Reddit Q3 2026: revenue up 53% to $895M, while U.S. daily users fell 2%

Reddit runs a network of topic communities and makes almost all of its money from advertising shown to the people who read them. It reports users in two ways, daily active uniques (DAUq) and weekly active uniques (WAUq), and splits both by country and by whether the visitor is logged in. Per its shareholder letter, changes in search referral traffic hit logged-out and web visits hardest.

That split explains the quarter. Revenue grew 53% and net income 74%. Total daily users, though, did not grow from Q2, and in the United States, where about four-fifths of revenue is earned (our arithmetic), they fell. Reddit’s own letter names the cause as search referral traffic. This piece sets the monetization gains against the user numbers and then looks at margins, cash and the Q4 outlook.

Reddit Q3 2026 results at a glance

$ millions, except per share and users	Q3 2026	Q2 2026	Q3 2025
Revenue	895.0	804.9	584.9
U.S. revenue	718.9	638.1	479.6
International revenue	176.1	166.8	105.3
Income from operations	261.6	231.7	138.5
Net income	283.3	252.8	162.7
Diluted EPS	$1.40	$1.25	$0.80
DAUq, global (M)	130.3	130.3	116.0
DAUq, U.S. (M)	50.7	53.2	51.6
ARPU, U.S.	$13.82	$11.85	$9.04

Revenue $25M above the top of Reddit’s own guide

In July, Reddit guided Q3 revenue to $860–870 million and adjusted EBITDA to $385–395 million. It reported $895.0 million and $402 million, about $25 million and $7 million above the tops of those ranges (our arithmetic). Ad revenue rose 54% to $847 million and other revenue 35% to $48 million.

U.S. revenue grew 50% to $718.9 million, about 80% of the total (our arithmetic), and international revenue 67% to $176.1 million. The shareholder letter cites “2x+ y/y video ad revenue growth” in Q3.

U.S. daily users fell 2% while U.S. ARPU rose 53%

Users, millions	Q3 2026	Q2 2026	Q3 2025	YoY
DAUq, U.S.	50.7	53.2	51.6	(2)%
Logged-in DAUq, U.S.	23.4	23.1	23.1	1%
Logged-out DAUq, U.S.	27.3	30.1	28.5	(4)%
DAUq, International	79.6	77.1	64.4	24%
WAUq, U.S.	188.5	197.2	187.8	—
WAUq, global	515.2	514.6	443.8	16%

U.S. DAUq fell about 4.7% from Q2 and U.S. WAUq about 4.4% (our arithmetic). U.S. logged-out DAUq fell about 9% from Q2 and accounts for all of the year-over-year decline (both our arithmetic); logged-in U.S. DAUq rose 1% from a year earlier and about 1.3% from Q2 (our arithmetic). The shareholder letter says “search referral traffic was down meaningfully in Q3, with the decline accelerating later in the quarter,” with the biggest impact on logged-out and web traffic. It says Reddit offset part of the decline with user marketing and product changes, and that logged-in and app DAUq, which it calls “the vast majority of engagement, and over 80% of the monetization on Reddit”, grew sequentially; the U.S. logged-in figure in the table above is consistent with that.

Monetization moved the other way. U.S. average revenue per unique (ARPU) rose 53% to $13.82, about 17% above Q2’s $11.85 (our arithmetic). Global ARPU rose 36% to $6.87, and international ARPU 32% to $2.43, about 18% of the U.S. figure. International DAUq grew 24% to 79.6 million.

A 29% operating margin, with marketing up 63%

Gross margin was 91.5%, up 50 bps. Income from operations rose about 89% to $261.6 million, a margin of about 29.2% against 23.7% a year earlier and 28.8% in Q2 (our arithmetic). Total costs and expenses grew about 42%, slower than revenue.

The fastest-growing cost was sales and marketing, up about 63% to $209.4 million, about 23.4% of revenue against 22.0% a year earlier (our arithmetic); the letter’s mention of user marketing to drive reach fits that line, though the release does not split brand, user-acquisition and sales spending. Research and development rose about 34% to $263.5 million (our arithmetic). Stock-based compensation and related taxes were $136.4 million.

Net income was $283.3 million after $27.5 million of other income and a $5.8 million tax expense, against a small tax benefit a year earlier. Diluted EPS was $1.40, up 75%.

$363M of free cash flow and $3.03B of cash

Operating cash flow was $364 million, up 96%, and free cash flow $363 million; capital expenditure was $1 million. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $3.03 billion at September 30, and the condensed balance sheet lists no borrowings. Reddit repurchased about 670 thousand Class A shares for $100 million in the quarter, and fully diluted shares outstanding were 206.3 million, down 0.3% from Q2. The release also notes Reddit’s addition to the S&P 500 index.

