A good upvote count in a small community is not the same number as a good upvote count in r/pics, and most advice articles hide that behind round guesses. So we measured it: in July 2026 we crawled 34,095 posts across 50 subreddits from Reddit's public listings and built percentile benchmarks by subreddit size. A good upvote count on Reddit is one that beats the median score of your target subreddit's own top posts, which in our crawl ranged from 12 upvotes in small communities to 16,009 in mega subreddits.
Key takeaways
- The median top-listed post scores 12 upvotes in small subreddits, 141 in mid-size, 205 in large, and 16,009 in mega subreddits (our July 2026 crawl, 34,095 posts, 50 subreddits).
- Only 5.5% of top-listed posts in small subreddits cross 100 upvotes, and just 0.1% cross 1,000. In mega subreddits, 94.4% of top posts clear 1,000.
- The hot feed is far humbler than the top feed: the median hot post in our large-tier subreddits sat at 1 upvote. In the new listing, the median was 0 almost everywhere.
- Subscriber count is a weak predictor on its own. r/Fitness (multi-million members) had a top-post median of 31, while r/travel, in the same size tier, had 3,296.
- In most marketing and startup subreddits, 20 to 60 upvotes already beats the median top post. Benchmark against the subreddit, never against Reddit as a whole.
The mega-tier median (16,009) is more than 1,300× the small-tier median (12). "Good" is a function of where you post — benchmark against your subreddit's size tier, never against Reddit as a whole.
Methodology: where these numbers come from
All figures in this study come from our own crawl of Reddit's public listings, collected in July 2026: 34,095 posts across 50 subreddits. We pulled four listings per subreddit: top of the year (14,807 posts), top of the month (10,756), hot (8,147), and new (385). The posts span July 2023 through July 2026.
We grouped the 50 subreddits into four size tiers by subscriber count: mega (10 subreddits, 16.6M to 67.5M subscribers, e.g. r/funny, r/pics), large (13 subreddits, 3.3M to 21.8M, e.g. r/personalfinance, r/travel), mid (13 subreddits, 273K to 4.5M, e.g. r/SaaS, r/Baking), and small (14 subreddits, 24K to 3.3M, e.g. r/SEO, r/indiehackers). The tier boundaries overlap at the edges, which is one reason we also publish per-subreddit numbers rather than leaning on tier averages alone.
Four honest caveats before the tables:
- Top listings are survivorship-biased. Top of the year and top of the month show the winners of a subreddit, not its typical post. Treat those numbers as the ceiling distribution for successful posts.
- Scores are displayed scores at crawl time. Reddit's own help documentation confirms it deliberately fuzzes vote counts to confuse spammers, so every public score is an approximation, including ours.
- A snapshot cannot measure velocity. Our crawl captures where posts ended up, not how fast the votes arrived. Timing effects are real (we cover the decay math in our Reddit algorithm guide) but they are outside what this dataset can prove.
- The new-listing sample is small. 385 posts total. We report those numbers as directional, not definitive.
How many upvotes does a top Reddit post get?
Across the 25,563 posts in our top-of-year and top-of-month listings, the median score was 12 upvotes in small subreddits, 141 in mid-size, 205 in large, and 16,009 in mega subreddits. The spread inside each tier is enormous, which is why percentiles tell the truth that averages hide.
Here is the full distribution for top-listed posts by tier:
| Tier | Posts | p10 | p25 | Median | p75 | p90 | p95 | p99 | Mean |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small (24K-3.3M subs) | 5,818 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 31 | 67 | 107 | 292 | 30 |
| Mid (273K-4.5M subs) | 7,065 | 3 | 21 | 141 | 582 | 3,201 | 8,678 | 24,270 | 1,509 |
| Large (3.3M-21.8M subs) | 6,867 | 8 | 33 | 205 | 846.5 | 2,468 | 4,012 | 8,582 | 895 |
| Mega (16.6M-67.5M subs) | 5,813 | 1,658 | 4,542 | 16,009 | 40,323 | 70,469 | 88,056 | 134,491 | 27,813 |
Look at the gap between median and mean. In the mid tier the mean (1,509) is more than ten times the median (141) because a minority of monster posts drags the average up. Anyone quoting an "average Reddit upvote count" is being distorted by that tail. If you want to know whether your post did well, compare it to the median and p75, not to a mean.
