Nebula
Subscription video streaming service from independent educational creators and video essayists.
HN commenters like Nebula for ad-free viewing without in-video sponsor segments1, for early access and exclusive shows from creators they already watch on YouTube23, and for escaping the YouTube algorithm.4 The most common caveat is that some subscribers never get in the habit of opening it56, and one notes that HD quality costs more.7
Why people recommend it
Creator catalog · 2
Carries many YouTube creators commenters already watch and helps them discover new ones.
“If you already watch a lot of Youtube channels that are on Nebula, I'd highly recommend it.”
Exclusives, early access · 2
Offers exclusive series and early releases, such as early versions of Jet Lag: The Game.
“If you already watch a lot of Youtube channels that are on Nebula, I'd highly recommend it.”
No ads · 1
Ad-free viewing with no in-video sponsor segments, at a lower price than YouTube Premium.
“If you already watch a lot of Youtube channels that are on Nebula, I'd highly recommend it.”
Escaping the algorithm · 1
Lets viewers watch without worrying about YouTube-style recommendation feeds.
Independent platform · 1
Some subscribe to support independent platforms.
“I have a subscription because I want to support more independent platforms.”
TV app · 1
Has a decent TV app, at least on Roku.
“If you already watch a lot of Youtube channels that are on Nebula, I'd highly recommend it.”
Caveats and dissent
Habit formation · 2
Some subscribers rarely open it and keep defaulting to YouTube.
“In the end I never got in the habit of opening Nebula to watch the content.”
“I have a subscription because I want to support more independent platforms.”
HD pricing · 1
One commenter found that HD quality costs noticeably more.
“In the end I never got in the habit of opening Nebula to watch the content.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Nebula Sans 3 mentions
- Tailscale SSH: Investigation and remediation update 1 mention
- Tailcat – Like netcat, but over Tailscale’s data plane 1 mention
- PeerTube is a free, decentralized and federated video platform 1 mention
- I traced my traffic through a home Tailscale exit node 1 mention
- Ask HN: Who is using Nebula (mesh VPN)? 1 mention
Data: nebula.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 8
“I used Nebula extensively. I really liked it.”
“Nebula, another Go peer-to-peer project encourages peers to run their own rendezvous server ("lighthouse")”
“If you already watch a lot of Youtube channels that are on Nebula, I'd highly recommend it.”
“In the end I never got in the habit of opening Nebula to watch the content.”
“Really highly recommended.”
“I have a subscription because I want to support more independent platforms.”
“I've been using it for years and it has been flawless.”
“I still like the project a lot and wish it would be more prominent.”