Reddit JSON API

Unofficial read-only access to Reddit posts and comments by appending .json to any Reddit URL. No key required.

Status
🔴 Offline · 202 ms

30-day uptime
4.22%

Free tier
60 requests/min, no key, must set User-Agent

Auth
No key required

Last 30 days

Free alternatives (live ranking)

Hacker News API — 🟢 Online · Unlimited, no key, no credit card
DEV Community API — 🟢 Online · 30 calls/30s unauthenticated, no key for reads
Wikipedia REST API — 🟢 Online · Unlimited, no key, must set User-Agent

Compare Reddit JSON API with…

Reddit JSON API vs Hacker News API — Unlimited, no key, no credit card
Reddit JSON API vs DEV Community API — 30 calls/30s unauthenticated, no key for reads
Reddit JSON API vs Wikipedia REST API — Unlimited, no key, must set User-Agent

Paid alternatives

Reddit Ads API — contact sales

Official docs ↗

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Reddit JSON API require an API key?

No, Reddit JSON API is freely accessible without registration or an API key.

What is Reddit JSON API's free tier?

60 requests/min, no key, must set User-Agent

Is Reddit JSON API currently online?

We check Reddit JSON API every hour. The current status is shown at the top of this page. You can also see the 30-day uptime history in the chart above.

Implementation notes

When to use Reddit JSON API

Appending `.json` to any Reddit URL gives read access to posts and comments without authentication. This is the right approach for read-only applications that need community discussion data from specific subreddits and can live with a 60 req/min unauthenticated rate limit.

Common pitfalls

A `User-Agent` header is required and must not be a generic browser string. Reddit blocks requests from common browser user agents to prevent scraping. Use a descriptive custom string like `my-project/1.0 by u/your_username`.
The `.json` endpoint is not an officially supported API. Reddit has not committed to its stability, and the response structure has changed without notice in the past. For production apps, prefer the official OAuth API at `oauth.reddit.com`, which is more stable.
The `after` pagination token is tied to the current request's sort order. Changing the sort (`top`, `new`, `hot`) between paginated requests invalidates the token and restarts pagination from the first page silently.
Deleted comments return a JSON object with `[deleted]` as the body and `[deleted]` as the author rather than being excluded. Your code must explicitly filter these if you are building a display interface.

Quick start (bash)

curl -H "User-Agent: my-app/1.0" "https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/top.json?limit=5&t=week"

Embed this badge

Add a live status badge to your README, docs, or website.

Markdown

[![Reddit JSON API Status](https://freeapi-builder.a10ayassine.workers.dev/badge/reddit-json.svg)](https://freeapi.watch/reddit-json)

HTML

<a href="https://freeapi.watch/reddit-json"><img src="https://freeapi-builder.a10ayassine.workers.dev/badge/reddit-json.svg" alt="Reddit JSON API Status"/></a>