Where to Promote Your Startup on Reddit in 2026: 15 Subreddits and the Self-Promotion Rules for Each

Reddit can send you your first real users. It can also get your account banned and your domain blacklisted in an afternoon. The difference is almost always the same thing: whether you read the subreddit's rules before you posted.

So we read them. On 8 October 2026 we opened the rules page of 26 subreddits where founders share products, and recorded what each one actually allows: where self-promotion goes, how often, on which day, and what gets you banned. Below are the 15 where you can share your startup if you follow the rules, the ones to stay away from, and what all of them have in common.

The audience numbers are Reddit's own "weekly visitors" and "weekly contributions" figures, shown on each subreddit's page on the day we checked. Reddit no longer shows member counts on most communities, so weekly visitors is the best measure of who will actually see your post.

The 15 subreddits at a glance

The big ones: large audiences, strict rules

r/SideProject (311K weekly visitors)

The most obvious place to start, and for good reason: its description says it is "a subreddit for sharing and receiving constructive feedback on side projects". It had no community rules listed when we checked, so Reddit's sitewide rules apply. With 17K contributions a week, it is also the busiest sub on this list, which means a post without a clear hook disappears fast. Lead with what the product does and what you want feedback on, and post a screenshot or demo rather than a bare link.

r/SaaS (286K weekly visitors)

Promotion is allowed, but it is rationed. The rule reads: "Max 1 mention or 3 links can be shared every 60 days", you must "clearly disclose affiliation at the beginning or end of the post or comment", and secondary accounts count toward the same limit. Breaking it "leads to a ban and URL blacklisting". Two more rules matter: AI-generated text is explicitly prohibited, and selling services or collecting emails and "testers" without giving the community anything is removed. The posts that work here teach something from building your SaaS and mention the product once.

r/Entrepreneur (240K weekly visitors)

No promotion in posts. "Free offers and promotions belong only in the designated weekly threads", and violations "may result in a permanent ban". You also "must participate in the comments of other posts on this subreddit before posting yourself", and AI-generated posts or comments are not permitted. Treat it as a place to share a specific, practical lesson from building your company, with no link.

r/smallbusiness (318K weekly visitors)

It is a question-and-answer subreddit, and it means it. Business promotion is allowed only in the weekly Promote-your-business thread, and since June 2026, product mentions are removed from new posts and comments "if they appear directly or indirectly promotional". Market research posts asking about "pain points" are removed too. If your product serves small businesses, post in the weekly thread and answer questions elsewhere without mentioning it.

r/webdev (418K weekly visitors)

Sharing a project is "limited to Showoff Saturday", it must carry the right flair, and commercial promotion is not allowed even then: "Think project, not product. Focus on the technical details of your project." If you built something interesting, write about how you built it, on a Saturday.

r/selfhosted (563K weekly visitors)

The largest community on this list, and a great fit if your product can be self-hosted. Promoted apps "must be production ready and have docs", projects younger than three months go only in the current New Project Megathread, and on Wednesdays you may post dashboards and tools for self-hosters even if they are not self-hosted. No direct ads for hosting or VPS.

r/opensource (98K weekly visitors)

Promoting your work "to a degree" is welcome, but not as a link farm, and the rules quote the old Reddit line: "It's perfectly fine to be a redditor with a website, it's not okay to be a website with a reddit account." Use the "Promotional" flair, and make sure the repository has a license file with an OSI-approved open source license, or the post is off-topic. AI-generated content is treated as low effort and "ban worthy".

Thread-based: share in the right thread, not as a post

r/startups (92K weekly visitors)

"No direct sales, advertisements, or promotional posts of any kind", with one exception: "You MAY share your startup in the Monthly Share Your Startup thread". Feedback requests, including surveys, belong in the Feedback thread, and you are invited to repost each week. The subreddit also runs a weekly thread for every day of the week, including Friday Feedback. Regular posts must be at least 250 characters and must not name your project or link to it. Note that their definition of self-promotion is broad: anything you have a stake in, "including being friends with someone at the company".

Builder communities: smaller, friendlier, better for feedback

r/EntrepreneurRideAlong (51K weekly visitors)

Built to "follow real founders in real time", with only three general rules: be respectful, follow Reddit's rules, engage with good intent. It suits a journey post, such as how your launch went, with real numbers, where the product is part of the story rather than the point of it.

r/buildinpublic (40K weekly visitors)

Share your progress, lessons and questions; posting "solely for self-promotion" is not allowed. One rule worth noting: if you share tools or resources, say whether they are paid, free or affiliate-linked.

r/microsaas (24K weekly visitors)

You may share your micro SaaS, but "you must include the backstory, tech stack, revenue (if comfortable), or a specific lesson learned". Bare links and build-in-public updates with no insight are removed, and so is any post asking people to DM you.

r/indiehackers (9.4K weekly visitors)

Simple and strict: you can "self promote their product 1 time using the Self Promotion flair", for feedback rather than advertising. Any revenue (MRR) claim needs proof. Make the one post count.

r/alphaandbetausers (11K weekly visitors)

Its whole purpose is helping makers "recruit the critical early users that they need". No rules were listed when we checked. With 2.3K contributions a week, it is busy relative to its size, so say exactly who you are looking for and what testers get in return.

r/coolgithubprojects (36K weekly visitors)

Made for sharing GitHub projects, with no rules listed when we checked. The right place for an open source developer tool, and a natural second stop after r/opensource.

r/roastmystartup (3.5K weekly visitors)

Small, but you get blunt feedback, which is the point. Read the first rule carefully: posts with Product Hunt or Vercel links, or a free subdomain, are removed ("If you don't believe in your startup enough to buy a domain its not worth our time to roast"). Two-sentence posts, reposts and AI-written posts are removed too.

