Reddit CEO says paid subreddits are coming this year

You could soon pay to access certain subreddits, according to comments shared by Reddit CEO Steve Huffman during a taped video AMA (Ask Me Anything). Huffman has suggested the company might experiment with some kind of Reddit paywall before, and now its apparently happening.

When asked if he could share information about the development of paid subreddits, Huffman said that “It’s a work in progress right now, so that one’s coming.” To a follow up question about new features coming to Reddit in 2025, Huffman said “Paid subreddits? Yes,” confirming they’re on the list.

Unfortunately there’s little detail as to how paid subreddits will actually work when they do launch. It might make sense for only Reddit Premium subscribers to be able to access paid subreddits, for example. As Ars Technica notes, Reddit does offer an exclusive subreddit for subscribers called r/lounge. The company also currently pays some users for posting via the Reddit Contributor Program. The pieces for a paywall are there, but you have to fill in more than a few blanks to get them to fit together.

However they happen, paid subreddits continue Reddit’s goal of monetizing as much of its user-generated content as possible after going public in 2024. The company has signed licensing deals with both OpenAI and Google, and is currently pulling on users’ posts to answer questions with its Reddit Answers chatbot, all in an attempt to squeeze as much value out of the content it already has. A paywall is maybe a blunter way to make that happen, but it’s not surprising.