Native Reader for Hacker News vs Hacko for Hacker News
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
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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.
Hacko for Hacker News
This client offers a unique way to navigate Hacker News discussions, keeping comments readable at any depth. Enjoy smooth navigation, custom boards, search, and a reading list for an enhanced experience.
- Alternative comment tree display
- Maintains comment readability
- Swipe navigation
- Custom boards
- Search functionality
- Reading list
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It's a Hacker News client that uses an alternative way of displaying the comment tree. Advantages over traditional interfaces: - Comment width doesn't get narrower no matter how deep in the tree you are - You always see the parent of the comment you're currently reading - Swiping allows you to move in and out of subtrees with animated transitions that you fully control - You can easily skip subtrees that don't interest you by simply scrolling As a result it's easier to maintain the context and to keep track of where you are in the Hacker News discussion tree. There are also: custom boards, search, in-thread search, anchors, reading list, recent items. Enjoy your Hacker News reading experience! Developer is not affiliated with Hacker News (https://news.ycombinator.com/) in any way.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Hacko for Hacker News at 67% against Native Reader for Hacker News's 20%. Hacko for Hacker News also leads on rating (4.6 vs 4.2) and ratings volume (31 vs 5). Native Reader for Hacker News's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and update cadence (every 2 days vs fortnightly). On price, ads, 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
Both are free to download. Hacko for Hacker News sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Native Reader for Hacker News asks for nothing beyond the download.
Hacko for Hacker News holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hacko for Hacker News has 31 ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 20% of Native Reader for Hacker News's written reviews are positive against 67% of Hacko for Hacker News's.
Native Reader for Hacker News ships an update every 2 days, Hacko for Hacker News fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Native Reader for Hacker News | Hacko for Hacker News |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (5 ratings) | 4.6 (31 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 20.0% of reviews | 66.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 5 | 31 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 days — better | Fortnightly |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 16.4 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 5 MB | 10 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Cristian Monterroza | Andrii Sievrikov |
Customer experience
Native Reader for Hacker News
Hacko for Hacker News
In-app purchases
Native Reader for Hacker News
No in-app purchases
Hacko for Hacker News
- Tip - Regular Tip$0.99
- Tip - Big Tip$3.99
- Premium$5.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Tip - Large Tip$6.99
- Tip - Huge Tip$9.99
Questions
Is Native Reader for Hacker News free?
Is Hacko for Hacker News free?
Which has better reviews, Native Reader for Hacker News or Hacko for Hacker News?
Do Native Reader for Hacker News or Hacko for Hacker News have ads?
Which is updated more often, Native Reader for Hacker News or Hacko for Hacker News?
Other comparisons
