Show HN vs Reddit: One Rulebook or a Thousand Communities?
Show HN gives you one published rulebook and one audience: you submit something people can try, with “Show HN” at the start of the title. Reddit gives you thousands of communities, each with its own rules and its own readers, under one sitewide expectation to take part authentically and not spam. Pick Show HN for a technical product that runs without a sign-up. Pick Reddit when your users already gather in a community about their problem. Both are free, and both punish copy-pasted promotion.
One doorway or a thousand?
The most useful difference is structural. Hacker News has a single place for work you made, with a short page of guidelines that applies to everyone. Reddit is a collection of communities, and the rule that matters is the one in the community you are about to post in. That changes how you prepare. For Show HN you read one page, once. For Reddit you read the rules and the last few weeks of posts in each community, because a post that fits one will be removed from the next.
| Point of difference | Show HN | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you post | One section of one site | A community you choose, one at a time |
| Who writes the rules | Hacker News guidelines, the same for everyone | Reddit’s sitewide rules plus each community’s own |
| What the post needs | Something people can run or hold, non-trivial, made by you | Whatever that community allows: a question, a write-up, a demo |
| Stance on promotion | Fine part of the time; the site should not be used mainly for it | Set by each community; sitewide, no spam or content manipulation |
| Where it shows up | A new list for every Show HN, and the Show page after a small points threshold | That community’s feed, ordered by its own votes |
| Typical feedback | Pointed questions about how and why you built it | Reactions from people who share the problem |
| Account | Needed to post | Needed to post |
Reddit’s pages mostly refused our automated check. The sitewide rules page on Reddit’s corporate site was readable, and says to participate authentically in communities where you have a personal interest and not to spam or manipulate content. Anything about a specific community you must read in that community.
How much self-promotion will each tolerate?
Hacker News is direct about it. The general guidelines say the site is not primarily for promotion and that posting your own work part of the time is fine. They ask for titles without hype, no solicited upvotes, and text you wrote yourself instead of generated text. The Show HN page adds that landing pages, newsletters and sign-up pages are off topic, and that asking friends to upvote or comment is not acceptable.
Reddit’s answer is local. Some communities welcome a maker sharing a project, some confine it to a thread, and some ban it, and a moderator can remove a post that breaks the local rule. The safe habit is to look at what regular members post, check whether the sidebar points to a thread for showing your work, and take part for a while before you post your own. Our Reddit launch playbook goes through that routine step by step.
What does the same product look like on each?
Take an illustrative product: a free tool that turns a spreadsheet of guests into a printable wedding seating chart. On Hacker News the post is a link to a working demo, with a title that says what it is and how it works, and a first comment that explains why you built it and what you would like advice on. On Reddit the same product might go to a community of people planning weddings, written as a story about the problem and asking whether the approach matches how they do it.
Notice what the example does to the audience. A seating chart is a poor fit for a technical news crowd, so Show HN may bring curiosity about the code and little about the need. A planning community reverses that: it knows the need and may care little about the code. Choose the place where the people who would use the thing are already talking.
Which one first, by type of product
- A tool for programmers that runs with no account: Show HN. The audience fits and the rules are written for exactly this.
- A consumer or small-business product with a community of its own: Reddit, in that community. Read its rules first and post a story, not a slogan.
- A product that needs a sign-up before anyone can try it: neither is ideal. Show HN asks for a way to try it without barriers, and many communities remove drive-by links. Fix the first-run path, or ask for feedback with screenshots where the rules allow.
- A product you are not ready to support for a few days: wait. Both places expect the maker to be around in the thread.
The Show HN playbook and the Reddit post templates cover the wording for each.
Can you use both without repeating yourself?
Yes, and the order is worth thinking about. A small, friendly community is a cheaper place to find out whether your pitch makes sense, so post there first, change the demo and the wording based on the replies, and then go to Hacker News with the sharper version. Write each post separately. A copy of one message in both places reads as promotion, which is the thing both sites object to.
Before either post, give the product a page of its own that stays up after the thread has gone. Our free board can hold one: launch your product here, with no account to create. It is our board and still small, so any visitors will be the ones you bring. If you are still choosing a community, subreddits for startup ideas lists places that talk about new products, and the ideas board shows how other builders describe theirs.
Frequently asked questions
Is Show HN harder than Reddit?
It has a higher entry bar and a lower chance of removal. The guidelines require something people can try, non-trivial and made by you. A community on Reddit may accept a looser post, but its moderators can remove it on a rule you did not know. Preparing for Show HN means reading one page; for Reddit, one rulebook per community.
Can I post my app on Reddit for free?
Posting costs nothing. Whether a community allows self-promotion is up to its own rules, so read them and watch what members post first. Reddit’s sitewide rules say to take part authentically in communities where you have a personal interest, and not to spam or manipulate content. Many makers share in the community where their users already ask questions.
Do I need a Hacker News account to post a Show HN?
Yes, posting needs an account, and the guidelines discourage creating accounts routinely or posting only to promote. Take part in discussions as yourself before you post your own work, and be ready to answer comments under the post. Do not ask friends to upvote or comment; the Show HN page says that is not acceptable.
Which gives more traffic, Show HN or Reddit?
Nobody can say for your product, and neither site publishes a figure we could rely on. The traffic depends on how well the post matches the audience. Tag the link in each post with its own UTM source, then compare the visits and sign-ups after a week before you decide where to spend more effort.
Post your build ideas publishes this page and runs a free launch board that competes with some of the sites it names. Facts about other sites came from their own pages on the date shown above; terms, queues and prices change, so confirm on their sites before you decide. About the publisher.