Data study
Most posts in Reddit's business subreddits are removed. Here's who removes them
Removed posts in 40 marketing, SEO, SaaS and startup subreddits, January 2023 to September 2026: how many, who removed them, and what the posts that stayed up have in common.
By Dmytro Krutytskyi, KissMyPost ResearchPublished Data through September 202610 min read
Short answer
In 40 subreddits for marketers, SEO people, SaaS founders and startups, 55% of posts made from October 2025 to September 2026 were removed, against 15% across all of Reddit. The share went from 45% in November 2023 to 63% in September 2026. More of those removals now come from Reddit itself (53%) than from moderators (42%). The clearest difference between posts that stay up and posts that don't is the author's history in the subreddit: 65% of posts by people with no comments there in the previous year were removed, against 36% after a single comment.
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How many posts get removed
We looked at every post made in 40 business subreddits from January 2023 to September 2026: marketing (r/marketing, r/DigitalMarketing, r/content_marketing), SEO and AI search (r/SEO, r/bigseo, r/TechSEO, r/GEO_optimization), SaaS and startups (r/SaaS, r/startups, r/indiehackers, r/SideProject) and small business (r/Entrepreneur, r/smallbusiness, r/sales). The full list is in the table below. A post counts as removed if a moderator, AutoModerator or Reddit took it down. Posts deleted by their own authors are left out.
In the last 12 months these subreddits got 938,607 posts and removed 517,453 of them (55%). Across all of Reddit the share was 15%.
Not counting posts deleted by their authors. July to October 2023: removals may be undercounted (see Method). Source: KissMyPost analysis of public Reddit posts.
From November 2023 to September 2025 the share stayed between 42% and 50%, then climbed: 45% in October 2025, 61% in April 2026, 63% in September 2026. Posting went up at the same time. In November 2023 these subreddits removed 15,775 posts and kept 19,619. In September 2026 they removed 42,185 and kept 24,996. 83% of the extra posts ended up removed.
One subreddit weighs a lot in these totals. r/SideProject got 286,178 posts in the last 12 months, 30% of all posts in the 40, and Reddit itself removed 61% of them. The typical subreddit moved less: the median of the 40 went from 51% in November 2023 to 55% in September 2026.
Who removes them
Reddit records who removed a post. In the 12 months to September 2026, of all removed posts in the 40 subreddits:
- Reddit itself: 53%. These are Reddit's own spam and safety systems, not the subreddit's moderators. In 13 of the 40 subreddits Reddit removed more posts than the moderators did, including r/SideProject, r/SaaS, r/smallbusiness and r/MarketingAutomation.
- Moderators: 42%. Reddit's data doesn't separate a person from an AutoModerator rule that removes a post outright: both are recorded as a moderator.
- Held by AutoModerator and never approved: 4%. Some subreddits send new posts to a review queue. In r/marketing (43% of posts), r/SocialMediaMarketing (45%) and r/TechSEO (40%) this is the main way posts disappear.
Removal by Reddit is the part that grew. In November 2023 Reddit removed 16% of all posts in these subreddits and moderators 26%. In September 2026 it was 41% and 20%. Across all of Reddit, removal by Reddit stayed between 7% and 9% of posts in every month over the same period, so this is specific to these communities.
Which subreddits remove the most
The range is wide. The strictest in the last 12 months: r/startup (95%), r/agency (93%), r/SEO (87%), r/indiehackers (86%), r/juststart (82%). The most open: r/SocialMediaManagers (11%), r/aeo (11%), r/CommunityManager (18%), r/PPC (20%), r/GEO_optimization (20%), r/GrowthHacking (20%).
17 of the 36 subreddits with enough posts in both periods removed more than they did from November 2023 to September 2024. The biggest increases: r/indiehackers (13% to 86%), r/agency (32% to 93%), r/SEO (36% to 87%), r/SideProject (14% to 61%). Some went the other way, most of all r/digital_marketing (66% to 22%).
