Head to head
Hacker News vs Slashdot
Hacker News leads the BLP Index (77 vs 59). Hacker News has more raw reach. Hacker News is fairer for founders without a network. Hacker News scores higher on AI visibility.
| Dimension | Hacker News | Slashdot |
|---|---|---|
| BLP Index | 77 | 59 |
| Rank | #1 | #56 |
| Type | Communities | Communities |
| Cycle | ongoing | ongoing |
| Listing cost | Free | Free to read; directory claim is a form |
| Audience | Engineers, founders, researchers, and technically literate operators | Technical readers and people landing on software comparison URLs |
| Traffic | Most posts: little. Front page: hundreds to several thousand. Top posts: 1,000+ upvotes and outsized referral spikes. | Story hits are lumpy; directory pages are SEO drip |
| Backlink | Nofollow in most cases; SEO value is the thread ranking, not the link juice | High-authority domain; verify rel on directory vs editorial |
| Reach | 88 | 56 |
| Intent | 86 | 70 |
| Fairness | 48 | 42 |
| Evergreen | 84 | 72 |
| AI visibility | 88 | 64 |
| Ease | 52 | 40 |
Hacker News
A Show HN post is plain text, no scheduling, and no gallery. Most sink. The ones that connect can outdraw a #1 Product Hunt day and rank in Google for years.
Hacker News is not a launch board. It is a news community with a Show HN convention for things you made. There is no hunter, no thumbnail, and no way to rally a private Slack without getting flagged. The entire bet is whether the artifact is interesting to skeptical engineers.
Full Hacker News guideSlashdot
Slashdot still has a discussion culture and a software/comparison layer (often tied to the same Digital Markets family as Capterra). High authority, low launch-board energy.
A Slashdot story can still move a technical audience if it is actually news. You cannot schedule that the way you schedule Product Hunt. Separately, Slashdot-branded software listings exist as comparison pages — treat those like GetApp, not like a frontpage story.
Full Slashdot guide