Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Hacker News VS LWN.net

Compare Hacker News VS LWN.net and see what are their differences

Hacker News logo Hacker News

Hacker News is a social news website focusing on computer science and entrepreneurship. It is run by Paul Graham's investment fund and startup incubator, Y Combinator.

LWN.net logo LWN.net

LWN.net aims to be the premier news and information source for the free software community.
  • Hacker News Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-23
  • LWN.net Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-11-18

Hacker News features and specs

  • Quality Content
    Hacker News focuses on high-quality, tech-centric content which is often insightful and valuable for those in the tech industry.
  • Community
    The community consists largely of professionals and enthusiasts in tech, providing a knowledgeable and skilled user base for discussions.
  • Upvote System
    The upvote system helps in promoting the most relevant and useful posts, ensuring users see content that is often vetted by the community.
  • Minimalist Design
    The simple, text-based design minimizes distractions and focuses on content and discussions without unnecessary clutter.
  • Diverse Topics
    While mainly focused on technology, Hacker News also covers a variety of subjects including entrepreneurship, science, and more.

Possible disadvantages of Hacker News

  • Echo Chamber Effect
    Given its focused and like-minded community, there is a risk of homogeneous opinions and lack of diverse viewpoints.
  • Moderation Issues
    The manual moderation can sometimes be inconsistent, leading to frustrations around which posts or comments get removed or promoted.
  • Signal-to-Noise Ratio
    Despite the upvote system, some low-quality or irrelevant content can still surface, diluting the overall information quality.
  • Niche Audience
    Its strong focus on tech topics can alienate those who are not as tech-savvy or interested, limiting broader appeal.
  • Limited Features
    The platform offers very basic functionality compared to other modern forums, which might deter users who prefer more advanced features.

LWN.net features and specs

  • Comprehensive Coverage
    LWN.net provides in-depth coverage of Linux and open-source developments, offering detailed analysis and insights that are valuable to developers and IT professionals.
  • Expert Contributors
    The site is maintained by knowledgeable contributors with expertise in Linux and open-source software, ensuring high-quality, reliable information.
  • Community Engagement
    LWN.net fosters an active community of readers and contributors, allowing for engagement and discussion around the latest news and developments.
  • Historical Archives
    LWN.net offers a well-maintained archive of past articles, enabling users to research historical changes and trends in the Linux and open-source arenas.

Possible disadvantages of LWN.net

  • Subscription Model
    Some of the content on LWN.net is behind a paywall, requiring a subscription for full access, which may limit access for casual readers or those unwilling to pay.
  • Niche Focus
    The focus on Linux and open-source news may not appeal to users more interested in broader technology trends or different operating systems.
  • Interface Design
    The website design and user interface might feel outdated compared to more modern news platforms, potentially affecting user experience.

Analysis of Hacker News

Overall verdict

  • Good

Why this product is good

  • Hacker News is a popular platform for tech enthusiasts and professionals to discuss and share information on a wide variety of topics, mainly related to technology, startups, and computer science. It's known for its intelligent community and high-quality discussions, which can provide valuable insights and knowledge.

Recommended for

  • Tech enthusiasts
  • Startup founders
  • Developers
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Investors
  • Anyone interested in technology and innovation

Hacker News videos

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LWN.net videos

The Kernel Report - Jonathan Corbet, LWN.net

More videos:

  • Review - The Kernel Report - Jonathan Corbet, LWN.net
  • Review - The Kernel Report - Jonathan Corbet, LWN.net

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Hacker News and LWN.net)
Social Networks
95 95%
5% 5
Social News
100 100%
0% 0
Code Collaboration
0 0%
100% 100
Crowdfunding
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Hacker News and LWN.net

