Reddit is a massive, entertainment-focused social platform with 430M monthly users across diverse communities, while Hacker News is a niche, tech-centric discussion forum with ~500K daily active users prioritizing substantive discourse over entertainment. Reddit dominates in scale and content variety; Hacker News excels in signal-to-noise ratio for technical professionals.
Reddit vs Hacker News — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Mass social platform with 140K+ user-run communities covering entertainment, news, hobbies, and niche topics.
Curated tech and startup discussion forum with 500K daily active users, focused on substantive content.
Monthly Active Users. Primary Focus. Moderation Model. Content Lifespan. Voting System Transparency. Spam & Low-Quality Content. Monetization Model
Choose Reddit if you want diverse communities, entertainment, and mass-market discussion across thousands of topics with flexible moderation. Choose Hacker News if you're a technical professional seeking high-signal discussion about technology, startups, and science without algorithmic manipulation or advertising.
Monthly Active Users (Entertainment Focus)
Reddit: 430 million monthly active users | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 52 minutes per session | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 60 days average | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 8000+ entertainment-focused subreddits | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 30-60 minutes average | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 2-5x higher intent (baseline 1.0) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Occasional AMAs (Ask Me Anything) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Community-based with subreddit moderators | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Native video, clips, and streaming integration | Hacker News: N/A
Trending Entertainment Topics Visibility
Reddit: 24-72 hours peak visibility | Hacker News: N/A
Entertainment Discussion Threads per Day
Reddit: 500,000+ entertainment discussions daily | Hacker News: N/A
User Demographics (18-34 Entertainment Audience)
Reddit: 58% of users aged 18-34 | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Anonymous usernames allowed | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Premium memberships and minimal ads | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Community-driven moderation by volunteer moderators | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 140,000+ subreddits | Hacker News: 1 unified forum
Reddit: 1-2 days | Hacker News: 3-7 days
Reddit: Pseudonymous (username required, public) | Hacker News: Fully anonymous (no account name visibility)
Reddit: Images, video, GIFs, livestream, text | Hacker News: Text and external links only
Reddit: Decentralized (volunteer mods per subreddit) | Hacker News: Centralized (HN moderators + community flagging)
Reddit: 500,000+ daily posts | Hacker News: 30-50 daily stories
Reddit: 430 million | Hacker News: ~1.5 million (monthly estimate)
Reddit: 140+ thousand subreddits | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 35% of total traffic | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Awards & Premium revenue sharing only | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Optional; primarily anonymous | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Transparent voting algorithm (upvote/downvote visible) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: $5.99/month ($72/year) | Hacker News: N/A
Content Discoverability (Search Engine Rank)
Reddit: High for trending/recent posts; older content deprioritized | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 5 (fully anonymous) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Varies: 2-48 hours depending on subreddit | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 140,000+ subreddits | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: $240 per 1M calls | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Centralized (Reddit corporate) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Proprietary closed-source | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Centralized corporate + volunteer mods | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Official + 5+ third-party apps | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Limited (Reddit Talk: ~100) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: $6.99 (Reddit Premium) | Hacker News: Free
Reddit: 140,000 active subreddits | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 4.2 stars (2.5M reviews) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 1000 MB (1 GB) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 3.8% of social media usage | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Good (minimal data collection, privacy-focused) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Low (community voting drives ranking) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: $750 million (estimated) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Anonymous/pseudonymous allowed | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 140,000+ active subreddits | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Unlimited (no hard limit) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 120-480 minutes (2-8 hours) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Limited (awards only, no revenue sharing) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 180+ days (6+ months average) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: Complete anonymity (no real name required) | Hacker News: N/A
Reddit: 57 million | Hacker News: 0.5 million
Reddit: 140K+ subreddits (entertainment, news, hobbies, all topics) | Hacker News: Technology, startups, science, programming
Estimated Spam/Low-Quality Content Percentage
Reddit: 30-70% (varies by community) | Hacker News: 5-10%
Reddit: Immediate | Hacker News: 1 hour hidden
Reddit: $12,000 (commercial tier) | Hacker News: Not available (API-free model)
Reddit: 100+ million (iOS + Android) | Hacker News: ~5 million (iOS + Android)
How to choose between Reddit and Hacker News
Reddit vs Hacker News — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Reddit vs Hacker News. Contains 73 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Reddit vs Hacker News — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Reddit vs Hacker News.
Is Hacker News better than Reddit for finding tech news?
For technical professionals and startup communities, yes. Hacker News has a 5-10% spam rate vs Reddit's 30-70% depending on community, and its audience consists primarily of engineers and founders. However, Reddit's r/technology and r/programming subreddits have much larger communities (12M+ subscribers combined) and more casual discussion. Choose Hacker News for curated, high-signal tech discourse; choose Reddit for broader tech conversations and community diversity.
Can I find niche communities on both platforms?
Reddit dominates niche communities with 140K+ active subreddits covering everything from obscure hobbies to medical conditions. Hacker News is strictly tech/startup/science focused with minimal off-topic discussion. If you're seeking a community outside technology, Reddit is your only option.
Hacker News has stricter, more consistent moderation enforced by a core team using algorithmic ranking, resulting in fewer flamewars and toxic threads. Reddit delegates moderation to volunteer community mods per subreddit, leading to highly inconsistent standards—some subreddits are well-moderated, others are toxic cesspools. For civil discourse, Hacker News wins; for community self-governance, Reddit's approach appeals to some users.
Why does Hacker News hide vote counts for 1 hour?
This prevents bandwagon voting and groupthink. Without seeing vote counts, users form independent opinions before being influenced by early voting patterns. Reddit shows votes immediately, which research shows encourages polarization and can suppress minority viewpoints. Hacker News' approach promotes more thoughtful discussion, though it frustrates users seeking quick validation.
Which platform is better for professional networking?
Hacker News is superior for tech professionals seeking startup opportunities, job discussions, and connections with founders and engineers. Its audience skews toward decision-makers and technical leaders. Reddit is better for general professional advice but less effective for tech industry networking due to anonymity and content quality variance.
How to Choose Between Reddit and Hacker News
Monthly Active Users: Reddit has 430 million, while Hacker News has ~500K daily active.
Primary Focus: Reddit has General entertainment, memes, discussion across 140K+ subreddits, while Hacker News has Technology, startups, programming, science.
Moderation Model: Reddit has Community-run moderation per subreddit (varies widely), while Hacker News has Algorithmic ranking + core moderation team.
Content Lifespan: Reddit has Peaks within 24 hours, archived after 6 months, while Hacker News has Stories cycle every 24-48 hours, preserved in archives.
Voting System Transparency: Reddit has Vote counts visible immediately, no penalties for downvotes, while Hacker News has Vote counts hidden for 1 hour (anti-bandwagon).
Spam & Low-Quality Content: Reddit has High variance (30-70% quality depending on subreddit), while Hacker News has Low (estimated 5-10% spam due to ranking algorithm).
Monetization Model: Reddit has Ads, Premium subscriptions ($6.99/month), API access, while Hacker News has No ads, no subscriptions, pure organic model.