shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use HackerNoon?

How hackers start their afternoon. HackerNoon is a free platform with 25k+ contributing writers. 100M+ humans have visited HackerNoon to learn about technology - hackernoon.com

Depends. Free to read and publish, so use it as a distribution channel if you want SEO reach and tolerate heavy editing. Skip paid business blogging if you need guaranteed traffic or full editorial control.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 14 public sources; several review snippets were truncated in the source data.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depthNo tooling evidence in sources
  • Support qualityOnly truncated Trustpilot evidence
  • Security postureNo findings either way

Pricing

Free

Reader / Contributor

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Business BloggingContact for pricing

Best for

  • Founders chasing SEO backlinks
  • Content marketers republishing blog posts
  • Tech and crypto writers wanting an audience
  • Free tech learning

Not for

  • Teams needing polished, controlled brand pages
  • Buyers expecting guaranteed traffic from paid posts
  • Non-tech audiences
  • Anyone wanting SaaS-style support and SLAs

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Business Blogging pricing isn't public — expect a sales call before knowing cost.

medium

The pitch is a DR 82 backlink; verify that value survives Google's syndication filters.

medium

Tiny funding ($344.6K this year per Crunchbase) raises longevity questions for paid placements.

medium

A Hacker News thread alleges aggressive sponsor solicitations; read paid-content terms closely.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Free to publish and read, with 25k+ writers and 100M+ claimed visitors
  • High domain authority (DR 82) makes posts useful for SEO backlinks
  • Human editing via a published editing protocol keeps quality consistent
  • App store reviewers praise content and design
  • Case study: Appknox grew product pageviews 262% using HackerNoon

Cons

  • Hacker News critics call sponsorship practices 'a bit of a scam'
  • Developer comparisons describe it as the weirdest of the blogging platforms
  • Shoestring funding: $3M round; Crunchbase lists $344.6K this year
  • Posts run through their editors and template — expect rewrites

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 14 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x3review x6security x1news x4

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Core reading and publishing are free
  • Ease of use: 4/5. App reviewers praise content and design
  • Feature depth. No tooling evidence in sources
  • Support quality. Only truncated Trustpilot evidence
  • Security posture. No findings either way
  • 25,000+ Contributing writers per official site
  • 100M+ Lifetime visitors per official site
  • Yes Free tier reading and publishing
  • $3M Funding Crane-led round, per Caplight

Pricing

Reader / Contributor

Free

  • Read all stories
  • Publish as contributing writer

Business Blogging

Contact for pricing

  • Advertise
  • Publish branded content

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

App-store users praise the content and app, while some Hacker News commenters harshly criticize its sponsorship practices.

“HackerNoon is a bit of a scam.”
Hacker News thread
“Great content and app”
Apple App Store review

Companies that use it

  • Appknox11
  • Waydev
  • Photon
Full analysis

Based on 14 public sources; several review snippets were truncated in the source data.

Free tech publication, real reach (100M visitors, DR 82). Good free channel; risky paid bet.

Methodology

Based on 14 public sources; several review snippets were truncated in the source data.

Sources

  1. HackerNoon official sitehackernoon.com
    official
  2. HackerNoon Business Bloggingbusiness.hackernoon.com
    official
  3. HackerNoon's Editing Protocoleditingprotocol.com
    official
  4. Hacker News: 'HackerNoon is a bit of a scam'news.ycombinator.com
    review
  5. Trustpilot reviews of hackernoon.comtrustpilot.com
    review
  6. App Store: HackerNoon reviewsapps.apple.com
    review
  7. Google Play: HackerNoon reviewsplay.google.com
    review
  8. Product Hunt reviewsproducthunt.com
    review
  9. Medium vs DEV vs Hashnode vs HackerNoondev.to
    review
  10. IdeaProof: How to Submit to HackerNoon (DR 82)ideaproof.io
    news
  11. G2 case study: Appknoxsell.g2.com
    news
  12. Caplight: HackerNoon fundingcaplight.com
    news
  13. Crunchbase: HackerNooncrunchbase.com
    news
  14. HackerNoon product security pagehackernoon.com
    security

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