How to Get Karma on Reddit (Without Breaking Rules)
TL;DR: You get karma when people upvote your posts and comments, but Reddit says upvotes and karma are not 1:1. The fastest safe route is comment karma: answer new questions in small subreddits you actually know, then post once you clear each community's karma, account age and email checks.
How to get karma on Reddit, in one paragraph: verify your email, pick three or four subreddits where you know the subject, sort by New, and leave specific, useful comments on fresh posts before the thread fills up. Comments earn comment karma, which is what most new-user gates look at first. Once your profile shows a few dozen points and some account age, open Create a post in the subreddit you care about and read the Poster Eligibility Guide; it tells you which requirement you still miss. Skip anything that looks like a shortcut (karma subreddits that trade upvotes, reposting old hits, voting from alt accounts). Reddit's rules treat those as spam or vote manipulation, and they cost you the account, not just the karma.
What is Reddit karma, and why isn't it 1:1 with upvotes?
Karma is Reddit's running reflection of the upvotes and downvotes your posts and comments receive. Reddit's own help page is blunt about the math: "upvotes and karma don't have a 1:1 relationship," because karma is "just an approximate reflection" of votes (Reddit Help: What is karma?). So a comment sitting at 40 points will not necessarily add exactly 40 to your profile, and nobody outside Reddit can give you the formula.
Two more mechanics that most guides skip:
- Karma has floors. Reddit's AutoModerator documentation notes that comment karma will not go below -100 and post karma will not go below 0 (AutoModerator documentation). A few bad posts can't sink you forever, but a run of downvoted comments can leave you underwater.
- Votes are hidden early. For the first few hours after a post goes up, Reddit hides vote counts so people aren't swayed by how others voted (Reddit Help). Don't judge a comment by its score in the first hour.
To see your own numbers on reddit.com, click your avatar, then View Profile, and hover over total karma to get the post and comment split. In the apps, open your profile and tap the About tab.
Comment karma vs post karma: which one do subreddits check?
Subreddits can check either, both, or the karma you have earned inside that one community. Moderators set these gates in AutoModerator, which supports six karma thresholds plus account age (AutoModerator documentation):
| AutoModerator check | What it reads | Floor |
|---|---|---|
comment_karma | Your sitewide comment karma | -100 |
post_karma | Your sitewide post karma | 0 |
combined_karma | Comment plus post karma | -100 |
comment_subreddit_karma | Comment karma earned in that subreddit | -100 |
post_subreddit_karma | Post karma earned in that subreddit | 0 |
combined_subreddit_karma | Both, in that subreddit only | -100 |
account_age | Time since you signed up (minutes to years) | n/a |
Reddit's own example rule removes link posts from anyone with less than 5 comment karma (Writing basic AutoModerator rules). That is the pattern you'll hit most: comment karma is the entry ticket, and posting comes after.
| Account | Comment karma | Post karma | Email verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 0 | 40 | Yes |
| B | 12 | 0 | Yes |
| C | 30 | 0 | No |
| Account | Can post? |
|---|---|
| A | No |
| B | Yes |
| C | No |
Post karma does not help when the rule reads comment karma.
Why do subreddits gate on karma and account age?
Subreddits gate new accounts to keep spam out. Reddit says so directly: karma requirements are "taken to prevent spamming within the community" (Reddit Help: What is karma?). Karma and age are cheap signals that an account is a person who has been around for a while.
The newer signal is the Contributor Quality Score. Reddit assigns every account a CQS based on past actions on the account, network and location signals, and security steps such as email verification, and sorts accounts into five tiers: Highest, High, Moderate, Low, Lowest (Reddit Help: What is the Contributor Quality Score?). You can't see your tier, but moderators can filter on it, and the scores update regularly, so you can move up.
Three moderator tools use these signals:
- Reputation filter: filters content from accounts likely to be spam, based on CQS, karma and verification. Approved users are exempt (Reputation filter).
- Crowd Control: at Moderate it filters accounts with negative community karma, at High it adds new accounts, and at Maximum it adds non-members (Crowd Control).
- AutoModerator thresholds: the karma and
account_agechecks in the table above, plushas_verified_email.
This is why "I have 500 karma and still can't post" happens. You may have post karma when the rule reads comment karma, or sitewide karma when the rule reads karma earned in that subreddit.
What you need before you start
- A Reddit account with a verified email. It's one of the three things the Poster Eligibility Guide checks, and it feeds CQS.
- Three or four subreddits where you know the topic well enough to answer questions without searching.
- A little time every day, spread over weeks rather than one long session. Account age is a gate you can't speed up.
