Everything you need to know about posting, engaging, and growing your business on r/SideProject. Rules, best times, content formats, and what actually works.
The essential facts before you post anything.
Developers and makers building products on the side, often solo. Most are pre-revenue and looking for validation and early users. Very supportive culture with a strong 'show your work' mentality.
tech
Relaxed
The sandbox where unicorns are born. This isn't just a showroom; it's the most critical feedback loop for pre-revenue founders. If you can't get traction here, you won't get traction on Product Hunt.
Timing matters on Reddit. Posts that go up during peak activity windows get more early upvotes, which triggers the algorithm to show them to more people. A well-timed post can get 3 to 5 times more visibility than the same post at the wrong hour. Here are the best windows for r/SideProject:
Saturday 10AM EST (Weekend Hacker Peak)
Tuesday 2PM EST (Productivity Spike)
Friday 5PM EST (Show-off Hour)
Break any of these and your post gets removed, or worse, you get banned. Read them carefully before posting anything.
Always read the full sidebar and wiki of r/SideProject before posting. Rules often have nuances that are not captured in the summary. Spending 10 minutes reading the sidebar can save you from a permanent ban.
The most common reason people get banned on r/SideProject is breaking the self-promotion policy. Here is exactly what is allowed, what is not, and how the 10% rule applies inside this community.
Yes, self-promotion is allowed on r/SideProject, but with conditions. You must show the actual product (working demo, real screenshots, live URL), not gate it behind a signup form. Engage with every comment. The 10% rule still applies as a sanity check: most of your account activity should be non-promotional.
Reddit’s site-wide self-promotion guideline says no more than 1 in 10 of your posts or comments should be self-promotional. Moderators on r/SideProject actively check posting history before approving promotional content.
Practical version: for every 1 post linking to your product, you should have 9 comments, replies, or posts that add value without mentioning your brand. Tools like MediaFast track this ratio per subreddit so you do not accidentally trip the filter. Read the full self-promotion rules guide →
Not all content formats are created equal. Here are the formats that consistently perform well on r/SideProject, ranked by effectiveness.
Invite brutal feedback on your landing page. Leads to high engagement and genuine product improvement.
Regular updates showing what you built since your last post, with screenshots and metrics.
Document what you built in a weekend with a time breakdown and demo link.
Share how you got your first 10 to 100 users, with specific channels and conversion numbers.
Follow this 4-week playbook to build credibility and start seeing results from your marketing efforts on r/SideProject. Each step builds on the previous one.
Spend a week engaging with other makers. Upvote projects, leave feedback, and study what titles and formats get traction.
Post your project with a clear problem statement, a live demo link, and honest context about where you are. Ask for specific feedback.
Implement the feedback you received and post an update showing what changed. Reference the commenters who helped.
Ask the community to roast your landing page or onboarding flow. This format consistently drives the highest engagement and most useful feedback.
These are proven tactics that consistently get positive results from the r/SideProject community.
'Roast my landing page' posts get 3x more engagement than 'check out my project' posts
Weekend posts (Sat 10AM EST) consistently outperform weekday posts by 40%
Showing revenue numbers (even $0 MRR) massively increases credibility and engagement
The community rewards iteration, post updates every 2 weeks to build a following
Avoid these pitfalls that get marketers banned, downvoted, or ignored on r/SideProject.
Posting a polished marketing pitch instead of showing raw, in-progress work
Gating the product behind an email signup wall instead of offering a live demo
Posting once and never returning with updates or responses to feedback
Focusing on the tech stack instead of the problem being solved
Real examples of marketers who got results by following the right approach on r/SideProject.
“Posted weekly updates for 3 months, built email list of 400 interested users before launch, hit $5k MRR in 6 weeks.”
Reddit is one of the most underused marketing channels. Here is why it is so powerful for businesses that take the time to do it right.
Every subreddit is a niche community of people who self-selected into a specific interest. r/SideProject alone has 180,000 people interested in exactly what you offer.
Reddit users actively research products and ask for recommendations. A single well-placed comment can drive more qualified traffic than a month of social media ads.
Reddit posts rank on Google for years. A single valuable post on r/SideProject can drive organic traffic to your business long after it was published.
Unlike paid channels, Reddit marketing is entirely organic. Your time and expertise are the only investment needed to build a presence that generates real business results.
MediaFast learns the tone, rules, and posting cadence of r/SideProject, then drafts posts that match the community's voice and schedules them at peak hours. No guesswork, no shadowbans.
No credit card required
Get traffic to your tool from Reddit
Get recommended by AI tools through Reddit
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Common questions about marketing on r/SideProject.
r/SideProject currently has 180,000 subscribers. With 2.1k avg daily active users daily, it is one of the more engaged communities in the tech space, making it a strong channel for reaching your target audience.
The best posting times for r/SideProject are: Saturday 10AM EST (Weekend Hacker Peak), Tuesday 2PM EST (Productivity Spike), Friday 5PM EST (Show-off Hour). Posting during these windows increases your chances of getting early upvotes, which is how Reddit's algorithm decides whether to show your post to more people.
r/SideProject is relatively open to self-promotion, but you still need to provide genuine value. Show what you built, explain why, and engage with feedback. The key is providing genuine value first. Share insights, answer questions, and build a reputation before mentioning your product.
Read every rule in the sidebar before posting. r/SideProject has 3 community rules. The moderation style is described as "relaxed." Keep self-promotion under 10% of your total activity. Engage with comments on your posts. Never use multiple accounts to upvote yourself.
Based on community patterns, the highest-performing content formats on r/SideProject include: Roast My Landing Page, Progress Update, First Users Story. Focus on providing specific, actionable value with real data and examples.
r/SideProject requires a longer-term approach. Expect to invest 4 to 8 weeks of consistent community participation before seeing meaningful results. The key is following the posting playbook: start by listening, then contribute value through comments, then share your own content once you have established credibility.
Yes. Reddit's site-wide self-promotion guideline says no more than 1 in 10 of your posts or comments should link to your own product, site, or brand. On r/SideProject, moderators are more lenient because the subreddit is built for show-and-tell, but the 10% rule still applies across your overall Reddit account, not just this subreddit. The practical version: for every 1 post linking to your product, have 9 comments or posts that add value without mentioning your brand.
Reddit's site-wide policy does not explicitly ban AI-generated content, but r/SideProject moderators have filters that detect low-effort AI text. The pattern that gets banned is not 'AI assistance' but obvious copy-paste outputs: filler phrases like 'in today's fast-paced world', em-dash heavy prose, fake stats, or AEO-style content stuffed with keywords. Posts that use AI as a draft tool but include real specifics (your data, your screenshots, your actual experience) generally pass. Posts that read as 100% generated and link to a product page do not.
