In April, Reddit announced updates that would allow the platform to limit the number of API requests made by third-party clients. And now there are new details of those rules, which suggest that the site will charge about $12,000 for every 50 million requests.
This means that a client like Apollo (the popular Reddit iOS app) that made 7 billion API requests last month would have to pay $1.7 million per month, or $20 million per year if it plans to keep up the pace.
📣 Had a call with Reddit to discuss pricing. Bad news for third-party apps, their announced pricing is close to Twitter’s pricing, and Apollo would have to pay Reddit $20 million per year to keep running as-is.
by u/iamthatis in apolloapp
Apollo developer Christian Selig says that even if he chose to keep only users who signed up for the app, he still wouldn’t be able to make any profit. The average Apollo user makes 344 requests per day, which costs $2.50 per month – while an Apollo Ultra subscription costs $1.49 per month, or $12.99 per year.
“I am deeply disappointed with this price. While the Reddit team has always been outgoing and polite, I don’t see any explanation why this price is anything real or remotely reasonable. I hope it goes without saying that I don’t have that kind of money,” writes Selig.
The developer hopes that Reddit will listen to the feedback and find a decent solution. Otherwise, it is not known what fate awaits such applications as Apollo, Rif and Relay.
“The cost we shared with Apollo is the price per 1,000 API calls, not the monthly bill. Our pricing is based on usage levels that we measure to be as fair as possible. We have worked and will continue to work with third-party programs to help them increase efficiency, which can affect the overall cost,” comments Tim Ratschmidt, director of communications at Reddit.
The situation is very similar to the decision of Elon Musk, who canceled access to the Twitter API even before the announcement of the subscription – which costs up to $42,000 per month. The move not only changed the way some users interacted with the social network, but also deprived them of the ability to use some useful bots to monitor traffic or public safety.
The Reddit API monetization announcement came ahead of a potential IPO for the company. Right now, Reddit only makes money from ads, and developer fees could make the offering more valuable to investors. In addition to collecting funds from developers, Reddit also plans to receive money from AI companies that use the site to train large language models.
