Reddit Stops New Data API Requests on October 31: What to Do If You Have Not Applied

Reddit stops accepting new requests for public Data API access on October 31, 2026. If you have a project that needs Reddit data and you never filed a request, this is the last week and a half in which filing is possible at all. After that date the official answer for a new external app is no.

TL;DR: Reddit's 30 September 2026 r/redditdev timeline closes new public API requests on October 31, 2026, starts cutting off unregistered apps on January 12, 2027, and closes remaining public access in March 2027. File once if you qualify, keep evidence, and line up a second route now.

This is an independent explainer from redditapis.com, a third-party API that is not affiliated with Reddit, Inc. How the request process worked under the Responsible Builder Policy, why apps got rejected and what the rate limits were is already in our Reddit Data API access hub, and the porting work is in the Developer Platform migration guide. This post covers the deadline: what closes on the 31st, why the form has been unreliable, and what read access looks like for a new project afterwards.

What closes on October 31, 2026?

New requests for public Reddit Data API access close on October 31, 2026. Reddit announced it on 30 September 2026 in a stickied admin post on r/redditdev. After that date Reddit will not accept a new request, so a project without approved access has no official way to get a Data API key.

The line that matters, from the r/redditdev timeline, is the first row of Reddit's own table:

Three details in that row are worth reading carefully:

• "New requests" is the subject. Nothing is switched off on October 31; the intake closes. Apps that already have access keep running on their own clock.
• "Public API access" means the Data API that external apps call with OAuth credentials, the same API PRAW wraps. It does not cover Devvit apps that run inside Reddit.
• No exception is listed. Developer, researcher, moderator and commercial requests all go through the same Data Access Request form, and the post names no category that stays open.

Is Reddit shutting down its API on October 31?

No. October 31 closes the door to new requests; it does not switch off any app. Apps with existing access keep working, must register on the Developer Platform before January 12, 2027 to avoid losing access, and lose public access entirely in March 2027. The shutdown is a sequence of dates, not one day.

• October 31, 2026: new access requests stop.
• January 12, 2027: apps that have not registered on the Developer Platform start losing access.
• March 2027: public access closes for every remaining app and user.

This is the most misreported part of the change, because the headlines ran the dates together. TechCrunch wrote on 30 September 2026 that "Public API access will also end by March 2027", which is accurate. Mashable's report the same day was the clearest on the first step: the company "will stop accepting new requests for access on Oct. 31." heise online on 1 October 2026 added the part most coverage skipped: "Registered API users are not affected." That holds for the request cutoff; Reddit's own post still closes all remaining public access in March 2027.

The full sequence from Reddit's post:

Here is what the developers on X picked up from it in the first week:

Aleksandar Janca

@datachad

reddit stops new API requests on october 31, kills RSS on november 13 and closes the public API by march 2027. reason given: AI scraping. if any of your automations read reddit, check them this week.

TechCrunch's Sarah Perez posted her report the afternoon Reddit announced the change:

Sarah Perez

@SarahPerezTC

Reddit is killing RSS feeds and ending public API access because of AI bots https://t.co/IUsqHqgUXy

How did Reddit get from open API to closed requests?

In three steps over eleven months. On 11 November 2025 Reddit ended self-service API keys under the Responsible Builder Policy. On 5 August 2026 it said new requests would be restricted and apps would move to the Developer Platform. On 30 September 2026 it put dates on that plan, starting with October 31.

The three admin posts, all on r/redditdev:

• 11 November 2025, the Responsible Builder Policy. "Starting today, self-service access to Reddit's public data API will be closed," wrote the admin who posted the announcement. From then on, every new key needed an approved request. Existing access was left alone.
• 5 August 2026, the plan. "We'll gradually start restricting all new requests and third-party apps will be required to port and operate through our Developer Platform," said the August post, which also asked app owners to register by September 30, 2026 and said none of it would happen that year.
• 30 September 2026, the dates. The timeline post set October 31 for new requests and March 2027 for the end of public access.

Developers did not take any of the three well. When we read the three posts through our API on 19 October 2026, the November 2025 policy post showed 292 comments and an upvote ratio of 0.28, the August plan 252 comments at 0.77, and the September dates 130 comments at 0.67.

For the rules the 2025 policy set, see our Responsible Builder Policy explainer.

Who does the October 31 cutoff affect?

Anyone who needs Reddit's official Data API and does not already have approved access. That covers new startups, solo developers, agencies starting a client tool, academics outside Reddit's researcher program and AI teams building a Reddit tool. Apps that already hold access are on the January and March dates instead.

Group by group, from Reddit's 30 September 2026 post:

• No access, never filed: the only official window is before October 31.
• Filed, no answer yet: Reddit has not said what happens to requests still open on November 1.
• Approved app with access: no change on October 31; register before January 12, 2027 and plan the port before March 2027.
• Devvit developers: not affected by the request cutoff, because Devvit apps run inside Reddit.
• Moderators using bots: depend on the bot's owner registering and porting it; Reddit has a form for bots with no known maintainer.

