If the ongoing Reddit blackout has prompted you to seek an alternative source for news and advice, we have a few recommendations.
Some of the biggest communities on Reddit began protesting against the company’s new data paywall by going dark on June 12 for 48 hours or more. The revolt was triggered by Reddit’s decision to charge higher fees for access to its data. This in turn caused many third-party Reddit apps to announce their imminent closure, adding further fuel to the fire.
Behind closed doors, Reddit boss Steve Huffman has reportedly described the protests as ineffective and claimed they will ultimately fizzle out. But many users clearly disagree.
Below you’ll find some other sites like Reddit, from rivals that share the news aggregation format to others offering more or less moderation.
Popular alternatives to Reddit
Discord
Founded: 2015
While it started life as a place for gamers to connect, Discord has since evolved to include a large variety of servers. These function like chat rooms where users can discuss topics ranging from individual games to finance to breaking news.
You can find servers to join by tapping the compass icon at the bottom of the app’s sidebar. This will take you to the discovery section where you can view and join public rooms, and find additional communities using the search bar. Private servers, on the other hand, operate on an invite-only basis.
You can also easily create your own server as a place for you and others to hang out.
Hacker News
Founded: 2007
Hacker News is a social news-sharing website that shares some familiarities with Reddit. The ability to post links to articles that others can then upvote and comment on is one such trait.
Unlike Reddit, however, it leans more toward tech and science news instead of a broad range of topics. The articles also come thick and fast so it can be a bit difficult for users to keep up, with the lack of filters only compounding the issue.
Hacker News is run by Y Combinator, which provides funding and mentorship to startups. It has previously backed companies including Airbnb, Twitch and Dropbox. Sam Altman, the AI hotshot behind ChatGPT founder OpenAI, is the investment firm’s chairman and former president.
Beehaw
Founded: 2021
This Reddit alternative is relatively new, and it certainly shows in terms of activity levels — but it will feel instantly familiar to those who know and love the Reddit interface of up and downvoting content as it appears.
The big difference is that users are expected to “Be(e) nice”, respect others and, essentially, not be a jerk. “If you aren’t nice, we’ll remind you to be nice,” the site explains on Reddit. “If you continue to be problematic, we’ll escalate from there.”
You’ll find communities for everything from technology to gardening, with the most popular ones having subscriber numbers in the low tens of thousands. Quieter than Reddit, then, but some would view that as a good thing.
Oh, and why is it named Beehaw? “A bee in a cowboy hat. Not ‘YEEHAW’ but ‘BEEHAW’.” So now you know.
Tildes
Founded: 2018
Another one for those that find some subreddits a bit too troll-packed, Tildes believes in heavy moderation to ensure good-quality engagement. You won’t find pictures or GIFs here either — it’s all about good, old-fashioned discussion, neatly divided into different groups that you can subscribe to.
It’s a non-profit site, with no advertising, entirely supported by donations. And while some will find the conversations lack bite due to the enforced respectfulness, it certainly has potential as a Reddit alternative for those that prefer a more curated social network.
You can read posts as an outsider, but if you want to contribute you’ll need an invite. Details on how to get one are here.
Hive.blog
Founded: 2019
Like Beehaw and Tildes, Hive.blog has a lot in common with Reddit in terms of how it behaves. It’s all about sharing links with comments to help get you into the weeds, with popular content surfacing via a familiar system of upvotes.
Unlike Reddit, it’s run by a community of users, and it’s less moderated/censored (depending on your view) than some of its rivals. But quality contributions are incentivised in the form of Hive tokens — the site’s own cryptocurrency.
The site is divided into Communities, with the most popular ones having 10,000 to 20,000 subscribers each.
Quora
Founded: 2009
Let’s make one thing clear from the start: Quora isn’t actually structured anything like Reddit. If you were feeling generous, you might say it mimics some of the Q&A-style text posts, but it’s not the place to go if you use Reddit for keeping up with news. It’s closer to Yahoo Answers than to Reddit, in fact.
So why is it on this list? Simply because it echoes some of the thoughtful discussion that simple questions often prompt when Reddit is at its best.
Just pick the topics that interest you, and you’ll see questions in that area as they’re asked. You can answer them if you feel qualified to do so, but part of the joy is simply consuming others’ expertise — just like on Reddit.
