Communities
Best subreddits for indie hackers and founders in 2026
41 subreddits where founders launch, learn and find customers, with the weekly visitors Reddit shows today and the self-promotion rules each one actually enforces. Checked on Reddit, sub by sub, not copied from other lists.
Founder, SaaSCity
Updated
Stats and rules read off Reddit
- 41
- Subreddits checked
- 16
- Ban self-promotion
- 7
- Megathread or set day only
- 5
- Welcome launch posts
Contents (17)
- The short answer
- Why member counts lie
- Peer rooms vs buyer rooms
- Pick by stage
- r/SaaS, r/indiehackers or r/SideProject
- The 10 core subreddits
- Launch and feedback subs
- Where your customers are
- AI and vibe coding subs
- Self-promotion rules, all subs
- What old lists get wrong
- What to post
- 30-day plan
- Measuring what works
- What Reddit itself says
- Mistakes that get you banned
- FAQ
The short answer
- Launch: r/SideProject, the one big founder sub that welcomes launch posts.
- Journey posts with numbers: r/indiehackers and r/buildinpublic.
- SaaS tactics: r/SaaS (no product posts) and r/microsaas.
- Customers: two or three buyer subs where people in your niche ask for tools.
- First: read the rules, comment for two weeks, then post a story with numbers. Never a bare link.
Why member counts lie (and what we publish instead)
Lists of subreddits still quote member counts, and they disagree wildly: r/SideProject shows up as anything from 165,000 to over a million. Reddit stopped showing members in September 2025 because the number only grew with a sub's age. Community pages now show weekly visitors (unique visitors in the past seven days) and weekly contributions (posts and comments that weren't removed).
The difference is not small. r/indiehackers still counts about 194,000 subscribers in its sidebar, but Reddit measured about 10,500 weekly visitors. Every number on this page is the weekly figure, read off the community page on September 23, 2026. Reddit itself reported 130.3 million daily active users in its second quarter of 2026.
Peer rooms vs buyer rooms
For a founder, Reddit does two different jobs. Peer rooms (r/SaaS, r/indiehackers, r/SideProject) are other builders: good for feedback, tactics and morale. Buyer rooms(r/smallbusiness, r/webdev, r/sysadmin, r/freelance) are owners, developers and operators asking "what should I use for this?". That is where customers are.
Most founders only do the first job, then wonder why a popular post brought comments and no signups. The catch: buyer rooms are the strictest. Almost all of them ban self-promotion, so the way in is a genuinely useful answer with an honest disclosure.
Pick subreddits by stage
r/SaaS vs r/indiehackers vs r/SideProject
The three names every founder list starts with do different jobs. Match the post to the room.
The 10 core subreddits for indie hackers, ranked
Ranked by how useful each is to a bootstrapped founder, not by size. Live weekly visitors on the right; the rules that decide what you may post are quoted from each sub's sidebar.
r/SideProject
330,000 weeklyLaunch posts welcome 16,000 posts and comments a week Since 2013The one mainstream founder subreddit where posting your own project is the point. It is also the busiest: more weekly visitors than any other founder sub we checked. The pinned threads are a "most proud of" thread and a megathread for projects built without AI, which says a lot about what fills the feed now.
What wins: a specific problem, a working demo, an honest "this is rough" and a direct question. Twenty comments from people who actually tried it are worth more than the upvotes.
- Who is there
- Makers showing what they built this week
- Post that works
- I built [tool] for [person] after [pain]. Here is what I learned; I need feedback on X and Y.
- The catch
- Reply quality is uneven, and the feed moves fast. Treat it as launch traffic, not a home.
r/SideProject as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/indiehackers
10,500 weeklyAllowed with conditions 1,900 posts and comments a week Since 2016The Reddit cousin of indiehackers.com, not run by the same people. Its sidebar still counts almost 194,000 subscribers, but Reddit measured only about 10,500 weekly visitors when we checked in September 2026. That gap is the best argument for ignoring subscriber counts.
Two pinned announcements set new posting rules in 2026, with rules on self-promotion, MRR claims and "what are you building" posts, and flairs such as Knowledge post, Financial Question and Technical Question. Posts that teach, with numbers, do well. Launch posts belong elsewhere.
- Who is there
- Bootstrappers sharing revenue, stacks and failures
- Post that works
- Month 4: $0 to $820 MRR. What worked, what failed, the stack.
- The catch
- Far quieter than its subscriber count suggests, and the mods reorganised it in 2026 to get "the quality back". Ads dressed as journey posts get removed.
