As if streaming price hikes weren't enough of a drain on your wallet, you may soon have to pay to peruse your favorite subreddits. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman announced plans to lock select subreddits behind a paywall, marking a stark departure from the platform’s historically open-access model.
In a taped video Ask Me Anything (AMA) session following the company’s quarterly earnings report this week, Huffman said Reddit is testing out some kind of "paid subreddit" feature that's slated to roll out later this year. "It's a work in progress right now," he said, "We're working on it as we speak." When asked about new features coming to Reddit in 2025, Huffman responded that paid subreddits were on the list.
Previously, Huffman suggested the company could experiment with some kind of paid content model, and it appears to be moving forward with that plan. Last year, the CEO said Reddit was considering building a new type of subreddit with exclusive content or private servers hidden behind a paywall.
No timeline yet for paid subreddits
Unfortunately, there are scant few details about how paid subreddits will actually work whenever they do launch. In theory, the paid subreddits would be limited to new communities, so that no existing subreddits would suddenly disappear behind a paywall. In the past, Huffman has assured users that the free version of Reddit would remain a top focus.
“I think the existing, altruistic, free version of Reddit will continue to exist and grow and thrive just the way it has,” Huffman said during an earnings call in August 2024. “But now we will unlock the door for new use cases, new types of subreddits that can be built that may have exclusive content or private areas, things of that nature.”
The idea of a paid or member-only subreddit isn’t completely unheard of. Currently, you can only access the subreddit r/lounge if you have Reddit Gold, which can be purchased with real-world money. Reddit also pays some users for posting as part of the newly launched Reddit Contributor program. It's possible Reddit could take a page from Patreon's book and let moderators put certain content behind paywalls, which might soften the sting a bit, but we'll have to wait to hear more.
Huffman didn't outline a timeline for when Reddit users can expect these changes to roll out, but it's likely we'll see paid-only subreddits before the year is out. And we have Reddit's continued quest for profitability to thank for it. Last year, the company reported a net loss of $484.3 million despite its strong advertising growth.
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