Comparison

Hacker Reader vs HackNe

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

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • 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
Features
Read full description

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.

About

HackNe

Features
Read full description

HackNe for Hacker News is a native iPhone app built for reading Hacker News in a clean, fast, and simple way. Browse the feeds you actually care about: - Top - New - Best - Ask - Show - Jobs Open articles directly inside the app, then jump into the discussion with one tap. Read nested comment threads, check user profiles, and follow the conversation without losing your place. HackNe is designed for people who want a straightforward Hacker News experience that feels at home on iPhone. No clutter, no unnecessary complexity, just stories, comments, and links that matter.

Screenshots

Hacker Reader4 screens
HackNe3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: HackNe at every 5 days against Hacker Reader's every 2 months. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hacker Reader ships an update every 2 months, HackNe every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 9, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 9 level
Hacker Reader versus HackNe: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHacker ReaderHackNe
PriceFreeFree
Rating1.0 (1 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings1 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.4 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size65 MB1 MB
Age rating+94+
DeveloperDaniel Capistrano Sarinho PaivaTansu Asici

In-app purchases

None

Hacker Reader

No in-app purchases

None

HackNe

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Hacker Reader free?
Hacker Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is HackNe free?
HackNe is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Hacker Reader or HackNe have ads?
Neither Hacker Reader nor HackNe shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hacker Reader or HackNe?
Hacker Reader ships an update every 2 months, and HackNe every 5 days. Most recently, Hacker Reader was updated on October 9, 2026 and HackNe on October 2, 2026.

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