Hack University
2026Description
Hack University is a free platform for learning to code and landing your first tech job, all in one place: a complete interactive CS curriculum, a LeetCode-style practice platform, online compilers, cheatsheets, AI career tools, and a student community. The live app runs in open "explore" mode so anyone can jump in — no application, no account, no card required.
Tech Used
Built with Next.js and TypeScript on the front end, with a Node.js and Express judge server running a self-hosted Piston engine in Docker for the isolated code sandbox. Data lives in Postgres (Drizzle ORM), auth supports email-code and Google sign-in, and Stripe powers the premium and live-collaboration billing. AI career tools run on OpenAI — and users can plug in their own API key to use the whole platform for $0.
Key takeaway
Pulling 100+ courses, a real code judge, online compilers, live collaboration rooms, and AI tooling into one cohesive product — built to stay free for students while still supporting an optional hosted premium path.