# Search every public subreddit for a phrase, in one API call

Pass a phrase and get back the public Reddit posts that use it, across every subreddit at once, with the title, the start of the body, the community and the post date. Use it to find where a category is discussed before you read any one subreddit.

HTML page: https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/search-api
Part of: [Reddit tools](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit.md)

## The call

[`social.search`](https://www.routergrowth.com/catalog/social.search): Public posts matching a keyword on X, LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook: brand mentions, category conversations, competitor chatter.

Price on this network: $0.002432 per post, $0.002 minimum a call. The exact quote is shown before every run.

## What a real run returned

Run on 2026-10-19: 5 records in 13.3 s for $0.012162. Personal fields are masked. Five posts for project management software, spread over r/projectmanagers, r/SideProject, r/smallbusiness and two more communities, from 2025 to this month.

| text | community | posted |
|---|---|---|
| What project management software do you guys use? | r/projectmanagers | 2026-10-03 |
| Project management software for people tired of project management software | r/SideProject | 2026-10-07 |
| Project Management software - which ones are working for you? | r/smallbusiness | 2025-05-06 |

## How to do it

1. **Pick the phrase.** Use the words buyers type, such as a category plus best or alternative. The search runs across subreddits, not inside one.
2. **Call social.search.** Set platform to reddit, the query, and a limit. The response lists posts with their subreddit, so you see where the talk happens.
3. **Rank the communities.** Count posts per subreddit to find the two or three that own the topic.
4. **Read those subreddits.** Run social.posts on each one for its recent posts, or seo.serp to see which threads Google ranks for the same phrase.

## Ask it like this

- Search Reddit for five phrases about our category and tell me which subreddits come up most. (`social.search`)
- Which Reddit threads rank in Google for project management software, and what do the newest Reddit posts on it say? (`seo.serp`, `social.search`)
- Find the subreddits that discuss our category, then pull the last ten posts from the top one. (`social.search`, `social.posts`)

## Connect

MCP server: `https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp`

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http routergrowth https://api.routergrowth.com/mcp
```

```bash
npm install -g routergrowth && routergrowth setup
routergrowth run -c social.search -i '{"platform": "reddit", "query": "project management software", "limit": 5}'
```

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.routergrowth.com/v1/run \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ROUTERGROWTH_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"capability": "social.search", "input": {"platform": "reddit", "query": "project management software", "limit": 5}}'
```

## Worth knowing

- **Across subreddits.** The search is not tied to one community. To list one subreddit's posts, use social.posts with r/name.
- **Older posts appear too.** Results are matched on relevance, so a 2025 thread can sit next to one from this week. Check the date before quoting it.
- **Public posts only.** Private and quarantined communities are not searched, and nothing is posted or voted.

## Questions

### Can I search inside one subreddit?

Put the subreddit name in the phrase, or read that subreddit's recent posts with social.posts.

### Are results sorted by date?

No. They follow the search's relevance order. Sort on the date field if you need the newest first.

### Is it Reddit's search API?

No. It is RouterGrowth's own capability over public Reddit data, independent of Reddit.

### How many posts can one call return?

Set the limit you need; the quote scales with it and you pay for the posts that come back.

## Related

- [A hosted Reddit scraper your agent runs by naming a subreddit](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/scraper.md)
- [Scrape the newest posts of any public subreddit into clean rows](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/post-scraper.md)
- [Read a subreddit's posts without registering a Reddit developer app](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/developer-api.md)
- [Scrape the comments on a Reddit thread by pasting its link](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/comment-scraper.md)
- [What Reddit data costs through RouterGrowth, and how a call is billed](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/api-pricing.md)
- [Search Reddit from your agent without a Reddit developer account](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/api.md)
- [Read Reddit from a Python script with one HTTP request, no PRAW setup](https://www.routergrowth.com/tools/reddit/python.md)