Comparison

Octal for Hacker News vs HackerNoon

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

Head to head
About

Octal for Hacker News

Access breaking tech news and engage in discussions with a beautifully designed, fast, and user-friendly feed. Vote on stories, submit posts, comment, and manage favorites without ads or subscriptions.

Highlights
  • Vote on stories and comments
  • Submit new posts
  • Engage in threaded discussions
  • Search Hacker News stories
  • Manage favorites
  • Customizable news feed filters
  • Dark Mode support
Features
Read full description

Octal is your go-to news feed for breaking tech news, putting the biggest stories of the day with engaging discussion right in the palm of your hand. Beautifully designed for both iPhone and iPad, Octal focuses on what you care most about: native design, speed, and usability. It's the modern, full-featured Hacker News app you've been looking for. You'll find an unparalleled, community-powered source of stories about anything ranging from self-driving cars to the latest Apple gadgets. Octal has all the features you need, including the ability to vote on stories, submit posts, add comments, and manage favorites. Best of all, it's free of all that annoying stuff, like ads, subscriptions, and tracking. If you want to keep up to date with the latest popular and trending tech headlines, Octal is made for you. • NEWS FOR NERDS: Read and share the most important stories in the tech world, submitted and voted on by Hacker News users. Stories are constantly changing, and often focus on areas like programming, startups, technology industry and companies (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, etc.), and key technology categories such as mobile, computers, internet, design, coding, and security. • ENGAGE AND VOTE: Vote on stories and comments you like and dislike, and report stories with objectionable content. Found something you need to read later? Add it to your favorites! • DISCUSS THE NEWS: Read and engage with stories by viewing their discussions with a fast, fully-threaded, collapsible, buttery smooth comments experience. Add your own comments. If you're a fast reader, you can instantly jump to the next top-level comment thread with a single tap. • SUBMIT LINKS: Got a cool story or news link to share to Hacker News? Submit new posts directly in the app. You can also share links directly to Octal to quickly submit them. • SEARCH STORIES: Search Hacker News stories and sort search results by relevance or date. • JOIN THE COMMUNITY: Log in to Hacker News to easily track your karma, activity and favorites. Browse user profiles, including their karma, about, activity, and favorites. • THEMEABLE: Total Dark Mode support. Turn on 'True Black' to use a pure RGB #000 background color - perfect for devices with OLED displays. • CUSTOMIZE YOUR NEWS FEED: Tap or swipe between story feeds such as 'Top Stories', 'Threads', 'Ask HN', 'Show HN', 'Best Stories', 'New Stories', and 'Jobs'. • ACCESSIBLE: Increase or decrease the text size to one that's comfortable for you, or enable 'Dynamic Type' to use the system's 'Larger Text' font size. And VoiceOver is fully supported! • DEEP LINK SUPPORT: You can open Hacker News links in Octal by sharing them to Octal. You can also use apps like 'Opener'. Most Hacker News links starting with 'octal://' are supported! • READY FOR ANY SCREEN: Octal looks great on iPads with an optional 2-pane interface. Say goodbye to wasted screen real estate. • WEB BROWSER SUPPORT: Open links in your web browser of choice. • AD-FREE, PRIVACY AWARE: No ads, no subscriptions, and no tracking. ABOUT OCTAL PREMIUM: To unlock advanced features, including the ability to submit posts, add comments, manage favorites, switch themes, change app icons, use custom gestures, and more, you can buy Octal Premium via an In-App Purchase. Octal Premium is a one-time payment and there is no subscription. Purchases support the development of Octal, which is developed solely by me! ABOUT 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. In general, its content can be submitted is defined as "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity". You can think of Hacker News as reddit for tech. It's the go-to news aggregator for tech. SUPPORT: Found a bug or have a feature request? Create an Issue on Github, or e-mail me: https://github.com/dangwu/Octal/issues

About

HackerNoon

Access a vast library of technology articles, tutorials, and perspectives on programming, startups, AI, and blockchain. Listen to stories on the go, create personalized playlists, and engage with a vibrant tech community. Discover recommendations tailored to your interests and build your profile.

Highlights
  • Audio player for stories
  • Cross-device access
  • Original and user-generated content
  • Personalized playlists
  • Community engagement and discussions
  • Personalized recommendations
  • User profiles
Features
Read full description

