Reddit Public Data API
Retrieve public Reddit posts and comments from known URLs, browse new, top, or hot subreddit posts, or search discussions by keyword and publication window.
Available Reddit APIs
Use Posts for one known post, Comments for its public replies, Subreddit Posts for a community feed, or Search for keyword-based discovery.
What Reddit data can you retrieve?
SocQ returns normalized public Reddit content with community, reply, discovery, engagement, and collection-time context for discussion analysis.
Posts and visible engagement
Retrieve titles, body text, authors, flair, community context, media, source URLs, and visible metrics anchored to collected_at.
Comments and reply relationships
Retrieve public comment text, authors, source-post and parent-comment references, timestamps, upvotes, and reply counts.
Subreddit discovery
Browse new, top, or hot posts from /r/{subreddit} URLs with a separate result limit for each community.
Keyword search
Search public posts by text query and publication window while keeping the matched post and discovery context together.
SocQ vs Reddit Data API
SocQ provides public Reddit collection workflows. Reddit's Data API is the official interface for approved apps that access or modify Reddit data.
| Capability | SocQ | Reddit Data API |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use | Collect public posts, comments, subreddit listings and search results | Build approved Reddit apps, integrations and moderation tools |
| Authentication | SocQ API key; no Reddit user OAuth | Reddit approval, OAuth credentials and a declared app identity |
| Starting input | Public post or subreddit URL, or a text query | Reddit endpoints, fullnames, listing parameters and OAuth scopes |
| Post, vote or moderate | Not supported | Supported for approved use cases with required user scopes |
| Response format | Normalized SocQ records | Native Reddit objects and listings |
How the Reddit API works
Direct collection, subreddit browsing, and keyword search use the same asynchronous task and paginated result workflow.
1. Submit your input
Send post URLs, subreddit URLs, or a search query to the matching API and save the returned task_id.
2. Track the task
Poll /v1/tasks/{task_id} until processing is complete.
3. Retrieve the results
Read data.results.items and use next_cursor while has_more is true.
Authenticate with your SocQ API key and submit a keyword with a publication window. The other Reddit APIs use the same task flow.
curl -X POST "https://api.socq.ai/v1/reddit/search" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SOCQ_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"query":"machine learning","results_limit":100,"published_within":"month"}'
# Poll GET /v1/tasks/{task_id}
# Read data.results.items and follow next_cursor while has_more is trueCommon Reddit API use cases
Community monitoring
Collect new, top, or hot posts from selected subreddits and compare visible activity across communities.
Discussion and response analysis
Study post content, comment text, reply relationships, authors, and collection-time engagement within selected discussions.
Topic and market research
Search defined keywords and time windows to find public discussions around products, brands, competitors, or trends.
Research archives and datasets
Preserve public posts, comments, source links, community context, timestamps, and visible metrics for repeatable analysis.
Limits and public-data policy
Reddit results are point-in-time public records. These APIs do not access private communities, deleted content, account data, or moderation controls.
- Posts and Comments accept supported post URLs or redd.it links. Subreddit Posts requires an exact /r/{subreddit} path.
- Subreddit Posts supports new, top, or hot ordering, with results_limit applied separately to each subreddit URL.
- Search accepts one query, a results_limit from 1 to 2,000, and an hour, day, week, month, year, or all publication window. It does not expose subreddit or sort filters.
- Posts and Comments remain separate resources; a post includes comments_count but not individual comment records.
- Comments returns visible public comments but does not guarantee a complete reply tree or full historical discussion depth.
- Visible metrics are snapshots anchored to collected_at. Optional fields may be null or empty when the public source does not expose them.
Reddit API frequently asked questions
What is the Reddit API?
The Reddit API is a set of SocQ endpoints for retrieving known public posts and comments, browsing subreddit posts, and searching public discussions by keyword and publication window.
Which Reddit links are accepted?
Posts and Comments accept supported /r/{subreddit}/comments/{post_id} paths or redd.it links. Subreddit Posts accepts an exact /r/{subreddit} path.
Which Reddit API should I choose?
Use Posts for a known post, Comments for its public replies, Subreddit Posts for a community listing, and Search for keyword-based discovery.
How do subreddit browsing and Reddit search differ?
Subreddit Posts browses new, top, or hot posts from exact /r/{subreddit} URLs. Search finds public posts from one text query and publication window.
Are Reddit comments and engagement metrics complete or real time?
No. Comments reflects visible public replies returned at collection time, and engagement values are point-in-time snapshots rather than complete history or real-time feeds.
How is Reddit collection priced?
Each Posts or Subreddit Posts result costs 0.5 credits, each comment costs 0.3 credits, and each Search result costs 0.6 credits; an empty result set has no result charge.