The other thing this table quietly says: even among posts that made a top listing, a quarter of small-subreddit posts scored 4 or fewer. Making a top list in a small community is a low bar in absolute numbers, which cuts both ways. It is easier to look great there, and easier to overestimate what "great" means elsewhere.
Is 100 upvotes a lot on Reddit?
In a small subreddit, yes: only 5.5% of even the top-listed posts in our small tier crossed 100 upvotes. In a mega subreddit, no: 100% of top-listed mega posts cleared it. The same number can be a standout result or table stakes depending entirely on where you posted.
Share of top-listed posts above each threshold, by tier:
| Tier | Over 100 | Over 500 | Over 1,000 | Over 5,000 | Over 10,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 5.5% | 0.4% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Mid | 57.7% | 26.8% | 18.9% | 7.7% | 4.2% |
| Large | 62.3% | 36.7% | 21.5% | 3.2% | 0.6% |
| Mega | 100.0% | 98.3% | 94.4% | 73.1% | 62.8% |
A few recalibrations fall straight out of this table. A 1,000-upvote post is a top-0.1% event in a small community and roughly a top-fifth event among successful posts in large ones. A 10,000-upvote post essentially does not happen outside mid, large, and mega subreddits: the share of small-tier top posts reaching 5,000 rounded to 0.0% in our crawl. And in mega subreddits, 5,000 upvotes, a number most posters would celebrate, is below the 25th percentile of the top listing.
If you have ever wondered how the giant numbers on Reddit's most upvoted posts of all time relate to your niche community, this table is the answer: they live in a different statistical universe.
Why is a good score a subreddit question, not a Reddit question?
Because communities in the same size tier produce wildly different numbers. The clearest example in our data: r/Fitness and r/travel are both large-tier, multi-million-subscriber subreddits, yet the median top post in r/Fitness scored 31 upvotes while the median top post in r/travel scored 3,296.
More same-tier contrasts from the crawl, all from top listings:
| Subreddit | Tier | Median | p90 | p99 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| r/Fitness | Large | 31 | 58 | 92 |
| r/travel | Large | 3,296 | 7,895 | 22,713 |
| r/PPC | Mid | 15 | 48 | 218 |
| r/Baking | Mid | 7,969 | 22,035 | 71,251 |
| r/HomeImprovement | Large | 48 | 316 | 1,492 |
| r/relationship_advice | Large | 1,905 | 4,152 | 7,778 |
Two mid-tier communities, r/PPC and r/Baking, sit at medians of 15 and 7,969. That is not a tier problem, it is a culture problem: what a community posts, how its members vote, and how its moderators shape the feed matter more than raw subscriber count. Our dataset shows the gap clearly; it cannot prove the cause, though heavily structured communities that push discussion into daily threads (r/Fitness is the textbook case) plausibly leave fewer standalone posts to absorb votes. Treat that last sentence as interpretation, not measurement.
The practical rule survives either way: never import an upvote expectation from one subreddit into another, even at identical size.
How many upvotes should you expect in marketing and startup subreddits?
If you post where marketers, founders, and SEOs hang out, the honest benchmark is smaller than most people think: in the majority of these communities, 20 to 60 upvotes already beats the median top-listed post, and 150 to 300 puts you near or past the 90th percentile.
Top-listing benchmarks for the business and marketing subreddits in our crawl:
| Subreddit | Median | p75 | p90 |
|---|---|---|---|
| r/Entrepreneur | 165.5 | 296 | 597 |
| r/SaaS | 146 | 255 | 523 |
| r/sales | 121.5 | 194 | 372 |
| r/smallbusiness | 111.5 | 208 | 379 |
| r/marketing | 62 | 113 | 246 |
| r/sidehustle | 47 | 87 | 169 |
| r/SEO | 38 | 61 | 109 |
| r/indiehackers | 31 | 52 | 90 |
| r/Startup_Ideas | 21 | 43 | 86 |
| r/EntrepreneurRideAlong | 19 | 42 | 96 |
| r/PPC | 15 | 27 | 48 |
| r/AskMarketing | 15 | 24 | 38 |
| r/content_marketing | 13 | 20 | 36 |
| r/GrowthHacking | 12 | 22 | 44 |
| r/Emailmarketing | 11 | 16 | 26 |
| r/linkbuilding | 7 | 11 | 17 |
| r/bigseo | 6 | 10 | 19 |
| r/roastmystartup | 3 | 4 | 8 |
Read that bottom row again: the median top-listed post in r/roastmystartup has 3 upvotes. If your launch post there got 10, you outperformed the 90th percentile of the community's best posts. Meanwhile a marketer reporting "only 40 upvotes" in r/SEO to a client just cleared the sub's median top post.
