Comparison

Hacker News Reader Kuokka vs HackStream

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

Head to head
About

Hacker News Reader Kuokka

Features
Read full description

A Hacker News client for people who read HN every day: keyword alerts, instant on-device summaries, a Who is hiring? job board, offline reading and widgets. Set Radar to watch the keywords, domains and authors you care about, and Kuokka checks Hacker News around the clock so you do not have to. Summarize a long article in a tap. Save what matters and read it with no signal. YOUR HN ACCOUNT, FREE Sign in with your Hacker News account to upvote, comment, reply and submit stories β€” no Premium needed. Get notified when someone replies to you, and collapse any thread with a tap. WHO IS HIRING? The monthly β€œAsk HN: Who is hiring?” threads open as a board of postings you can search and filter by role, remote, technology, salary and visa sponsorship, with a switch back to the raw comments. Free. RADAR WATCHLISTS Monitor keywords, domains, authors and whole sections. - Set up a watchlist in seconds with presets or your own filters - Matched stories land in your Radar feed automatically - Radar digests round up your top matches on a schedule (Free: evening. Premium: morning, lunch and evening) - Share a Radar brief with a colleague β€” each share unlocks 2 bonus summaries INSTANT SUMMARIES Tap any story for the key points. Summaries run on your device: no account, no API key, nothing sent to a server. Free readers get 3 per session, Premium removes the cap. Prefer a language model? Add your own Gemini or Claude key and Kuokka uses it instead. Comment digests, which pull the substance out of a 300-reply thread, are a Premium feature. READER MODE Distraction-free reading with clean typography, adjustable text size, and Light, Dark and Sepia themes. Word count and reading time up front. OFFLINE READING Save stories and read them with no connection β€” commutes, flights, dead zones. (Premium) WIDGETS Home screen and Lock Screen widgets put the top stories where you already look. COMMENT TOOLS Pick up a long thread where you left off, spot unread replies, search inside a discussion, and jump between top-level comments with one tap. FOR YOU Kuokka learns from what you read and surfaces stories to match β€” your topics, your authors, your domains. (Premium) EVERY SECTION Top, New, Best, Ask HN, Show HN and Jobs, with smooth infinite scrolling and advanced search by date, type and points. BOOKMARKS, HISTORY AND STREAKS Save stories for later, see which ones you have already opened, and build a daily reading streak with achievements along the way. 11 LANGUAGES English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Turkish, Indonesian, German, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Italian. PREMIUM A single one-time purchase β€” no subscription, and no ads for anyone, free or paid. It lifts the summary cap, and unlocks full Radar, For You recommendations, offline reading and advanced search. PRIVACY Your reading history stays on your device. Summaries are generated locally unless you supply your own provider key. Anonymous analytics and crash diagnostics help fix what breaks. Whether you are an engineer, a founder, or just here for the comments β€” Kuokka is the Hacker News app worth keeping on your Home Screen.

About

HackStream

Features
Read full description

HackStream is an unofficial Hacker News client designed to streamline your experience.Β  At its core, HackStream has a customizable upvote threshold and you only see stories that meet that level in your feed.Β That way, you can enjoy a clean, focused feed of high-quality posts.Β  ou can bookmark, comment, reply, and upvote directly. Browse new, top, best and more.Β  HackStream keeps you in control of the Hacker News content that matters most to you.

Screenshots

Hacker News Reader Kuokka4 screens
HackStream4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Hacker News Reader Kuokka at 18.0 against HackStream's 26.0. On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Hacker News Reader Kuokka sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and HackStream sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Hacker News Reader Kuokka ships an update fortnightly, HackStream every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 2, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Hacker News Reader Kuokka versus HackStream: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHacker News Reader KuokkaHackStream
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightly β€” betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad β€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.0 β€” better26.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size44 MB13 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperManuel Lorenzo ParejoFiveSheep OU

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Hacker News Reader Kuokka

Subscriptions2
  • AI Pro$3.991 Month
  • AI Pro Annual$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium Lifetime$1.99
1 purchases

HackStream

One-time1
  • Notifications$1.99

Questions

Is Hacker News Reader Kuokka free?
Hacker News Reader Kuokka is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is HackStream free?
HackStream is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Hacker News Reader Kuokka or HackStream have ads?
Neither Hacker News Reader Kuokka nor HackStream shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Hacker News Reader Kuokka or HackStream?
Hacker News Reader Kuokka ships an update fortnightly, and HackStream every 3 weeks. Most recently, Hacker News Reader Kuokka was updated on October 15, 2026 and HackStream on October 2, 2026.

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