- Rules that bite
- “Self Promotion”
r/indiehackers as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/SaaS
260,000 weeklyNo self-promotion 12,000 posts and comments a week Since 2008The default SaaS room and one of the busiest founder subs on Reddit. The written rules are strict: no promotional or advertising SaaS, no vendor spam in posts or comments, and no "I'll review or roast your thing" offers either.
That makes it the place for tactical posts: pricing tests, churn, onboarding, channel breakdowns. If other SaaS teams are your buyers, helpful comments here are how they find you.
- Who is there
- SaaS founders and operators, idea stage to $100k MRR
- Post that works
- We raised prices 30% and churn went from 8% to 6%. Here is the email and the plan we killed.
- The catch
- The rules ban promotional posts and vendor spam outright, and the mods run anti-spam apps. It is a room for shop talk, not launches.
- Rules that bite
- “No Vendor Spam on posts or comments”, “No selling, soliciting, or fundraising”, “No Promotional or Advertising SaaS”
r/SaaS as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/microsaas
27,000 weeklyAllowed with conditions 2,600 posts and comments a week Since 2017Two overlapping rooms: r/microsaas is older and smaller, r/micro_saas is larger and runs a monthly showcase megathread for launches. Both prefer honest small numbers to growth theatre.
r/microsaas asks you to keep it micro, bans low-effort self-promotion and "DM me" posts. Post launches in the r/micro_saas monthly showcase, and lessons in either.
- Who is there
- Solo founders running small, niche SaaS
- Post that works
- A $2k/month tool for [niche]: how I found the niche and priced it.
- The catch
- Small. Talk like a one-person business, not a Series A company.
- Rules that bite
- “No Low-Effort Self-Promotion”
r/microsaas as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/buildinpublic
51,000 weeklyAllowed with conditions 3,600 posts and comments a week Since 2020Weekly logs, milestones and decision diaries. The rules allow self-promotion only with context, and ask for transparency when you mention tools you are tied to.
A good second home if r/indiehackers feels too strict: post every week, and the regulars start to recognise you.
- Who is there
- Founders posting weekly logs and milestones
- Post that works
- Week 12: first paying customer, $49 MRR. What moved it and what didn't.
- The catch
- Consistency is the price. One post and gone gets nothing.
- Rules that bite
- “No Self-Promotion Without Context”, “No Spam”
r/buildinpublic as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/EntrepreneurRideAlong
44,000 weeklyAllowed with conditions 2,300 posts and comments a week Since 2012Long-form diaries of a business being built, not highlight reels. Few written rules, a small, steady audience, and some of the most detailed posts on Reddit.
- Who is there
- Founders writing long, honest build diaries
- Post that works
- Ride-along, month 3: the channel that failed and what replaced it.
- The catch
- The thread dies if you stop posting.
r/EntrepreneurRideAlong as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/startups
100,000 weeklyMegathread or set day only 2,300 posts and comments a week Since 2008Big, blunt and rule-heavy. The written rules ban direct sales and promotion, say feedback "has a place" (a designated thread), and forbid posts that ask people to DM you.
Worth it for reality checks on an idea and for long how-we-built-this posts. Comment more than you post.
- Who is there
- A mixed, skeptical crowd: funded and bootstrapped founders
- Post that works
- How we built X: the decision we got wrong, with numbers.
- The catch
- Not an indie home. No direct sales, ads or promotion, and sharing your blog is only allowed to start a discussion.
- Rules that bite
- “No direct sales, advertisements, or promotion”, “Sharing Your Blog is To Start a Discussion, Never For Self-Promotion”
r/startups as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/Entrepreneur
270,000 weeklyNo self-promotion 2,700 posts and comments a week Since 2008Huge weekly reach, but relative to that few people post. That makes a good comment far more visible than a post. Useful for reach, bad as a launch pad.
- Who is there
- The largest general business room: hustle, noise, the odd gem
- Post that works
- What I got wrong in year one, with the numbers.
- The catch
- Posts get buried fast and the rules ban promotion, sales and solicitation, and require original, human-written content.
- Rules that bite
- “No promotion, sales, or solicitation”
r/Entrepreneur as a logged-out visitor sees it, September 2026. r/Solopreneur
5,300 weeklyAllowed with conditions 500 posts and comments a week Since 2014Useful when you run services as well as products. The rules ban disguised self-promotion, affiliate links, clickbait and "DM me".
- Who is there
- One-person businesses: clients, pricing, tools, isolation
- Post that works
- How I price a one-person service business, with my real rates.
- The catch
- Small and quiet next to the big rooms.
- Rules that bite
- “No disguised self-promotion or affiliate links”
r/IMadeThis
24,500 weeklyLaunch posts welcome 1,500 posts and comments a week Since 2009A showcase room that expects launches. Pair it with r/SideProject rather than posting the same text to both on the same day.
