Creating a subreddit is the easy part. You can have one live in the time it takes to drink a coffee. I know, because I have done it more than once, and the first ten minutes were never what decided whether the community worked. What decided it was everything I did in the hour after I clicked the button.
So this guide has two jobs. First, the exact steps, checked against Reddit's own help article on creating a community. Second, the setup I use on the communities I moderate, so the new one does not look abandoned the moment a stranger lands on it.
How Do I Start My Own Subreddit?
Reddit calls subreddits "communities" now, and its help center is written that way. On reddit.com the steps are short:
- Click the Create Community button in the left-hand sidebar.
- Fill in the community name and a description.
- Add up to three topics so Reddit can connect the community with relevant audiences.
- Set the community type, and toggle the Mature (18+) option only if the community really is adults-only.
- Create it.
That is the whole list according to Reddit's help center. On mobile the label is different and the flow is a little different, so use the article's iOS and Android tab if you are on a phone. Reddit also says it may change your topics later, based on what the community ends up posting about. Do not fight that. Pick accurate topics and move on.
There is one step with real consequences: the name. Reddit says it must be between 3 and 21 characters, and once the community exists the name cannot be changed, capitalization included. It also becomes your URL, reddit.com/r/YourCommunityNameHere.
Is It Free To Start A Subreddit?
Yes, as far as Reddit's instructions go. The help article lists no fee anywhere in the steps. The costs are elsewhere: your time, a banner if you want a designed one, and the daily work of keeping a young community alive.
Do not confuse this with Reddit's paid products. Reddit Premium and Reddit Ads are separate things, and neither is required to open a community. Reddit Pro, the business toolset, is also a separate thing: Reddit says it is free for eligible businesses, and you can read how it fits in on my Reddit Pro guide.
Can Anyone Open A Subreddit?
Anyone with a Reddit account, in practice, though I want to be careful here. Older forum threads describe an account age and karma minimum. I could not find any account age or karma figure on Reddit's current help article, so I am not going to give you a number. If you try to create a community from a very fresh account and Reddit blocks you, wait, use the account normally for a while, and try again. Do not spin up a throwaway account to get around it. Reddit's rules ask you to participate authentically, and an account made for one purpose is easy to spot.
The other thing "anyone" does not cover is what you are allowed to put in it. Reddit says all the components of a community must follow the Reddit Rules, and moderators are held to the Moderator Code of Conduct. It asks you to describe the topic clearly, label content correctly, and stay active enough to keep the place stable. Open a community and abandon it, and Reddit can reach out to you about it.
What Should I Decide Before I Click Create?
Because the name is permanent, spend your thinking time here. My short list:
- A one-sentence purpose. If you cannot say who the community is for and what they will talk about, nobody else will understand it either.
- A name people would type into a search box, in readable capitalization.
- A community type: public, restricted or private. Most brand and topic communities want public, so threads can be found.
- Whether it is an official brand community, an unofficial fan community, or neither. Reddit's Moderator Code of Conduct asks you to say clearly which one it is when the topic concerns a brand.
- Who the second moderator will be.
On the name: look at one of mine, r/galapagostourism, all lowercase, when r/GalapagosTourism would read better. The name is permanent, so capitalize it the way you want people to see it.
On the type, I would only pick something other than public with a specific reason. A new community that most people cannot post in will not grow.
Names That Struggle
- Your company name alone, when nobody searches for it yet
- Clever puns nobody types
- Long names that run past 21 characters anyway
- All lowercase with no word breaks
Names That Work
- Place plus topic, like the travel communities I run
- The problem your audience searches for
- Readable capitalization, chosen once
- A name that still makes sense if your product changes
What Do I Do In The First Hour?
An empty, unstyled community looks dead, and visitors judge in seconds. Before the first real post, I do this:
- Write a description that uses the words your audience actually searches for.
- Add an icon and a banner.
- Write the community rules, short and specific.
- Say in the sidebar who runs the community and why.
- Check how it looks on both old and new Reddit.
- Add a second moderator.
The second moderator is the item people skip, and it matters most. If a single account gets locked, hacked or banned, the entire subreddit goes with it. Reddit's own Moderator Code of Conduct asks for enough moderators to manage the community consistently, so this is not only my preference. Recruit someone you trust, a teammate, or a volunteer from a mod-seeking community such as r/NeedAMod. Be careful who you give permissions to, since a moderator can do real damage.
