Hacker News
Software engineers, technical founders, startup builders, deeply technical readers
Pay-for-play call
HN is a community-curated link aggregator run by Y Combinator. No editorial decisions or paid placement; ranking is upvote-driven. The "Show HN" and "Ask HN" tags are well-defined community categories.
Pitching protocol
Submit links via "submit" — Show HN for product launches, Ask HN for questions, regular submission for news/articles. Engagement quality matters more than launch theatrics.
Response latency
visibility is hour-by-hour on submission day
Contributor program
Yes — Anyone with an account can submit links or text posts; community voting determines visibility
Recent coverage
Programming, security, AI, deep-tech, startup commentary, original technical writing
Dev-tool launches with technical merit, original engineering writing, technical thought leadership
Marketing-led pitches; non-technical product launches; thinly-disguised promotional content
Sponsored content markings
- Who is hiring? threads (free)
- YC company posts (organic)
Source-request platforms
- none — community-driven
FAQ
Is Hacker News pay-for-play?
HN is a community-curated link aggregator run by Y Combinator. No editorial decisions or paid placement; ranking is upvote-driven. The "Show HN" and "Ask HN" tags are well-defined community categories. The current classification is "cleared" as of 2026-05-08.
How do you actually pitch Hacker News?
Submit links via "submit" — Show HN for product launches, Ask HN for questions, regular submission for news/articles. Engagement quality matters more than launch theatrics.
Does Hacker News accept contributor posts?
Yes. Anyone with an account can submit links or text posts; community voting determines visibility
What kinds of brands does Hacker News cover well?
Best for: Dev-tool launches with technical merit, original engineering writing, technical thought leadership. Worst for: Marketing-led pitches; non-technical product launches; thinly-disguised promotional content.
Which source-request platforms carry Hacker News's queries?
Hacker News appears on: none — community-driven.
Run PRAPI's diligence layer on every pitch.
PRAPI runs this kind of diligence automatically on every pitch — pay-for-play flags, pitch-protocol fit, source-request matching across 8 live feeds. Each outlet check is one of the things that happens before a draft lands in your inbox.