How to get karma on Reddit

Karma is the score Reddit shows on every account. Many subreddits will not let a new or low-karma account post, and moderators look at an account’s history before they trust a link from it. This guide explains what karma is, how to earn it by taking part for real, how to find the subreddits where your knowledge is useful, and the shortcuts that get accounts banned.

What Reddit karma is

Reddit karma is a rough measure of how much other people have valued what you posted. It goes up when your posts and comments get upvotes, and can go down when they get downvoted. There are two main kinds, shown separately on your profile:

Reddit does not publish exactly how karma is calculated. It is not one point per upvote: votes are weighted, and Reddit adjusts the system against manipulation. What is clear is that consistent, useful participation raises it, and anything that games votes risks the account.

Why karma matters before you promote anything

If you want to use Reddit for your product or service, karma is the visible part of something more important: a history. Moderators and members check the profile of anyone who mentions a product. An account that only appears to post links to one website looks like spam and is treated as such, whatever its karma. An account with months of helpful comments in the same community gets the benefit of the doubt.

Many subreddits also set their own minimums: a karma threshold, a minimum account age, or both, often enforced automatically. The rules are in each subreddit’s sidebar or wiki, and they differ from one community to the next.

How to get karma on Reddit, step by step

1. Pick communities where you know things

   Karma comes fastest where you can actually help. Choose a few subreddits on topics you know well, from your work or a hobby, and that are active enough that new posts get answers. The subreddit finder ranks subreddits for a topic by how often it comes up, the replies those threads get and how recent they are.

2. Read the rules and lurk first

   Read the sidebar, the pinned posts and the wiki. Spend a few days reading new and top posts to see what the community values, what gets removed, and what questions keep coming back. Being a lurker for a while is how most good members start.

3. Answer questions in new posts

   Sort by new and answer questions early, while there is still room to be one of the first useful replies. A specific answer that solves the problem (steps, a number, what you tried, what to avoid) earns more upvotes than a general one, and much more trust.

4. Write comments people want to upvote

   • Answer the question that was asked, first, and keep it readable: short paragraphs, a list for steps.
   • Share experience: what happened when you did it, not what you read somewhere.
   • Admit what you don’t know, and correct yourself if someone shows you are wrong.
   • Leave your product out unless someone asks, and say that it is yours when you mention it.

5. Post things the community values

   Once you know the community, post: a write-up of something you learned, a guide to a question that keeps coming up, results with the details people ask for, a good question of your own. Follow the posting rules and flair, and stay to answer the comments: the discussion under your post earns comment karma too.

6. Keep at it, a little each week

   A few useful comments most days does more than a burst once a month. Karma grows slowly at first and then faster, as you learn what a community likes and members start to recognise your name.

What not to do

These shortcuts break Reddit’s rules. Reddit and moderators look for them, and the usual result is removed posts, a ban from the subreddit, a shadowban, or the account suspended for good.

• Karma farming: reposting other people’s popular content, or posting low-effort content in subreddits created to hand out upvotes. Moderators recognise it, and many communities ban accounts that come from those subreddits.
• Buying or selling accounts and upvotes: against Reddit’s rules, and bought accounts often have a history that gets them caught.
• Vote manipulation: asking friends, colleagues or groups to upvote, using several accounts, or trading votes. See vote manipulation and sockpuppets.
• Posting the same thing in many subreddits at once: it looks like spam, and Reddit’s filters treat it as spam.
• Self-promotion before trust: linking your own site in most of what you post. Many communities follow a rule of thumb that most of your activity should not be about your own thing; read about self-promotion.

Common questions about Reddit karma

How much karma do I need to post?

It depends on the subreddit. Many have no minimum; some set one, sometimes together with an account age, and may not publish the exact number. If a post is removed automatically, read the subreddit’s rules or message the moderators politely.

Does karma go down?

Yes. Downvoted posts and comments can lower it, and removed content may stop counting. A downvoted comment is usually feedback: read the replies and learn what the community did not like.

Is it worth getting karma for marketing?

Only as a side effect of being a useful member. The real value is the reputation in the few communities your customers use. Read Reddit marketing and how to find customers on Reddit for what to do once you are a regular.

Find the right threads with OpenReach

The hardest part of earning karma honestly is finding the posts where your answer helps, while they are new. OpenReach does the searching:

• The subreddit finder shows where your topic is discussed most, with example threads.
• The customer finder finds people asking about a problem, across Reddit, Quora, Hacker News and forums, ranked by intent, and a conversation monitor brings new ones to you.
• Reddit advanced search explains how to search Reddit yourself with operators.