Does it search comments as well as stories?

Yes, both. The result shows how many of each were in the posts read, and comment links open the comment itself, titled with the story it belongs to.

Why does Algolia’s own count differ?

Algolia matches word prefixes and tolerates typos, so its total includes posts that never say your name. This tool scales that total by the share of the newest hundred hits that contain the exact word. For a short name the difference can be most of the total.

Can I see Show HN launches only?

Show HN, Ask HN and Launch HN posts are tagged in the thread list, so you can spot them at a glance. A filter to show only those is not in the free tool.

How is this different from F5Bot?

F5Bot sends you alerts as new posts match; this tool answers once, now, for any name, with a count and a trend. FishOut is the alerting version: it also reads every match for relevance before it interrupts you.

How far back does it go?

Seven days for the count and the threads, four weeks for the trend bars. A FishOut keyword backfills 2 days on Free and up to 90 days on Business when you add it.

Search Hacker News for your brand

Every story and comment on Hacker News that named you in the past seven days, counted the way FishOut counts them — whole words only — with four weeks of trend and the threads behind the number.

Live checks are not switched on yet. The result below is a real one, captured on the date shown.

“htmx” · last 7 daysSample · 20 Oct 2026

~17

mentions in the last 7 days

Counts only — relevance not judged here

Hacker Newsanswered17

whole-word, of 833 raw matches · 0 stories · 2 comments read

4 weeks

Threads to readnewest first

Comment on: I no longer care to work on any Ruby gems so I've archived all my repositoriesComment6h Comment on: Show HN: BudgetFlow – Plan your budget as an interactive Sankey diagramComment15h

These are whole-word matches before AI triage. FishOut counts only the posts it judges relevant toward a plan — Free covers 500 a month — and filtered noise never counts.

Watch your own keywords free

[01] HOW THE COUNT IS MADE/ METHOD

One search, then a correction

Algolia’s Hacker News index is searched for the last seven days of stories and comments. Its total includes prefix and typo matches — “htmx” also finds “html” — so the total is multiplied by the share of the newest hundred hits that contain the exact word.

Four weeks for a trend

Three more counts cover the three weeks before this one, each scaled by the same whole-word share. Four bars are enough to tell a launch spike from a steady drip; they are not a substitute for history.

Comments are most of it

For most products the comment count dwarfs the story count: people name tools in passing while discussing something else. Comment links open the comment itself; the title shown is the story it sits under.

What it does not see

Text inside linked articles, flagged or dead items, and anything older than four weeks. Points and usernames are deliberately left out — the tool shows what was said where, not who said it.

[02] WHAT TO DO WITH THE NUMBER/ TRIAGE

A Hacker News mention has a half-life of hours

Threads fall off the front page within a day, and a reply after that is a reply nobody reads. That is why FishOut gives Hacker News posts a Reply call — Reply now, Reply carefully, Watch or Skip — next to relevance and labels. How relevance works.

Show HNthread2h

Show HN: A hypermedia framework in 2 KB, inspired by htmx

Reply, carefullyComparison

Ask HNcomment5h

Comment on: Ask HN: Is server rendering back?

Reply nowQuestion

Hacker Newscomment1d

Comment on: The web platform is fine, actually

WatchPraise

[03] STEP BY STEP/ 4 STEPS

Search the exact spelling

Use the name as it appears in code and conversation. A short name such as “Zig” matches the word only, never “zigzag”.

Compare stories with comments

Stories mean someone posted about you; comments mean you came up in someone else’s thread. Both matter, for different reasons.

Look at the four bars

A single tall bar is a launch or an incident. A flat line is your baseline — useful to know before your own Show HN.

Read the newest threads first

Anything under a day old is still worth replying to. Older threads are worth reading for what people misunderstand.

[04] THE SAME CHECK, EVERY HOUR/ IN THE PRODUCT

The same search, read and ranked

FishOut checks Hacker News every hour on Free and every 15 minutes for a Fast keyword on a paid plan. Each post arrives with its relevance, labels and a Reply call, so the morning list starts with the two threads still worth answering.

Inboxbest first

Show HNthread2h

Show HN: A hypermedia framework in 2 KB, inspired by htmx

Reply, carefullyComparison

Ask HNcomment5h

Comment on: Ask HN: Is server rendering back?

Reply nowQuestion

Hacker Newscomment1d

Comment on: The web platform is fine, actually

WatchPraise

[05] FREE TOOL, OR A MONITOR?/ COMPARED

This search, FishOut Free, or F5Bot?

F5Bot is the tool most people meet first for Hacker News alerts, and for good reason: it is fast, simple and free to start.

