Last Updated: February 13, 2026
Reddit serves over 1.7 billion visits per month. When Reddit goes down, millions of users lose access to communities, discussions, and real-time information. Whether you're a casual browser, a moderator managing a subreddit, or a developer using the Reddit API, this guide helps you quickly determine if Reddit is experiencing an outage and what to do about it.
Quick Status Check: Is Reddit Down Right Now?
Before troubleshooting, verify Reddit's current status:
- Check API Status Check: Visit apistatuscheck.com/api/reddit for real-time Reddit monitoring
- Reddit Status Page: Check redditstatus.com for official status
- Try Old Reddit: Visit old.reddit.com — sometimes works when new Reddit is down
- Check DownDetector: downdetector.com/status/reddit for user-reported issues
If multiple sources confirm problems, Reddit is likely experiencing an outage. If only you're affected, follow the troubleshooting steps below.
Reddit's Infrastructure: What Can Break
Reddit is composed of several services that can fail independently:
| Service | What It Does | Impact When Down |
|---|---|---|
| Website (new.reddit.com) | Primary web interface | Can't browse Reddit on desktop |
| Old Reddit (old.reddit.com) | Legacy interface | Sometimes works when new Reddit is down |
| Reddit Mobile App | iOS and Android apps | Can't use Reddit on mobile |
| Reddit API | Third-party app access | All third-party clients and bots break |
| Media/CDN | Images, videos, thumbnails | Posts load but media is broken |
| Search | Reddit search engine | Can't search posts or subreddits |
| Chat/Messaging | Direct messages, chat rooms | Can't send or receive messages |
| Voting/Comments | Engagement features | Can browse but can't participate |
Key insight: Reddit often has "partial outages" where the site loads but specific features (voting, commenting, media) don't work. Check redditstatus.com for component-level status.
Common Reddit Error Messages and What They Mean
| Error | Meaning | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Our CDN was unable to reach our servers" | Reddit servers are overloaded or down | Wait and refresh — server-side issue |
| "All of our servers are busy right now" | High traffic or outage | Wait 5-10 minutes, try old.reddit.com |
| "You broke Reddit" | Server error (500) | Refresh, clear cache, try later |
| "Sorry, for some reason reddit can't be reached" | Network or DNS issue | Check internet, try different DNS |
| Reddit loading infinitely / blank page | JavaScript error or CDN issue | Hard refresh, disable extensions, try incognito |
| "This community is restricted" | Not an outage — subreddit is private | Check if the subreddit went private |
| Comments not loading | Partial outage | Check redditstatus.com |
| Votes not registering | Engagement services degraded | Wait, your vote may catch up later |
| Images/videos not loading | CDN or media service issue | Content is posted but media servers are down |
| App crashing or freezing | Mobile app bug or server issue | Force close app, check for updates |
Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
Step 1: Confirm It's Not Just You
- Check apistatuscheck.com/api/reddit for real-time status
- Check redditstatus.com for official status
- Search Twitter/X for "Reddit down" to see if others report issues
- Try accessing from a different device or network
Step 2: Try Alternative Interfaces
- old.reddit.com — The legacy interface runs on different infrastructure and sometimes works when new Reddit is down
- Reddit mobile app — Try the app if the website is down (or vice versa)
- i.reddit.com — Compact mobile interface
- Third-party clients — If the API is still up, apps like Apollo replacements may work
Step 3: Clear Browser Data
- Hard refresh:
Ctrl+Shift+R(Windows) orCmd+Shift+R(Mac) - Clear cache and cookies for
reddit.com - Disable browser extensions (especially ad blockers — Reddit detects them)
- Try incognito/private mode
- Try a different browser
Step 4: Check Network Connectivity
- Test your internet at fast.com
- Try different DNS: switch to 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare) or 8.8.8.8 (Google)
- Disable VPN if using one (some VPN IPs are blocked by Reddit)
- Try mobile data instead of Wi-Fi
- Check if other websites work normally
Step 5: Mobile App Fixes
- Force close the Reddit app and reopen
- Check for app updates in App Store / Google Play
- Clear app cache (Android: Settings → Apps → Reddit → Clear Cache)
- Uninstall and reinstall the app
- Try the mobile website (reddit.com in your browser) instead
Step 6: Reddit API Issues
If you're a developer using the Reddit API:
- Check redditstatus.com for API status
- Test with a simple API call:
GET https://www.reddit.com/r/all.json - Check your rate limits (Reddit API allows 100 requests/minute for OAuth, 10 for non-OAuth)
- Verify your OAuth credentials haven't expired
- Check if Reddit has changed API terms or pricing (they did in 2023)
Step 7: Wait It Out
If Reddit is genuinely down:
- Most Reddit outages resolve within 30-60 minutes
- Use alternatives temporarily (see below)
- Check @redditstatus on Twitter for updates
Historical Reddit Outages
Notable Incidents
June 2023 — API Pricing Protests
While not a technical outage, thousands of subreddits went dark (private) to protest Reddit's API pricing changes. To many users, it felt like Reddit was "down" as their favorite communities became inaccessible for days or weeks.
