Reddit API access in 2026: getting a key, what it costs, and what's closing
Updated October 10, 2026
You can't get a Reddit API key on your own any more. Since 2025-11-11 every new app needs Reddit's approval under its Responsible Builder Policy, and on 2026-09-30 Reddit announced that it stops accepting new applications for public API access on 2026-10-31 and shuts the public Data API down in March 2027. Apps that already have access keep it until then. Approved non-commercial apps get 100 queries per minute for free. Commercial use needs a contract, and Reddit doesn't publish a price.
If you only need a few threads for research, you probably don't need the API at all. The last section covers the alternatives.
What changed, in order
Most "how to get a Reddit API key" tutorials were written before these dates.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2023-04-18 | Reddit announced it would start charging for API access. |
| 2023-07-01 | Charges took effect. Apollo, Reddit is Fun, Sync and BaconReader shut down around 2023-06-30 after thousands of subreddits went dark in protest. |
| 2025-10-28 | Reddit published the Responsible Builder Policy, which requires approval before any API access. |
| 2025-11-11 | Self-service API access closed. The old app page at reddit.com/prefs/apps now points to the policy. |
| 2026-05-28 | Reddit said it was shutting down logged-out .json endpoints. Logged-in access wasn't affected. |
| End of July 2026 | Old Reddit started requiring a login. |
| 2026-09-30 | Reddit announced the public Data API phase-out (dates below) and told apps to move to Devvit. |
| 2026-10-31 | Reddit stops accepting new applications for public API access. Existing apps keep working. |
| 2026-11-13 | RSS feeds stop working. |
| 2027-01-12 | Reddit starts removing access for apps and users that never registered. |
| March 2027 | "Remaining public API access ends." |
Sources: Reddit's announcement in r/redditdev (2025-11-11), the Responsible Builder Policy (Reddit Help, edited 2026-10-05), Reddit's help-center changelogs of 2026-07-09 and 2026-10-08, and contemporary reporting by TechCrunch (2023-06-08). The 2026-05-28 quote is from Reddit's r/modnews post as reported by third parties; we couldn't load the original.
Where to get a Reddit API key now
There's no form that hands you a key. Getting Reddit API access in 2026 works like this:
- Read the Responsible Builder Policy. It applies to "a developer, moderator, researcher, or an app" and says you "must request access and get explicit approval before accessing any Reddit data through our API." It also forbids using several accounts for one use case.
- Submit a request through the Reddit Help support form and pick your role: developer, researcher or enterprise. Apps also register at developers.reddit.com/app-registration.
- Wait. Reddit doesn't publish a review time, and developers in r/redditdev have reported waiting weeks or never hearing back.
- Once approved, you get credentials for the use case you described, and only that use case.
Each role leads somewhere different:
| You are | Where Reddit sends you | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Developer building an app | Devvit, Reddit's own developer platform | Apps that run inside Reddit |
| Moderator | Moderator data access | "Solely for the purpose of performing moderation actions" |
| Academic researcher | Reddit for Researchers | Free BigQuery access, see below |
| Company using data commercially | The enterprise request form | A contract, with "explicit written approval" |
From 2026-10-31 Reddit stops accepting new applications for public API access, so for most new projects the realistic routes are Devvit, the researcher program or an enterprise contract.
Is the Reddit API free?
For an approved, non-commercial app, yes, within limits. Reddit's Data API Wiki (edited 2026-05-11) sets the free tier at "100 queries per minute (QPM) per OAuth client id", averaged over 10 minutes, and says "traffic not using OAuth or login credentials will be blocked."
"Commercial" is broad. Reddit's help article on data access (edited 2026-05-28) counts apps with ads, paywalls or subscriptions as commercial, along with "selling access to models trained on Reddit data". Commercial use needs a separate agreement.
Reddit API pricing and cost
Reddit doesn't publish an API price list. The Data API Terms (revised 2026-07-20) let Reddit set rates "at Reddit's sole discretion", and the help center only says "select developers who require broader access… may be charged fees."
The one public number is old. On 2023-05-31 Apollo's developer said Reddit had quoted $12,000 per 50 million requests, about $0.24 per 1,000 calls, and TechTarget attributed the figure to a post by Reddit's CEO. Nothing on Reddit's site states that price today, so treat it as history, not a quote.
