Reddit self-promotion rules by subreddit: where founders can post without getting banned
A subreddit-by-subreddit table of self-promotion rules for founders in 2026: which ones welcome your product, which allow it once with a flair, which only allow it in a pinned thread, and which ban it outright.
Reddit is the best free channel for a new product and the easiest place to lose an account. Both are true because every subreddit has its own rules, enforced by volunteer moderators who have seen ten thousand "I built a tool" posts before yours.
This is the table we wish existed when we started. It covers the subreddits founders actually post in, sorted by how much promotion they allow. The rules were checked in September 2026 against each subreddit's published rules and the third-party rule trackers that watch them. Moderators change rules without notice, so read the sidebar and the pinned posts on the day you post.
The rules that apply on every subreddit
Before the table, three things that get accounts banned site-wide, regardless of subreddit rules:
- Spam, as Reddit defines it. Reddit's Content Policy prohibits repeated, unwanted or unsolicited actions. In practice: an account whose history is mostly links to one site gets caught by the spam filter, and its posts silently stop appearing. Moderators also look at your history before approving a post.
- Vote manipulation. Asking friends, Slack groups or Twitter followers to upvote counts. So do upvote-exchange groups. Reddit detects it and bans the accounts involved.
- The 90/10 guideline. Not a site rule anymore, but most moderators enforce some version of it: roughly nine out of ten things you post or comment should have nothing to do with your product. New accounts with no history and one promotional post are the easiest removals a moderator makes all day.
The safest way to promote on Reddit is not to promote: answer questions in threads where people ask for what you built, and mention your product in one sentence with a disclosure. That works in almost every subreddit, including the ones that ban promotional posts, because it is a comment, not a post.
The table
| Subreddit | Can you post your product? | How, and what gets it removed |
|---|---|---|
| r/SideProject | Yes, it is the point | Show a working product with what you built, why, and what feedback you want. Removed: bare links, waitlist or email-gate pages, reposts, affiliate products, upvote begging. Reciprocity is expected: comment on other people's projects. |
| r/alphaandbetausers | Yes | Post must offer free access and say clearly what you are testing and what testers get. Use the flair. |
| r/roastmystartup | Yes | Post the URL and a short description. You are asking for harsh feedback; defensive replies get you roasted harder. |
| r/microsaas | Yes, case by case | Small SaaS products and the stories behind them. Post the journey, numbers and decisions; a bare pitch is removed. |
| r/EntrepreneurRideAlong | Yes, build-in-public style | Progress posts with real detail. Tool mentions are fine when they are part of the story. |
| r/vibecoding, r/lovable, r/cursor | Usually, as a build story | Share what you built and how: prompts, stack, what broke. Read each sidebar; some require a flair. A launch announcement with no build detail is the post most likely to be removed. |
| r/indiehackers | Once per product | Use the SHOW IH flair and frame it as a feedback request, not an announcement. Posting the same product again is removed. Revenue claims need proof. |
| r/SaaS | Once per 60 days per product | As of April 2026: one promotional post, comment plug or link per product every 60 days, with disclosure. Repeat violations can get your domain blacklisted by AutoMod. Affiliate, reseller and white-label offers are removed. |
| r/startups | Only in the pinned thread | Share Your Startup thread, pinned at the top. Standalone promotional posts are removed however they are framed. Flair is mandatory on every post; the "I will not promote" flair is for discussions where you agree not to mention your company. |
| r/smallbusiness | Only in the weekly thread | Promote-your-business thread only. Mentioning your business in a genuinely relevant reply elsewhere is allowed; abusing that exception is moderated. |
| r/Entrepreneur | No, except designated threads | The rule prohibits selling, promoting, recruiting or driving traffic to your company. Free offers and promotions go in the weekly threads only. Discussion posts about your business that ask a real question usually survive if there is no link. |
| r/webdev | Saturdays only | Project and portfolio posts are limited to Showoff Saturday with that flair, and must focus on the technical side. Any other day, removed. |
| r/reactjs, r/programming | Rarely, as a technical post | Expect the 9:1 ratio to be checked. A write-up of a technical decision with the product as context is fine; a product post is not. |
| r/InternetIsBeautiful | Not for most apps | Requires the 90/10 history. Excludes aggregators, sites whose content or functionality is AI-driven, and tools aimed at businesses (launch tools, SEO, job boards). Fun, single-purpose sites only. |
| r/marketing, r/productivity, r/freelance, r/sales | No | Promotion banned outright. Useful for research and for answering questions without a link. |
How to write a post that survives
Across the subreddits that allow promotion, the same post structure gets approved and the same one gets removed.
Approved: a title that describes what you built and one specific thing about it ("I built a tool that turns a Notion page into a client portal; here is what I got wrong about pricing"). A body that covers why you built it, what it does, what you used to build it, what you learned, and one specific question for the community. The link near the end, not the top. A disclosure that it is yours.
Removed: a title that is a slogan. A body that is the landing page copy pasted in. A link to a waitlist. No question. An account created this week with no other activity.
Then stay in the thread. Answer every comment within an hour for the first few hours, including the rude ones. A post with the founder answering questions reads as a conversation; a post with no replies reads as an ad, and moderators treat it as one.
Comments beat posts
The most reliable Reddit traffic for a new product does not come from posts at all. It comes from comments in threads where someone asked "is there a tool that does X". Those threads exist in every subreddit, including the ones that ban promotion, and a helpful answer with a one-line disclosure is allowed almost everywhere.
To find them: search Google for site:reddit.com "is there a tool" [your problem] and site:reddit.com "recommend" [category], filter to the past year, and set up F5Bot (free) to email you when your keywords appear in new posts. Answer the person's question first, fully. Mention your product last, in one sentence, with "I built this". Threads that rank in Google keep sending visitors for months after you comment.
Do this by hand, from an account you actually use. Tools that post to Reddit for you are the fastest route to a ban, which is why AutoTraction, on a waitlist for a September 2026 launch, finds the threads and drafts the replies but leaves the posting to you.
Before you post: a checklist
- Account is older than a month and has comments unrelated to your product.
- You read the sidebar rules and the pinned posts today.
- The post has a flair if the subreddit uses them.
- The product is live and usable, not a waitlist (except where the subreddit allows it).
- The body explains what, why, how, and asks one question.
- You disclosed that it is yours.
- You have the next two hours free to answer comments.
- You are not posting the same thing to another subreddit today.
If a post is removed, do not repost it. Message the moderators politely, ask what rule it broke, and fix it. Most will tell you. Reposting a removed post is the one move that turns a removal into a ban.