Reddit to pay users for posts with new Contributor Program

Reddit will now start to pay users for contributing to the site through a new program, as it is still recovering from the API scandal.

The discussion website Reddit has had a rough few months and is looking to turn things around. After the weeks-long blackout has all but been quashed, Reddit culled its classic awards system. Users could spend real money on Reddit Coins and use these to buy awards for particular posts.

After killing the original program, Reddit has now introduced two new replacements. One is a similar feature that will allow you to spend money on golden upvotes that start at $1.99 to $49.99. This, as with the original Reddit Gold, is more of a flair or flourish. However, the difference now is that the company is planning to incorporate this into its secondary Contributor Program.

The Contributor Program is similar to the initiative set up by the company formerly known as Twitter, X. Musk’s company also appeared to be an inspiration for Reddit’s CEO to lock off its API.

How much money does Reddit pay for the Contributor Program?

Users will be able to earn 99 cents for each gold awarded, or top contributors can earn $1 for each gold on their post. Reddit will only let you cash out once you earn between 100-4999 karma in 12 months (the points allocated to a user for each upvote) and if you hit 10 gold upvotes.

Top contributors will only be able to earn money from Reddit if they need to hit over 10 gold upvotes, as well as earning over 5000 karma. It’s well known that karma isn’t a one-to-one relationship, and other users have reported that they’ve earned less karma than expected on popular posts.

Requirements for the Contributor Program

There are also some requirements to get into the Contributor Program. Currently, it is only available in the US and hasn’t been released in the rest of the world. You’ll need to submit verification information, as well as only post “Safe For Work” content. Your account will also need to be over 30 days old, in a presumed attempt to stop any nefarious bot farms.

The new Reddit Gold is exclusive to the mobile app for the time being, and only in certain communities. It’ll hit the web version sometime “later this year”.