What's stopping people from making reddit apps that stay within the free API limits? - eviltoast

I’m not sure on the ins and outs of hosting/running a 3rd part reddit app, but since reddit is claiming these API charges are only for apps that pull in big numbers, couldn’t the app creators just make a bunch of versions of the app with a limit to how many users can access it?

I’m not sure what reddit’s threshold is for when they start charging for API usage, but do any of you see this happening? Would it be possible for the 3rd party creators to release personal instances of their apps that are technically separate entities that could stay in the free APL limit?

Again, I have no idea on how 3rd party apps are run or how they access the API. I was just curious if there was a way to keep an app under the limit.

  • Ulu-Mulu-no-die@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    As I understand it, API charges are for everyone, Apollo for example showed the app is within the limits, I think other app devs did the same.

    While not wanting their data to be scraped for AI for free is indeed a valid reason, if it was the real reason they would have come up with different tiers of pricing like every other paid platform does.

    Edit: Apollo was within the limits, but reddit changed the rules apparently …

    • kiwifoxtrot@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Not quite. The new rules are 100 api calls per minute per user per app. It used to be 100 api calls per minute per user. That means Apollo is limited to 100 api calls per minute for all users.

      If someone were to have a private API key for personal use, it would be difficult to exceed the limit.