Explore a world of technology stories worth reading on the HackerNoon app. Dive into insightful articles, tutorials, and perspectives on programming, startups, AI, blockchain, and more. Stay informed about the latest tech trends and become part of a vibrant community of tech enthusiasts. Expand your knowledge with our key features designed for an engaging experience: - Listen on the Go with Our Audio Player: Can't find time to read? No problem! Our app can read stories aloud to help you stay informed while on the move. - Read Everywhere: Whether you're on your smartphone, tablet, or desktop, you can access HackerNoon and explore a wealth of captivating articles wherever you go. - Original Content All Around: Immerse yourself in a vast library of original stories and user-generated content, covering the latest tech trends, coding insights, and startup stories. - Create and Manage Playlists: Discover a story that resonates with you? Save it to your personalized playlist for easy access later. Bookmark and save your favorite stories, ensuring you never miss out on the content that matters most to you. - Newsletter Discovery: Fell in love with one of our contributors? Subscribe to them in-app and support their work while staying up to date with their publications. - Engage with a vibrant community: Share thoughts, join discussions, and shape the future of tech together. Be part of the conversation that matters by commenting and reacting to stories that pique your interest. - Discover Personalized Recommendations: Our app learns your preferences and provides personalized article recommendations tailored to your interests. Explore a curated selection of stories that match your tech passions. - Build Your Profile: Share your interests, skills, and expertise with the community, and connect with like-minded individuals in the tech and startup space. - Effortless Search: Explore any topic, any time. Our app's search feature makes finding what you're after easy, ensuring a smooth browsing experience. - Engage with our Polls: Join our weekly polls, and have a blast! Share opinions, gain insights, and contribute to the collective knowledge of the HackerNoon community. - Stay connected and informed with our notification feature: Receive timely updates and alerts for new stories, ensuring you're always in sync with the latest tech trends and insights. - Share and Connect: Easily send the articles you love to friends and colleagues using our diverse social sharing options. Foster collaboration, connect with like-minded individuals and propagate knowledge within your network. Download the HackerNoon app and embark on a journey of tech discovery, innovation, and thought-provoking insights. Stay informed, engaged, and connected with the HackerNoon community in one place.

Screenshots

Octal for Hacker News4 screens
HackerNoon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: HackerNoon at none against Octal for Hacker News's 4. HackerNoon also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). Octal for Hacker News's advantage is ratings volume (2.9K vs 20) and update cadence (every 11 days vs every 2 months). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads 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

Both are free to download. Octal for Hacker News sells 4 one-off in-app purchases. HackerNoon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Octal for Hacker News against 4.7 for HackerNoon. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Octal for Hacker News has 2.9K ratings behind it against 20, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 74% of Octal for Hacker News's written reviews are positive against 73% of HackerNoon's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Octal for Hacker News ships an update every 11 days, HackerNoon every 2 months. Both last shipped on November 4, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Octal for Hacker News versus HackerNoon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOctal for Hacker NewsHackerNoon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (2.9K ratings) — better4.7 (20 ratings)
Positive reviews74.0% of reviews — better72.7% of reviews
Number of ratings2.9K — better20
Update frequencyEvery 11 days — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB24 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperDaniel WuArt Map Inc

Customer experience

Octal for Hacker News

All ratings2,852 ratings
Positive95.7%
Neutral1.5%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews173 reviews
Positive74.0%
Neutral6.9%
Negative19.1%

HackerNoon

All ratings21 ratings
Positive95.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews11 reviews
Positive72.7%
Neutral9.1%
Negative18.2%

Bugs and requests

Octal for Hacker News

Reported bugs

8 issues
  • Login and likes broken on iOS 16.0
  • Restore purchase not working
  • App icon doesn't change
  • Editing a comment works but gives an error
  • Can't collapse comments
Show 3 more
  • Upvoting fails very often
  • Refreshing comments doesn't load new comments
  • Messes up Screen time

Requested features

18 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to browse history and upvoted stories
  • Markdown highlighting for comments
  • Ability to select text when tap anywhere to collapse comment is enabled
  • Downvote functionality
Show 13 more
  • Ability to export bookmarks/favorites
  • Swipe to collapse whole comment branch
  • Larger upvote button
  • Ability to see points on own comments
  • Swipe to go back
  • Paginated behavior instead of infinite scrolling
  • Ability to filter by post types (Show HN, Ask HN, etc.)
  • Linking back to upvoted comments
  • Auto night mode
  • Larger font size options
  • Ability to see read news in grey
  • Telegram Night Blue color scheme for dark mode
  • Bookmark/offline support

HackerNoon

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

4 purchases

Octal for Hacker News

One-time4
  • Kind Tip$1.99
  • Generous Tip$4.99
  • Premium$5.99
Show 1 more
  • Extraordinary Tip$9.99
None

HackerNoon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Octal for Hacker News free?
Octal for Hacker News is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HackerNoon free?
HackerNoon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Octal for Hacker News or HackerNoon?
Octal for Hacker News is rated higher. Octal for Hacker News averages 4.8 out of 5 from 2.9K ratings, while HackerNoon averages 4.7 from 20 ratings.
Do Octal for Hacker News or HackerNoon have ads?
Neither Octal for Hacker News nor HackerNoon shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Octal for Hacker News or HackerNoon?
Octal for Hacker News ships an update every 11 days, and HackerNoon every 2 months. Most recently, Octal for Hacker News was updated on November 4, 2026 and HackerNoon on November 4, 2026.

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