| Subreddit | Members | Posts | Removed | By moderators | By Reddit | A year earlier | No prior comment | Commented before |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| r/Entrepreneur | 5,300,925 | 24,628 | 48% | 44% | 5% | 51% | 62% | 30% |
| r/smallbusiness | 2,559,693 | 70,345 | 33% | 2% | 30% | 10% | 38% | 12% |
| r/startups | 2,145,746 | 26,667 | 75% | 69% | 6% | 66% | 82% | 50% |
| r/socialmedia | 2,123,323 | 17,720 | 62% | 49% | 13% | 74% | 67% | 32% |
| r/marketing | 1,981,147 | 7,708 | 69% | 60% | 9% | 53% | 73% | 55% |
| r/SideProject | 884,251 | 286,178 | 61% | 0% | 61% | 14% | 71% | 25% |
| r/SaaS | 835,457 | 123,604 | 29% | 12% | 18% | 9% | 40% | 18% |
| r/EntrepreneurRideAlong | 737,429 | 33,442 | 77% | 61% | 16% | 32% | 84% | 36% |
| r/ecommerce | 686,569 | 13,338 | 51% | 42% | 9% | 53% | 62% | 7% |
| r/sales | 611,182 | 24,376 | 77% | 70% | 7% | 62% | 97% | 36% |
| r/SEO | 519,205 | 29,266 | 87% | 75% | 12% | 36% | 93% | 42% |
| r/DigitalMarketing | 474,921 | 39,456 | 47% | 36% | 11% | 57% | 58% | 17% |
| r/shopify | 383,816 | 14,483 | 47% | 40% | 7% | 59% | 60% | 6% |
| r/digital_marketing | 381,405 | 6,631 | 22% | 17% | 5% | 66% | 26% | 14% |
| r/startup | 324,913 | 33,619 | 95% | 79% | 16% | 89% | 96% | 75% |
| r/SocialMediaMarketing | 319,207 | 20,292 | 55% | 46% | 9% | 50% | 62% | 16% |
| r/Affiliatemarketing | 293,598 | 9,107 | 74% | 52% | 22% | 80% | 82% | 45% |
| r/PPC | 289,376 | 7,174 | 20% | 10% | 10% | 4% | 30% | 7% |
| r/ProductManagement | 285,167 | 7,600 | 39% | 35% | 4% | 46% | 50% | 21% |
| r/copywriting | 263,868 | 3,788 | 54% | 44% | 10% | 54% | 66% | 7% |
| r/advertising | 260,049 | 9,061 | 43% | 33% | 11% | 51% | 54% | 18% |
| r/content_marketing | 205,197 | 6,990 | 39% | 31% | 9% | 61% | 46% | 19% |
| r/indiehackers | 198,892 | 39,192 | 86% | 64% | 22% | 13% | 91% | 75% |
| r/juststart | 181,680 | 1,882 | 82% | 71% | 11% | 90% | 84% | 40% |
| r/AskMarketing | 177,357 | 18,347 | 27% | 4% | 23% | 15% | 32% | 13% |
| r/GrowthHacking | 160,407 | 7,933 | 20% | 6% | 14% | 25% | 25% | 11% |
| r/growmybusiness | 157,664 | 9,017 | 38% | 24% | 13% | 65% | 41% | 25% |
| r/bigseo | 143,017 | 3,430 | 58% | 32% | 26% | 35% | 59% | 47% |
| r/Emailmarketing | 125,229 | 3,513 | 51% | 36% | 15% | 54% | 60% | 30% |
| r/b2bmarketing | 103,641 | 8,086 | 42% | 28% | 14% | 52% | 57% | 17% |
| r/agency | 102,632 | 7,743 | 93% | 83% | 10% | 32% | 99% | 72% |
| r/MarketingAutomation | 84,990 | 5,758 | 64% | 0% | 64% | 68% | 72% | 38% |
| r/TechSEO | 61,435 | 5,523 | 59% | 40% | 19% | 57% | 68% | 5% |
| r/SocialMediaManagers | 47,285 | 5,075 | 11% | 2% | 9% | 20% | 13% | 4% |
| r/webmarketing | 42,898 | 662 | 63% | 47% | 16% | 83% | 67% | 29% |
| r/aeo | 10,524 | 2,042 | 11% | 0% | 11% | – | 16% | 7% |
| r/GEO_optimization | 10,273 | 1,845 | 20% | 0% | 20% | – | 33% | 8% |
| r/CommunityManager | 9,552 | 765 | 18% | 8% | 10% | 24% | 22% | 5% |
| r/MarketingandAI | 9,399 | 1,123 | 35% | 0% | 35% | – | 41% | 15% |
| r/SEO_for_AI | 7,697 | 1,198 | 23% | 1% | 22% | – | 38% | 8% |
Shares of all posts, not counting posts deleted by their authors. "By moderators" includes AutoModerator. "A year earlier": share removed from November 2023 to September 2024. "No prior comment" and "Commented before": share removed for authors with no comment, or at least one, in that subreddit in the 365 days before the post. "–": fewer than 200 posts in the earlier period. Download as CSV.