My takeRules written at creation are the cheapest moderation you will ever do. A vague rule gets argued over for a year. A specific one gets applied in four seconds.
How Do I Write Rules That Hold Up?
Think of the rules as your customer service desk. Every removal you make should point at one of them, so people see a policy rather than a mood. Mine tend to cover: stay on topic, no spam, be civil, no personal information, and a plain statement of how promotion works.
That last one is the trap for brands. If you own the community, you can decide what promotion is allowed, but your members will read the sidebar before they read your pitch. My advice: say who is behind the community in plain words and keep links out of your own posts for the first 30 days. The reasoning is in the 30-day growth playbook.
Once the rules exist, let the bot enforce the boring ones. Reddit's built-in AutoModerator can remove obvious spam, flag keywords and post a welcome comment, all from a wiki page of rules. One catch: Reddit's help center says that for newly created communities its enforcement actions (report, filter, remove, mark as spam and approve) are no longer available, and points them to the Rules and Automation mod tools instead.
Can You Make Money From Owning A Subreddit?
Directly, from Reddit, no. Moderators are volunteers. The Moderator Code of Conduct goes further: moderators may not take moderation actions in exchange for compensation, gifts or favors from third parties, and the examples it lists include selling ad space in your community, such as offering to pin posts for a fee or using subreddit styling to advertise for someone else. Approvals, bans, flair and invites all count as moderation actions under that rule.
The same page carves out what is fine: events and engagements with third parties, activity from a brand, and employees of a company starting and maintaining a subreddit, as long as no compensation is received for it.
So the honest model is indirect. You run the community, it builds trust and search visibility, and the return comes through the business behind it. That is how mine work. In the first 30 days of r/galapagostourism, the community had 200+ members, 11,600 views, 12 qualified leads and 3 sales worth $1,500, with $0 spent on ads. The money came through my travel business, not from the subreddit itself.
If someone offers to pay you to remove a competitor's posts, approve a user or pin a link, that is exactly what the Code of Conduct prohibits. Say no. It can cost you the subreddit.
What Comes After You Create It?
You have a live, empty community. Now the actual work begins, and it is daily work for a month. The order I follow:
- Seed it with a few real discussion posts so a visitor sees activity.
- Post once a day in week one, then one or two a day.
- Reply to everything, fast.
- Invite real people from your own network and customers, under their own names.
- Stay linkless for the first month.
A new community needs content for visitors to see before you promote it. My complete version, with the week-by-week plan and numbers from r/galapagostourism, is in How To Grow A Subreddit. Read it next.
Do not seed discussion from a second account of your own. It violates the site's rule against content manipulation, moderators and users spot it, and it taints the community from day one. Invite real people instead.
If you would rather have the community built and moderated by someone who has done it repeatedly, that is what the brand subreddit service is. If you are weighing whether a community belongs in your marketing at all, Reddit for business covers that.
What Mistakes Do People Make Right After Creating One?
Announcing it too early. Sharing a community with nothing in it wastes the one chance a person gets to see it new.
Posting a link to their product as the first post. It reads as an ad, because it is one.
Going quiet after a burst. Five posts in week one and nothing for ten days kills a young community.
Having one moderator. Covered above. It is the cheapest insurance there is.
Pretending to be a neutral fan. If the community is yours, say so. Redditors forgive a business that is open about being one far faster than one that gets caught.
Questions About Creating A Subreddit
How do I start my own subreddit?
On reddit.com, click Create Community in the left sidebar, enter a name (3 to 21 characters, permanent) and a description, add up to three topics, set the community type and create it. The steps come from Reddit's help center.
Is it free to start a subreddit?
Yes. Reddit's steps list no fee, and creating a community does not require Reddit Premium or any paid product. Your real costs are time and the daily work of running it.
Can anyone open a subreddit?
Anyone with a Reddit account can try. Reddit's current help article gives no account age or karma threshold, though older forum posts mention one, so I will not quote a number. The community must still follow the Reddit Rules and the Moderator Code of Conduct.
Can you make money from owning a subreddit?
Not directly. Moderators are volunteers and the Moderator Code of Conduct bars taking compensation for moderation actions, including selling ad space. The return is indirect, through the business or audience the community supports.
Can I change a subreddit name after creating it?
No. Reddit says the name cannot be edited after the community is created, including its capitalization, so decide before you click Create.