Where not to promote

These came up in our check, and none of them is a place to share your product:

• r/marketing: "zero tolerance policy to Advertising, Self-Promotion, & Spam", with a permanent ban. Asking for feedback on your website or product is removed, and posting is restricted to accounts over 30 days old with 300+ karma.
• r/InternetIsBeautiful: no stores, paid services or freemium tools whose key features are paid, no sites that need an email to use, no AI-driven sites, and no tools for launching products or other business tools.
• r/AppIdeas: for ideas only. Completed projects and links to app stores are removed, and accounts must be over a month old with at least 50 karma.
• r/growmybusiness: no selling, no blog posts, no feedback requests. Advice goes in the monthly thread.
• r/ProductHunters: only links to Product Hunt, so it is only useful on your Product Hunt launch day.

What the rules have in common

Read 26 rule pages in a row and five patterns stand out.

1. Promotion has an address. The biggest subreddits rarely ban promotion outright; they move it to a weekly or monthly thread (r/startups, r/Entrepreneur, r/smallbusiness) or a set day (r/webdev's Showoff Saturday). Find the thread before you write the post.
2. AI-written posts are getting removed. r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur, r/opensource, r/roastmystartup, r/marketing, r/AppIdeas and r/InternetIsBeautiful all have a rule against AI-generated content. Write your post yourself.
3. Disclosure is expected. r/SaaS requires you to state your affiliation, and r/startups counts a friend's company as self-promotion. Saying "I built this" up front is safer than letting someone find out.
4. Your account history counts. Several communities follow Reddit's old 9:1 guidance: most of your activity should have nothing to do with your product. Some enforce minimums, like 30 days and 300 karma on r/marketing.
5. Context beats links. Bare links are removed almost everywhere. r/microsaas spells out what it wants instead: the backstory, the stack, the revenue or a lesson.

A post that survives the moderators

Most removed posts fail for the same reasons, so here is a structure that respects nearly every rule above:

• Title: what you built and for whom, in plain words. No "game changer", no all caps.
• First lines: "I built X because Y." Disclose that it is yours right away.
• Body: the problem, how you built it, one honest number or lesson, and a screenshot. This is the part moderators look for.
• The ask: a specific question ("Would you trust this with your invoices?"), not "please upvote".
• The link: once, at the end, to your own domain. No URL shorteners, which r/SaaS and r/marketing remove.
• Afterwards: stay and answer every comment. Several communities remove "drive-by" posts from people who never reply.

Then space your posts out. Posting the same text to ten subreddits on the same day is the fastest way to be flagged as spam across all of them.

Reddit is one channel, not the launch

Reddit works best for feedback and for your first handful of users, and the rules above make it slow by design: one post every 60 days on r/SaaS, one post ever on r/indiehackers. For a launch day with a guaranteed audience, combine it with platforms built for launches. Our guide to 22 places to launch your startup compares them, and if your audience is developers, Show HN on Hacker News has rules worth reading just as carefully.

And if you want a permanent page that people can find long after your Reddit post has scrolled away, you can launch on LaunchIt for free.

Frequently asked questions

Is self-promotion allowed on Reddit?

Reddit allows it, but each subreddit sets its own rules, and many restrict it to specific threads, days or a number of posts. Always read the subreddit's rules page before posting. Breaking them can get your post removed, your account banned and, on some subreddits, your domain blacklisted.

What is the best subreddit to promote a startup?

r/SideProject is the most open: it exists for sharing projects and had no restrictive rules listed when we checked, with around 311K weekly visitors. For SaaS products, r/SaaS has a larger audience but limits you to one mention or three links every 60 days.

Can I post my startup on r/startups?

Only in the Monthly Share Your Startup thread. Feedback requests go in the Feedback thread. Regular posts must not name or link to your project.

Can I use AI to write my Reddit post?

Not on many of the subreddits that matter. r/SaaS, r/Entrepreneur, r/opensource, r/roastmystartup, r/marketing, r/AppIdeas and r/InternetIsBeautiful all prohibit AI-generated content, and some ban for it.

How often can I post about my product?

It depends on the subreddit: once per product on r/indiehackers, at most one mention or three links every 60 days on r/SaaS, once a week on Showoff Saturday on r/webdev. Spacing posts out and spending most of your time on Reddit helping others keeps your account in good standing.

Do I need karma to post?

Some subreddits set minimums. r/marketing requires accounts over 30 days old with 300+ karma, and r/AppIdeas requires accounts over a month old with at least 50 karma. Others do not publish a threshold but may still filter new accounts automatically.

Rules checked on each subreddit's rules page on 8 October 2026. Moderators change rules often, so check the rules page again before you post.