Show HN tips: how to get on the Hacker News front page
By James Taylor, founder of LaunchEngine · Updated
Most Show HN posts get almost no attention — a small set of concrete choices is what separates the ones that reach the front page.
To get a Show HN post to the Hacker News front page: link to something people can immediately try (a live demo or public repo, not a landing page), post between 6am–12pm UTC, aim for around 5 votes in the first 30 minutes, and follow up immediately with a maker comment explaining what you built and why. An analysis of 13,159 posts found only an 8.15% hit rate for reaching the front page for more than an hour — most posts simply don't clear that bar.
“Show HN is for something you've made that other people can play with”
— Hacker News — Show HN Guidelines
What the guidelines actually require
- It must be something you've worked on personally and which you're around to discuss.
- Make it easy to try without barriers such as signups or emails.
- Blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters and landing pages are off-topic for Show HN.
- Please don't ask friends to upvote or comment — that's not okay on HN.
The numbers behind a front-page post
“5.22 is the average number of votes a post needed within an average time of 27.1 minutes to reach the front page for the first time.”
— Ankle — I tracked & analyzed 13,159 Hacker News posts
Timing and karma both move the odds: the best window to post is 6am–12pm UTC on a weekend, and over half of front-page posts come from accounts with more than 1,000 karma — a brand-new account isn't disqualified, but it starts from behind.
What a front page actually earns you
One founder's own front-page post drew about 35 to 40 unique visitors per minute while it held the spot (a popular post can pull around 50 per minute, or roughly 72,000 a day), and almost 8,000 unique visitors total over the following four days — evidence that the traffic tail matters as much as the spike itself.
Getting the timing and framing right is the hard part
A Show HN post is one shot — post at the wrong hour, undersell the demo link, or skip the maker comment and it sinks without a second chance. LaunchEngine maps Show HN alongside every other board and community worth your launch and drafts a compliant post for each. Mapping your launch is free.
Map your launch across all of these — free
Paste your product URL and LaunchEngine finds the directories, subreddits and communities worth your specific launch, drafts a post for each, and pre-fills the forms. You post from your own accounts.
Map my launchSources
Frequently asked
- What percentage of Show HN posts reach the front page?
- An analysis of 13,159 Hacker News posts found an 8.15% hit rate for staying on the front page more than 60 minutes. Most Show HN posts never clear that bar, which is why the specifics — a live demo link, the right time window, an immediate maker comment — matter.
- What time should I post a Show HN?
- Data from a large sample of Hacker News posts points to 6am–12pm UTC as the best window, with weekends outperforming weekdays for reaching the front page.
- Does Hacker News karma affect whether a Show HN succeeds?
- Yes, in practice — over half of front-page posts in one large analysis came from accounts with more than 1,000 karma. A new account isn't blocked from posting, but an established one with real history has better odds.