The deals that do happen are large. OpenAI announced its Data API partnership on 2024-05-16, and Reddit reported $43.3 million of "other revenue", which is mostly data licensing, for the second quarter of 2026 (Reddit 10-Q, filed 2026-07-29). If you're asking about Reddit API cost for a commercial product, plan for a negotiated contract, not a self-serve plan.
The Reddit developer API: Devvit
Devvit is where Reddit wants developers to build. Apps run inside Reddit, and the platform is TypeScript only; Python isn't "on our roadmap", according to Reddit staff quoted by PPC Land (2026-09-30). Reddit offered a $1,000-per-app bounty to apps that migrate, with applications due by 2026-11-30, per the same report. Devvit's rules don't allow sending users off-site or selling data, so it doesn't suit tools whose job is to take Reddit data somewhere else.
Research access: Reddit for Researchers
Reddit now calls its researcher program "the only official and authorized avenue for performing research using Reddit data" (Reddit Help, edited 2026-05-28). According to the program page (created 2026-05-18, edited 2026-10-05), you need an accredited university, proof of IRB or ethics approval and a sponsor. Access is free through BigQuery, covers five years of history with a six-month delay, and lasts at most a year.
Rules that come with a key
Approval comes with obligations. From Reddit's Data API Wiki and Data API Terms:
- Delete content that's been deleted on Reddit. Reddit "strongly recommends" doing it within 48 hours.
- Don't mask your user agent or OAuth identity (Data API Terms §2.8).
- Don't exceed your call limits (§3.2).
- Don't train AI models on the data "without the express permission of rightsholders" (§3.2), and don't build training sets by "indexing, caching, or crawling" (Developer Terms §4.1, revised 2026-03-24).
- No inferring sensitive traits and no re-identifying users (Responsible Builder Policy).
What about the .json trick and RSS?
Adding .json to a Reddit URL used to return the thread's data without a key. That stopped working for logged-out requests after Reddit's 2026-05-28 announcement. We tested on 2026-10-10: a logged-out request to www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/top.json returned 403 ("You've been blocked by network security"), and the same request on old.reddit.com redirected to the login page. RSS feeds end on 2026-11-13. Reddit's robots.txt has disallowed everything for all crawlers since 2024, and its wiki notes that "our robots.txt is for search engines, not Data API users."
If you only need a few threads
Plenty of people search for a Reddit API key because they want the comments from a handful of threads, for research, customer language or an AI chat. For that, the API is the long way round.
| Option | Needs approval | Cost | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Browser extension that exports the thread you have open (Comment Scraper is ours) | No | Free for single threads up to 1,000 comments | Runs under your logged-in session, so heavy use carries risk to your account |
| Apify's Reddit scraper actors | No | About $0.10 per 1,000 results plus Apify platform usage (listing checked 2026-10-10) | Runs on Apify's servers without a Reddit login; the listing recommends proxies |
| Copy and paste | No | Free | Collapsed replies stay collapsed; structure and scores get lost |
None of these come with Reddit's consent. Section 7 of the User Agreement (effective 2026-07-01) covers collecting data "by any means (automated or otherwise)" except as Reddit permits, with no exception for manual copying or extensions. Our guide on whether it's legal to scrape Reddit goes through what that means in practice, and five ways to get Reddit data compares the methods in more detail.
Questions
Can I still get a Reddit API key in 2026? Only with Reddit's approval. Self-service keys ended on 2025-11-11, and from 2026-10-31 Reddit stops accepting new applications for public API access. Developers are pointed to Devvit, researchers to Reddit for Researchers and companies to an enterprise contract.
How long does Reddit API approval take? Reddit doesn't say. Developers in r/redditdev have reported waits of several weeks and requests that never got an answer.
Is the Reddit API free? For approved non-commercial apps, up to 100 queries per minute per OAuth client ID. Commercial use needs a contract.
How much does the Reddit API cost? There's no published price. The only public figure is from 2023: about $0.24 per 1,000 calls, quoted to Apollo. Current contracts are negotiated.
Where do I get a Reddit API key? Through a request in the Reddit Help support form, choosing developer, researcher or enterprise, after reading the Responsible Builder Policy. The old reddit.com/prefs/apps page no longer issues keys.