Reddit API changes: the timeline to the 2027 public API shutdown

Reddit is closing its public API in stages. New access requests stop on October 31, 2026. Unregistered apps start getting cut off on January 12, 2027, and public access ends for everyone still left in March 2027. Reddit posted those dates in r/redditdev on September 30, 2026 (checked 2026-10-14).

These Reddit API changes finish a process that began with the 2023 pricing. Below is every date we could verify against Reddit's own posts, with the few that come only from press reports marked as such. Then we cover who is affected, what Reddit offers instead, and how developers should decide what to do next. That last part includes an honest look at hosted APIs like ours, which carry their own risk.

The Reddit API changes timeline, 2023 to 2027

Reddit also lists progress updates on November 10, 2026 and February 23, 2027. It hasn't named a day in March 2027, so treat March 1 as the safe deadline.

Most people remember the 2023 change because it ended apps like Apollo. Our Reddit API pricing guide covers what that pricing meant and what it costs now. The 2026 changes concern access. For most new developers there will soon be nothing left to buy.

The quieter steps in between

Two steps got far less attention than the headlines. In June 2025 Reddit cut OAuth tokens from three per account to one, saying it had seen "an uptick in accounts abusing our Data API policies via scraping the site." Then in May 2026 it shut unauthenticated JSON. For years, appending .json to a Reddit URL had been the easiest way to read Reddit from code. That left RSS as the last open structured surface, and it goes on November 13. Our post on Reddit RSS feeds ending covers that change and how to replace a feed.

What changed between August and September 2026

Put the two r/redditdev posts side by side and you can see how fast the schedule moved. On August 5, Reddit wrote that "None of this is changing today. It honestly won't happen this year." It asked developers to register their apps by September 30 so their feedback could shape the roadmap, and said it would come back "later this year" with a porting deadline.

Eight weeks later, the September 30 post set October 31, 2026 as the cutoff for new requests. That date is still inside the year. Existing apps got more time, through January and March 2027. But anyone who read the August post as "nothing happens until 2027" lost most of their runway for filing a new request.

At least one change still has no date. When Reddit closed JSON access, a longtime bot developer mentioned the "upcoming monotonic comment id deprecation", and a Reddit admin replied: "On the comment ID deprecation piece, we don't have a timeline yet". Archives rely on sequential ids to walk Reddit in order. In an October thread about archive tools, one moderator wrote that "It's not really the changes to the API that are killing AS and similar, it's upcoming randomization of id's." If your product crawls Reddit in sequence, watch for that announcement.

Who the Reddit API shutdown affects

It affects almost everyone who reads Reddit from outside Reddit, each for a different reason.

Mod bots and community tools

This group has the most to lose and the most contact with Reddit. More than 14,000 apps and bots have registered, and Reddit says RemindMeBot, DeltaBot and MagicEyeBot have finished migrating or are close. The ones still stuck are large Python codebases. One moderator listed Devvit's limits as "short run time, no relational database, missing APIs, nearly impossible debugging in production". Another wrote that they can't see Python reaching the roadmap by March, "much less have the time to port it over in that time."

Researchers and archives

Reddit's help article on accessing Reddit data names Reddit for Researchers as the only authorized route for research. Community archives that mods use to check post history are worse off. When someone in r/redditdev asked whether tools like Arctic Shift would survive, a longtime mod answered: "Services like those are literally why Reddit is shutting down the Public API". A moderator of teen subreddits replied that it was "the ONLY way to know if some people have posted in the past" that they were adults posing as teens.

Third-party apps

Mobile clients and accessibility apps can stay on the public API only with a written agreement. Asked about the Narwhal client, a Reddit admin said: "We'll have exemptions for partners with written agreements in place like accessibility apps or mobile clients, like Narwhal, that require public API access." A third-party client without one has until March 2027.

AI agents and products that read Reddit from outside

Devvit apps run inside Reddit and get installed into communities. A SaaS dashboard, a research pipeline or an AI agent that needs to search Reddit doesn't work that way. One developer described the gap: "I want to build tools that allow users of my app to post and listen for relevant content using standard REST APIs, not have to build an app that has to be installed into communities." Watchful1, who maintains RemindMeBot, answered: "That's intentional. Reddit does not want people consuming reddit content off reddit."

One-off scripts

This group is the hardest to see and may be the largest. A mod explained that much of their API use is "ad-hoc scripts that don't necessarily make sense long term", and that Devvit "requires more setup and boilerplate than writing a 30 line python script on my computer." Nobody registers a script they run twice a month, so these will stop in March and nobody will see it coming.