August 2023 — CDN Infrastructure Failure
Reddit experienced a major CDN outage affecting media loading globally. Posts and text loaded but all images, videos, and thumbnails were broken for approximately 4 hours.
March 2024 — Authentication System Outage
Users were randomly logged out and couldn't re-authenticate for 3+ hours. Logged-in features (voting, commenting, messaging) were broken while anonymous browsing worked.
October 2024 — Database Infrastructure Issues
Reddit experienced intermittent 500 errors and extremely slow page loads for an entire business day. The site would partially load but comments and posts would timeout. Root cause was a database scaling issue during traffic spikes.
January 2025 — Search and Discovery Outage
Reddit's search functionality went down for 6+ hours. Subreddit searches, post searches, and the home feed algorithm were all affected. Users could access subreddits directly but couldn't discover content.
Outage Patterns
- Peak hours (US evening, 6-10 PM ET): Higher likelihood of capacity issues
- Major world events: Breaking news causes traffic spikes that can overwhelm servers
- After deployments: Reddit typically deploys during US business hours — issues sometimes follow
- Media services first: Image/video hosting tends to fail before text content
- Old Reddit resilience: old.reddit.com often survives when the main site is struggling
What to Use When Reddit Is Down
| Need | Alternative |
|---|---|
| General discussion | Twitter/X, Threads, Bluesky |
| Tech discussions | Hacker News, Lobsters, Tildes |
| Q&A | Stack Overflow, Quora |
| News | Google News, Apple News |
| Community forums | Discord servers, Lemmy (Reddit alternative) |
| Memes | Instagram, Imgur, 9GAG |
For Reddit Moderators During Outages
If you're a moderator and Reddit is partially down:
- Automod may not work: Manual moderation may be needed when Reddit recovers
- Mod queue may be delayed: Actions taken during the outage may queue up
- Check r/ModSupport: Reddit staff posts updates for moderators there
- Use Discord as backup: Many subreddits maintain Discord servers for outage communication
- Don't panic about spam: Automod catches up when services restore
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Reddit down right now?
Check apistatuscheck.com/api/reddit for real-time status. You can also check Reddit's official status page at redditstatus.com and user reports on DownDetector.
Why does Reddit say "our CDN was unable to reach our servers"?
This error means Reddit's content delivery network (CDN) can't connect to their backend servers. This is a server-side issue — nothing you can do except wait. Usually resolves within 15-60 minutes.
Does old.reddit.com work when Reddit is down?
Sometimes. Old Reddit runs on partially different infrastructure and is often more stable during outages. It's always worth trying old.reddit.com when the main site has issues.
Why can I see posts but not images or videos?
Reddit's media hosting (images, videos, thumbnails) runs on separate CDN infrastructure. When only the CDN is affected, text content loads normally but all media appears broken. This is a partial outage — check redditstatus.com for CDN status.
How long do Reddit outages usually last?
Most Reddit outages resolve within 30-60 minutes. Major infrastructure issues can last 2-6 hours. Partial outages (media loading, search broken) tend to be shorter.
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