Reddit alerts
Watch a subreddit for new posts, without a cloud subscription
Write a rule, pick an interval, and the desktop app tells you when a new post matches. Rules and hits stay on your machine. It only runs while the app is open, and we say that on the box.
Check interval
5 min on a licence
Rules
1 free, 5 licensed
Where it runs
Your PC
The problem
Alert tools are built for their server, not your workflow
Every hosted monitor solves the same problem by putting a cron job between you and Reddit. That is convenient and it is also a subscription.
Most alert tools want an email subscription
You sign up, confirm an address, and then get a daily digest at a fixed hour. By the time it lands, the thread has thirty comments and the window is gone.
Cloud monitors bill monthly for a cron job
A server pings Reddit every ten minutes and forwards matches to a dashboard you have to remember to open. That is a subscription for something your own machine can do.
Reddit search cannot watch anything
Search answers what exists now. It cannot tell you when a new post appears tomorrow that mentions your product, your competitor, or your problem.
How it works
A rule, an interval, a list of hits
Four things to understand before you install. None of them are clever, which is the point.
Rules, not saved searches
Each rule = one subreddit plus optional keywords. Keywords must all appear (title, body, or flair), so `cold email` does not fire on every post that says cold.
A check interval you choose
Five minutes on a licence, thirty on the free plan. Every check is a single `sort=new` request, which keeps you well under Reddit's rate limit.
Score floor and baseline
Ignore anything below a score you set. The first check after a rule is created only records what is already there, so you never get a hundred old posts at once.
Stored on your machine
Rules, seen post IDs, and hits live in a local file. No cloud account, no email, nothing to unsubscribe from.
Honest comparison
The one thing a hosted monitor does better
It keeps working when your computer is off. Everything else here is a trade we made on purpose.
| Wappkit desktop | Hosted monitor | Email digest | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the rule runs | Your PC | Their server | Their server |
| Needs an account | No | Yes | Yes |
| Typical cost | Free or one-time | Monthly | Monthly |
| Fastest check interval | 5 min | 1 to 15 min | Daily digest |
| Works when your PC is off | No | Yes | Yes |
If you need alerts while your PC is off, a hosted monitor is the right tool. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
Free and paid
What the free plan covers
One rule is enough to find out whether alerting actually helps your workflow.
| Capability | Free | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| Alert rules | 1 | 5 |
| Minimum check interval | 30 min | 5 min |
| Keyword matching (all terms) | ||
| Minimum score filter | ||
| Hit history | 200 latest | 200 latest |
| Open a hit in the browser |
Alerts are part of the same licence that unlocks the desktop viewer. See licensing details.
Questions
The parts people ask about first
Will it notify me when the app is closed?+
No, and this is the trade-off worth understanding before you install. The check runs inside the desktop app, so closing the app pauses all alerts until you open it again. In exchange there is no server, no subscription, and your rules never leave your machine. If you need alerts at 3am with your PC off, you want a hosted monitor instead.
Is it real-time?+
No. A licence can check as often as every five minutes, the free plan every thirty. Reddit's own rate limits make anything faster unreliable anyway, and a five minute delay rarely matters for a discussion that will be read over hours.
Do keywords use AND or OR?+
All keywords in a rule must appear. That is deliberate: a single keyword like `email` matches far too much, while `cold email` plus `deliverability` narrows it to the posts you actually want. Each keyword can be a phrase, and matching is case-insensitive across the title, body, and flair.
Why did I get no hits on the first check?+
The first check after creating a rule only records what is already in the subreddit. Without that baseline you would get a hundred historical posts as alerts on day one and turn the feature off. From the second check onward you only see posts newer than the previous check.
Does it need a Reddit cookie?+
Not for the alert list itself: new posts come back without signing in. Without a session cookie a subreddit may return fewer fields, and the app will show the checks as running in a reduced mode. The cookie is optional and stays on your machine.
What happens to the hits I do not open?+
They stay in the Hit list with an unread count on the Alerts tab, capped at the 200 most recent so the file cannot grow without limit. Opening a hit marks the list read; deleting a rule removes its hits with it.
Keep reading
Related guides
How to pick terms that surface signal instead of noise.
Try it
Create one rule and see what it finds
The first check builds a baseline, so nothing floods you. If it does not earn its place in a week, delete it.