Where Reddit Karma Requirements Actually Come From, and How to Clear One

How much karma do you need to post on Reddit?

Reddit publishes no sitewide minimum, which means Reddit karma requirements come from individual subreddit moderators who write a threshold into their own AutoModerator configuration. Reddit's help article on karma confirms the split: it says "some communities require a certain amount of karma before allowing you to post there" and that "this measure is taken to prevent spamming within the community," and it names no figure anywhere (Reddit Help, What is karma?). The number you need belongs to the community you are posting in, not to Reddit.

Karma is the running total of upvotes and downvotes on your posts and comments, and our guide to what Reddit karma is covers the scoring. This page answers a different question: who sets the bar, what it is made of, and what to do when you are under it.

Who decides the karma threshold in a subreddit?

The moderators of each subreddit decide it, and they enforce it through AutoModerator. Reddit's full AutoModerator documentation states that "AutoModerator's configuration is kept on a subreddit's wiki, at the config/automoderator page," so every threshold lives in a YAML file a moderator of that community wrote and can change at any time. Reddit staff do not review those numbers.

That is why the number is invisible from outside. The moderators of r/NewToReddit write in their own wiki guide that "very few subreddits will tell you their minimum karma level basically to avoid spammers or low-quality participants," and their subreddit rule 7 asks members to "refrain from sharing or requesting specific community requirements" so they do not expose thresholds other moderators want kept private.

What does a karma rule look like in AutoModerator?

A karma rule is a threshold check inside an author sub-group, written with a < or > comparison. Reddit's documentation gives this example for catching an author with less than 10 post karma:

author:
    post_karma: < 10

A full removal rule adds a type, an action and a comment so the person knows what happened:

---
type: submission
author:
    combined_karma: < 100
    account_age: < 7 days
    satisfy_any_threshold: true
action: filter
action_reason: "Below community karma or age threshold"
comment: |
    Your post was held because your account is new to Reddit.
    Comment around the subreddit for a while and try again.
---

One syntax trap is documented explicitly: because > has a special meaning in YAML, a greater-than check must be quoted, as in post_karma: '> 10', while a less-than check does not need quotes.

Which karma fields can a moderator check?

Six karma fields and one age field, each comparable against a number.

The combined figure is a plain sum:

combined_karma = post_karma + comment_karma

Take an account with 40 post karma and 180 comment karma. Its combined karma is 220, so combined_karma: < 100 never fires on it. post_karma: < 50 does fire, because 40 is under 50, and the post gets removed while the sitewide total looks healthy. That is why people with thousands of karma still get filtered: the subreddit checks a field they are thin on, or checks comment_subreddit_karma, where a newcomer sits at zero whatever their sitewide score.

The satisfy_any_threshold flag decides how multiple checks combine. Reddit's documentation states that when it is true, only one check needs to succeed, and when it is false, which is the default, all of the checks must be satisfied for the rule to trigger.

Is there a published range of karma thresholds?

No representative range is documented, and any article quoting one is repeating folklore. Reddit does not aggregate subreddit configs, and moderators keep their config/automoderator wiki page private in most communities. The one number this page can attribute belongs to a single community: the r/NewToReddit wiki advises new users to build "at least 50 or so" general comment karma before making their own posts. Reddit's help center points to r/NewToReddit while noting it "is an unofficial help community and not an admin one," so treat that figure as one community's advice, not a platform rule.

The practical replacement for a number is a procedure. Read the subreddit's rules and sidebar, open its wiki index, and check its pinned posts, since communities that gate on karma announce it in one of those three places. If none of them mention it, message the moderators. Reddit's spam policy explicitly invites this, telling users they "may also contact the moderators of the community if you need additional clarifications."

Does account age matter more than karma?

Account age gates more first-time posters than karma does, because a brand new account fails an age check no amount of upvoting can fix. The account_age check accepts units, so a moderator can write account_age: < 60 hours and block anything created in the last two and a half days, whatever that account has earned. Karma accumulates in an afternoon of good comments; age only passes with time.

Check both before you blame the karma number. If your account is under a week old, wait it out, read Reddiquette and comment in the meantime, then try the post again once the calendar has done its part.

Why did your post disappear without any message?

AutoModerator removes silently unless the rule's author added a comment or modmail field to it. Reddit's documentation lists filter as an action that removes the post but keeps it in the modqueue for human review, and nothing in the mechanism notifies the author. Your post still appears on your own profile and in your own feed, which is what makes the removal so confusing: you see it, nobody else does.