What Reddit offers instead

Devvit and the migration program

For most developers, Reddit's answer is Devvit. The $1M App Migration Program pays $1,000 to eligible apps that migrate, offers free hosting and Developer Funds eligibility, and includes migration guides and office hours. Reddit has also added external endpoints, which let outside servers call into a Devvit app, and widened HTTP fetch allowlisting for existing moderation bots. Start with the Data API/PRAW to Devvit migration guide. Devvit apps are written in TypeScript or JavaScript, and Reddit's August post says Python support isn't on the roadmap.

Commercial agreements and data licensing

Companies need a contract. The Data API Terms forbid commercial use or resale without Reddit's written approval. At the top end, Reddit licenses data directly: Google's February 2024 announcement says it "now has access to Reddit's Data API," and OpenAI signed a similar deal in May 2024 (press-sourced). Reddit doesn't publish terms or criteria for smaller companies. Our post on how to get a Reddit API key collects what developers report about the request forms.

Reddit for Researchers

Academic access goes through Reddit for Researchers, which you apply for by ticket. Reddit's Responsible Builder Policy treats research on data gathered outside that program as a violation.

The case for Reddit closing the public API

Reddit's argument deserves a fair hearing. The August post says the public API "wasn't built for today's scale, automated abuse, or commercial scraping," and the May post describes "large-scale scraping, spam networks, agentic account creation, and automated abuse." A single platform with review, labels and enforcement is easier to police than an open API anyone can hit. Some critics agree Devvit has improved. shiruken, an r/science moderator who regularly pressed Reddit about the API's future, wrote: "Devvit is great. It's certainly demonstrating that people will choose to build using the tools with the most features".

In September, the same moderator was harsher. shiruken called it "the final step of a multi-year effort to prevent anyone from accessing that data for free." Both can be true. Devvit is a good home for apps that live inside a subreddit, but not for code that reads Reddit from outside, and Reddit has said that's by design.

What developers should do: a decision guide

Whatever row you're in, do three things this month. List every place your code calls reddit.com, including cron jobs and old scripts. Register anything that should survive January 12. Then put Reddit access behind one module, so swapping the source later means changing one file. Our Reddit API guide compares the remaining access routes endpoint by endpoint.

Where hosted Reddit APIs fit, and their risks

A hosted API is a third party that collects Reddit data and sells access through its own key. ChatterAPI is one. It is independent of Reddit, Inc., read-only on Reddit, and needs no Reddit developer account. Every hosted Reddit API, ours included, depends on Reddit's platform. The changes in this timeline, such as login walls, id randomization and new blocking, can break or limit any provider. Nobody outside Reddit can promise what access looks like after March 2027, so be wary of anyone who does.

What a hosted API gives you today is a working call with no application and no wait. Here is a thread export with GET /v1/reddit/threads/{id}, the kind of read a mod tool or research script makes. It costs 3 credits per page.

curl -s "https://api.chatterapi.com/v1/reddit/threads/1wdihhj" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $CHATTERAPI_KEY"

import os, requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://api.chatterapi.com/v1/reddit/threads/1wdihhj",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['CHATTERAPI_KEY']}"},
    timeout=30,
)
thread = r.json()["data"]
print(thread["post"]["title"], thread["post"]["numComments"])
for c in thread["comments"]:
    print(c["score"], c["author"], c["body"][:80])

This is a real response, trimmed. It comes from a test key, which returns one recorded real response per endpoint for free, so charged is 0.

{
  "data": {
    "post": {
      "id": "1wdihhj",
      "title": "What CRM should a small business use?",
      "author": "NotedWhisky",
      "subreddit": "CRM",
      "score": 52,
      "numComments": 186,
      "createdAt": "2026-09-11T14:52:16.000Z"
    },
    "comments": [
      {
        "id": "p9636y0",
        "parentId": null,
        "author": "OstrichSome3412",
        "body": "Just a FYI, don’t buy for the company you imagine having in 5 years. Buy for the next 12 or 18 months and make sure exporting your data isn’t painful if you eventually need something heavier.",
        "score": 6,
        "createdAt": "2026-09-11T15:02:24.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "page": { "nextCursor": null, "hasMore": false },
  "credits": { "charged": 0, "remaining": 719 },
  "requestId": "req_01M4WZHAN9TYEDPEJAF3",
  "cached": true
}

If you use any hosted source, ours included, keep the one-module rule from the decision guide. Store what you've fetched so a provider outage doesn't take your product down. Honour deletions when users remove content. And don't build a business that only works if one source stays open forever.

Plan your Reddit API migration this week

October 31 is close. If you already have an app, register it today. If you're building something new that reads Reddit from outside, sign up with Google for 100 free credits (no card needed), run the thread call above against your own subreddit, and check that the data shape fits before you commit. Plans start at $19/month for 25,000 credits (pricing).