This is the table we wish existed when clients ask what a realistic Reddit KPI looks like. Screenshot it, but check the date: benchmarks drift, and we will re-crawl.
Why do hot and new posts score so much lower than top posts?
Because top listings are a hall of fame and the new listing is where every post actually starts: at zero. In our crawl the median hot-feed post scored just 1 upvote in large subreddits, 2 in small, 3 in mid, and 74 in mega. In the new listing, the median was 0 in the large, mid, and mega tiers.
The full contrast, using medians:
| Tier | Top listing | Hot listing | New listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 12 | 2 | 1* |
| Mid | 141 | 3 | 0 |
| Large | 205 | 1 | 0 |
| Mega | 16,009 | 74 | 0 |
*Small-tier new sample was 24 posts; directional only. The whole new listing is 385 posts, our smallest sample.
This is the most useful reframe in the study. When people ask what the average Reddit post gets, they picture the top feed. The truth is closer to the new column: most posts begin invisible and stay there. Even in the hot feed of a large subreddit, the 75th percentile in our crawl was 5 upvotes. The distance between a 0-upvote new post and a top-listed one is not a gentle slope, it is a cliff that gets decided early, while the post is still in the new queue fighting for its first screen impressions. That early window is exactly why velocity-focused tactics dominate how posts reach the front page. If you would rather not gamble that first gap on luck and timing alone, that early momentum is precisely what our Reddit upvotes service exists to provide.
One honest limit: our snapshot records outcomes, not vote timing, so it cannot measure velocity effects directly. What it does show, unambiguously, is how brutal the base rate is at the starting line.
How do you set a realistic upvote target for your next post?
Benchmark the specific subreddit, then aim for a percentile, not a fantasy number. Four steps:
- Pull the community's own ceiling. If your target subreddit is in our tables, start there. If not, pull its top post titles and scores with our free subreddit title scraper and eyeball the middle of the pack.
- Set a percentile target. Beating the sub's median top post is a solid result, p75 is a good post, p90 is a great one. From our data: in r/SaaS that ladder is 146, 255, and 523. In r/SEO it is 38, 61, and 109.
- Check the gates before you post. Karma minimums and posting rules remove more posts than bad titles do; run the community through our free subreddit stats checker first.
- Post into the active window. A correct benchmark still dies in an empty room; check the subreddit's most active hours and time accordingly. Our best time to post guide covers the timing logic in depth.
Then judge the post against that subreddit's numbers and nothing else. A 45-upvote post can be a top-decile result or a rounding error; without the local benchmark, the score means nothing. And if the post clears its percentile target, the playbook for compounding that win is in our guide to getting upvotes on Reddit.
FAQ
How many upvotes does the average Reddit post get?
There is no honest platform-wide average. Our crawl covers Reddit's public listings, and the medians tell the story: 0 upvotes in the new listing for most tiers, 1 to 74 in hot feeds, and 12 to 16,009 in top listings depending on subreddit size. The typical post sits near zero.
Is 1,000 upvotes a lot on Reddit?
In most communities, yes. Only 0.1% of top-listed posts in our small-subreddit tier reached 1,000 upvotes, versus 18.9% in mid-size and 21.5% in large subreddits. In mega subreddits it is routine: 94.4% of top-listed posts cleared 1,000 in our crawl.
How many upvotes is considered viral on Reddit?
Viral is relative to the community. The 99th percentile of top-listed posts in our crawl was 292 upvotes in small subreddits, roughly 8,582 in large, 24,270 in mid (inflated by hobby giants like r/Baking), and 134,491 in mega subreddits. Beating your subreddit's p99 is viral for that room.
Are Reddit's displayed vote counts exact?
No. Reddit's official help documentation states that it deliberately fuzzes vote counts by adding artificial up and down votes to confuse spammers and cheaters. Every public score, including every number in this study, is an approximation of the true count at the moment it was observed.
Do bigger subreddits always mean more upvotes?
Mostly, but with huge exceptions. Our mega tier's median top post (16,009) dwarfs every other tier. Yet r/Fitness, a large multi-million-member subreddit, had a median top post of just 31, while mid-tier r/Baking hit 7,969. Community culture and moderation style can override raw size.
Related reading