Popular Reddit app Apollo may go out of business over Reddit’s new, unaffordable API pricing

Popular Reddit app Apollo may go out of business over Reddit’s new, unaffordable API pricing

a year ago
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https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/31/popular-reddit-app-apollo-may-go-out-of-business-over-reddits-new-unaffordable-api-pricing/

The maker of Apollo, one of the most popular third-party mobile apps for browsing Reddit, may have to close up shop due to Reddit’s recently announced new API pricing terms. App developer Christian Selig shared today that Reddit’s API pricing appears to be bad news for the future of third-party Reddit apps as it would now cost him $20 million per year to keep running Apollo’s business as is. Customer backlash over Reddit’s terms is already growing in light of the news, given Apollo’s long history of thoughtful app updates, iOS-friendly design, and general ease of use, which has made the app a popular alternative to Reddit’s official client.

The news is unexpected, as Reddit had assured developers the API pricing changes wouldn’t impact those who were building apps to help people use Reddit. Instead, the move was positioned as a way to protect Reddit’s sizable internet forum site from becoming free fodder for companies training their AI systems on large swaths of the internet. Essentially, Reddit wanted to get paid for its “corpus of data,” founder and CEO Steve Huffman told The New York Times in an interview.