Name: Reddit Archive API: Historical Reddit Posts as JSON
Brand: benthepythondev
SKU: api-benthepythondev-reddit-archive
Availability: InStock
Author: API Market

Get historical Reddit posts, and optionally their comments, as JSON with one POST request: name a subreddit, set a UTC date window, and the API pages through the public Reddit archives, newest or oldest first. r/Python goes back to its first archived post on 2008-01-25, far past the roughly 1,000 posts any Reddit listing shows.

Built for RAG corpora, research datasets and backfills. No Reddit account, no app credentials, no cookies.

## Quick start

```bash
curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://prod.api.market/api/v1/benthepythondev/reddit-archive/?limit=60' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'x-api-market-key: YOUR_KEY' \
  --data '{"subreddits": ["Python"], "afterDate": "2024-03-01", "beforeDate": "2024-03-02", "sortOrder": "newest", "maxPosts": 1, "includeComments": true, "maxCommentsPerPost": 80}'
```

This asks for the newest r/Python post of 1 March 2024 with up to 80 of its comments. `?limit=60` raises the rows returned in one call from the default 10, so the replies deep in a thread come back too.

A call like this took about 9 seconds in our test on October 28, 2026 (one post and 37 comments).

## Request fields

| Field | Type | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `subreddits` | array of strings | One to 50 subreddit names, with or without `r/`. Required: the public archives no longer search all of Reddit. |
| `searchQuery` | string | Only posts that contain this keyword, inside the subreddits above. |
| `afterDate` | string | Inclusive start, `YYYY-MM-DD`, 00:00 UTC. |
| `beforeDate` | string | Exclusive end, `YYYY-MM-DD`, 00:00 UTC. |
| `sortOrder` | string | `newest` (default) or `oldest` first inside the window. |
| `minScore` | integer | Only posts and comments with at least this Reddit score. |
| `maxPosts` | integer | Posts to return across all subreddits. |
| `includeComments` | boolean | Also return each post's archived comments as rows of their own. |
| `maxCommentsPerPost` | integer | Cap on comments per post when comments are on. |

By default a request returns up to 10 rows. To walk a long history, send the next request with `beforeDate` (newest first) or `afterDate` (oldest first) moved to the date of the last row you received, and keep `(type, id)` as the key when you merge.

## Response

A JSON array, one object per post or comment:

```json
{
  "type": "post",
  "id": "18vkgtu",
  "title": "Monday Daily Thread: Project ideas!",
  "selftext": "...",
  "author": "AutoModerator",
  "subreddit": "Python",
  "score": 1,
  "num_comments": 2,
  "created_utc": 1704067208,
  "created_iso": "2024-01-01T00:00:08+00:00",
  "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/18vkgtu/monday_daily_thread_project_ideas/"
}
```

Posts also carry `upvote_ratio`, `url`, `domain`, `link_flair_text` and the flags `is_self`, `is_video`, `over_18`, `locked`, `stickied`, `spoiler`. Comments (`type: "comment"`) carry `body`, `post_id`, `parent_id`, `link_id` and `is_submitter`, so they join back to their thread.

## Comments as a tree (for Excel or a database)

Every comment is its own row. `parent_id` says where it sits: `t3_<post id>` is a top-level comment, `t1_<comment id>` is a reply to that comment. Strip the prefix, match it against `id` and you have the tree; a depth column is one pass of code, or a lookup in a sheet. There is no `depth` field in this API.

