Reddit API
Posts, comments, subreddits, users and real-time streams
Freemium
✓ Verified
🇺🇸 United States
The Reddit API provides access to posts, comments, subreddits, user data, and voting data across Reddit’s 100,000+ active communities. Since the controversial 2023 API pricing changes that shut down many third-party clients, free access is still available but with tighter restrictions. The Data API for research and large-scale access now requires paid commercial licensing. Still free for lightweight app development, bots, and limited social listening. Best uses include community monitoring, trend detection, and Reddit-specific content aggregation. PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper) is the most popular client library.
API Details
Auth Method
OAuth 2.0
Pricing Model
Freemium
Free Tier
Yes — 100 queries/min free (limited after 2023 changes)
Rate Limit
100 requests/min
Format
REST / JSON
Versioning
v1
SLA / Uptime
Not published
Compliance
GDPR
Geographic Restrictions
Global
Last Verified
2026-02-20
Categories
Frequently Asked Questions
Reddit API pricing changed dramatically in 2023: free tier allows 100 queries per minute for non-commercial use. Commercial use (apps with 500+ users or for-profit purposes) costs $0.24 per 1,000 API calls. This pricing led to the shutdown of popular third-party Reddit apps and significant developer community backlash.
The free tier (100 QPS, non-commercial) is suitable for personal scripts, research projects, small bots, and applications with fewer than 500 daily active users. You can read posts, comments, search subreddits, and access user data within rate limits. Commercial products serving significant user bases will require a paid Data API contract.
PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper) is the official Python SDK for Reddit's API. It handles OAuth authentication, rate limiting, and request retries automatically. For Python developers, PRAW is the standard way to interact with Reddit. It covers all major endpoints and significantly reduces boilerplate code for building Reddit bots or data tools.
Yes, but check the terms carefully. Academic research and non-commercial sentiment analysis falls under the free tier. Commercial applications (e.g., brand monitoring services, financial sentiment signals sold to clients) require a Data API licence. Reddit also offers a separate Academic Data Access programme for large-scale research with enhanced access.