AI models and assistantsLibraries and frameworksOperating systems and desktopMedia and creativeAI coding toolsInfrastructure and DevOpsTerminal and shellBrowsers and extensionsEmail and chatSelf-hosted and home serverNetworking and VPNEditors and IDEsSecurity and passwordsProductivityDatabasesFiles, sync and backupGit and code hostingNotes and knowledgeMonitoring and analyticsSearchFinanceOther software

Pick of the day

JetBrains IDEs · Editors and IDEs · 20 recommenders

Loved for refined, reliable tooling and deep code intelligence for large refactorings, and many long-time users now pair it with external AI agents to review diffs. The most common complaint is weak, confusing AI offerings, followed by sluggish performance and slipping quality.

Loved for Refined and reliable“their IDEs are some of the most reliable software I use”njovin, 2026-09
Caveat: Weak AI offerings“I’ve been a happy paying JetBrains customer for 10+ years.”delbronski, 2026-09

Rising extra recommenders, last 90 days

  1. Claude AI coding tools+98
  2. DeepSeek V4 Flash AI models and assistants+95
  3. Firefox Browsers and extensions+66
  4. Kagi Search+39
  5. Forgejo Self-hosted and home server+35
All rising →

Hidden gems few recommenders, no warnings

  • Nitter Self-hosted and home server · 8 recommendersI use a self-hosted Nitter instance. This way I get to follow those X links without needing a (real, active) account.
  • Cloudflare R2 Files, sync and backup · 8 recommendersWe use R2 and Wasabi as our storage backends...so we obviously like them
  • CrossPoint Media and creative · 8 recommendersI’m running Crosspoint on the X3, and am quite pleased with both the software and hardware.
  • Perforce Git and code hosting · 7 recommendersAt Team Bondi we used Perforce, and I loved its Timelapse View
  • Alpine.js Libraries and frameworks · 7 recommendersAlpine + Alpine Ajax was SMALLER than HTMX 4 even though (in my opinion) it offers a lot more features
  • xcancel Email and chat · 7 recommendersI donated to xcancel because id rather support that than pay for Twitter blue or whatever.

Debates pairs HN compares most often

Claude Code
685 recommend · 159 warn · 3 switched to it
“I use Claude Code and Codex daily, and I couldn’t be happier.” submeta
Codex
408 recommend · 86 warn · 43 switched to it
“Switched back to Codex just in time for 5.1 codex max xhigh which I've been using for a week, and it was like a breath of fresh air.” mmaunder
449 comments discuss both
Claude Opus
376 recommend · 117 warn · 5 switched to it
“I find Opus 5.5 writes and expresses itself more clearly and is reliable for anything I throw at it” tern
Claude Fable
175 recommend · 91 warn · 15 switched to it
“it is really good, definitely a step change from Opus 4.8, both for coding and general chat-style discussions.” docstryder
239 comments discuss both
Firefox
209 recommend · 55 warn · 22 switched to it
“I have been using Firefox as my main browser for many years now, and I can count on one hand the number of times where I've been hit by compatibility issues.” MrJohz
Chrome
22 recommend · 50 warn · 7 switched to it
“Save page, speed, battery life, bookmark sync, tab sync, and password sync are all slightly better in Chrome.” xnx
154 comments discuss both
Git
59 recommend · 8 warn
“I consider git the best software ever written.” akabalanza
Jujutsu
56 recommend · 1 warn · 26 switched to it
“I have been using jj for about two years now, and I literally cannot imagine going back to using the git cli.” Zambyte
65 comments discuss both

Top in category

Email and chatAll 47 →
FastmailLoved for Masked email, Reliability64ProtonLoved for Leaving Google, Privacy focus47SignalLoved for Privacy and security, Group chats35ThunderbirdLoved for Mail archiving, Multiple accounts26
Self-hosted and home serverAll 47 →
ForgejoLoved for Easy self-hosting, GitHub-like69ImmichLoved for Google Photos replacement, Reliability50JellyfinLoved for Plex alternative, Daily reliability48GiteaLoved for Easy, lightweight, CI/CD and Actions32
Networking and VPNAll 45 →
TailscaleLoved for Easy setup, Remote dev access97WireGuardLoved for Home remote access, Simple setup29MullvadLoved for Privacy and trust, Anonymous signup23Cloudflare TunnelLoved for No exposed ports, Free to use18
Editors and IDEsAll 45 →
EmacsLoved for Customizability, AI agent workflows129ZedLoved for Agent integration, Speed123Visual Studio CodeLoved for Remote development, AI integration68VimLoved for Bindings everywhere, Terminal workflows61
AI coding toolsAll 75 →
Claude CodeLoved for Daily reliability, Code review685ClaudeLoved for Code quality, Reverse engineering648CodexLoved for Broad automation, Output quality408PiLoved for Extensibility, Lightweight minimalism223

1,346 products recommended by at least 3 HN commenters, in 22,493 comments from Nov 2025 to Oct 2026. Rankings: top · rising.

Keyboard shortcuts
j / kNext / previous item
o or EnterOpen selected item
/Search
g hHome
g tTop
g rRising
g cCategories
tToggle dark mode
?This help