Can I post a link to my SaaS or tool if I think freelancers would like it?
No. The “No advertising or self-promotion” rule lists your app or SaaS, your website, and any external resource you benefit from as prohibited content.
Subreddit guides
r/freelance rules, stats, and what to post
A source-backed Rankhog guide to r/freelance: public rules, community context, posting fit, and startup-promotion risk before you publish.
By Anthony Riera, founder and operator of Rankhog.
Subreddit guides combine public Reddit source URLs, captured rules, visible verification dates, and Rankhog's account-safety workflow.
Current public stats
- Members
- 700,751
- Verified
- September 29, 2026
- Category
- Freelancers and independent service operators
Rules can change, so Rankhog keeps verification dates and the original public Reddit sources visible.
Rule summary
- No hiring or soliciting work: Use /r/forhire to look for work or to find freelancers. This includes companies or individuals looking for freelancers, freelancers looking for work, or freelancers looking for partners or collaborators. Note that responding to posts or comments violating this rule or asking people to send you a private message are also violations of the rule.
- No advertising or self-promotion: **Examples** of prohibited content include: - your app or SaaS - your website or portfolio - your profile on a freelance site - a blog post you wrote - a article that mentions your company - your mailing list or newsletter - a Slack group, IRC channel, or other external chat - a book you wrote - a course you teach - a code repository for a project that you created - a video you made or appear in - any other external resource that you benefit from or are affiliated with
- No surveys or market research questions: This subreddit isn't your focus group. You cannot use it: - to determine interest in your new idea for a freelancing marketplace or service - to help with a research project, school paper, or blog article - to ask freelancers questions to help improve your product or service
- No soliciting private messaging: Do not ask people to send you a private message or if you can send them a message. Do not comment that you have sent them a message.
- No referral URLs or shortened links: Referral URLs and other coded links are prohibited in this subreddit.
- No offtopic posts or comments: This includes: - posts/comments not primarily about freelancing - posts/comments about hiring or managing freelancers (this subreddit is for freelancers, not the people who hire them) - posts better suited to a different subreddit (e.g. UK-specific questions should be posted to /r/freelanceUK, questions about web development should go to /r/webdev, see the sidebar for additional examples)
- No bots or automated users: No bots or automated users
- Follow Reddiquette: https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439
- No duplicate posts: Do a subreddit search before creating a post or asking a question.
Works well
- A written walkthrough of a real freelance lesson, like how you priced a project or handled a scope creep fight, posted as plain text with no link to anything you own.
- A genuine question about freelancing that you searched for first and could not find, such as how others structure payment terms with clients.
- A discussion starter about a change in the freelance market, like shifts in demand or rates, framed around your own experience rather than a survey.
- Helpful comments on other people's posts that share specific, honest advice from your own freelance work.
- A plain text summary of an external article you have no affiliation with, with your own take added, so the community does not need to click anything you benefit from.
Avoid
- Posting a link to your app, SaaS, website, portfolio, blog post, newsletter, course, book, video, or code repository, because “No advertising or self-promotion” bans every external resource you benefit from or are affiliated with.
- Asking freelancers questions to test interest in your product, service, marketplace idea, or research project, because “No surveys or market research questions” says the subreddit is not your focus group.
- Replying to someone with an offer of work, or asking anyone to send you a private message, because “No hiring or soliciting work” and “No soliciting private messaging” both cover comments as well as posts.
- Dropping a referral URL or shortened link, because “No referral URLs or shortened links” prohibits coded links outright.
- Writing about hiring or managing freelancers, or posting about a topic that is not mainly freelancing, because “No offtopic posts or comments” excludes the people who hire freelancers.
- Asking a question that has already been answered, because “No duplicate posts” requires a subreddit search first.
What r/freelance Is For
r/freelance is a community for freelancers and for people who want to become freelancers. It is a place to share articles of interest and talk about the work of being independent, from finding clients to pricing and running your own business. The people posting here are the ones doing the freelance work themselves. The rules make a clear split: this subreddit is for freelancers, not for the people who hire them, and posts about hiring or managing freelancers are considered offtopic. If you are looking to hire or be hired, the rules point you to /r/forhire instead. The description also warns that breaking the rules gets your post or comment removed and gets you banned permanently, so this is a community that enforces its boundaries.
Rules That Matter Before Posting
The rule that decides most marketing outcomes here is “No advertising or self-promotion”, which bans your app or SaaS, your website or portfolio, a blog post you wrote, an article that mentions your company, your newsletter, a course you teach, a video you made, and any other external resource that you benefit from or are affiliated with. “No hiring or soliciting work” sends anyone looking for work, offering work, or looking for partners to /r/forhire instead, and it also bans responding to posts that break that rule. “No surveys or market research questions” stops you from using the subreddit to test interest in a new idea or to ask freelancers questions that help improve your product or service. “No soliciting private messaging” bans asking people to send you a private message or announcing that you have sent one. “No referral URLs or shortened links” bans coded and shortened links. “No offtopic posts or comments” keeps posts focused on freelancing itself and excludes posts about hiring or managing freelancers. “No duplicate posts” asks you to search the subreddit before posting a question. The description warns that violating the rules causes removal and a permanent ban, so the stakes are higher here than in most communities.
What To Post
A good post here is a plain text contribution with no link attached to anything you own. Share a lesson from your own freelance work, such as how you handled a difficult client, set your rates, or structured a contract, and write it out fully in the post itself. Ask a genuine question about freelancing that has not been asked recently, after searching the subreddit first, and keep it about the freelancer side of the table, not the client side. If you reference an external article, make sure it is one you have no affiliation with and no benefit from. Comment generously on other people's posts with honest, specific advice from your experience. If your goal is to find work or hire someone, the rules are explicit that /r/forhire is the place for that, not here.
What To Avoid
The fastest way to get removed and permanently banned is to advertise. That means no links to your app, SaaS, website, portfolio, blog post, article mentioning your company, newsletter, Slack group, book, course, code repository, or video, and nothing else you benefit from or are affiliated with. Do not solicit work in either direction, and do not respond to posts that break that rule, because responding counts as a violation too. Do not ask people to send you a private message, ask if you can message them, or comment that you have sent a message. Do not post surveys, market research questions, or questions aimed at improving your product or testing interest in your idea. Do not post referral URLs or shortened links. Do not post anything offtopic, including posts about hiring or managing freelancers. Do not post a duplicate of an existing question without searching first. Follow Reddiquette as the rules require.
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Common questions about r/freelance
Can I hire freelancers here or reply to someone offering my services?
Yes. The “No hiring or soliciting work” rule sends all of that to /r/forhire, and it also bans responding to rule-breaking posts with offers.
Can I ask freelancers a few questions to shape my product?
No. “No surveys or market research questions” says you cannot use the subreddit to test interest in an idea or to improve your product or service.
Can I ask people to DM me for details?
No. “No soliciting private messaging” bans asking people to message you or announcing that you have messaged them.
Are referral or affiliate links allowed?
Referral URLs and shortened links are banned, so any link you do share should be a plain, direct link and not something you profit from.
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