Free tier: This free toolUnlimited one-off searchesFishOut Free10 keywords, checked hourlyF5Bot5 keywords, up to 20 alerts a day [source]
Speed of a free alert: This free tool—FishOut FreeHourlyF5BotWithin 2 hours [source]
Platforms: This free toolHacker NewsFishOut FreeReddit, HN, Bluesky, GitHub, Google News; more on paid plansF5BotReddit, Hacker News and Lobste.rs [source]
Lobste.rs: This free toolNoFishOut FreeNoF5BotYes [source]
Judging relevance: This free toolWhole-word ruleFishOut FreeRelevance 0–100, labels and Reply call, includedF5BotMatch / no match against a description, billed beyond $10 of tokens a month [source]

This free tool, FishOut Free and F5Bot, compared
	This free tool	FishOut Free	F5Bot
Free tier	Unlimited one-off searches	10 keywords, checked hourly	5 keywords, up to 20 alerts a day [source]
Speed of a free alert	—	Hourly	Within 2 hours [source]
Platforms	Hacker News	Reddit, HN, Bluesky, GitHub, Google News; more on paid plans	Reddit, Hacker News and Lobste.rs [source]
Lobste.rs	No	No	Yes [source]
Judging relevance	Whole-word rule	Relevance 0–100, labels and Reply call, included	Match / no match against a description, billed beyond $10 of tokens a month [source]

F5Bot facts checked 20 October 2026 at the sources linked. FishOut’s from the pricing page.

[06] SEND IT WHERE YOU WORK/ 13 CHANNELS

The alert this mention would send

Over a channel’s relevance floor, a mention goes to chat, email or your own code. See all integrations or set up Discord.

Slack

Microsoft Teams

Google Chat

Discord

Mattermost

ntfy

Feishu / Lark

DingTalk

WeCom

Zapier

#launch-watch

FishOutAPP9:40

Relevant mention on Hacker News

Show HN: A hypermedia framework in 2 KB, inspired by htmx

Relevance 91 · Topic · Neutral · by thread

Labels: Comparison

Open in FishOutView on Hacker News

Want to try other channels? Preview any alert.

[07] ASK IT FROM YOUR ASSISTANT/ MCP

The same search, from Claude or Cursor

Ask Claude Code or Cursor “which Hacker News threads mentioned us this week, and which still need a reply?” and FishOut’s MCP server answers from your triaged mentions — on every plan, including Free.

Start in Claude

Set it up in Claude Code

[08] OTHER FREE TOOLS/ NO SIGNUP

Brand mention checkerFour platforms, seven days, one search: whole-word counts and the threads behind them.GitHub mention searchIssues vs pull requests, open vs closed, with titles and links.Keyword noise checkerA verdict on your name as a keyword, and the Means or exclude words that fix it.

Questions

Sources

F5Bot pricing and FAQ — read 20 October 2026

Every hour, without opening this page

FishOut runs the same search on its own, reads every match against your Brief, and keeps the ones worth your time in an inbox like this one.

Start free All free tools

Free for 10 keywords · No card · Nothing posted as you

Views

Reply now3

Leads7

Support4

Advocates5

Filtered61

Saved views

Monday review

Reply now· Best first3

Show HNthread2h

Show HN: A hypermedia framework in 2 KB, inspired by htmx

Reply, carefullyComparison

Ask HNcomment5h

Comment on: Ask HN: Is server rendering back?

Reply nowQuestion

Hacker Newscomment1d

Comment on: The web platform is fine, actually

WatchPraise

Ask HNcomment5h

Comment on: Ask HN: Is server rendering back?

Has anyone shipped a real app with htmx and regretted it? Interested in where it falls over.

Relevance

Matches your briefA direct questionThread still active

Labels · Reply call

Reply nowQuestion

Answer with the limit, not the pitch

Draft reply

Maintainer here, so weigh this: it falls over on heavy client-side state. For forms and lists it is the simplest thing that works.

Says who you are
Answers the question asked

Copy and open threadFishOut never posts

Search Hacker News for your brand

One search, then a correction

Four weeks for a trend

Comments are most of it

What it does not see

A Hacker News mention has a half-life of hours

Search the exact spelling

Compare stories with comments

Look at the four bars

Read the newest threads first

The same search, read and ranked

This search, FishOut Free, or F5Bot?

The alert this mention would send

The same search, from Claude or Cursor

Questions

Does it search comments as well as stories?

Why does Algolia’s own count differ?

Can I see Show HN launches only?

How is this different from F5Bot?

How far back does it go?

Sources

Read next

Every hour, without opening this page