Confirm it by opening the subreddit in a logged-out browser window and looking for your post. If it is missing there but visible to you, a subreddit filter caught it, and our guide on how to tell a shadowban from a mod removal separates the two cases, which need different fixes.

How do you get past a threshold without farming karma?

Comment in the community for a week before you post anything. That is the only route that clears a sitewide karma check and a comment_subreddit_karma check at once, and it doubles as research into what the subreddit upvotes. Reddit's help center puts it directly: "Don't set out to accumulate karma; just set out to be a good contributor."

Farming is worse than slow. Reddit's spam policy names "repeatedly posting or sharing old content for the purpose of rapidly gaining karma" as an example of behavior that violates the policy (Reddit Help, Spam), and accounts caught doing it get actioned instead of promoted. The r/NewToReddit moderators go further and warn that participating in subreddits offering free karma "may lead to bans." A farmed account that clears a threshold and then posts a link still gets removed on the promotion rule instead, which our breakdown of Reddit's self-promotion rules covers in detail.

The faster lever is picking better communities. A smaller active subreddit where your topic belongs gates less aggressively than a default sub with millions of subscribers. The subreddit finder surfaces communities matching a keyword, and our list of subreddits worth marketing in narrows it further.

What is replacing karma checks in 2026?

Contributor Quality Score, which Reddit describes in the AutoModerator documentation as a more holistic replacement for karma or account age checks. Every account is assigned one of five values, highest, high, moderate, low or lowest, and a moderator reads it through the contributor_quality field:

author:
    contributor_quality: "< moderate"
    action: filter
    action_reason: "CQS Filter"

CQS is not visible to you and not published by Reddit, so you cannot check yours or raise it directly. What moves it is what clears a karma gate: real comments in communities where you have something to say. Seeing what a subreddit is, a self-governed space with its own config file, explains why every one of these rules differs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Reddit have a minimum karma to post anywhere?

No. Reddit's help center describes karma gates as something "some communities require," never as a platform setting, and no Reddit documentation names a sitewide floor. A brand new account with zero karma can post in any subreddit whose moderators have not written a threshold rule.

Why was my post removed when I have thousands of karma?

The subreddit checked a field you are thin on. A rule on post_karma ignores your comment karma entirely, and a rule on comment_subreddit_karma only counts karma earned inside that one community, where a first-time visitor sits at zero. Sitewide totals do not transfer.

Can I see a subreddit's karma requirement?

Rarely. The threshold lives in the subreddit's config/automoderator wiki page, which moderators keep private in most communities, and the r/NewToReddit wiki notes that very few subreddits publish their minimum. Check the rules, sidebar, wiki index and pinned posts, then message the moderators if none of those say.

Does buying or farming karma work?

No, and it puts the account at risk. Reddit's spam policy lists repeatedly reposting old content to rapidly gain karma as a policy violation, and accounts flagged under it get actioned. Communities that hand out free karma carry their own ban risk, which the r/NewToReddit moderators warn members about directly.

How long does it take to clear a typical threshold?

There is no typical threshold to measure against, so the answer depends on the community. What is measurable is the input: a week of genuine comments in one subreddit builds both sitewide comment karma and that subreddit's own karma count, and it also passes most short account_age checks at the same time.

Will AutoModerator tell me why my post was removed?

Only if the moderator wrote a comment or modmail field into that rule. AutoModerator's filter action removes the post and holds it in the modqueue without notifying the author, so silence is the default outcome. Load the subreddit while logged out to confirm the post is gone for everyone else.

What does satisfy_any_threshold do in an AutoModerator rule?

The satisfy_any_threshold flag controls how multiple checks in a rule combine. Set to true, the rule fires as soon as one check is satisfied. Set to false, which is the default, every check in the rule has to be satisfied before it triggers.

Can a moderator require account age instead of karma?

A moderator can base a rule purely on account_age with no karma check at all, for example account_age: < 60 hours, which blocks anything created in the last two and a half days. Because age accepts units from minutes up to years, it sets a floor karma alone could never enforce.

What is Contributor Quality Score?

Contributor Quality Score is what Reddit's AutoModerator documentation describes as a more holistic replacement for karma or account age checks, sorting every account into one of five values: highest, high, moderate, low or lowest. Moderators read it through a contributor_quality field, and Reddit does not publish the score anywhere you can check it yourself.

Does messaging the moderators help if you don't meet a threshold?

Reddit's spam policy invites exactly this, telling users they may contact the moderators of a community for clarification. It will not hand you a hidden karma number, since most subreddits keep their config/automoderator wiki page private, but it can confirm whether a threshold exists at all and what else is blocking your post.