Reddit API: Posts, Comments, Users & Subreddits

What does Reddit API do?

Reddit API gives you Reddit data as clean JSON without API keys, OAuth apps or rate-limit code: send any Reddit URL, search term, subreddit or username and get posts, comments (whole threads with replies), user profiles and communities back. Call it from your code, Make, Zapier, n8n or an AI agent (MCP), or press Start in the Console. No login, no browser, no cookies.

These are real rows from the prefilled call (r/programming, top of the week, 20 posts with 4 comments each):

Post	Subreddit	Score	Comments	Posted
<input type="password" maxlength="20"> is considered harmful, and w...	r/programming	1031	293	2026-10-02
There is no "now" in distributed systems	r/programming	260	53	2026-10-06
StackOverflow Developer Survey Results 2026	r/programming	89	41	2026-10-06
Skip List Data structure	r/programming	139	31	2026-10-03
New Python releases are out, 3.10.x reaches EOL, (and 3.15.0 is sch...	r/programming	122	23	2026-10-01

How to call it

One HTTP request runs it and returns the rows (replace <YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>; the token is in Apify Console > Settings > API & Integrations):

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/deepmine~reddit-api/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"startUrls": [{"url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/top/?t=week"}], "maxItemsPerSource": 20}'

It answers with the rows as one JSON array: on October 20, 2026 this exact call returned 20 post rows (71 KB) in 6 seconds. The first one is under Output.

From Python, with pip install apify-client:

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("deepmine/reddit-api").call(run_input={
    "searches": ["best crm for startups"],
    "searchSort": "new",
    "includeComments": True,
    "maxCommentsPerPost": 50,
})
for row in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(row["dataType"], row.get("title") or row.get("body"))

The synchronous endpoint waits up to 5 minutes; for bigger jobs, start a run and read its dataset when it finishes (or get a webhook). An empty input reads the example above (r/programming, top of the week, posts only).

What can you get from it?

You send	You get
A subreddit (name or link, any sort and period)	Its posts, optionally each with its comment thread
A post link	The post and its comments, replies included, with depth, parentId, rootCommentId
Search terms	Posts, comments, communities or users that match (Search for)
A username or profile link	Profile (karma, account age, verification), posts and comments
Any reddit.com link	Whatever that page lists: front page, search, user, post

Filters: posted after or before a date (or "7 days"), minimum score, NSFW on or off. Filtered-out rows are free.

Why use it instead of Reddit's own API?

• No developer account or OAuth app: one Apify token, the same for every Actor.
• No rate-limit code: the run spreads calls over Apify's proxy IPs, retries failures from a new IP and waits out Reddit's limit when it must.
• Whole threads in one call: it opens Reddit's "more replies" links for you, up to your per-post cap.
• Typed rows, ready for tables: camelCase fields, ISO dates, dataType on every row, a dataset schema with titles and descriptions, and per-type tables in the Console. Everything you scan or filter on is its own column (image and gallery URLs, media type, crosspost parent link, flair text); Reddit's raw media, preview, crosspost and flair objects come along as nested JSON for code that wants them, and the tables leave them out.

How much does it cost?

You pay per result in your dataset: a post, a comment, a user or a community, all at the same price.

Apify plan	Price per 1,000 results
Free	$1.09
Starter	$0.99
Scale	$0.89
Business	$0.79

Each row is charged once per run, even when several of your inputs find it. There's no start fee and no monthly fee; the run stops at your spending limit (maxTotalChargeUsd on API calls).

Input

All fields are optional; the input form shows each one with its description. The ones most calls use:

• startUrls: Reddit links, as [{"url": "..."}].
• searches, searchType (posts, comments, communities, users), searchSort, searchTime, withinSubreddit, maximizeCoverage, matchMode (any: Reddit's match, the default; all: the post's title and text, or the comment, hold every search word; phrase: the words in a row; results that don't match are free).
• subreddits, sort, time; users, userContent (profile, posts, comments).
• maxItemsPerSource (100 by default), maxResults (a total cap), includeComments, maxCommentsPerPost, commentDepth, commentSort.
• postedAfter, postedBefore (a date or "7 days"), minScore, includeNSFW.

Output

Every row has dataType (post, comment, user or community), input (which of your inputs found it) and scrapedAt. The first row the curl call above returned (October 20, 2026, shortened):

{
  "dataType": "post",
  "id": "t3_1x97lsb",
  "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/1x97lsb/its_still_ok_to_enjoy_programming/",
  "title": "It's still OK to enjoy programming",
  "communityName": "r/programming",
  "upVotes": 597,
  "upvoteRatio": 0.87,
  "commentsCount": 244,
  "createdAt": "2026-10-18T16:33:28Z",
  "postType": "link",
  "domain": "chriskiehl.com",
  "input": "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/top/?t=week"
}

Posts have 101 fields, comments 61, users 37 and communities 53; the dataset schema on the Actor's Output tab lists each one with a description. Run totals, per-input counts and anything not found are in the run's key-value store under OUTPUT.

Is it legal to use?

The Actor reads only public Reddit content that anyone can open without an account. It never logs in and skips private and quarantined communities. It is not Reddit's official API and isn't affiliated with Reddit. If your results include personal data, you're responsible for handling it lawfully (for example under GDPR).

FAQ

How fast is it? The prefilled call (99 rows) took 5 and 7 seconds on Apify in two runs, and the first row landed about 2 seconds after the start (256 MB, datacenter proxy, October 20, 2026). Rows are written page by page, so you can read the dataset while a big run is still going.

How much can one call return? Reddit lists about 1,000 posts per subreddit sort and about 250 per search sort (maximizeCoverage reads more sorts and merges them). Comments: up to 100,000 per post.

Does my Apify plan matter? Only for very large runs. Reddit allows 100 requests per IP every 10 minutes and the run uses your plan's datacenter proxy IPs (5 on Free, more on paid plans). If they are all used up, the run waits for Reddit's window to reset and says so in its status.

Feedback

Need a field or an endpoint? Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab; we read every one. If it saved you time, a short review on the Store page helps others find it.