Paid subreddits coming in 2025, CEO says

A new feature is expected to roll out on Reddit later this year that could put some content behind a paywall. 

Reddit’s co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman spoke more on the idea of paid subreddits in a recent company Ask Me Anything (AMA).

Here’s what to know:

What is Reddit? 

The backstory:

Reddit is a technology and social network company that was founded more than 20 years ago. It is a sought-after space for internet discussions of any topic within communities, also known as subreddits.  

Reddit has more than 100 million daily active users, Huffman said last week, who visit the site to discuss a range of topics from silly memes to existential worries, as well as to get recommendations from like-minded people.

Despite its popularity, Reddit has had trouble turning profit since it was founded in 2005. It’s been looking for ways to boost revenue, and went public in March of last year. 

By the numbers:

By tech industry’s standards though, Reddit remains small for a company that has been around since 2005.

Last year, Reddit’s annual revenue generation was just below $1 billion. For comparison, Meta boasts an annual revenue of $135 billion. 

Meta had a market value of more than $1.2 trillion in 2024. Reddit’s market value was priced at $6.4 billion when it went public last March. 

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Paid subreddits

What we know:

Huffman has talked about the idea of paid subreddits before, and mentioned that when asked about it again in a recent AMA alongside Chief Operating Officer Jen Wong and Chief Financial Officer Drew Volleror. 

"That one’s coming. We’re working on it as we speak," Hoffman said. 

A paid subreddit would put a paywall, of sorts, around designated content, meaning that only members who pay could access that subreddit, or "community," and see its content.

What we don't know:

Hoffman didn’t elaborate on the timeline users can expect for the paid subreddits. 

He also didn’t indicate how much users could expect to pay for some content, or if the amount would be fixed by Reddit or perhaps set by the creator. 

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What's next:

Hoffman spoke on some other new key features that Reddit users can expect for 2025:

• Paid subreddits
• Improved search results
• Reddit Answers, which uses AI to summarize search results from Reddit’s user base
• Laying the foundation for an eventual marketplace