How to get karma on Reddit without risking your account

Reddit's own help page tells you not to chase karma. The same page warns that some subreddits won't let you post until you have some.

Both are true. The way through is slower than the internet promises, and it keeps the account alive.

Here is how to get karma on Reddit, in 5 parts, with 6 things you can copy.

Save this. You'll want it the first time a subreddit says you can't post yet.

Short answer

You get karma on Reddit when people upvote your posts and comments. The way that lasts is comments first: answer questions in small subreddits about things you know, two or three a day, and reply when people reply to you. Post later, as text, where the rules allow it. Skip karma trading subreddits, reposts and bought votes. They can raise the number and cost you the account.

Key takeaways

• Karma roughly reflects the votes on your posts and comments, not one point per upvote.
• Post karma and comment karma are counted apart, and some subreddits check karma earned inside their own community.
• There is no sitewide karma number to post. Each subreddit sets its own, and Reddit hides it.
• A few upvoted comments in small subreddits do more for an account than one lucky post in a giant one.
• Trading or buying upvotes is vote manipulation under Reddit's rules.

1. What is Reddit karma, and what is it not?

Karma is a rough score of how people voted on what you wrote. Reddit's help page on karma calls it an approximate reflection of your votes, so one upvote is not always one point. It tells people you have posted things others liked. It says nothing about whether you can be trusted with a link.

The same page tells you not to set out to collect karma at all, then adds my favorite line in Reddit's docs: "Reddit makes no guarantees about attaining Nirvana."

Fair enough.

Your total splits into two parts you can see on your profile. Post karma comes from votes on your posts. Comment karma comes from votes on your comments.

There is a third kind you can't see. Community karma is what you earned inside one subreddit, and moderators can have AutoModerator check it. A big total from memes counts for nothing in a subreddit that only looks at its own.

Karma is one of several things a subreddit can check before it lets you post. Here is my list. Copy it.

The last two rows come from Reddit's own guide for moderators on keeping spam out. You can't farm either of them.

That is why I build accounts slowly. Rankhog warms up accounts you own, slowly, in your own browser.

2. How much karma do you need to post on Reddit?

Reddit has no sitewide number. A new account can post, and each subreddit decides who it lets in. Many set a minimum for karma, account age or a verified email. Reddit now tells you which of those you fail when you try to post, but it keeps the exact numbers hidden so spammers can't aim for them.

The feature is called the Poster Eligibility Guide. Click Create a post in a subreddit with limits, and a window shows which karma, age and email rules you meet and which you don't.

It won't tell you that you need 50 more. You only learn that you are short.

That still helps. It turns a silent removal into a clear no, before you write a word.

A second limit catches brand new accounts. If Reddit says you're doing that too much, you hit a rate limit that falls hardest on accounts with little karma. Reddit's help page on that message says even a small amount of karma from commenting in the community can get you past it.

Comments again. You'll see a pattern here.

Here is the check I run before I write a post in a new subreddit. Copy it.

1. Click Create a post and read the eligibility window, if one shows.
2. Note which of karma, age and email you fail.
3. If it is email, verify it now and you are done.
4. If it is karma, comment in that subreddit for a week, then try again. Karma earned there may be the part you lack.
5. If it is age, wait. Post in a smaller subreddit in the meantime.
6. If no window shows, read the rules and the sidebar anyway. AutoModerator rules can still remove a post without a word.

My post on karma farming vs warming up your account has more ways to find a minimum the subreddit never wrote down.

3. How do I get comment karma on Reddit?

Answer questions in small subreddits about things you know, two or three a day, and reply when people reply. A short, right answer on a post with no replies yet gets read. The same answer under hundreds of others in a giant thread gets missed. Start with comments, because they are quick to write and easy to get right.

Small subreddits are the part nobody wants to hear. Fewer people means fewer upvotes per comment, but far more of your comments get seen at all.

If you want a starting list of subreddits to get karma in, Reddit's karma help page sends new users to r/NewToReddit, which keeps a list of communities that welcome new accounts and don't set high karma limits. Then add small subreddits about your job and your hobbies. That is where your comments will be good.

Here is the routine, about twenty minutes a day. Copy it.

1. Open two or three small subreddits you care about. Sort by new.
2. Find a question that has no good answer yet.
3. Answer it in two to five sentences. Put the answer first.
4. Check yesterday's comments and reply to anyone who replied to you.
5. Stop there. Two or three comments a day is plenty.

