Reddit is shutting down two of the main channels outsiders have used to pull data from the site, saying the change is meant to curb scraping and automated abuse. In an announcement released yesterday, the company said RSS feeds will stop working on November 13, and public access to its API will end in March 2027.
Reddit wrote, 「In August, we shared plans to modernize Reddit’s infrastructure, build better mod tools, and make it harder for bad actors to scrape Reddit and abuse communities. Today, we have specifics on what’s changing, when, and how to plan ahead.」
RSS is a simple feed format that lets an app automatically check a page for new posts. An API, or application programming interface, gives software a direct way to request data from a service. For years, both have supported a wide range of third-party tools, bots, and alert systems tied to Reddit.
The company said the reason for shutting them down is scraping, meaning bots that copy large amounts of content automatically, along with what it described as automated abuse.
A phased cutoff is already on the calendar
Reddit said new requests for public API access will end on October 31. Apps and users that have not registered or responded to Reddit outreach will start losing access on January 12, 2027. Everyone still using the public API after that will be cut off in March 2027.
To move developers onto its own stack, Reddit is pushing its Developer Platform, Devvit, and backing that effort with a $1 million App Migration Program. The program includes $1,000 payments for eligible apps that migrate and free hosting. Applications are due by November 30.
According to Reddit, more than 14,000 apps and bots have registered so far. The company said popular tools including DeltaBot, MagicEyeBot, and RemindMeBot have either completed migration or are close to finishing it.
RSS replacements are limited
For moderators who rely on RSS-based alerts, Reddit pointed to a Devvit app called Discord Relay.
Outside communities a user moderates, though, the company said there is no replacement for RSS.
Old Reddit is next
Old Reddit, the older version of the site still favored by many long-time users, is also being tightened. In the coming months, access will be limited to logged-in users who have used Old Reddit within the last six months. Moderators will keep access regardless.
Reddit said logged-out access was the biggest source of abusive scraping on Old Reddit. A bot that looks like a person is difficult to block at the door, which is why the login requirement came first.
Data and money sit at the center of the decision
For users trying to understand the logic, the article summed it up in two words: data and money.
Reddit holds years of posts in which real people answered real questions, from which phone to buy to how to fix a leaking pipe to whether a symptom is serious enough to justify a doctor visit.
Back in 2023, Reddit began charging developers for API access, a move that triggered protests in which thousands of subreddits went dark.
In early 2024, Reddit signed a licensing agreement with Google worth roughly $60 million a year, allowing Google to train AI models on Reddit posts. In May that year, Reddit followed with a deal involving OpenAI.
Companies without formal agreements have faced legal action
Reddit has also taken the issue to court. In June 2025, it sued Anthropic, the company behind Claude, alleging that Anthropic’s bots hit Reddit servers more than 100,000 times after the company had said the activity had stopped.
In October 2025, Reddit sued Perplexity and three data-scraping firms, accusing them of bypassing its protections. Perplexity and SerpApi disputed those claims.
Scraping tactics have also become harder to detect. Cloudflare, the internet infrastructure provider, accused Perplexity in August 2025 of disguising its crawlers as ordinary Chrome browsers to get around blocks. Perplexity disputed that allegation as well.
What users may lose
For regular users, the practical risk is that small tools that make Reddit easier to use may disappear, including reminder bots, moderator helpers, and alert feeds. If an app developer does not migrate, that app goes dark.
The first cutoff for existing unregistered apps is January 12, 2027. The migration fund will stop accepting applications on November 30, 2026.