Reddit API Free Alternative: Get Reddit Data Without Rate Limits

Reddit's API used to be free. Then they killed third-party apps and started charging.

Now, Reddit's API costs $0.24 per 1,000 requests. That adds up fast—especially for research, monitoring, or any serious data collection.

Here are your options for getting Reddit data without the ridiculous pricing.

The Reddit API Problem

In 2023, Reddit changed their API pricing:

Tier	Price	Rate Limit
Free	$0	100 requests/minute
Paid	$0.24/1K requests	Higher limits

The catch: The free tier is extremely limited. Building any real application requires the paid tier.

For context, monitoring 10 subreddits with hourly checks = ~7,200 requests/day = ~$52/month just for basic monitoring.

What Reddit Data Do You Need?

Data Type	Use Case
Posts	Content research, trend tracking
Comments	Sentiment analysis, customer feedback
Subreddits	Community discovery, niche research
Users	Influencer identification, spam detection
Search	Brand monitoring, keyword tracking

Free Reddit Data Options

Option 1: Reddit's Free Tier

Still works for small projects:

import requests

def get_subreddit_posts(subreddit, limit=25):
    url = f'https://www.reddit.com/r/{subreddit}/hot.json?limit={limit}'
    response = requests.get(url, headers={'User-Agent': 'MyApp/1.0'})
    return response.json()

# Usage
posts = get_subreddit_posts('programming', 25)
for post in posts['data']['children']:
    print(post['data']['title'])

Limits:

• 100 requests/minute
• No commercial use
• Rate limiting kicks in fast

Option 2: Reddit Scraping API

A scraping API bypasses Reddit's API entirely by extracting data from the public website:

const response = await fetch(
  'https://api.sociavault.com/v1/scrape/reddit/subreddit?name=startups&limit=50',
  { headers: { 'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' } }
);

const posts = await response.json();

Benefits:

• No Reddit API key needed
• No rate limits from Reddit
• Pay per request (~$0.001)
• Works at scale

Option 3: Pushshift Archive

For historical data, Pushshift archives Reddit content:

# Note: Pushshift has had reliability issues since 2023
import requests

def search_pushshift(query, subreddit=None):
    params = {'q': query, 'size': 100}
    if subreddit:
        params['subreddit'] = subreddit
    
    response = requests.get(
        'https://api.pushshift.io/reddit/search/submission',
        params=params
    )
    return response.json()

Caveats:

• Often down or slow
• Data may be delayed
• Limited reliability

Using a Reddit Scraping API

Get Subreddit Posts

const API_KEY = 'your_api_key';

async function getSubredditPosts(subreddit, limit = 50) {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/scrape/reddit/subreddit?name=${subreddit}&limit=${limit}&sort=hot`,
    { headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return response.json();
}

// Get hot posts from r/startups
const posts = await getSubredditPosts('startups', 100);

Get Post Comments

async function getPostComments(postUrl, limit = 100) {
  const response = await fetch(
    `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/scrape/reddit/comments?url=${encodeURIComponent(postUrl)}&limit=${limit}`,
    { headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}` } }
  );
  return response.json();
}

Search Reddit

async function searchReddit(query, subreddit = null) {
  let url = `https://api.sociavault.com/v1/scrape/reddit/search?q=${encodeURIComponent(query)}`;
  if (subreddit) url += `&subreddit=${subreddit}`;
  
  const response = await fetch(url, {
    headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${API_KEY}` }
  });
  return response.json();
}

Use Cases

1. Brand Monitoring

Track mentions of your brand or product:

async function monitorBrand(brandName, subreddits) {
  const mentions = [];
  
  for (const sub of subreddits) {
    const posts = await getSubredditPosts(sub, 100);
    
    for (const post of posts.data) {
      const text = (post.title + ' ' + post.selftext).toLowerCase();
      
      if (text.includes(brandName.toLowerCase())) {
        mentions.push({
          subreddit: sub,
          title: post.title,
          url: post.url,
          score: post.score,
          comments: post.num_comments
        });
      }
    }
  }
  
  return mentions;
}

2. Market Research

See what people say about a product category:

def research_product_category(keywords, subreddits):
    results = []
    
    for keyword in keywords:
        search_results = search_reddit(keyword)
        
        for post in search_results['data']:
            results.append({
                'keyword': keyword,
                'subreddit': post['subreddit'],
                'title': post['title'],
                'score': post['score'],
                'url': post['url']
            })
    
    return results

# Research CRM tools
research = research_product_category(
    ['crm software', 'salesforce alternative', 'hubspot vs'],
    ['startups', 'smallbusiness', 'sales']
)

3. Content Ideas

Find popular topics in your niche:

async function findTopContent(subreddits, minScore = 100) {
  const topPosts = [];
  
  for (const sub of subreddits) {
    const posts = await getSubredditPosts(sub, 100);
    
    const highScoring = posts.data.filter(p => p.score >= minScore);
    topPosts.push(...highScoring);
  }
  
  // Sort by score
  return topPosts.sort((a, b) => b.score - a.score).slice(0, 50);
}

4. Sentiment Analysis

Analyze opinions in comments:

from textblob import TextBlob

def analyze_reddit_sentiment(post_url):
    comments = get_post_comments(post_url, 200)
    
    sentiments = []
    for comment in comments['data']:
        blob = TextBlob(comment['body'])
        sentiments.append(blob.sentiment.polarity)
    
    avg_sentiment = sum(sentiments) / len(sentiments)
    
    return {
        'total_comments': len(sentiments),
        'average_sentiment': avg_sentiment,
        'overall': 'positive' if avg_sentiment > 0.1 else 'negative' if avg_sentiment < -0.1 else 'neutral'
    }

Cost Comparison

Method	Cost for 100K requests
Reddit API (paid)	$24
Scraping API	~$10
Free tier	$0 (but limited to ~4K/day)
Build your own	$200-500/month (proxies)

For most use cases, a scraping API offers the best balance of cost and reliability.

Getting Started

1. Sign up at sociavault.com
2. Get 50 free credits
3. Copy your API key
4. Start extracting Reddit data

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is scraping Reddit legal?

Scraping publicly available Reddit content is generally legal. Reddit's robots.txt allows search engines, and courts have ruled that public data can be scraped.

What happened to Reddit's free API?

In 2023, Reddit changed their pricing to charge for API access. The free tier still exists but is severely rate-limited.

Can I get historical Reddit posts?

Yes, a scraping API can access current posts. For deep historical data, Pushshift was the main option, though its reliability has decreased.

How fast can I scrape Reddit?

With a scraping API, you're not limited by Reddit's rate limits. You can make requests as needed.

Will my Reddit account get banned?

You don't need a Reddit account to use a scraping API—it extracts data from the public website.

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Related guides:

• Reddit API Alternative
• Reddit Sentiment Analysis
• Reddit Product Research
• Social Media Scraping API
• Best Social Media Scraping APIs