The comments that earn upvotes in small rooms tend to come in a few shapes. Copy whichever fits the question.

The straight answer: "Yes, it fits. I run the same one on a 2019 model, you just need the longer bolt."

The warning: "I'd check the return window first. Mine died in month thirteen and the warranty was twelve."

The question back: "What's your budget? On a tight one I'd get last year's version. Otherwise the new one is worth it."

If you are a founder, this stage is a warm-up under another name. Keep your product out of it. Reddit's moderator help describes the 10% rule some subreddits follow: no more than a tenth of your history in a community can be self-promotion. Karma doesn't buy you an exception.

4. How do I get post karma on Reddit?

Post where your account already qualifies, as text, about something the subreddit talks about every week. A clear question, a short story about something you tried, or a photo of something you made all do well in small rooms. Read the top posts of the month first, and wait until your comments have earned some karma.

I post later than most people would. Comments teach you how a room talks. A post written before that sounds like an outsider wrote it, and the room can tell.

Text posts are the safe first post. Many subreddits limit links, and a text post can't break a link rule.

Here is a first post template. Copy the shape.

Title: I tried [thing] for [how long], here is what I'd do differently

I [did the thing] for [time] because [one plain reason]. Two things surprised me: [one] and [two]. If I started again I'd [one change]. Has anyone here tried [the other way]?

Before it goes up, run the draft through the Reddit post checker. It compares your draft with the subreddit's published rules. Reddit is testing a check of its own, Post Check, that flags likely rule breaks when you click Post. Neither one checks a subreddit's private AutoModerator settings.

Then open your post in a private window an hour later. If it is missing, a filter took it, and the shadowban checks tell you whether it was one post or the whole account.

5. Can you get karma on Reddit fast?

You can, and I wouldn't. The fast ways are karma trading subreddits, reposts of old hits and bought votes or accounts. They raise the number, but trading and buying votes break Reddit's rules, and the history they leave is easy for a mod to read.

Karma trading subreddits ask everyone to upvote everyone. That is vote manipulation, which Reddit's Content Policy bans, whatever the subreddit calls itself. Some moderators also ban accounts with a history in those subreddits.

Reposts are the gray one. They break no sitewide rule, but plenty of subreddits remove them, and a profile full of them reads like a bot.

Bought votes and bought accounts are the worst deal of the three. Reddit can throw the votes out, and the seller of an account can often take it back. The karma farming post has the long version.

Here is the rule block I'd tape to the monitor. Copy it.

Fine, and slow

• Comments that answer a real question in a small subreddit.
• Text posts you'd make even if karma did not exist.
• Replies to people who replied to you.

Fine, but a lottery

• An early comment on a rising post in a giant subreddit.
• A good photo or story in a big subreddit.

Costs you the account

• Karma trading or "free karma" subreddits.
• Bought upvotes, bought karma, bought accounts.
• The same post in ten subreddits on one day.
• Upvoting yourself from a second account.

The last two also show up in the Reddit rules that get marketers banned. If you are building this account to talk about a product later, the Reddit marketing guide picks up where this post stops.

What I don't know yet

• Reddit hides each subreddit's karma and age numbers, so I can't give you any.
• Reddit doesn't publish how it turns votes into karma. It only says the two don't match one to one.
• I don't know how much karma counts in the reputation filter next to Reddit's other sitewide signals. Reddit doesn't say.
• Most of what I see comes from general and hobby subreddits. Strict professional ones may ask for much more.

Who this is not for

If you mostly read Reddit and comment now and then, you don't need a plan. Karma shows up on its own.

If you need to post in a strict subreddit this week, karma won't get you there in time. Look for a weekly thread for new members, or post somewhere your account already qualifies.

What to do next

Today, in this order:

1. Verify your account's email.
2. Open the subreddit you most want to post in and click Create a post. Write down what you fail.
3. Pick three small subreddits about your job or your hobbies.
4. Write two good comments in them.
5. Put the twenty-minute routine in your calendar for the next two weeks.

Verify. Check. Pick. Comment. Repeat.

Thanks for reading. If you would rather not count comments yourself, that is the job I built Rankhog for. Rankhog warms up accounts you own, slowly, in your own browser.