Kite vs Z Combinator for Hacker News
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Kite
A specialized web browser designed for individuals passionate about news. It offers a curated browsing experience focused on delivering news content efficiently.
- News-focused browsing
- Curated content experience
- Efficient news delivery
- Ad-free browsing
Read full descriptionHide full description
Kite is a boutique web browser for news lovers.
Z Combinator for Hacker News
An open-source client for browsing Hacker News. It offers a straightforward way to access news and discussions from the popular tech community.
- Hacker News client
- Open source
- News aggregation
- Discussion access
Read full descriptionHide full description
Just another open source Hacker News client.
Screenshots
Verdict
Kite and Z Combinator for Hacker News both sit at 5.0 stars, but that hides the real split: 100% of Z Combinator for Hacker News's written reviews are positive against 53% of Kite's. Z Combinator for Hacker News also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months). Kite's advantage is iOS requirement (14.1 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 5.0 for Kite against 5.0 for Z Combinator for Hacker News. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 2 and 2 respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 53% of Kite's written reviews are positive against 100% of Z Combinator for Hacker News's.
Kite ships an update every 2 months, Z Combinator for Hacker News every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on August 28, 2026 and September 9, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Kite | Z Combinator for Hacker News |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 52.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 14.1 — better | 17.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | +17 |
| Developer | Kite Inc. | Jiaqi Feng |
Customer experience
Kite
Z Combinator for Hacker News
In-app purchases
Kite
No in-app purchases
Z Combinator for Hacker News
No in-app purchases
