The best Hacker News alternatives in 2026
Hacker News alternatives: DEVAE for a developer community with profiles and rooms, Lobsters, Reddit, daily.dev, Indie Hackers and Product Hunt, compared by what each does well.
Hacker News is a high-signal link aggregator with a famously tough comment section and no real profiles, communities or collaboration. If you like the news but want a friendlier or more structured community, or a place where "Show HN" turns into people helping you build, these alternatives cover those needs.
DEVAE is first because it is a community rather than a comment section: real profiles, groups, live rooms and a feed of what people are shipping. Lobsters and Reddit are the closest discussion replacements; daily.dev is the reading replacement.
Last reviewed 17 September 2026. We build DEVAE and list it first; the rest are described from their public documentation.
Why people look for a Hacker News alternative
- You want a community with profiles and people, not anonymous comments.
- You want to show your work and get help building it, not only launch it once.
- You are a beginner and HN is not welcoming.
- You want curated news without the pile-ons.
6 Hacker News alternatives, ranked
DEVAE
Best for: Building with other developers: live rooms, terminal sharing, co-founder matching
Pros: Stack-tuned feed of original posts, live rooms with voice + screen + terminal share, CLI, matchmaking, snippets, hackathons, desktop and Android apps.
Cons: Open beta with a young community; not a place to host a long-form blog.
Lemmy (programming.dev)
Best for: Federated, Reddit-style programming communities
Pros: Open source, federated, community-run.
Cons: Smaller communities; forum only.
Reddit (r/programming, r/webdev)
Best for: Broad discussion and opinions
Pros: Enormous subreddits for every stack, well indexed by search and cited by AI answers.
Cons: Anonymous, noisy, no profiles of work, no collaboration tools.
daily.dev
Best for: Reading curated developer news
Pros: Excellent personalised aggregation, new-tab extension, Squads.
Cons: Aggregated links rather than original posts; no collaboration tools.
Indie Hackers
Best for: Founder stories and revenue transparency
Pros: Founder interviews, milestones, groups.
Cons: Business-first; little code-level collaboration.
Product Hunt
Best for: Launching a product to early adopters
Pros: Launch-day attention, makers community.
Cons: One-day spike; not a place to collaborate or learn.
At a glance
| Tool | Best for | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| DEVAE | Building with other developers: live rooms, terminal sharing, co-founder matching | Free for individuals (open beta) |
| Lemmy (programming.dev) | Federated, Reddit-style programming communities | Free |
| Reddit (r/programming, r/webdev) | Broad discussion and opinions | Free |
| daily.dev | Reading curated developer news | Free (Plus optional) |
| Indie Hackers | Founder stories and revenue transparency | Free |
| Product Hunt | Launching a product to early adopters | Free |
DEVAE is free for individuals in open beta. Bring your stack, post what you're building, open a room.
Sign up freeFrequently asked questions
DEVAE for a community, Indie Hackers for founders. Both attach a real person to every post.
r/learnprogramming on Reddit and the beginner-friendly communities on DEVAE (see /for/beginners).
Yes, and you should. Then post the same project on DEVAE and open a room for people who want to help.
No. The feed is original posts by developers, not links to articles. daily.dev is the aggregator on this list.
