revealing and entertaining, though many critics say the author downplays her own complicity.106recommend
- There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntmRecommended for its strikingly original premise and brilliant opening, a page-turner full of twists; many feel the second half meanders and repeats the same gimmick.98recommend
- Blindsight by Peter WattsA dense hard SF first-contact novel recommended for its unsettling exploration of intelligence without consciousness; many find the prose hard to follow and the vampires and plot distracting.96recommend
- Dune by Frank HerbertInfluential science fiction admired for its deep world-building, fresh voice and ideas about power and machines. Critics find it long and dense, and say the later books decline.82recommend
- Dilbert by Scott AdamsLong-running office comedy that many readers say captured corporate life accurately, though critics say its later work turned bitter and cynical.77recommend
- Linux From Scratch by the LFS ProjectBuilds a deep understanding of how Linux components fit together by compiling everything by hand. Critics say it is more cookbook than explanation.72recommend
- Accelerando by Charles StrossReaders praise its prescient ideas about digital minds, space travel and the future. Critics most often say the characters feel thin or unlikeable.71recommend
Gear
Hardware people own and recommend.
- Apple MacBook ProApple Silicon models stay fast for years, have long battery life, practical ports and enough memory to run local AI models; some dislike macOS and find the 16-inch heavy.928recommend
- Apple MacBook NeoAn affordable Mac with snappy performance and better build, display and trackpad than similarly priced Windows laptops, though many say its 8GB of RAM is limiting.707recommend
- Apple iPhoneRecommended for strong security, a protective walled garden and tightly integrated hardware and software, though critics dislike the lock-down and bugs that never get fixed.706recommend
- MacBook AirA light, silent, fanless laptop with long battery life and enough everyday performance for years, though it throttles under sustained heavy loads and base RAM and storage feel tight.633recommend
- Apple MacBookRecommended for long battery life, excellent trackpad, screen and build quality, and fast, quiet Apple Silicon performance; critics cite soldered, hard-to-repair parts and past keyboard problems.499recommend
- Apple MacRecommended for excellent build quality and tight hardware-software integration that makes it reliable and easy to use, though critics dislike macOS UI changes and pricey upgrades.453recommend
- Raspberry PiRecommended for its reliable long-term software support, huge community and flexibility as a small Linux box with GPIO, though critics say prices have climbed and performance-per-watt lags.425recommend
- Steam DeckA handheld PC that runs much of a Steam library well on Linux and is open to tinkering, though critics cite its bulk, modest power and mode-switching freezes.412recommend
Software and services
Paid tools worth paying for.
- TailscaleRecommended for reaching home servers and devices from anywhere without opening ports, thanks to WireGuard-based NAT traversal and easy setup; critics question trusting a third party and its ACL defaults.809recommend
- GitHubThe default git forge, recommended for its huge community, project discovery and familiar pull-request tooling, though many now complain about frequent outages, AI push and lock-in.764recommend
- CloudflareRecommended for strong DDoS and bot protection and shielding origin servers, much of it free or cheap, though critics cite outages that take down huge parts of the web.744recommend
- KagiA paid search engine people choose for cleaner results without ads or tracking, with domain blocking, customization and opt-in AI answers; critics object to its Yandex data and pricing.732recommend
- ZedA fast, native Rust code editor that feels far more responsive and lighter on memory than VS Code, with optional AI agent features; expect rough edges and missing polish.700recommend
- WaymoRecommended for crash data showing far fewer injuries than human drivers and for confident, predictable rides, though critics cite overly slow driving, blocked traffic and privacy worries.696recommend
- YouTubeRecommended as an unmatched library of educational, DIY and long-form video, but critics complain about Shorts, AI dubs, a buried chronological feed and junk recommendations.653recommend
- DockerRecommended for reproducible environments that run identically locally and in deployment, and for easy self-hosting with docker compose; critics stress it is not a real security boundary.558recommend
Free and loved
Free software people keep recommending.
- RustRecommended for compile-time memory safety without runtime cost, fast native code, and strong types with pattern matching; critics cite complexity, slow compiles, a thin stdlib and dependency sprawl.2039recommend
- FirefoxRecommended as the main independent alternative to Chrome, with full uBlock Origin support and deep customization; critics fault Mozilla's AI features, unwanted additions and settings buried in about:config.1572recommend
- GoLiked for its simple, readable style, easy goroutine concurrency, strong standard library and good performance; critics say it ignored prior language design, added generics late and lacks sum types.1254recommend
- PythonPython is recommended for its huge library ecosystem, readable pseudo-code-like syntax and fast productivity on scripts and small programs; critics cite slow performance, dynamic-typing pain and dependency conflicts.1067recommend
- macOSRecommended for consistent keyboard shortcuts, strong security, tight Apple ecosystem integration and getting work done without fiddling, though critics cite recent bugs, CPU spikes, clunky window management and UI regressions.1041recommend
- GrapheneOSA hardened, privacy-focused Android that just works, with fine-grained permissions and optional sandboxed Google Play, though some banking apps refuse to run on it.895recommend
- SQLiteAn extensively tested, zero-maintenance embedded database that handles far more load than expected for many apps, though concurrent writes and growing server apps can outgrow it.847recommend
- PostgreSQLA free, open-source relational database people trust for nearly everything (queues, JSON, search, vectors) and run for years; critics cite query planner limits and horizontal scaling difficulty.816recommend
AI tools
The AI models and coding tools people recommend, and argue about.
- ClaudeRecommended for debugging from logs, implementing tricky algorithms and performance tuning, but it makes mistakes on large codebase changes and needs close supervision.5175recommend
- Claude CodeAn agentic coding tool that writes, runs and tests code on its own, often replacing hand-coding entirely, though many report quality regressions after updates and broken code on complex work.4522recommend
- Claude OpusRecommended as a top coding model that fixes bugs and ships features with fewer mistakes than earlier LLMs, though critics cite weak architecture choices, usage limits and confident errors.3331recommend
- OpenAI CodexA coding agent many find as good as or better than Claude Code, thorough on hard problems, with generous $20-plan limits, though its output needs careful review.2474recommend
- Google GeminiRecommended for everyday questions, image and handwriting understanding, and coding or scripting help, but many report confidently invented facts and dislike it being pushed into every Google product.2195recommend
- ChatGPTA general-purpose chatbot that people use to research faster, understand health issues, learn topics and draft writing, though it often hallucinates and tells you what you want to hear.2186recommend
- OpenAI GPTRecommended for strong coding, debugging and research help with good reasoning and token efficiency, though critics cite hallucinations, overcomplication, verbose output and high cost.1205recommend
- Qwen 3.8 27BAn open-weights model that runs on a single high-end GPU and nears frontier coding quality, though it overthinks, burns tokens and struggles with complex tasks.1173recommend