Comparison

HackStream vs Signal for Hacker News

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

Head to head

HackStream

Unofficial HackerNews Client

Free

📡 News

No ratingsView app →

Signal for Hacker News

Search smarter Hacker News

Free

📡 News

No ratingsView app →

About

HackStream

Features

Read full description

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

About

Signal for Hacker News

Features

Read full description

Signal is a faster way to explore Hacker News. Open Top Today, Top Week, or Top Year, then dig into the stories, domains, authors, and discussions behind the headlines. Build reusable saved lenses for the topics you care about: AI this week with 100+ comments, Show HN launches, quiet gems with high points but fewer comments, or comment-first searches that jump back to the parent discussion. Signal is read-only, requires no account, and stores your saved lenses, bookmarks, recent searches, and reading history locally on your device. Search results come from the public HN Search API powered by Algolia, article and discussion links open in Safari, and the app is supported by Google AdMob banner ads.

Screenshots

HackStream4 screens

Signal for Hacker News4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Signal for Hacker News at none against HackStream's 1. HackStream's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 4 months). On price, device support and iOS requirement 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. HackStream sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Signal for Hacker News asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

HackStream ships an update every 3 weeks, Signal for Hacker News every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 19, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 3 level

HackStream versus Signal for Hacker News: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
Parameter	HackStream	Signal for Hacker News
Price	Free	Free
Update frequency	Every 3 weeks — better	Every 4 months
Ads	No — better	Yes
In-app purchases	Yes	No — better
Devices	iPhone	iPhone, iPad — better
Requires iOS	26.0	26.0
Further details — not scored
Size	13 MB	10 MB
Age rating	12+	9+
Developer	FiveSheep OU	Clarved Inc.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

HackStream

One-time1

Notifications$1.99

None

Signal for Hacker News

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is HackStream free?

HackStream is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

Is Signal for Hacker News free?

Signal for Hacker News is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

Do HackStream or Signal for Hacker News have ads?

Signal for Hacker News shows ads; HackStream does not.

Which is updated more often, HackStream or Signal for Hacker News?

HackStream ships an update every 3 weeks, and Signal for Hacker News every 4 months. Most recently, HackStream was updated on October 19, 2026 and Signal for Hacker News on October 20, 2026.