Here’s How Third-Party Reddit Apps Are Managing After The Big API Fiasco

Even if you’re not a “redditor,” you probably heard something last year about the falling out Reddit had with its own users and various third-party apps that had been accessing the website’s content.

A brief recap

Basically, Reddit decided to start charging a lot more to apps that were using its application programming interface (or API), resulting in a deal that critics felt was predatory and unfair.

As a result, a number of prominent subreddits went dark, making all of their content private in protest of the decision.

And several notable apps simply shut down or shifted to other websites due to the inability to absorb the added cost of doing business with Reddit.

Most of those that remained were forced to start charging users a fee to help offset the new charges, but not all of them. Some have found ways to bypass Reddit’s API, offering niche services that might not provide everything avid users want but also not warranting a monthly subscription fee.

The dust has settled

It’s been months since the backlash began and almost all of the protesting subreddits are now public again. The apps that remain have revamped their pricing structure and a lot of users have shown a willingness to pay the fee in order to support the services they have come to value.

Pricing structures include flat monthly fees and tiers based on how much users access the site.

There haven’t been any major changes on Reddit’s part lately, so we can probably expect the status quo to remain in effect for the foreseeable future. But as the platform proved last year, it’s not always going to make popular decisions just to satisfy redditors and developers.

So those apps that remain in business do so with the knowledge that everything could change quickly.

Chris Agee February 3rd, 2024

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