Reddit API documentation: the complete 2026 guide

Last updated July 2026

Quick reference

Authentication

Every request carries your key in one header. There is no OAuth token exchange, no refresh cycle, and no app-review step. Generate a key on the Reddit API key page, then send it as a bearer token:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_REDDITAPIS_KEY

The same token works for reads, votes, writes, and direct messages, so there is a single credential to manage. For the exact header and a working request, see how to authenticate the Reddit API.

Your first request

The most common call reads a subreddit feed. Here is the same request in three languages, each returning clean JSON you can parse immediately.

curl

curl -X GET \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $REDDITAPIS_KEY" \
  "https://api.redditapis.com/api/reddit/posts?subreddit=programming&sort=new&limit=25"

Python

import os, requests

res = requests.get(
    "https://api.redditapis.com/api/reddit/posts",
    params={"subreddit": "programming", "sort": "new", "limit": 25},
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.getenv('REDDITAPIS_KEY')}"},
)
posts = res.json()

Node.js

const url = "https://api.redditapis.com/api/reddit/posts?subreddit=programming&sort=new&limit=25";
const res = await fetch(url, {
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.REDDITAPIS_KEY}` },
});
const posts = await res.json();

Full language walkthroughs live in the Python and Node.js answers.

The endpoint catalog

Redditapis exposes 28 endpoints. The read tier holds 15 routes; the eleven listed below are the ones most projects call, and the tier also covers single comment lookups, the full comment tree under a post, and a batch comment-verify route. Reads are $0.002 each.

The remaining tiers cover deep comment search, voting, writes, and direct messages. Prices rise with the action, since a write costs Reddit more than a read.

Two free account reads round out the 28 endpoints: your own account details and payment history. For the count and the reasoning behind it, see how many Reddit API endpoints there are.

Pagination

Listing endpoints return results in pages. Each response includes an after token; pass it as a query parameter on the next request to pull the following page, and stop when the token comes back empty. That loop is how you pull a whole subreddit or a full comment history without hitting a single oversized response.

Rate limits

Redditapis meters by spend rather than by a strict per-minute cap, so throughput scales with your plan instead of a hard queue. If you send faster than the plan allows you get a 429, and the fix is to back off and retry. The official Reddit Data API, by contrast, caps the free OAuth tier near 100 queries per minute. The full breakdown, including how to avoid PRAW throttling, is on the rate limits answer.

Status codes and error handling

Pricing per call

Billing is usage-based, so you pay per call rather than for a monthly seat. A project that mostly reads posts and comments pays cents for thousands of calls, and the $0.50 in signup credits covers about 250 reads.

Run your own volume on the cost calculator, or read the full breakdown on the pricing page.

How this differs from the official Reddit API docs

Reddit maintains its own documentation at developers.reddit.com for the OAuth Data API. That path is free for personal, non-commercial use, but per Reddit's 2023 pricing announcement, commercial access runs a $12,000-a-year Standard tier at 100 requests per minute plus $0.24 per 1,000 calls, which is $0.00024 per call, behind an app-review queue. Redditapis is a REST wrapper: one bearer token, no review, and flat per-call pricing from $0.002. Use the official docs when you need first-party OAuth scopes; use this guide when you want data in minutes without a contract. The side-by-side comparison is on the Redditapis versus official Reddit API page, and the official reference is at developers.reddit.com.

Frequently asked