Is Reddit Down? Complete Status Check Guide + Quick Fixes

Reddit not loading? You're not alone. Whether you're seeing infinite loading spinners, CDN errors, or the mobile app refusing to refresh, this guide will help you determine if Reddit is actually down or if it's a problem on your end.

Quick Status Check: Is It Reddit or Just You?

Before diving into troubleshooting, verify whether Reddit is experiencing a global outage or if the issue is local to your device or network.

Official and Third-Party Status Sources

1. redditstatus.com - Reddit's official status page. Check here first for confirmed incidents.
2. apistatuscheck.com/api/reddit - Real-time API monitoring for Reddit's services.
3. Downdetector - Community-reported outages with heat maps showing affected regions.
4. Reddit's Twitter (@redditstatus) - Updates during major incidents.
5. Alternative sites - If Twitter, Discord, or other platforms are working but Reddit isn't, it's likely a Reddit-side issue.

Pro tip: Bookmark these pages before you need them. When Reddit's down, you won't be able to search for them on Reddit.

Common Reddit Errors (And What They Mean)

1. Infinite Loading Spinner

What you see: The Reddit logo spinning endlessly, page never loads.

Common causes:

• Server overload during peak traffic
• CDN issues preventing content delivery
• Browser cache corruption
• DNS resolution problems

2. "Our CDN Was Unable to Reach Our Servers"

What it means: Reddit's Content Delivery Network (CDN) can't communicate with their backend servers.

Why it happens:

• Backend server maintenance
• DDoS attacks
• Network routing issues between CDN and origin servers

This is typically a Reddit-side issue that you cannot fix locally.

3. 503 Service Unavailable

What it means: Reddit's servers are temporarily unable to handle your request.

Common triggers:

• Scheduled maintenance
• Unexpected traffic spikes (major news events)
• Server crashes or restarts

4. Mobile App Crashes or Won't Refresh

Symptoms:

• App opens but content won't load
• "Something went wrong" error messages
• Can't vote, comment, or post

Possible causes:

• Reddit API downtime
• App bugs after updates
• Authentication token expiration
• Rate limiting (if you're refreshing too frequently)

5. Can't Vote or Comment (But Can Browse)

What it indicates: Reddit's read operations are working, but write operations are failing.

Why: Reddit sometimes degrades service during outages, prioritizing read-only access to keep the site browsable while they fix backend issues.

Step-by-Step Troubleshooting

Work through these steps systematically, starting with the simplest solutions.

Level 1: Basic Checks (2 minutes)

1. Refresh the page - Press Ctrl+R (Windows) or Cmd+R (Mac).
2. Try a different browser - If Reddit works in an incognito/private window, it's likely a cache or extension issue.
3. Check your internet connection - Open other websites to confirm your connection is working.
4. Try old.reddit.com - The legacy interface uses different servers and often stays up when new Reddit is down.
5. Switch devices - Try the mobile app if desktop isn't working, or vice versa.

Level 2: Network Troubleshooting (5 minutes)

1. Clear DNS cache

   • Windows: Open Command Prompt and run ipconfig /flushdns
   • Mac: Open Terminal and run sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
   • Linux: Run sudo systemd-resolve --flush-caches

2. Try a different DNS provider

   • Switch to Google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) or Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1)
   • This can bypass DNS-related outages

3. Disable VPN temporarily

   • Some VPN exit nodes may be blocked or have routing issues
   • Try disconnecting to see if Reddit loads

4. Check your firewall/antivirus

   • Corporate networks sometimes block Reddit
   • Antivirus software may interfere with connections

Level 3: Browser/App Troubleshooting (10 minutes)

1. Clear browser cache and cookies

   • Chrome: Settings → Privacy → Clear browsing data
   • Firefox: Settings → Privacy → Clear Data
   • Safari: Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data

2. Disable browser extensions

   • Ad blockers and privacy extensions can sometimes break Reddit
   • Test in incognito mode (extensions are usually disabled)

3. Update your app

   • Check App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android) for Reddit app updates
   • Outdated apps may have compatibility issues

4. Reinstall the Reddit app

   • Uninstall completely, restart your device, then reinstall
   • This resets authentication tokens and clears corrupted local data

Level 4: Account-Specific Issues

1. Try logging out and back in

   • Refresh your authentication token
   • May resolve "can't vote/comment" issues

2. Check if you're shadowbanned or suspended

   • Visit reddit.com/r/ShadowBan and post to test
   • Check reddit.com/appeals for suspension notices

3. Create a new account (test)

   • If a new account works but your main doesn't, the issue is account-specific

Reddit Alternatives When It's Down

When Reddit's having a bad day, here are quality alternatives:

Platform	Best For	Tech Focus	Community Size
Lemmy	Reddit-like federated communities	High - open source	Growing (300K+ users)
Hacker News	Tech news, startups, programming	Very High	Large (active)
Discord	Real-time chat, interest-based servers	Medium-High	Massive (150M+ users)
Mastodon	Microblogging, tech communities	High - federated	Medium (10M+ users)
Tildes	Quality discussions, no memes	Medium-High	Small (invite-only)
Lobsters	Tech links & discussions	Very High	Small (invite-only)

Quick picks:

• Need tech news now? → Hacker News
• Want Reddit-style communities? → Lemmy
• Real-time chat about hobbies? → Discord
• Privacy-focused social? → Mastodon

For Developers: Reddit API Status & Troubleshooting

If you're building on Reddit's API, here's what you need to know during outages.

