How Reddit Awards Work Now, After Coins Ended and Gold Came Back

Today's Reddit awards are reactions that users buy with gold, or give once for free, to mark a post or comment they liked, and Reddit's help centre defines them as "a means of expression on Reddit used to recognize and react to each other's contributions." The system you see now dates from 15 May 2024, when Reddit brought awards back after retiring coins and the old awards in September 2023. If you find threads about your product by hand, read an award as one person's reaction and judge the thread on its comments.

What are Reddit awards today?

Reddit awards are small icons a user attaches to someone else's post or comment, paid for in gold or taken from a free allowance. The help article What are awards and how do I use them?, last updated on 10 October 2026, says awards "help the content stand out on Reddit and can be given on posts and comments in certain communities." The same article says they "can also help eligible award recipients earn cash through the Contributor (Earn) Program."

Awards live only inside communities, so ads and content posted outside a community cannot receive them. You cannot award your own content, including posts from your alternative accounts, and communities cannot opt out.

What happened to Reddit coins and the old awards in 2023?

Reddit stopped selling coins on 13 July 2023 and switched off coins and every legacy award on 12 September 2023. Reddit's Community Team announced the change in an r/modnews post titled "Evolving awarding on Reddit," which said "we made a decision to sunset coins (including Community Coins for moderators) and awards (including Medals, Premium Awards, and Community Awards)."

The same post ended the monthly coin drip and Premium Awards that came with Reddit Premium.

On 25 September 2023, Reddit tried a replacement. An r/reddit post titled "Celebrating great content is as good as gold" announced gold as a set of "6 gilded upvotes with varying values," piloted in 12 subreddits, and launched the Contributor Program in the US.

Date	What changed	Reddit source
13 July 2023	Coin sales stop	r/modnews, "Evolving awarding on Reddit"
12 September 2023	Coins, Medals, Premium Awards and Community Awards end	Same post
25 September 2023	Golden upvote pilot and the US Contributor Program	r/reddit, "Celebrating great content is as good as gold"
15 May 2024	Awards return, bought with gold	r/reddit, "We heard you… awards are back!"
31 December 2024	Free make-good awards for former coin holders expire	Help centre changelog, 18 December 2024
August 2026	Free awards roll out to all users	Help centre changelog, 12 August 2026

When did Reddit bring awards back, and why?

Reddit relaunched awards on 15 May 2024, admitting the golden upvote had failed. The admin post "We heard you… awards are back!" from u/redditproductteam said the golden upvote "missed the mark. It wasn't as fun or expressive as legacy awards, and it was unclear how it benefited the recipient."

The relaunch added an award button under eligible posts and comments, a public leaderboard of top awards and gold for each item, and a way to report awards for moderator removal. It also set the safety rule still in force: "Awards are not available in NSFW subreddits, trauma and addiction support subreddits, and subreddits with mature content." The Contributor Program expanded to 35 countries the same day.

Former coin holders received free exclusive awards as an apology, and Reddit's 18 December 2024 changelog says those expired on 31 December 2024.

How does gold work, and what do awards cost?

Gold is the currency you buy in packs and spend on awards. Reddit's What is gold and how do I use it? article lists six packs, priced higher in the mobile apps because of app store fees:

Gold	Mobile price	Web price
100	$1.99	$1.79
200	$3.99	$3.59
300	$5.99	$5.39
500	$9.99	$8.99
1,000	$19.99	$17.99
2,500	$49.99	$44.99

The awards article says "Generally, awards cost between 15 and 50 gold." Unspent gold stays in your balance up to a cap of 10,000, and Reddit states that "Gold is non-transferable and non-refundable." You cannot use it to pay another user.

Free awards are the newest piece. Reddit's 12 August 2026 changelog announced "free awards for all Reddit users," labelled Free in the award sheet, with one free award per eligible piece of content per user.

Who can give an award, and how?

You give an award from the award selection sheet on another user's eligible post or comment. The help article gives the steps:

1. On a post, open the overflow menu and choose Award this post. On a comment, tap the award icon underneath it.
2. Pick an award from the selection sheet, which lists free and paid awards.
3. Select Give Award. If your balance is short, Reddit prompts you to buy a gold pack first.
4. Optionally tick Give anonymously, or add a chat message of up to 100 characters. You cannot do both, since anonymous awards carry no message.

The 12 August 2026 changelog notes that the post award option moved into the overflow menu, while the comment option stays in the action bar under the comment.

Eligibility is narrower than "any post." Awards are blocked on content tagged NSFW, sexually explicit content, graphic violence and "certain mature themes (e.g., alcohol, gambling)," and on anything in NSFW, quarantined, addiction support or trauma support communities. If a post becomes ineligible through deletion, takedown or a breach of Reddit's Earn Policy, all its comments lose eligibility too, and existing awards are hidden.

What does the recipient get?

The recipient gets the award icon, a spot on the item's leaderboard and, if enrolled in the Contributor Program, cash. Reddit's Understanding Contributor Earnings & Payouts article pays by karma tier:

• Contributor, 100 to 4,999 karma: $0.009 per gold used on your awards.
• Top contributor, 5,000 or more karma: $0.01 per gold.
• Below 100 karma: no payout, and the balance rolls over.