What Reddit guided for Q4

For the fourth quarter, Reddit expects revenue of $1,000–1,030 million and adjusted EBITDA of $480–510 million. At the midpoint, the revenue range is about 13% above Q3 (our arithmetic).

The press release gives no user-metric outlook, but the shareholder letter does, as a conditional statement. It says the search referral declines “have continued into the early part of Q4”, that in October search traffic “dropped by more than 1 million referrals on average per week”, and: “If this rate of decline continues, current trends would suggest that total DAUqs could fall in Q4, by a low-double-digit percentage from our current base of 130 million DAUqs.” That is the company’s own scenario, not a forecast of ours, and it sits alongside a revenue guide implying growth from Q3.

What to watch in Q4

• Total DAUq. The letter says it could fall by a low-double-digit percentage in Q4 from about 130 million if October’s search referral decline continues.
• U.S. DAUq. Down 2% from a year earlier and about 4.7% from Q2 (our arithmetic).
• Logged-in and app users. Reddit’s chosen yardstick: U.S. logged-in DAUq rose 1% from a year earlier.
• ARPU. U.S. ARPU of $13.82, up 53%, carried the quarter.
• Marketing spend. Sales and marketing grew 63% (our arithmetic), faster than revenue.
• International monetization. International ARPU is about 18% of the U.S. level, on 61% of daily users (our arithmetic).

Quick answers

What was Reddit’s revenue in Q3 2026?

Revenue was $895.0 million, up 53% from $584.9 million a year earlier and above the $860–870 million Reddit had guided to. Ad revenue was $847 million, up 54%.

Did Reddit lose users in Q3 2026?

In the U.S., yes: daily active uniques fell 2% from a year earlier to 50.7 million, and from 53.2 million in Q2. Global DAUq was 130.3 million, up 12% from a year earlier and unchanged from Q2. The shareholder letter attributes the pressure to lower search referral traffic.

What is Reddit’s Q4 2026 guidance?

Reddit guided Q4 revenue to $1,000–1,030 million and adjusted EBITDA to $480–510 million. Its shareholder letter adds that if October’s decline in search referrals continues, total DAUq could fall by a low-double-digit percentage in Q4 from about 130 million.

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Sources and method. Every company figure is Reddit’s own disclosure, read directly from SEC EDGAR and linked above. Third-quarter and year-ago revenue by geography and type, user metrics by geography and login status, ARPU, gross margin, the income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, share repurchases and the Q4 outlook come from Exhibit 99.1 to the Form 8-K filed 2026-10-29 (accession 0001713445-26-000114) for the quarter ended 2026-09-30. Search referral commentary (including the conditional Q4 DAUq statement), the logged-in and app DAUq trend, their share of monetization, video ad revenue growth and the fully diluted share count come from the shareholder letter filed as Exhibit 99.2 to the same Form 8-K. Second-quarter revenue, user metrics, ARPU, income statement and the Q3 outlook issued in July come from the second-quarter release (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, filed 2026-07-30, accession 0001713445-26-000098). The results were filed with the SEC at 4:08 pm ET on 2026-10-29 (Form 8-K acceptance time on the EDGAR filing index), after the US market closed; the release scheduled its call for 4:30 p.m. ET the same day.

No consensus estimate is included, so this piece makes no claim that the quarter beat or missed expectations. Guidance comparisons are against Reddit’s own published ranges only. This piece makes no claim about the share-price reaction.

Our arithmetic, labelled as such: revenue about $25 million and adjusted EBITDA about $7 million above the tops of the Q3 guide; the U.S. share of revenue (80%); the 4.7%, 4.4% and 9% falls in U.S. DAUq, U.S. WAUq and U.S. logged-out DAUq from Q2 and the 1.3% rise in U.S. logged-in DAUq from Q2; U.S. ARPU 17% above Q2 and international ARPU at about 18% of U.S. ARPU; international users at 61% of DAUq; operating income growth of 89% and operating margins of 29.2%, 28.8% and 23.7%; total cost growth of 42%; sales and marketing growth of 63% and its 23.4% and 22.0% shares of revenue; R&D growth of 34%; and Q4 revenue guidance about 13% above Q3 at the midpoint. These are approximations, not reported numbers. The 53%, 54%, 35%, 50%, 67%, 74%, 75%, 70%, 96%, user and ARPU growth rates are as printed in the release. The interpretation (that monetization, not user growth, carried the quarter in the U.S.) is our analysis, not a company statement or a forecast.

Related: Reddit Q2 2026, the prior quarter; Meta Q3 2026 and Alphabet Q3 2026, the two largest advertising businesses we cover.