What gets a post through
Comment in the subreddit before you post
Of all posts in the last 12 months, 74% came from people who hadn't left a single comment in that subreddit in the year before. 65% of their posts were removed. After one comment the share was 36%, after 5 to 19 comments 23%, after 20 to 99 comments 14%, and after 100 or more 8%. The open circles show what you'd expect from the mix of subreddits each group posts in, so the drop isn't explained by regulars posting in easier places.
938,607 posts in 40 business subreddits. "Typical": the share you'd expect for posts in the same subreddits. Source: KissMyPost analysis of public Reddit posts and comments.
Earlier posts in the subreddit don't count the same way. Among authors with no comments there, first-time posters were removed 62% of the time, and people who had posted there before 74%. Posting more without taking part goes with more removals, not fewer. It is a correlation: regulars also know the rules better, so a few comments won't fix a post that breaks them.
Use the tag the subreddit asks for
r/startups asks posters to put "I will not promote" in the title. In the last 12 months, 17,659 of the 17,661 posts there without the phrase were removed (all but 2), against 26% of the 9,006 that had it. Other subreddits have their own required flair or format, and missing it is the cheapest way to lose a post.
Ask, don't announce
Title wording matters much less than history, but it points the same way. Compared with what's typical for the same subreddits, titles that end with a question were removed less (46% against 51%), and so were titles asking how others do something (47% against 51%) or giving a revenue figure (48% against 51%). Titles that start "I built", "I made" or "I launched" were removed more (66% against 60%), as were requests for feedback on your own thing (66% against 59%) and posts that link to another site (66% against 60%).
| Post | Posts | Removed | Typical for the same subreddits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Video | 43,687 | 52% | 60% |
| Title ends with a question mark | 226,337 | 46% | 51% |
| Title asks others ("how do you", "anyone", "what do you") | 53,886 | 47% | 51% |
| Title has a dollar figure, MRR or revenue | 25,629 | 48% | 51% |
| Text post | 805,668 | 55% | 55% |
| Image | 17,202 | 50% | 50% |
| Title says "I analyzed", "study" or "N posts" | 4,822 | 56% | 55% |
| Title offers "free tool", "beta", "waitlist" | 12,550 | 62% | 58% |
| Title has an emoji | 20,565 | 60% | 57% |
| Title starts "I built / made / launched" | 106,933 | 66% | 60% |
| Link to another site | 32,804 | 66% | 60% |
| Title asks for feedback ("roast", "review my") | 53,100 | 66% | 59% |
"Typical": the share you'd expect if these posts were removed at each subreddit's usual rate. Sorted from the most to the least favourable. Download as CSV.
Surviving isn't the same as being seen
Staying up is only the first step; when you post and where you crosspost matter after that. In 37 of the 40 subreddits the median surviving post has a score of 2 or less. Two of the top posts of the last year are about a problem readers have: "My CEO screenshotted a ChatGPT answer recommending our competitor" on r/digital_marketing, or "I used to screen Pitch Decks for a living" on r/startups.
If you market on Reddit
- Comment before you post, in that subreddit, not elsewhere (the numbers). One comment came with removal dropping from 65% to 36%; regulars with 20 or more were removed 14% of the time or less.
- Read the rules and copy the format of posts that stayed up: required tags, flair, weekly promotion threads. Some subreddits remove almost everything that misses them.
- Pick the subreddit by its removal rate, not only its size. Some of the 40 remove fewer than 1 post in 4, others more than 9 in 10. The table above has each one, and Find Subs shows where your audience posts beyond these 40.
- Lead with the reader's problem or a question, not with what you built. Put the link where the rules allow it, often in a comment or only when someone asks.
- Expect Reddit's own filters, not just moderators. They removed 53% of the posts that came down here.
What this data can't tell you
- Why a post was removed. Reddit records who removed a post, not the reason. Self-promotion, off-topic and duplicate posts look the same.
- Late removals. Each post is recorded once, about a day and a half after it was made. A post removed later counts as live, and a post held for review and approved later counts as removed. The shares here are a snapshot, not the final state.
