How to Become a Reddit Moderator (3 Ways That Work)
- Apply to an active subreddit when it posts a mod recruitment thread. Best for learning the job.
- Claim an abandoned subreddit through r/redditrequest. Fastest route to being top mod.
- Start your own subreddit. Anyone with an account in good standing can create one.
- Every route needs an account with a few months of normal, positive history.
You become a Reddit moderator by applying to an active subreddit that's recruiting, requesting an abandoned subreddit from Reddit admins on r/redditrequest, or creating your own subreddit. There's no exam or minimum karma published by Reddit, but mod teams and admins both look for an established account with genuine participation.
Reddit runs almost entirely on volunteer moderators. Every one of the largest subreddits has a team of them clearing spam, answering modmail and writing rules, and most teams are short-handed. Getting in is easier than it looks, as long as you go through the right door.
Way 1: apply to an active subreddit
Best for: learning how moderation works before you run anything yourself.
Mid-sized subreddits, like most of the ones in our top IT subreddits and top gaming subreddits lists, recruit a few times a year with a stickied post and a short application form. To find them, search Reddit for "mod applications" subreddit:NAME for communities you already use, or watch the stickies.
What mod teams actually look at:
- Your history in their subreddit. Applicants who’ve been commenting helpfully for months win over strangers every time.
- Whether you’ve used the report button. Some teams can see who reports rule-breaking posts accurately.
- Your timezone. Teams want coverage around the clock, so being awake when the others sleep helps.
- How you answer scenario questions. “A user posts something borderline, three people report it, the poster says it’s fine. What do you do?” Answer with their rules, not your opinion.
Start as a regular mod with limited permissions. That’s normal.
Way 2: claim an abandoned subreddit
Best for: people who want to run a community on a specific topic and see that the existing one has been left behind.
If every moderator has been inactive across Reddit for about 60 days, you can ask Reddit admins to make you a mod through r/redditrequest. You send modmail first, wait at least five days, then submit a request and answer a bot’s questions. The full process is in our r/redditrequest guide, and how to find dead subreddits covers how to find candidates that pass the inactivity check.
The upside is that you usually end up as top mod with an existing subscriber base. The downside is that you inherit the mess. Read how to revive a dead subreddit before you request one so you know what the first month looks like.
Way 3: start your own
Best for: topics nobody has claimed, or a different angle on a crowded one.
Any account in good standing with some history can create a subreddit from the “Create a community” button. It’s free. The hard part is everything after: a new subreddit with zero subscribers gets no feed exposure, so growth depends on your posts being good enough that people share them.
Before you create one, check whether an abandoned subreddit with a better name already exists. Claiming a dormant r/sourdoughbaking with 9,000 old subscribers usually beats starting r/sourdoughbakers from nothing. How to take over a subreddit compares the two.
What the job really involves
People underestimate the time. A subreddit with 50,000 members and decent activity can take 30 to 60 minutes a day across the team: clearing the mod queue, replying to modmail, handling ban appeals. A small subreddit is lighter, but it falls on one person.
The tools help. (Not the same tools as the social media management tools Reddit recommends; Reddit moderation happens in Reddit’s own mod tools.) AutoModerator handles most spam if you configure it, and Reddit’s mod tools on desktop are fine for daily work. The mobile mod tools have improved but some settings still need a desktop.
You’ll also take abuse. Banned users send angry modmail. Most of it is harmless, and Reddit’s admins act on real harassment if you report it.
And you have to follow the Moderator Code of Conduct. The big rules: don’t sell or trade mod positions, don’t abandon a community you control without handing it over, and don’t use mod powers to promote something you profit from at the community’s expense.
Which route should you pick?
If you’ve never moderated, apply to an active subreddit first. Three months on a functioning team will teach you more than a year alone in a dead one.
If you already know the topic and see an abandoned community with a good name, claim it. That’s the strongest position to start from.
Start your own only when there’s no existing community to join or claim. It’s the slowest route by far.
FAQ
Do Reddit moderators get paid?
No. Moderators are unpaid volunteers. Reddit has run small programs like contributor rewards, but moderating itself isn't a paid role.
How much karma do you need to be a moderator?
Reddit doesn't set a minimum. Individual subreddits often do in their applications, commonly a few hundred to a few thousand karma plus an account several months old.
How many subreddits can one person moderate?
Reddit limits how many large communities one account can moderate, but there's no practical cap for small ones. Most good mods stick to a handful.
