Karma
Also called: reddit karma, karma points, karma score
Definition
Karma is the score on a Reddit profile that roughly reflects the upvotes and downvotes your posts and comments have received. It is split into post karma and comment karma, and many subreddits use it to decide who can post.
Karma is Reddit's reputation number. When people upvote your posts and comments, it goes up. When they downvote them, it can go down. Reddit's help center describes it as "a reflection of the upvotes and downvotes you receive."
How karma works
- Two buckets. Karma is split into post karma (from posts you submit) and comment karma (from comments). Your profile shows the total; hover over it on desktop, or open the About tab on your profile in the app, to see the split.
- Not 1:1 with votes. Reddit says plainly that upvotes and karma "don't have a 1:1 relationship." A post with 1,000 upvotes will not necessarily add 1,000 karma. Reddit does not publish the formula.
- Floors. Reddit's AutoModerator documentation notes that comment karma will not go below -100 and post karma will not go below 0. Combined karma also stops at -100.
- Per-community karma. Moderators can check the karma you have earned inside their subreddit specifically (comment_subreddit_karma, post_subreddit_karma), not just your sitewide total. Being well-known in r/cooking does nothing for you in r/SaaS if the mods check subreddit karma.
- It feeds money too. Reddit's Contributor Program, launched in September 2023, calculates payouts from karma earned and gold received on eligible contributions.
Why karma matters for marketers
Karma is the gate. Many subreddits set a karma requirement and an account age requirement, usually enforced by AutoModerator. Fall below them and your post or comment is silently filtered or removed, and you may never be told. Reddit's Poster Eligibility Guide now shows users which karma and age criteria they meet when they try to post in a community, but Reddit says it does not disclose the exact thresholds "to deter potential misuse."
Karma is also social proof. Redditors and moderators click usernames. A low-karma account dropping a product name reads as spam even when it is not.
Reddit has also added a more holistic signal, the Contributor Quality Score, which moderators can use alongside or instead of karma thresholds. So karma alone does not make an account trusted.
You can check any account's current numbers with our Reddit karma checker.
Example
A founder creates a new account to answer a question in a startup subreddit. The comment never appears to anyone else. The sub's AutoModerator removes comments from accounts with under 50 combined karma. After two weeks of answering questions in smaller, beginner-friendly subreddits, the account has a few hundred comment karma and the next comment shows up normally.
How to earn karma (the legitimate way)
The way that lasts is boring: answer questions in communities you actually know, early in a thread's life, with specifics. Our guide on how to get karma on Reddit covers it step by step. Reddit Help also points new users to r/NewToReddit's list of communities with low or no karma restrictions.
Common mistakes
- [Karma farming](/glossary/karma-farming/). Reddit's spam policy specifically lists "repeatedly posting or sharing old content for the purpose of rapidly gaining karma."
- Buying karma or upvotes. That is vote manipulation and gets accounts suspended.
- Chasing total karma instead of relevant karma. Meme karma does not help in a subreddit that checks karma earned in that subreddit.
- Treating karma as the only trust signal. Account age, history and CQS also count.
Frequently asked questions
How much karma do I need to post on Reddit?
It depends on the subreddit. Many have no minimum; some require dozens or hundreds of karma. Most do not publish their numbers. If a post vanishes, check the rules and the Poster Eligibility Guide in that community.
Can karma go negative?
Comment karma can, down to a floor of -100. Post karma does not go below 0, according to Reddit's AutoModerator documentation.
Does karma do anything?
It unlocks posting in communities with karma requirements, signals trust to other users and moderators, and is one input to Reddit's Contributor Program payouts. There is no store to spend it in.