If you’re familiar with Reddit, you’ve probably come across the Apollo for Reddit app. However, its future is uncertain due to Reddit’s revised API pricing. Christian Selig, the app’s creator, recently shared on Twitter that he had a conversation with Reddit regarding the new pricing. According to Selig, the updated policy would necessitate an annual payment of $20 million for apps like Apollo to retain API access.
Reddit recently made a detailed post, reminiscent of their typical lengthy style, explaining their new API pricing. The company stated that the pricing structure is comparable to Twitter’s, which received significant backlash from users who favored third-party clients such as Tweetbot and Twitterrific. Twitter eventually went a step further and banned these third-party clients from accessing their API, leading to the demise of those businesses. In response, the owner of Tweetbot shifted gears and launched Ivory for Mastodon.
As per Apollo’s team, the revised API pricing set by Reddit would result in an annual expense of approximately $20 million for the company.
Based on the data provided by Apollo’s team, the app made a staggering 7 billion requests in the previous month. This translates to approximately $1.7 million per month or $20 million per year. Even if only subscription users were considered, an average Apollo user generates around 344 requests per day. This would result in a monthly cost of $2.50, which is more than double the current subscription fee, making it financially unsustainable.
Selig expressed his perspective on the matter, stating that while Reddit has maintained open and respectful communication throughout the process with several productive phone calls, he finds the pricing to be completely detached from reality and far from reasonable. He emphasized that he neither possesses such a substantial sum nor knows how to handle such a massive charge on a credit card.
Should Reddit proceed with the proposed pricing alteration, it may result in the disappearance of the Apollo for Reddit app, similar to what happened with the Tweetbot and Twitterrific clients on Twitter. However, there is a possibility of a different outcome if Reddit reconsiders its decision or if Apollo adjusts its pricing strategy and manages to attract paying users.
