Reddit guide

Subreddit Karma Requirements: What Subs Ask For, Where to Find It, and How to Qualify

Subreddit karma requirements are the minimums each community sets before it lets you post: karma, account age, a verified email, or its own verification process. There's no sitewide minimum karma to post on Reddit. Each subreddit decides, and Reddit doesn't show the exact numbers. You meet them by genuinely participating, and agencies track them account by account with tools like ReddyTracker.

Updated 9 min read

Key takeaways

  • Karma roughly reflects the votes your posts and comments get. It's split into post karma and comment karma.
  • Each subreddit sets its own requirements: karma (total, post, comment, or earned inside that sub), account age, verified email, mod verification, language, or flair.
  • Many thresholds aren't published. Reddit tells you which requirement you're missing, not the number.
  • You earn karma by participating. Karma farming, vote trading, and voting from multiple accounts all break Reddit's rules.
  • For an agency, the key is knowing where each account can post before anyone posts.

What Reddit karma is: post karma vs. comment karma

Reddit karma reflects the upvotes and downvotes your posts and comments receive. Reddit's official "What is karma?" article calls it an approximate reflection: upvotes and karma don't have a 1:1 relationship.

Your profile shows two kinds:

  • Post karma: earned from your submissions.
  • Comment karma: earned from your replies in threads.

On reddit.com, click your avatar, choose View Profile, and hover over your total karma to see the split. In the app, go to your profile and open the About tab.

There's a third number that's easy to overlook and matters a lot: the karma you've earned inside a specific subreddit. AutoModerator, the tool moderators use to automate their rules, can check your total karma, post karma, comment karma, and the karma you've earned in that particular community.

What Reddit karma is actually for

Karma isn't a currency. Its real job is to signal that an account genuinely participates, and both Reddit and moderators lean on it to keep spam out.

  • Access to subreddits. Some communities require a minimum amount of karma before you can post. Reddit says they do this to prevent spam.
  • Rate limits. Reddit limits how often you can post and comment if your account is new or low on karma. That's the "You're doing that too much" message.
  • Quality filters. Reddit assigns every account a Contributor Quality Score in one of five tiers, based on signals like past actions on the account, network and location signals, and whether you've secured it (for example, by verifying your email). Mods can filter content by tier, and the reputation filter they can turn on factors in karma and verification.

Reddit puts it with a wink: don't set out to accumulate karma. Be a good contributor and let karma reflect that.

Typical subreddit requirements

Every subreddit sets its own conditions. These are the most common ones and where to check them:

RequirementWhat it usually meansWhere it's checked
Minimum karmaA floor for total, post, or comment karma, or for karma earned inside that subAutoModerator checks it when you post; sometimes it's in the rules
Account ageMinimum time since you created the account; it can be measured in hours, days, weeks, or monthsYour profile, under "Reddit Age"
Verified emailThe account needs a verified email (AutoModerator also accepts a verified phone number)Account settings
Subreddit verificationA community-specific process to confirm who's behind the accountRules, wiki, or a pinned post; moderators review it
Approved userOnly accounts the mods have approved can postRequest it through modmail
Language and topicPosts must be in the sub's language and fit its topic or nicheSubreddit rules
Required flairYou have to pick a tag when you create the postWhen posting
Account qualityFilters mods enable based on the account's quality scoreNot published

One useful detail about subreddit verification and approved users: according to Reddit, accounts that mods add as approved users don't get caught by filters like the reputation filter. That's a good reason to follow each community's verification process exactly as it describes it.

Where requirements are posted, and why you sometimes can't see them

Published requirements usually live in three places: the subreddit rules (on the web, typically in the sidebar), the sub's wiki, and pinned posts. Reddiquette reminds you to read a community's rules before submitting.

The tricky part is what isn't published. Reddit has a Poster Eligibility Guide: when you select Create a post in a community, a window shows which karma, account age, and verification criteria you meet and which you don't. But Reddit states that the specific karma and account age thresholds communities use aren't disclosed at this time, to deter misuse.

There are more gray areas:

  • The eligibility guide is based on AutoModerator rules that remove posts. If a sub sets a rule to filter instead, the guide won't warn you: you can submit, but the post is held until a moderator reviews it.
  • Moderators can turn on safety filters (reputation, ban evasion, and others) that never show up in the rules.
  • Rules change. A requirements list someone copied months ago may be wrong today.

How to check a subreddit's requirements before posting

  1. Read the full rules. Not just the rule titles: the descriptions often spell out karma, account age, or formatting.
  2. Check the wiki and pinned posts. That's usually where verification processes are explained.
  3. Click Create a post. If Reddit shows the eligibility guide, you'll know which requirement you're missing.
  4. Ask for access when needed. If the sub requires verification or approval, message the mods through modmail and follow their instructions.
  5. Ask when in doubt. Reddit suggests contacting a community's moderators if you're unsure whether your content fits or counts as spam there.