Reddit API Rate Limits

Reddit enforces strict rate limits:

• OAuth authenticated: 100 requests per minute
• Non-OAuth (not recommended): 10 requests per minute
• Burst limit: 600 requests per 10 minutes (OAuth)

When Reddit's degraded: Rate limits may be temporarily stricter or enforced more aggressively.

Common API Errors During Outages

503 Service Unavailable

{
  "message": "Service Temporarily Unavailable",
  "error": 503
}

What to do: Implement exponential backoff (wait 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s between retries).

429 Too Many Requests

{
  "message": "Too Many Requests",
  "error": 429
}

What to do: You've hit rate limits. Wait 60 seconds before retrying.

401 Unauthorized

{
  "message": "Unauthorized",
  "error": 401
}

What to do: Your OAuth token expired. Refresh your token.

OAuth Token Issues

Reddit OAuth tokens expire after 1 hour. During outages, token refresh endpoints may also be affected.

Best practices:

• Cache tokens with a 55-minute expiration (5-minute buffer)
• Implement automatic token refresh
• Handle 401 errors gracefully by re-authenticating

PRAW (Python) Error Handling

If you're using PRAW (Python Reddit API Wrapper), wrap API calls in proper exception handling:

import praw
from prawcore.exceptions import ResponseException, RequestException
import time

reddit = praw.Reddit(...)

def fetch_with_retry(subreddit_name, max_retries=3):
    for attempt in range(max_retries):
        try:
            subreddit = reddit.subreddit(subreddit_name)
            return list(subreddit.hot(limit=10))
        except ResponseException as e:
            if e.response.status_code == 503:
                wait = 2 ** attempt  # Exponential backoff
                print(f"Reddit API down, retrying in {wait}s...")
                time.sleep(wait)
            else:
                raise
        except RequestException as e:
            print(f"Network error: {e}")
            time.sleep(5)
    return None

Monitoring Reddit API Health

For production applications, monitor:

1. Response times - Latency spikes often precede outages
2. Error rates - Track 5xx responses
3. Rate limit headers - X-Ratelimit-Remaining tells you how many requests you have left
4. API status endpoint - apistatuscheck.com/api/reddit provides real-time monitoring

Set up alerts when:

• Average response time > 2 seconds
• Error rate > 5%
• Rate limit remaining < 10

Reddit Outage Patterns

Understanding when Reddit tends to have issues can help you plan around downtime.

Peak Outage Times

Highest risk periods:

• 12:00-2:00 PM EST (US lunch break)
• 6:00-9:00 PM EST (US evening peak)
• Major news events (elections, sports championships, celebrity deaths)
• Scheduled maintenance (usually announced 24-48 hours ahead on redditstatus.com)

Lower risk periods:

• Early morning EST (2:00-6:00 AM)
• Mid-week afternoons

Common Outage Causes

1. Traffic surges - Breaking news events overwhelm servers
2. CDN failures - Issues with Fastly or other CDN providers
3. Database issues - Reddit's Cassandra clusters occasionally struggle
4. Code deployments - New feature rollouts sometimes introduce bugs
5. DDoS attacks - Rare but impactful
6. AWS outages - Reddit uses AWS; when AWS has problems, Reddit feels it

Historical Context

Reddit has experienced notable outages:

• June 2023 - Major API changes and protests led to instability
• March 2023 - Multi-hour outage due to internal systems failure
• December 2020 - AWS outage took down large portions of Reddit

Average uptime: ~99.9% (roughly 8-9 hours of downtime per year)

Stay Informed: Monitor Reddit Status Automatically

Don't wait for Reddit to break to find out it's down.

Set Up Monitoring

1. Bookmark status pages

   • redditstatus.com
   • apistatuscheck.com/api/reddit

2. Enable notifications

   • Subscribe to @redditstatus on Twitter
   • Set up RSS feeds from status pages

3. For developers: API monitoring

   • Use API Status Check for real-time monitoring and alerts
   • Get notified instantly when Reddit API goes down
   • Track response times, uptime, and error rates

Why API Status Check?

API Status Check monitors Reddit and 50+ other APIs 24/7, providing:

• Real-time status - Know within seconds when Reddit goes down
• Historical uptime data - See patterns and plan maintenance windows
• Alert notifications - Get emails/webhooks when status changes
• API endpoint monitoring - Track specific endpoints important to your app
• Free tier available - Basic monitoring at no cost

Start monitoring Reddit now →

Conclusion

Reddit outages are frustrating but usually short-lived. By checking official status sources first, working through systematic troubleshooting, and having alternatives ready, you can minimize disruption.

For developers building on Reddit's API, proper error handling, rate limit management, and monitoring are essential. Don't let Reddit's downtime take down your application.

Quick recap:

1. ✅ Check redditstatus.com and apistatuscheck.com first
2. ✅ Try old.reddit.com and mobile app as alternatives
3. ✅ Clear cache, try different browsers/networks
4. ✅ Use alternatives like Lemmy or Hacker News when needed
5. ✅ Implement proper error handling in your API integrations
6. ✅ Set up monitoring to catch issues early

Stay ahead of outages: Monitor Reddit's status with API Status Check and never be caught off guard again.