The r/redditdev thread from 18 October 2026 asking whether the shutdown ends sites that show a user's own recent activity is a fair sample of the questions still coming in, 18 days after the dates were posted.

Why has the Reddit API request form been unreliable?

Reddit has not explained it. Applicants have posted the same failure since at least 1 September 2026: the Data Access Request form reloads, clears the email field, and returns no ticket number or confirmation email. On the commercial option, a hidden required field blocks the submit. Some applicants cannot file at all.

The public reports, read through our API on 19 October 2026:

What each one says, in the applicants' own words:

• r/Devvit, 1 September 2026, "Commercial Reddit Data API access request form won't submit": "when I click Submit, the form simply reloads. I do not receive a confirmation page, ticket number, or confirmation email."
• r/bugs, 1 October 2026, "Reddit Help API request form Submit button does nothing in chrome and firefox": the poster reported browser console errors including "tinymce is not defined" and "form is not defined".
• r/redditdev, 9 October 2026: the commercial option returned "Details of inquiry: cannot be blank" for a field that is hidden in the form.
• r/redditdev, 9 October 2026: "Each time, the form reloads, clears the email field, and produces no confirmation or ticket number. Emailing Reddit's API contact resulted in an automated referral back to the same form and this community."
• r/bugs, 13 October 2026, "Reddit Data API request form fails to submit": a personal, read-only PRAW project, sent back to the form with no confirmation.

The developer thread from 9 October asked the question everyone filing this month has: is there a working route "before the October 31 deadline?"

The commercial case, with the hidden field:

The same failure surfaced inside Reddit's own timeline thread, where one developer wrote that "the commercial Data API request form keeps reloading without submitting, across multiple browsers." No admin reply about the form appeared in the threads we read.

Is it worth filing a Reddit API request before October 31?

If your use case fits Reddit's policy, file once, because it costs one form and the window then closes for good. Expect nothing. A commenter in Reddit's own timeline thread wrote that "there have been rarely any requests accepted since November 11, 2025", and the community helpers answering form threads tell applicants the API is effectively closed.

The replies applicants got in October:

• "The reddit api is closed," from the developer of RemindMeBot, answering the 9 October developer thread, adding that Reddit "doesn't want anyone to extract data out of the site for analysis, even for personal, non-commercial reasons."
• "API is closed, not available to anyone. Form may be present, but all you get is Devvit," from another commenter on the commercial thread.
• "It sounds like the form is broken," from a third, who argued nothing suggests the door is shut to paying commercial customers.

Those are community readings, not Reddit statements. Reddit's own wording is narrower: requests are accepted until October 31. So the practical position is to file, keep proof that you did, and not wait on the answer.

If you do file, the access hub's request section has the details reviewers look for: a plain use case, read-only if you are read-only, call volume, retention and deletion. It also covers the rejection patterns from the past year.

How many developers are asking about access right now?

A steady trickle, and a large share of it is about getting in. Between 30 September and 19 October 2026 we counted the r/redditdev posts that match a search for API, through our own API, and checked how many named a form, a request, access or a key in the title.

We measured it through our own API:

Between 30 September and 19 October 2026, 16 posts went up on r/redditdev that match a search for API.

Our data · Dataset: redditdev-posts-after-cutoff-notice · Source: public Reddit posts, pulled through our API · Query: GET /search?q=api&subreddit=redditdev&sort=new&t=month&limit=100 · Pulled: 2026-10-19 · n = 16 · Method: count of items; filtered to subreddit matching /^redditdev$/i, created matching /^2026-(09-30|10-)/i; frame: 18 unique items from 1 page(s), deduplicated by id

Of those 16 posts, 25% named a form, a request, access or a key in the title.

Our data · Dataset: redditdev-posts-after-cutoff-notice · Source: public Reddit posts, pulled through our API · Query: GET /search?q=api&subreddit=redditdev&sort=new&t=month&limit=100 · Pulled: 2026-10-19 · n = 16 · Method: share of items whose title matches /(?i)\b(form|request|access|key)\b/i; filtered to subreddit matching /^redditdev$/i, created matching /^2026-(09-30|10-)/i; frame: 18 unique items from 1 page(s), deduplicated by id

The rest of the month's posts were about what the dates mean for existing tools, a regression in a write endpoint, personal scripts, and whether manual collection is still allowed. Sixteen posts is small in absolute terms, which is itself telling: the official developer community for the API is quiet because most people building on Reddit data stopped expecting an answer there.

What happens on January 12, 2027 and in March 2027?

On January 12, 2027 Reddit starts removing API access for apps and users that have not registered on the Developer Platform or answered its outreach. In March 2027 public access closes for every remaining app and user. Between those dates, registered apps are expected to finish moving to Devvit.

What the two dates mean in practice:

• January 12, 2027 is a registration deadline for apps that already have access. Register at the app registration page, which also flags missing Devvit capabilities to Reddit.
• March 2027 is the end of external Data API access as a public product. Reddit gave a month, not a day, so plan as if the first of the month is the date.
• November 30, 2026 sits in between: the last day to register for Reddit's App Migration Program bounty, which pays eligible apps that finish a port.