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How to get karma on Reddit the legitimate way

Reddit's official advice on earning karma is simple: participate in communities you're interested in and make posts and comments people enjoy. In practice, this is what works:

  • Comment where you know something. A useful reply in an active thread earns comment karma, which is exactly what some subs ask for.
  • Post content that fits. On topic, in the right format, and within the rules.
  • Start in communities that welcome new accounts. Reddit's help center points to a list of new-user-friendly communities maintained by r/NewToReddit, which is an unofficial community.
  • Earn karma inside the sub you want to post in. Reddit says even a small amount of karma from commenting in that community can help you get past its spam filter.
  • Verify your email. Some subs require it, and it's one of the account quality signals.
  • Let account age build. You can't speed it up. A new account needs time, and a sensible posting pace.

What Reddit prohibits

Some shortcuts go straight against Reddit's rules and can end in removals, bans, or an account flagged for spam:

  • Karma farming. Repeatedly posting or sharing old content to gain karma quickly counts as spam under Reddit's policy.
  • Vote trading. Coordinating with a group to vote on a post is vote manipulation under Reddit's Disrupting Communities policy.
  • Voting from multiple accounts. Reddit allows multiple accounts, but not using them to vote on the same posts or comments.
  • Automated karma. Any automated means of manipulating karma is prohibited.
  • Asking for upvotes. Reddiquette asks you not to hint at or ask for votes.

If an account's posts suddenly go invisible, read our guide to the Reddit shadowban.

Subreddits without karma requirements: what's true

Subreddits without karma requirements, or with very low ones, do exist, and Reddit itself recommends r/NewToReddit's list as a starting point. Keep three things in mind:

  • No published requirement doesn't mean no filters. Reddit's rate limit for new accounts and the safety filters mods turn on still apply.
  • Lists go stale. Moderators change their rules whenever they want, and they don't have to announce it.
  • No karma minimum doesn't mean promotion is welcome. Always check what a sub says about links and self-promotion.

The reliable way to know whether an account can post in a sub is to read its rules, check the eligibility guide, and lean on where you've already posted without problems.

How to know where every account in your agency can post

With one account, checking rules by hand is doable. For an agency with several creators, dozens of accounts, and a team of VAs, it isn't: every account has different karma and age, every sub asks for something different, and rules change. The usual result is removed posts, wasted work, and accounts piling up removals.

ReddyTracker, the Reddit CRM for OnlyFans agencies that work Reddit, handles this in two steps:

  • Each sub's requirements, read by AI. The AI reads every subreddit's rules and pulls out minimum karma, account age, verification, language, and niche, citing the rule each one comes from. If the rule doesn't say, it labels the requirement "sin comprobar" (not checked). It never makes one up.
  • Eligibility per account. It matches each account's karma and age against those requirements and sorts subs into three lists: can post, almost there, and needs permission. It also shows the subs where that account has already posted without problems.
ReddyTracker eligibility screen showing an account's data and the can post, almost there, and needs permission lists
Where an account can post, matched against each sub's published rules.

All of this runs on current data: each account's karma syncs with Reddit automatically, with no browser extensions, and the radar covers more than 7,000 subreddits, with new subs added every night. For new accounts, warm-up guides lay out each day's tasks and show every account's progress. And duplicate protection blocks saving two accounts from the same creator to the same sub. More in how to manage multiple Reddit accounts.

ReddyTracker list of subreddits where an account meets the published requirements
Subreddits where the account meets the published requirements.

No tool can read thresholds Reddit doesn't disclose. That's why the "not checked" label and your own posting history matter so much. To pick the right time to post as well, see our guide to the best time to post on Reddit, or try ReddyTracker free for 60 days with 2 creators, no credit card required.

Frequently asked questions

What's the minimum karma to post on Reddit?

There's no sitewide minimum. Each subreddit decides whether to require karma and how much, and Reddit doesn't disclose the exact thresholds. What does apply everywhere is a rate limit on new and low-karma accounts.

What's the difference between post karma and comment karma?

Post karma comes from votes on your submissions; comment karma comes from votes on your replies. Some subs require one specifically, others look at the total, and others check the karma you've earned inside that community.

Can Reddit karma go negative?

Comment karma can. According to Reddit's AutoModerator documentation, comment karma won't go below −100 and post karma won't go below 0.

How do I check my Reddit account age?

Look for "Reddit Age" on your profile. On reddit.com, hover over it to see the exact creation date. That date is your cake day, and Reddit shows a cake icon next to your username on each anniversary.

Does Reddit Premium get around karma requirements?

No. Reddit says Premium doesn't affect its spam filter and isn't a quick way around earning karma. Each subreddit's requirements stay the same.

Does ReddyTracker know every subreddit's requirements?

It uses AI to read the published rules of the subs in its radar, which covers more than 7,000, and cites the rule behind each requirement. If a rule says nothing, it labels the requirement "sin comprobar" (not checked) instead of guessing. The app interface is currently in Spanish; onboarding and support are in Spanish.

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