- Who is there
- People showing things they made: apps, tools, design, crafts
- Post that works
- I made [thing]: what it does, how I built it, one image.
- The catch
- Great for showing, weak for business advice.
Launch, testing and feedback subreddits
Rooms built for asks, so the big subs don't have to take raw pitches. One thoughtful post each, not a blast.
Where your customers are: buyer subreddits
Owners, developers and operators asking for tools. Almost all ban self-promotion, so answer the question first and disclose what you built.
AI and vibe coding subreddits
The rooms most older lists miss. r/vibecoding was created in February 2025 and is already bigger than most founder subs.
Self-promotion rules for every subreddit here
All 41, busiest first. The quoted rule is the title as it appears in the sub's sidebar; open the sub for the full text before you post.
Read on September 23, 2026. A dash means the sub shows no rule list, so its posture comes from its own description and pinned posts. Rules change without notice; the sidebar wins over this table.
What old subreddit lists get wrong in 2026
Checked against the live subreddits. If a guide still recommends these, it wasn't checked recently.
r/shamelessplug is banned
Many lists still call it the safest place for direct links. Reddit banned it for excessive copyright removals; the page now says so.
r/SaaS_Promotions is behind a login wall
It is marked as mature content, so logged-out visitors, and anyone who clicks your link without an account, see an age gate instead of your post.
r/smallbusiness does not take promo posts
Older guides describe a [Promo] tag. The current rules ban links, product recommendations, business promotion and market research posts outright.
r/SaaS banned promotional posts
A pinned announcement added a rule against promotional or advertising SaaS. Lessons with numbers still work; launch posts don't.
r/indiehackers is smaller than it looks
About 194,000 subscribers in the sidebar, about 10,500 weekly visitors. New posting rules were pinned in 2026.
Member counts are gone
Reddit replaced them with weekly visitors and weekly contributions in September 2025. Any list quoting "members" is using stale numbers.
What to post: templates that fit the rules
Launch post · r/SideProject, r/IMadeThis
I built [specific tool] for [specific person] after [specific pain]. [2-3 lines on how it works]. Price: [free / $X]. What I need feedback on: [question 1] and [question 2]. [link]
Journey post · r/indiehackers, r/buildinpublic, r/EntrepreneurRideAlong
Month [N]: $[start] to $[now] MRR. What worked: [channel + number]. What failed: [channel + number]. Stack: [3 tools]. Stuck on: [one question].
Tactical post · r/SaaS, r/microsaas
We [changed X] and [metric] went from [a] to [b]. Here is exactly what we did, what we expected, and what surprised us. [No link unless asked.]
Buyer-thread reply · r/smallbusiness, r/webdev, niche subs
[Answer the question fully in 5-8 lines, naming other tools too.] Disclosure: I built [product] for this; it fits if [condition], not if [condition].
Never post: a link and a slogan, "would you use this?" with nothing to look at, the same text in a dozen subs within the hour, or "not promoting, but" followed by a promotion.
A 30-day Reddit plan for founders
- Days 1-3: pick five subs and read One launch sub, two peer subs, two buyer subs. Read the top posts of the month, every rule and every pinned post. Note which want flair, megathreads or a set day.
- Days 4-14: comment, no links Three to five useful comments a day, mostly in the buyer subs. This builds the karma and history that AutoModerator and people check.
- Days 15-21: one launch post One post in r/SideProject or one journey post in r/indiehackers, not both the same morning. Answer every comment in the first hour.
- Days 22-30: answer buyers Ten "what tool for X" threads, answered properly, with disclosure where your product fits. One progress update in r/buildinpublic or r/EntrepreneurRideAlong.
After that, an hour two or three times a week beats a launch-week binge. For the writing itself, see our Reddit engagement playbook.
Measuring which subreddits work
Tag every link you post with the sub it came from, for example ?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=r_sideproject, then compare signups, not visits, per sub. Traffic from a big sub that doesn't convert is noise; ten signups from a 5,000-visitor niche sub is a channel.
On Reddit itself, the upvote ratio and the comment count tell you early whether the framing landed. A post with many comments and a low ratio usually means people disliked the pitch, not the product.
What Reddit itself says about self-promotion
Reddit Rule 2
"Participate authentically in communities where you have a personal interest, and do not spam or engage in disruptive behaviors (including content manipulation) that interfere with Reddit communities."
Reddit's spam policy on self-promotion
"If your contributions to Reddit consist primarily of links to a business that you run, own, or otherwise benefit from, please be thoughtful about the frequency of posting, or consider advertising opportunities." Moderators decide what counts as spam in their own sub.