The minimum payout is $10. The Contributor Program page adds that free awards and legacy awards "aren't counted towards this eligibility criteria," so only gold-bought awards earn money. Karma still matters for the tier, and our guide on how Reddit karma works covers how that number builds up.

How do awards show on a post or comment?

An awarded post or comment shows the icon of its most popular paid award with a total count beside it. The help article explains that on a post, the award shown under Award this post "changes to the most popular paid award given to the content," and on a comment the award icon changes the same way. If you gave an award yourself, you see your award "with a golden glow behind it" instead.

The count includes anonymous awards. Tap the trophy icon in the award sheet to open the public leaderboard, which lists each award, its gold and its giver, unless the giver chose to stay anonymous.

What does an award signal about a thread worth joining?

An award signals that at least one person liked a post or comment enough to spend gold or a free award on it. Reddit's Content Recommendations article lists the content signals it uses to rank feeds, "user upvotes and downvotes, the community where the content was posted, the comment history on the post, the post type, post age, and post flairs," and awards are not on that list. Reddit names no effect of awards on where a post ranks under any sort, and our breakdown of Reddit hot vs new vs top shows how those sorts order posts.

Four limits apply when you size up a thread:

• No awards does not mean no interest. Awards are switched off in NSFW, quarantined, addiction support and trauma support communities, and on mature topics like alcohol and gambling.
• A free award costs nothing. Since August 2026 every user holds one free award per item, so a small count can be all free awards.
• Awards can be misused. Reddit lets users report an award that is "inappropriate for that specific content," and the community's moderators review the report and can remove the award. Coordinated boosting of a post is a separate offence, covered in Reddit vote manipulation.
• Awards say nothing about the question. A thread where someone asks for a tool recommendation is worth answering with zero awards. A heavily awarded joke thread is not.

Judge a thread by what the poster asked, how fresh it is and whether the comments already answer it. If you work from engagement numbers, the problems with Reddit engagement rate formulas apply to award counts as well.

What an award tells you about a thread

What it shows

• At least one person liked the post or comment
• That person spent gold or used a free award

What it does not show

• Whether the poster's question is still open
• Whether the comments already answer it
• Any effect on ranking, since Reddit names none

How does RedReplier help you find threads before the awards pile up?

RedReplier watches Reddit, X, Bluesky, Facebook and Hacker News for your keywords and ranks every match by buyer intent, so the threads that rise in your list are the ones where someone describes a problem your product solves. Matches land on your RedReplier dashboard within minutes of a post or comment going live, and Reddit alerts go out by email as digests on a cadence you set per keyword, from hourly to daily. RedReplier drafts a reply for each match and never posts it for you. You review, edit and post every reply yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Does Reddit still have awards?

Yes. Reddit retired its old awards and coins on 12 September 2023 and brought awards back on 15 May 2024. You buy them with gold, and since August 2026 every user also gets one free award per eligible post or comment.

What happened to Reddit coins?

Reddit stopped selling coins on 13 July 2023 and cleared all coin balances after 12 September 2023. Former coin holders later received free exclusive awards, which expired on 31 December 2024.

How much does a Reddit award cost?

Reddit's help centre says "Generally, awards cost between 15 and 50 gold." Gold comes in packs from 100 gold at $1.79 on the web to 2,500 gold at $44.99, and the same packs cost more in the mobile apps.

Can you give a Reddit award anonymously?

Yes. Tick Give anonymously on the award selection sheet, and only Reddit sees that you gave it. Anonymous awards still count toward the total, but they carry no message and no leaderboard credit.

Do Reddit awards make money for the recipient?

They do if the recipient is enrolled in the Contributor Program and the content is eligible under Reddit's Earn Policy. Contributors with 100 to 4,999 karma earn $0.009 per gold used, top contributors with 5,000 or more karma earn $0.01, and free awards earn nothing.

Do awards help a Reddit post rank higher?

Reddit does not say they do. Its Content Recommendations article lists votes, community, comment history, post type, post age and flair as content signals for ranking feeds, and awards are not among them.

Can you add a message to a Reddit award?

You can add a chat message of up to 100 characters when you give the award. The message is optional. Anonymous awards carry no message, so you have to pick one or the other.

Why can't I give an award on a Reddit post?

Awards are blocked on content tagged NSFW, sexually explicit content, graphic violence and "certain mature themes (e.g., alcohol, gambling)", and on anything in NSFW, quarantined, addiction support or trauma support communities. You also cannot award your own content, including posts from your alternative accounts. If a post is deleted, taken down or breaches Reddit's Earn Policy, all its comments lose eligibility and existing awards are hidden.

Can you report a Reddit award?

Yes. Reddit lets users report an award that is "inappropriate for that specific content." The community's moderators review the report and can remove the award.

Can you get a refund on Reddit gold?

Reddit states that "Gold is non-transferable and non-refundable." You cannot use it to pay another user. Unspent gold stays in your balance up to a cap of 10,000.