Native Reader for Hacker News vs Top Now
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Native Reader for Hacker News
Explore Hacker News with advanced filtering and customizable text sizes. Share articles easily and hide unwanted stories with a swipe. Enjoy an ad-free reading experience with dark mode options.
- Filter stories by Rank, Points, or Comments
- Responsive text sizes
- Share articles to social platforms
- Swipe to hide stories
- Ad-free reading
- Dark mode
Read full descriptionHide full description
Experience Hacker News like never before with our new app! Take full advantage of your iOS device to: * Explore the Top 100 Hacker News stories in innovative ways: filter by Rank, Points, or Comments. * Enjoy fully responsive text sizes that cater to your reading comfort. * Share the articles that resonate with you across all your favorite social platforms. * Quickly hide stories from your feed with a simple swipe to the left! * Immerse yourself in ad-free reading with built-in reader mode. * Switch to dark mode for comfortable reading day or night.
Top Now
Read full descriptionHide full description
Top Now is the app you want when browsing YC's Hacker News via Safari is not enough, Top Now offers a familiar and enhanced navigation of the Hacker News web experience: - Every article opens in a temporary browsing session. - Delivers optional push notifications on every new top #1 article on the home page. - HN discussions are available right after you finish reading articles. Everything else works as expected, including your regular user sign-in, upvotes, flagging, comments and other sections of the Hacker News web experience.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is update cadence: Native Reader for Hacker News at every 2 days against Top Now's fortnightly. Top Now's advantage is iOS requirement (13.1 vs 16.4). 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Native Reader for Hacker News ships an update every 2 days, Top Now fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Native Reader for Hacker News | Top Now |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (5 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 20.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 5 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 13.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 2 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Cristian Monterroza | FIREBASE S A S |
In-app purchases
Native Reader for Hacker News
No in-app purchases
Top Now
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Native Reader for Hacker News free?
Is Top Now free?
Do Native Reader for Hacker News or Top Now have ads?
Which is updated more often, Native Reader for Hacker News or Top Now?
Other comparisons