- What removed posts said. Reddit replaces the text of most removed posts, so we can compare titles and formats but not the body of the post.
- Shadowbans. Posts hidden because the whole account is restricted, without a removal mark, aren't counted as removed.
- Cause. Commenting first goes with fewer removals. Whether starting to comment will protect a particular post is not something this data can prove.
Method
Subreddits
40 subreddits where marketers, SEO and AI search specialists, SaaS founders, startup founders and small business owners post, from r/Entrepreneur (5,300,925 members) to r/SEO_for_AI (7,697). The list is fixed in advance and is the same in every month; it's in the table and the CSV.
Removed
A post is removed if Reddit marks it as removed by a moderator, held by AutoModerator, removed by Reddit, or taken down for legal or safety reasons. Posts deleted by their authors are left out of both the removed count and the total. So are posts by moderators (pinned or marked as a moderator post) and posts whose author account was deleted.
Comments before the post
For each post from October 2025 to September 2026 we counted the author's comments in the same subreddit in the 365 days before it. "Typical for the same subreddits" is the average removal share of the subreddits each group posted in, weighted by its posts.
Known gaps
Posts from July 10 to October 31, 2023 were recorded only seconds after they were made, before most removals happen, so their removal shares are too low; the chart shows them shaded and the comparisons in the text start in November 2023. In April 2023 the removal share across all of Reddit jumped to 41% for one month, mostly removals by Reddit, which shows as a spike in the all-Reddit line. From January 2026 posts deleted by their authors no longer carry that mark. In 2025 they were under 1% of posts in these subreddits, so this moves the 2026 shares by less than a point.
Source
Public Reddit posts and comments. All counts come from one set of queries run on October 29, 2026. If you spot a mistake, tell us and we'll fix it here with a dated note.
Questions people ask
Why was my Reddit post removed right away?
In business subreddits, most removals now come from Reddit's own filters (53% of removals in the last 12 months), not from moderators. Posts by people who had never commented in the subreddit were removed 65% of the time.
What share of posts get removed in r/marketing, r/SEO, r/SaaS and r/startups?
From October 2025 to September 2026: r/marketing 69%, r/SEO 87%, r/SaaS 29%, r/startups 75%. The table on this page has all 40 subreddits.
How do I keep my post from being removed?
Comment in the subreddit before posting: posts by authors with one prior comment there were removed 36% of the time against 65% with none. Use any tag the subreddit requires (in r/startups, all but 2 of 17,661 posts without "I will not promote" were removed), and lead with a question or a problem rather than "I built".
Is it moderators or Reddit removing posts?
Both. In the last 12 months, Reddit removed 53% of removed posts in these subreddits, moderators and AutoModerator 42%, and 4% were held by AutoModerator and never approved.
Can I use this data?
Yes. The CSV files and the chart are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0. Credit KissMyPost and link to this page.
The data
The monthly shares, the per-subreddit table and the title and format breakdown are in these files. They're free to reuse under CC BY 4.0; please credit KissMyPost and link to this page.
- CSVRemoved posts by month, January 2023 to September 2026Posts, live posts and the share removed in the 40 subreddits each month, split by moderators, AutoModerator and Reddit, with the median subreddit and all of Reddit for comparison.
- CSVRemoved posts by subreddit, October 2025 to September 2026For each of the 40 subreddits: members, posts, share removed and by whom, the share a year earlier, and removal for authors who had or hadn't commented there.
- CSVRemoved posts by title, format and prior commentsShare removed for title patterns and post formats, and by the author's comments in the subreddit, against the typical share for the same subreddits.
- PNGMain chart, 1600 × 1000The monthly chart on this page as an image.
This study uses the same data as KissMyPost, a Reddit analytics tool. For any subreddit it shows who writes there, what kinds of posts stay up and do well, and when to post.
Check your own subreddit
See when your subreddit is most active, what gets posts removed and what its readers talk about.
About the author
Dmytro Krutytskyi is the founder of KissMyPost, a Reddit analytics tool. He studies what online communities talk about, who writes in them and how audiences overlap, and writes up what the data shows here, with the method and the numbers. Questions about the data, or need a cut we didn't publish? Write to him directly.
Cite this study
Krutytskyi, D. (2026). Most posts in Reddit's business subreddits are removed. Here's who removes them. KissMyPost Research. https://kissmypost.com/research/reddit-business-subreddits-removed-posts