The "10% rule"
Not in Reddit's current policies. It is an old rule of thumb that mods still think in, so keep most of your activity about other people.
Weekly visitors, not members
Since September 2025 community pages show unique visitors over the past week and posts and comments that weren't removed. Reddit said member counts reflected a sub's age, not its activity.
Mistakes that get founders removed or banned
Launching before you have commented anywhere
A brand-new account whose first post is a link reads as spam to AutoModerator and to people. Some subs also gate posting on karma or account age.
Pasting one post into ten subs
Reddit's spam filters catch identical posts in a row. Rewrite the title and first lines for each room, and space them out by a day or two.
Treating founder subs as your customers
r/SaaS readers are other founders. Unless you sell to founders, your buyers are in the rooms where they ask for tools.
Ignoring flair, megathreads and set days
Several subs only take projects in a megathread or on one weekday. r/webdev takes feedback requests on Saturday, r/selfhosted takes new projects in its megathread.
Leaving the thread
The first hour of replies decides how a post does. Post when you can stay.
Inflating MRR
Several subs have rules about revenue claims. Numbers you can't back up get called out.
Buying accounts or votes
Reddit bans vote manipulation and the sale or transfer of accounts. Getting caught ends the account and the reputation that came with it.
Beyond Reddit
Reddit is one room. For forums, paid communities and Discords (Indie Hackers, Small Bets, MicroConf Connect, WIP and more), see the best indie hacker communities. For listings that keep sending visitors after the thread dies, see the best SaaS directories. SaaSCity (ours) puts your product on a live city map with a DR 64 dofollow link.
Questions founders ask
- What is the best subreddit for indie hackers?
- r/SideProject to launch, r/indiehackers and r/buildinpublic for journey posts with numbers, r/SaaS and r/microsaas for tactics, and two or three subs where your buyers ask for tools. r/SideProject had about 330,000 weekly visitors when we checked on September 23, 2026.
- Where can I promote my startup on Reddit?
- Openly in r/SideProject, r/IMadeThis, r/alphaandbetausers, r/TestMyApp and r/roastmystartup. With conditions in r/indiehackers, r/buildinpublic, r/microsaas and r/vibecoding. Of the 41 subreddits we checked, 16 ban self-promotion in their written rules and 7 allow it only in a megathread or on a set day.
- Does r/SaaS allow self-promotion?
- No. Its rules ban promotional or advertising SaaS and vendor spam in posts and comments. Post lessons with numbers and answer "what tool should I use" threads instead.
- Why is r/indiehackers so quiet for its size?
- Its sidebar counts about 194,000 subscribers, but Reddit measured about 10,500 weekly visitors. Subscriber counts add up over years and never shrink when people leave, which is why Reddit replaced them with weekly visitors in September 2025.
- How many subreddits should I join?
- Read five closely and comment in them for two weeks before you post anything of your own. Most founders need one launch sub, one or two peer subs and two or three buyer subs.
- Can I post the same launch in every subreddit?
- No. Identical posts in a row trip Reddit's spam filters and each sub has different rules. Rewrite the title and opening for each room and space the posts a day or two apart.
- What is the 9-to-1 or 10% rule on Reddit?
- An old guideline that most of your activity should not be self-promotion. It is not in Reddit's current policies, which ask you to participate authentically and be thoughtful about how often you post links to your own business, but many moderators still judge accounts that way.
- Is Reddit better than Product Hunt for first users?
- For some products. A story post in the right sub can bring users who stay, while Product Hunt brings one day of attention. Reddit rewards products people can try right away and punishes anything that reads like an ad.
- Which subreddits are best for AI builders in 2026?
- r/vibecoding and r/ClaudeAI, alongside r/SideProject. r/ClaudeAI had about 1,670,000 weekly visitors when we checked; both want projects shown in a way that teaches something, and r/vibecoding requires approval for dev tools.
- Is r/shamelessplug still a good place to promote?
- No. Reddit banned r/shamelessplug for excessive copyright removals, so the community page shows only a ban notice. r/SideProject, r/IMadeThis and r/alphaandbetausers are the working alternatives for direct product posts.
- Why was my Reddit post removed?
- Usually one of: a link-first post, a missing flair, posting outside a required megathread or day, too little karma or account age, or an account whose history is mostly its own product. Read the sub's rules and pinned posts, then message the mods if it still isn't clear.
How we built this: on September 23, 2026we opened every subreddit on this page in a browser and recorded the weekly visitors, weekly contributions, creation date, rule titles and pinned posts Reddit showed. Promotion postures are our reading of those rules. Reddit's policy quotes are from its Rules and Help Center; the daily-user figure is from its Q2 2026 results. We re-check monthly.
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