Real rows from the call above (text shortened with "..."), one post and a three-step thread under it:

```json
[
 {
  "type": "post",
  "id": "1b49p6d",
  "title": "Valid uses of eval()?",
  "selftext": "I’m wondering if anyone has ever seen a case of code using `eval()` and thought to themselves “yeah actually that’s probably the right way to do it”?  My understanding has always b...",
  "author": "not_dmr",
  "subreddit": "Python",
  "score": 125,
  "upvote_ratio": 1,
  "num_comments": 66,
  "created_utc": 1709337208,
  "created_iso": "2024-03-01T23:53:28+00:00",
  "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1b49p6d/valid_uses_of_eval/",
  "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1b49p6d/valid_uses_of_eval/",
  "domain": "self.Python",
  "link_flair_text": "Discussion",
  "is_self": true,
  "is_video": false,
  "over_18": false,
  "locked": false,
  "stickied": false,
  "spoiler": false,
  "total_awards_received": 0
 },
 {
  "type": "comment",
  "id": "ksxo2bt",
  "post_id": "1b49p6d",
  "parent_id": "t3_1b49p6d",
  "link_id": "t3_1b49p6d",
  "body": "I have exactly one valid use of eval that I've personally run into, and it's super niche. It also just happens to be something I ran into somewhat recently.  I wrote a library call...",
  "author": "tedivm",
  "subreddit": "Python",
  "score": 18,
  "created_utc": 1709339728,
  "created_iso": "2024-03-02T00:35:28+00:00",
  "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1b49p6d/valid_uses_of_eval/ksxo2bt/",
  "is_submitter": false,
  "total_awards_received": 0
 },
 {
  "type": "comment",
  "id": "ksy3u3w",
  "post_id": "1b49p6d",
  "parent_id": "t1_ksxo2bt",
  "link_id": "t3_1b49p6d",
  "body": "Huh and here I was beginning to write a package to convert sqlalchemy to mermaid diagrams to help with a migration project... well you just saved me some effort maybe!",
  "author": "ianitic",
  "subreddit": "Python",
  "score": 9,
  "created_utc": 1709346183,
  "created_iso": "2024-03-02T02:23:03+00:00",
  "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1b49p6d/valid_uses_of_eval/ksy3u3w/",
  "is_submitter": false,
  "total_awards_received": 0
 },
 {
  "type": "comment",
  "id": "ksy43wt",
  "post_id": "1b49p6d",
  "parent_id": "t1_ksy3u3w",
  "link_id": "t3_1b49p6d",
  "body": "Happy to help! If you run into any issues let me know, but I've been using it without problem for awhile now. It's even integrated into my [super modern python template](https://gi...",
  "author": "tedivm",
  "subreddit": "Python",
  "score": 5,
  "created_utc": 1709346299,
  "created_iso": "2024-03-02T02:24:59+00:00",
  "permalink": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1b49p6d/valid_uses_of_eval/ksy43wt/",
  "is_submitter": false,
  "total_awards_received": 0
 }
]
```

In the thread `ksxo2bt` (parent `t3_1b49p6d`, a top-level comment) is answered by `ksy3u3w` (parent `t1_ksxo2bt`), which is answered by `ksy43wt` (parent `t1_ksy3u3w`). To get a sheet with a depth column:

```python
rows = {r["id"]: r for r in data if r["type"] == "comment"}
def depth(r):
    return 0 if r["parent_id"].startswith("t3_") else 1 + depth(rows[r["parent_id"][3:]])
```

A reply whose parent was not returned (the call hit `limit`, `maxCommentsPerPost` or the parent was deleted from the archive) stays a root in your sheet: guard the lookup with `rows.get`. If you want the comments already nested with a `depth` field, the [Reddit API](https://api.market/store/benthepythondev/reddit-scraper) in `post` mode returns them that way.


## How it differs from a live Reddit API

| Need | Live Reddit listing | This API |
|---|---|---|
| Posts from 2019 or 2012 | Not reachable: a listing ends after about 1,000 posts | Any UTC date window the archive holds |
| Oldest first | No | `sortOrder: "oldest"` |
| An archive is down | n/a | Switches between Arctic Shift and PullPush, and for newest-first windows falls back to Reddit's own newest list |
| Comments of old threads | Often refused | Read from the archive |

## What people use it for

- **RAG and fine-tuning data:** years of one community's questions and answers, dated and deduplicated.
- **Research:** how a topic, product or opinion changed across a decade.
- **Backfills:** seed a database once, then keep it fresh with daily windows.
- **Brand history:** every archived mention of a product inside the subreddits that matter.

## Limits

- At least one subreddit is required; keyword search across all of Reddit is no longer offered by the archives.
- Coverage and freshness depend on the archives: very recent posts can arrive late, and deleted text stays deleted. An empty answer means the archive had no match, not that Reddit had none.
- Post dates bound the posts, not the comments under them.

## Data source and terms

The rows come from the public Arctic Shift and PullPush Reddit archives and, as a fallback, from Reddit's public listings. The content is user-generated and contains usernames, so the privacy law that applies to you (GDPR in the EU, CCPA in California) governs how you store and use it, and Reddit's terms apply to the content.

## Questions

**Do I need a Reddit account or API key?** No. Only your API.market key.

**How far back does it go?** To the oldest post the archive holds for that subreddit: 2008-01-25 for r/Python. Newer communities start later.

**Why did I get fewer rows than I asked for?** The window holds fewer matching posts, or `minScore` filtered them out.

**Also from this seller:** [Reddit API](https://api.market/store/benthepythondev/reddit-scraper), [Threads User Posts API](https://api.market/store/benthepythondev/threads-user-posts)


Pushshift alternative API: historical Reddit posts and comments by subreddit, keyword and UTC date range as JSON. No Reddit login. Made for RAG datasets.

Reddit Archive API: Historical Reddit Posts as JSON

Free