HackerReads vs Hacker Reader
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
HackerReads
This app delivers curated tech and hacking news with AI-powered summaries. It offers a clean, distraction-free reading experience for developers and tech enthusiasts, ensuring you stay updated on important stories without the clutter.
- AI-powered summaries
- Curated top tech stories
- Clean, minimal design
- Smart story tracking
- Dark mode support
- Lightweight and fast
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HackerReads surfaces the most important stories in tech, hacking, and software — without the noise. Built for developers, security enthusiasts, and curious minds, HackerReads delivers a focused, no-frills reading experience — now enhanced with AI-powered summaries. Key Features: AI Summaries Quickly understand each story with concise AI-generated summaries. No need to visit external sites. Curated Top Stories Only the most relevant and widely discussed stories are included, ensuring signal over noise. Clean, Minimal Design A distraction-free interface built for fast scanning and in-depth reading. Smart Story Tracking Automatically checks for new top stories, so you stay updated effortlessly. Dark Mode Support Comfortable reading experience whether you're coding during the day or burning the midnight oil. Lightweight and Fast No ads, no clutter. Just performance and simplicity. Whether you're deep in code or on a short break, HackerReads makes it easy to stay up to date with what matters in the hacker and tech world.
Hacker Reader
A native iOS client for Hacker News offering a streamlined reading experience with home screen widgets, community interaction, and a beautiful, dark-mode-friendly design. Securely log in to upvote, comment, and bookmark stories.
- Browse all story categories
- Upvote stories and comments
- Secure login with HN account
- Post comments and replies
- Bookmark stories
- Home screen widgets
- Dark mode support
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Hacker Reader is a calm, native Hacker News client. Clean white cards in Light Mode, warm charcoal in Dark Mode, serif story pages, comment threads that are easy to follow, and widgets that keep the top stories on your Home Screen and Lock Screen. On iPad, the list and the story sit side by side. BROWSE THE STORY FEEDS • Top Stories - what's ranking on HN right now • Best Stories - the highest-voted stories • New Stories - recently submitted content • Ask HN - questions and discussions from the community • Show HN - projects, products and creations shared by users • Jobs - openings at YC companies • Past front pages - any day's front page, from the feed menu • Switch feeds from the menu in the header, with infinite scrolling and pull to refresh • Numbered cards show the site's icon and domain, points, comments, author and age, plus a thumbnail when the page has one • Stories you have opened are dimmed, and a badge shows how many new comments arrived since • Long-press a card to peek at the story, upvote, bookmark, share, hide it, or mute its site READ AND FOLLOW THE CONVERSATION • Story pages open with a serif headline, a large link preview and the byline • Ask HN and Show HN posts are labeled, with their full text • Articles open in an in-app browser • Nested comments with quiet orange depth rails • Tap a comment's header to collapse its thread and see how many replies are hidden • Jump between top-level comments, or collapse every thread • Comments newer than your last visit are marked • Choose a text size in Settings • The original poster is marked OP INTERACT WITH THE COMMUNITY Sign in with your Hacker News account to: • Upvote stories with a tap on the points, or from the long-press menu • Post comments and replies • Delete your recent comments • Submit a story from your profile • Flag stories (HN karma rules apply) No account is needed to browse, bookmark stories for later, hide stories, mute keywords and sites, or block users you'd rather not see. PROFILES AND SEARCH • Tap a username in a thread or on a story page to see their karma, member-since date, bio and recent stories and comments • Tap a comment in someone's submissions to jump to it in the thread • Once you sign in, the Profile tab shows your own karma and submissions • Search stories or comments, by relevance or newest, with a date range, a minimum score, and author:name HOME SCREEN AND LOCK SCREEN WIDGETS • Small shows the top story, Medium the top 2, Large the top 7 • A Lock Screen widget with the top 3 headlines • Points, comments and age at a glance on the Home Screen • Widgets refresh on their own when stories go stale, even with the app closed • Light, dark and tinted Home Screens are supported • Tap a story to open it in the app A WARM, NATIVE DESIGN • Clean white cards in Light Mode, warm charcoal in Dark Mode, never pure black • Follows your system, or pick Light or Dark in Settings • Solid reading surfaces with orange accents that match the app icon • On iPad and other wide windows, a fixed list beside the open story, and lines that stay a comfortable width • Native iOS tabs, menus and toolbars, SF Symbols and subtle haptics • Link previews with Open Graph images PRIVACY & SECURITY • Sign in with a native form: your password goes straight to Hacker News over HTTPS and is never stored in the app • Your session is kept in the iOS Keychain • Bookmarks, hidden stories, blocked users, mutes and reading history are stored on your device • Open source - read the code on GitHub Hacker Reader is designed and built by an indie developer who loves Hacker News and wanted a calmer way to read it. It's built with React Native, Expo and SwiftUI. Questions or feedback? Open an issue on GitHub, find me on X at @danielcspaiva, or reach out via the support URL. Not affiliated with Y Combinator or Hacker News. Built using the official HN API (https://github.com/HackerNews/API) and Algolia's HN Search API.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: HackerReads at 5.0 against Hacker Reader's 1.0. HackerReads also leads on update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months) and ratings volume (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
HackerReads holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 1.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 3 and 1 respectively.
HackerReads ships an update every 5 days, Hacker Reader every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and October 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | HackerReads | Hacker Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (3 ratings) — better | 1.0 (1 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | — | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 3 — better | 1 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 days — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.6 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 20 MB | 65 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | +9 |
| Developer | Mahesh Adhikari | Daniel Capistrano Sarinho Paiva |
Customer experience
HackerReads
Hacker Reader
In-app purchases
HackerReads
No in-app purchases
Hacker Reader
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is HackerReads free?
Is Hacker Reader free?
Which has better reviews, HackerReads or Hacker Reader?
Do HackerReads or Hacker Reader have ads?
Which is updated more often, HackerReads or Hacker Reader?
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