The analytics terminal for Hacker News
Track HN captures score and rank snapshots for every Hacker News story and comment, every few seconds. AI-powered analysis extracts trending topics, detects sentiment shifts, and surfaces emerging patterns — so you always know what Hacker News thinks.
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Stories tracked
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Score snapshots
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Rank snapshots
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Comment snapshots
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Users tracked
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Last updated
Hacker News analytics features
Score & rank history
Snapshots of score, rank, and comment count captured every few seconds.
FreeDashboards
Interactive charts for front page trends, score trajectories, and posting patterns.
FreeUser profiles & activity
Submission history, karma trends, and activity patterns for any HN user.
ProDirect DB access
SQL access to the full dataset. Run your own queries.
Topic detection
Surface emerging topics and shifts in what HN is discussing.
ComingSentiment analysis
Track how discussion tone changes over the life of a story.
ComingAlerts & digests
Weekly email digests and alerts for keywords, users, or score thresholds.
ComingFull-text search
Search stories and comments with typo tolerance and filters.
ComingSample HN data insights
A preview of what Track HN tracks. Sign up for full interactive dashboards with filters, date ranges, and more.
When should you post on HN?
Day × hour heatmap of average score
How long do stories survive on page 1?
Survival curves by score tier
Upvotes vs. discussion
Score × comments — popular ≠ discussed
HN's daily heartbeat
Submissions per hour over 7 days
Ask HN vs Show HN vs Links
Which story type performs best?
Can a nobody go viral?
Viral rate by user karma tier
The first hour decides everything
Early score predicts final outcome
Who owns the front page?
Top domains by front-page appearances
Score inflation over time
Are stories getting more points?
Hacker News research reports
Hacker News browser extension
Score, rank, and comment charts injected into Hacker News story pages.
Sponsors & HN community
Retool
We also built a set of dashboards with Retool.
@TrackHN on X
Trending stories, score milestones, front page alerts, and weekly recaps.
Follow @TrackHNFrequently asked questions
- What is Track HN?
- Track HN is the analytics terminal for Hacker News. It captures score and rank snapshots for every story and comment every few seconds, and uses AI to extract trending topics, detect sentiment, and surface emerging patterns. Users explore data through interactive dashboards, research reports, a Chrome browser extension, direct SQL database access, and the @TrackHN bot on X.
- What data does Track HN collect?
- Track HN records snapshots of every story and comment on Hacker News every few seconds, capturing score, rank position, and comment count. This continuous data collection has run since 2023, building a time-series dataset that shows how stories gain traction, reach their peak, and decline over hours and days.
- Is Track HN free?
- Track HN offers a free tier that includes score and rank history for every story, interactive dashboards, and access to select research reports. The Pro plan adds user profile analytics and full report library access. Pro Deep adds direct SQL database access and advanced research workflows.
- How can I access the Track HN dataset?
- You can explore data through pre-built interactive dashboards, read detailed research reports on Hacker News patterns, install the Chrome browser extension to see score history directly on news.ycombinator.com, or connect via direct SQL access to run your own queries against the full dataset.
- What is the Track HN browser extension?
- The Track HN browser extension for Chrome overlays score, rank, and comment history charts directly on Hacker News story pages at news.ycombinator.com, providing historical performance context without leaving the site.
Start tracking Hacker News for free
No credit card. Access dashboards and reports immediately.