Comment karma is the portion of a Reddit account's karma earned from upvotes on comments (as opposed to post karma from submissions), and it functions as the platform's main account-level trust signal.
Why it matters
Comment karma is the credential that unlocks Reddit for marketers. Many subreddits use AutoMod rules that silently remove posts and links from accounts below a karma threshold, often without telling you. Comment karma is weighted as the more "human" signal: it's earned in conversation, is harder to fake convincingly, and moderators check it first when deciding whether an account is a genuine community member or a marketing account. An account with healthy comment karma spread across niche communities can post, link, and answer questions where a fresh account gets auto-filtered.
How to use it
- Spend the first weeks of a new account only commenting, helpful, specific answers in your niche subreddits, no links, no product mentions. See the full Reddit karma breakdown.
- Sort threads by "new" or "rising" and answer early; early helpful comments collect most of a thread's upvotes.
- Treat 100+ comment karma and a few weeks of account aging as the practical floor before any promotional activity.
Related terms
Paul-Marie is the founder of Readyt, the Reddit growth platform for SaaS. He has generated 16K€+ in pre-sales in 2 months using nothing but Reddit, and now helps founders turn Reddit threads into their #1 acquisition channel.