For an app that already runs on the Data API, the port is the work. Reddit's Data API/PRAW to Devvit migration guide is the official starting point, and our migration guide covers which app shapes port cleanly and which do not. The August admin post also said Python support for Devvit is not on Reddit's roadmap, which matters for every PRAW project.

What can a new project use instead of a Reddit API key?

Four routes remain after October 31: a Devvit app that runs inside Reddit, Reddit's researcher program for eligible academics, a commercial data agreement with Reddit, or a third-party data API that returns public Reddit posts and comments as JSON over HTTP. Which fits depends on whether your code must run outside Reddit.

How each one works:

• A Devvit app. Runs on Reddit's Developer Platform, in TypeScript, installed per community, with outbound HTTP limited to allowlisted domains. Right for moderation tools and in-Reddit experiences; wrong for an external dashboard, a data pipeline or a model that needs Reddit text on your own servers.
• The researcher program. The 2025 policy routed researchers to their own request type and to the r/reddit4researchers program. Reddit's September post does not say whether researcher requests stay open after October 31, so treat that as unknown and ask your institution's contact.
• A commercial deal. TechCrunch reported that once public access closes, AI assistants that use Reddit to answer questions "will need commercial deals with Reddit for its data". These are negotiated, not filed through a form.
• A third-party data API. A provider such as redditapis.com returns public posts, comments, search results and subreddit listings over REST, with an API key at signup and no app-review queue.

On the licensing side, read our commercial-use explainer before you build anything that resells or trains on Reddit text; the access route and the usage rights are separate questions.

What does read access look like for a new project after the cutoff?

For a project that needs Reddit data on its own servers, the practical route is a keyed third-party API: sign up, get a key, and call search or subreddit listings that return JSON. There is no request form and no review wait, and the same calls work before and after October 31.

A first search call, the kind a new project makes on day one:

curl -sS "https://api.redditapis.com/api/reddit/search?q=reddit%20api&sort=new&t=week&limit=25" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $REDDITAPIS_KEY"

What that buys you, compared with an approved Data API app:

• No intake to close. The key is issued at signup, so October 31 does not change anything for a new project on this route.
• The same objects. Posts with titles, authors, scores, comment counts and permalinks; comment trees; subreddit metadata.
• Listings and search with cursors. How deep a listing reaches is measured in our limitations guide.
• Monitors that push new matches to a webhook, Slack or Discord, described on the monitoring API page.

If you already wrote code against PRAW, the PRAW versus REST comparison maps the common calls. The quickstart gets the first call running, and the cost of a given call volume is on the pricing page.

What should AI agent and RAG builders do before October 31?

Treat the official Data API as unavailable for a new build and pick a route that will still work in April 2027. An agent that calls Reddit as a tool needs keyed read access on your own infrastructure, and a RAG pipeline needs both access and a clear answer on what the text may be used for.

The checklist for an AI build:

• Do not design around a pending request. Build against a route you can call today.
• Separate retrieval from training. Answering a question with a live search result and training a model on a corpus are different uses under different rules; the RAG data source guide covers the line.
• Store ids, not just text, so the pipeline can re-fetch and honour deletions.
• Record partial results. A truncated listing should make the agent say "partial", not "all".
• Expose Reddit as a tool, not a dump. Our Reddit API for AI agents guide covers tool design, and redditapis.com ships an MCP server with the same calls.

This short from 5 October 2026 makes the same point for agent builders, that the real deadline is the 31st, not March:

Reddit's API dies in March, but your agent's real deadline is October 31

All Things AI Today

Reddit Data API vs Devvit vs a third-party API

They answer different questions. The Reddit Data API was the keyed external route, and new requests for it close on October 31. Devvit is Reddit's in-platform runtime and the route Reddit wants every app on. A third-party data API is an external route that does not depend on a Reddit app key.

• Reddit Data API (until March 2027): external, OAuth, PRAW-compatible, no new requests after October 31.
• Devvit: inside Reddit, TypeScript, per-community installs, allowlisted outbound HTTP.
• Third-party data API: external, REST and JSON, an API key at signup, no app review.

Our comparison with the official API goes field by field.

What to do before October 31, 2026

Decide this week which group you are in, then act on it. If you have no access, file one request if you qualify and start a second route the same day. If you have an approved app, register it and plan the port. If you depend on someone else's bot, check that its owner has registered.

The checklist:

• List every place your product or workflow reads Reddit through an app key, PRAW, a bot, or a script.
• No access yet: file one Data Access Request before October 31 if your use case fits, screenshot the submission, and do not wait on it.
• Form fails: save the screenshots and the date; there is no other public intake channel.
• Approved app: register before January 12, 2027, and before November 30, 2026 if you want the migration bounty.
• External data needs: pick a route that works after March 2027 and test it against your real queries now.
• Moderators: confirm with each bot owner that the bot is registered, or use Reddit's form for bots without a maintainer.

When you are ready to test a route that does not depend on Reddit's request queue, the quickstart gets a first call running, signup issues a key, and the API documentation lists every endpoint.