Comparison

HackerWeb vs Hacko for Hacker News

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

HackerWeb

A clean and readable client for Hacker News, designed with iOS guidelines in mind. It offers intuitive navigation for stories and comments, automatic dark mode, and code syntax highlighting.

Highlights
  • Dual Web and Comments tabs
  • Revolutionary comments thread UI
  • Automatic Dark mode
  • Smart indentations and formatting
  • Automatic syntax highlighting for code blocks
  • Upvoting and replying
  • Comment's 'Thread view'
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

HackerWeb is a super-clean Hacker News app built for maximum readability and has a lean set of features to optimize the reading experience. It’s created specifically with iOS design guidelines in mind, so it feels native and blends well with the operating system. It has a simple set of features that are usually invisible: - Dual Web and Comments tabs for easy switching between the story’s web page and the list of comments - Revolutionary comments thread UI for easy navigation, with smart collapsing to prevent being overwhelmed by too many comments - Automatic Dark mode, respecting the system’s appearance settings. - Smart indentations and formatting for comments, complementing the existing limited formatting from Hacker News. - Automatic syntax highlighting for code blocks in comments, with best-effort programming language detection. - Allow interactions like upvoting and replying, which opens up web view with login information and sessions stored in itself, instead of the app. - Comment’s “Thread view” to list all parent comments of a comment, on a flat list, for easy reading instead of manually drilling down the nested comments. - “Share as Image” for comments, which allows sharing of a specific comment, optionally including the parent comments and/or story, as an image. HackerWeb is an unofficial Hacker News client, built with React Native and Expo. This is a passion side project for learning and experimenting ideas. Since 2012. Open-sourced: https://github.com/cheeaun/hackerweb-native-2

About

Hacko for Hacker News

This client offers a unique way to navigate Hacker News discussions, keeping comments readable at any depth. Enjoy smooth navigation, custom boards, search, and a reading list for an enhanced experience.

Highlights
  • Alternative comment tree display
  • Maintains comment readability
  • Swipe navigation
  • Custom boards
  • Search functionality
  • Reading list
Read full description

It's a Hacker News client that uses an alternative way of displaying the comment tree. Advantages over traditional interfaces: - Comment width doesn't get narrower no matter how deep in the tree you are - You always see the parent of the comment you're currently reading - Swiping allows you to move in and out of subtrees with animated transitions that you fully control - You can easily skip subtrees that don't interest you by simply scrolling As a result it's easier to maintain the context and to keep track of where you are in the Hacker News discussion tree. There are also: custom boards, search, in-thread search, anchors, reading list, recent items. Enjoy your Hacker News reading experience! Developer is not affiliated with Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com/) in any way.

Screenshots

HackerWeb2 screens
Hacko for Hacker News4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Hacko for Hacker News at Free against HackerWeb's $2.99. Hacko for Hacker News also leads on update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 months) and ratings volume (31 vs 10). HackerWeb's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and rating (5.0 vs 4.6). On ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Hacko for Hacker News is free to download; HackerWeb costs $2.99 up front. Hacko for Hacker News sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. HackerWeb asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

HackerWeb holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 10 and 31 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 86% of HackerWeb's written reviews are positive against 67% of Hacko for Hacker News's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HackerWeb ships an update every 5 months, Hacko for Hacker News fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard9 real differences · 2 level
HackerWeb versus Hacko for Hacker News: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHackerWebHacko for Hacker News
Price$2.99Free — better
Rating5.0 (10 ratings) — better4.6 (31 ratings)
Positive reviews85.7% of reviews — better66.7% of reviews
Number of ratings1031 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsFortnightly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#36 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size29 MB10 MB
Age rating17+17+
DeveloperChee Aun LimAndrii Sievrikov

Customer experience

HackerWeb

All ratings10 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews7 reviews
Positive85.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative14.3%

Hacko for Hacker News

All ratings31 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.5%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive66.7%
Neutral0.0%
Negative33.3%

In-app purchases

None

HackerWeb

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Hacko for Hacker News

One-time5
  • Tip - Regular Tip$0.99
  • Tip - Big Tip$3.99
  • Premium$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Tip - Large Tip$6.99
  • Tip - Huge Tip$9.99

Questions

Is HackerWeb free?
HackerWeb costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Hacko for Hacker News free?
Hacko for Hacker News is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, HackerWeb or Hacko for Hacker News?
HackerWeb is rated higher. HackerWeb averages 5.0 out of 5 from 10 ratings, while Hacko for Hacker News averages 4.6 from 31 ratings.
Do HackerWeb or Hacko for Hacker News have ads?
Neither HackerWeb nor Hacko for Hacker News shows ads.
Which is updated more often, HackerWeb or Hacko for Hacker News?
HackerWeb ships an update every 5 months, and Hacko for Hacker News fortnightly. Most recently, HackerWeb was updated on October 14, 2026 and Hacko for Hacker News on October 16, 2026.

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