Hacker News Reviews

Best Forums for Developers to Join in 2025
Hacker News is a great place to learn how to code. You'll find many interesting articles about new projects in the open-source community. You can also see what's happening with your favorite programming language or framework daily.
Source: www.notchup.com
Make sure to list your SaaS on these marketplaces to get users
I would highly recommend if you have a SaaS, try to list it here as news this will surely get a good amount of traffic to your SaaS. Hacker News is simple and is maintained by Ycombinator which is a gold mine for startups to get started.
Source: medium.com
15 Best Reddit Alternatives in 2024: Find Your New Online Community
Hacker News, run by Y Combinator, is a popular platform for technology enthusiasts and entrepreneurs.
Great Products for Finding Startupย Jobs
Hacker Newsโ€”Not a job board, per se, but the HN Whoโ€™s Hiring post at the start of every month has dozens of engineering-focused job posts. HN also regularly pushes select YC jobs to the front page.
Source: medium.com
18 Best Sites for Finding a Startup Job
Hacker News has a job board that lists jobs exclusively at various startups. Obviously, as Hackers News is associated with Y Combinator, most of the listed startup jobs are at companies that have gone through the acceleratorโ€™s program.
Source: tech.co

LWN.net Reviews

We have no reviews of LWN.net yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Hacker News seems to be a lot more popular than LWN.net. While we know about 670 links to Hacker News, we've tracked only 45 mentions of LWN.net. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Hacker News mentions (670)

  • Unprecedented role of Amazon fires in the record atmospheric COโ‚‚ growth in 2024
    > Something to keep in mind in the comments is this is a repeated Hacker News news pattern for losers and simps. Fake 'scientists' find a new way to measure CO2, there are millions of ways directly and indirectly, so this is a citation/news machine. The fake 'scientists' never offer solutions, that would require science, something universities can no longer do. Hacker News users repeat how they are helpless and... - Source: Hacker News / 7 days ago
  • Show HN: Claude Web Scraper
    Anthropic announced their new web fetch tool[0] last Friday, so I built a little tool to test its web scraping capabilities. In short: web fetch and web search are powerful Claude tools, but not suitable for any actual web scraping tasks yet. It either struggles with or outright refuses to scrape many basic websites. As an example, here is the result for - Source: Hacker News / 17 days ago
  • Level Up Your Python: From Space Explorer to Project Master & Concurrency Alchemist
    Import requests Import threading From bs4 import BeautifulSoup Import time # Guild Master's "Supply List" (needs to be installed in a virtual environment using pip install requests beautifulsoup4) # Alchemist's "Time Splitting" technique Def fetch_news(site_name, url): """A "ghost assistant's" task: get the title from a single website""" try: print(f"Assistant-{site_name}: Starting to retrieve... - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • No Clicks, No Content: The Unsustainable Future of AI Search
    The first thing when I open my browser is lookup at https://news.ycombinator.com/ :). - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Junior dev roles are rigged; the entry-level jobs (secretly) want seniors, and listings are impossible
    Hacker News more cynical, but good for spotting industry trends. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
View more

LWN.net mentions (45)

  • The fake GitHub economy no one talks about: Stars, Followers, and $5k Accounts.
    Communities like LWN and threads on Hacker News have already dissected how the XZ exploit slipped past so many eyes. One lesson stands out: credibility is a currency in open source. And just like any currency, once you can buy it, you can counterfeit it. - Source: dev.to / 19 days ago
  • Why SSL was renamed to TLS in late 90s (2014)
    > This was written in 1996. The language used feels already much different from today's publications. God I feel old. That depends on which publications you're looking at, just as it did in 1996. An article from LWN [1] today, for example, reads in a fairly similar style. Maybe slightly less stuffy, because it's targeted at a slightly more general audience. [1] https://lwn.net/. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Ask HN: Did Jack Dorsey cancel FOSDEM 202?
    There is an https://lwn.net article on the background. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Bus Number โ€“ The GitHub plugin my coworkers asked me not to write
    The Nebraska problem really is terrifying, I wonder how to get it in front of the eyes of CEOs and the like. PS: I suggested to LWN https://lwn.net/ that they might want to contact you about the Linux numbers. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • The journey of an internet packet: Exploring networks with traceroute
    So you think you understand IP fragmentation? (https://lwn.net) similar stories. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Hacker News and LWN.net, you can also consider the following products

License-Token.com - Monetize your source code while still keeping it open.

explainshell - Match command-line arguments to their help.

Reddit - Reddit gives you the best of the internet in one place. Get a constantly updating feed of breaking news, fun stories, pics, memes, and videos just for you.

TechCrunch - TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of...

Lobsters - Lobsters is a technology-focused link-aggregation site.

Stratechery - New layout, same great words about big tech