How to get karma on Reddit, step by step
- Verify your email. Open your account settings and confirm the email address on file. This clears the
has_verified_emailcheck and is one of the CQS signals Reddit names. - Pick small, active subreddits you know. Reddit's karma page points new users to r/NewToReddit's list of new-user-friendly communities with low karma requirements. Add one or two niche subreddits in your own field, where a precise answer stands out.
- Read the rules before you type. Open the subreddit, then the About tab (apps) or the sidebar (desktop). Look for rules about new accounts, self-promotion and required flair.
- Sort by New and answer fresh questions. Use the sort menu above the posts and pick New. A specific answer posted while a thread is young is seen by everyone who arrives after you. Answer the question asked, with a detail only someone who has done it would know.
- Reply to replies. When someone answers your comment, respond. Each comment in a thread earns its own karma, and it counts as karma inside that subreddit for the
comment_subreddit_karmacheck. - Check your eligibility before your first post. Tap Create a post inside the subreddit. If you don't qualify, the Poster Eligibility Guide lists the karma, account age and verified email criteria you meet and don't meet (Poster Eligibility Guide). It refreshes every six hours, so a failed check today can pass tomorrow.
- Make your first post the kind the subreddit already upvotes. Read last month's top posts (sort by Top and choose the past month) and match the format. Post Check may flag possible rule issues in your draft before you submit; it won't block you, so read what it says.
Comments first, posts second.
How do you know it worked?
Check the split, not the total. Your profile shows post and comment karma separately, and a Reddit karma checker shows the same numbers for any username without logging in. Then go back to the subreddit you want to post in and open Create a post again. If the Poster Eligibility Guide no longer appears, you meet every criterion it checks. The specific thresholds stay hidden; Reddit says it doesn't disclose them "to deter potential misuse."
What gets your karma, or your account, taken away?
The shortcuts. Reddit's spam policy lists "repeatedly posting or sharing old content for the purpose of rapidly gaining karma" as a violation (Reddit Help: Spam). That covers the classic karma farming play of reposting last year's top post.
Alt accounts are allowed on Reddit, but voting on the same posts or comments with more than one of them is vote manipulation (Reddit Help: multiple accounts). The same goes for upvote-trading groups and bought upvotes. Reddit's enforcement for rule breaks runs from a warning through 3-day and 7-day bans to a permanent ban, and some violations skip straight to the end (Content moderation, enforcement and appeals). If your posts stop showing up for other people, read our guide to the Reddit shadowban before you post again.
Common errors and what they mean
- "You're doing that too much. Try again in X minutes." A per-community limit on how often you post and comment. Reddit says brand-new, low-karma accounts hit it most, and that a small amount of karma earned by commenting in that community helps (Reddit Help). Reddit Premium does not change it. The full breakdown is in our Reddit rate limit explainer.
- "You've posted similar content multiple times. Try again in 12 hours." A pause Reddit began testing in October 2026 for accounts that post substantially similar content across too many communities (Changelog, October 8, 2026). Write a different post for each subreddit, or don't cross-post it.
- Post doesn't appear in the subreddit. Sort by New first. If it still isn't there, a moderator, AutoModerator or a karma filter removed it. Earn karma in that community by commenting, then message the mods if you think it was a mistake.
If you are building karma so you can eventually talk about your product on Reddit, the slow part after this is finding the threads where people ask for what you sell. BoomReddit's Scanner ($19/month) scans fresh Reddit posts and comments around the clock and scores each thread by buying intent, so you spend your ten minutes a day on threads worth answering instead of scrolling. Start free, no card.
Frequently asked questions
How much karma do you need to post on Reddit?
There is no sitewide number. Each subreddit sets its own thresholds in AutoModerator, and the Poster Eligibility Guide tells you whether you pass without showing the number. Reddit's own example rule uses 5 comment karma, which gives you a sense of how low many gates start.
Is comment karma or post karma easier to get?
Comment karma, for a new account. Reddit's own example gate applies to link posts, not comments, and an answer to a fresh question can earn upvotes from everyone who reads the thread later.
Does deleting a downvoted comment get the karma back?
Reddit doesn't document how deletion affects karma, so don't count on it. The safer fix is to stop posting the kind of comment that got downvoted. Comment karma can't fall below -100 in any case.
Can you buy Reddit karma?
You can find sellers, but buying upvotes is vote manipulation and reposting for karma is spam under Reddit's rules. Either puts the account at risk of a ban, which costs far more than the karma was worth.
How long does it take to get enough karma to post?
It depends on the subreddit's thresholds, which aren't public. Account age gates can't be rushed. Comment steadily, check the Poster Eligibility Guide, which refreshes every six hours, and post once it stops appearing.