r/indiehackers Rules & Posting Guide
r/indiehackers is a community for bootstrapped founders sharing revenue milestones, growth tactics, and building in public. Understand what flies and what gets removed.
How to Post Safely in r/indiehackers
Study what resonates
Browse top posts in r/indiehackers to see the style that works — transparent revenue updates, honest failure stories, and tactical breakdowns consistently get upvoted.
Lead with value, not your product
Write about what you learned, what worked, or what failed. Mention your product as context, not as the point of the post.
Check for promotion risk
Even in a founder-friendly sub, overly promotional posts get removed. Run your post through the risk checker to catch red flags.
Key Rules for r/indiehackers
No blatant self-promotion
While the community is friendly to founders, posts that exist solely to promote a product without offering learnings or discussion are removed.
Share real numbers when possible
The community values transparency. Revenue posts, user growth updates, and MRR milestones are celebrated — but only when they're genuine.
No low-effort 'check out my app' posts
A post needs context: what problem you're solving, how you built it, what traction you have. Drop-a-link posts get removed.
Be respectful of others' journeys
Everyone is at a different stage. Dismissive comments toward early-stage founders or smaller projects are not tolerated.
No spam or repetitive content
Posting the same content, links, or updates repeatedly within a short timeframe is treated as spam.
Stay on topic
Posts should relate to building, growing, or running an independent software business. General tech news or unrelated content is removed.
Common Reasons Posts Get Removed
Common Posting Mistakes in r/indiehackers
Writing a product pitch instead of a story
The best r/indiehackers posts read like journal entries, not landing pages. Talk about the journey, not just the destination.
Faking transparency
Claiming 'I hit $10K MRR' without any detail or proof invites skepticism and potentially removal. If you share numbers, be prepared to discuss them.
Ignoring community discussion
The sub thrives on conversation. Posting and never responding to comments makes you look like a drive-by promoter.
Posting generic advice
Listicles like '10 Tips for Startups' that could apply to any business don't resonate. Share specific, hard-won insights from your own experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Post Smart in r/indiehackers
Understand r/indiehackers rules before posting. Our free summarizer gives you a quick breakdown of what's allowed and what's not.
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