11 Best WordPress Subreddits You Should be Reading

In a lot of ways, Reddit is the internet. It’s slogan as being the front-page of the internet is pretty spot on. Websites fear and desire the Reddit “hug of death,” and professionals, hobbyists, and everything in between gather in forums called subreddits to discuss almost every subject imaginable. WordPress and web development are no different.

What is Reddit and a Subreddit, Exactly?

In very basic terms, Reddit is a website where users can submit links or text posts for discussion and comments. It’s a kind of forum where users can upvote or downvote any topic, thereby self-regulating the quality of posts being seen most often. Because the internet is huge and there are millions of topics, users can create their own communities called subreddits that are topic-centric.

Navigating Reddit is simple. The basic URL is reddit.com, and every subreddit is simply a /r/subreddit-name after that. So if you want to see if there is a basic WordPress subreddit, you’d go to reddit.com/r/wordpress. Or you may go to reddit.com/r/videogames or reddit.com/r/cooking or whatever else. Simple, right?

So, now that you know the basics, let’s see what the world of Reddit has to offer!

1. /r/WordPress

Like I said above, /r/WordPress is the go-to WordPress subreddit. That doesn’t mean it’s the best, but it’s one of the biggest. Approximately 48,000 Redditors subscribe to this sub (which is what subreddits are often called), and there’s good reason. If you want a general resource for WP, you want to start here. It caters to general users, primarily, and doesn’t get into totally deep discussions on topics like JavaScript, hosting, PHP, or design nuance, but you can find a lot of posts and links on lots of WordPress-related topics. They cover the gamut here, so if you want all plugin info, for instance, you might want to check out…

2. /r/ WordPressPlugins

Yep, it’s that easy. What makes subreddits awesome is how they splinter off from one another, so while /r/WordPress may have plugin discussions, really in-depth conversation may be reserved for a more specialized audience. Because it’s more specialized, /r/WordPressPlugins has roughly 5,000 subscribers compared to the 48k the main sub has. Don’t let that deter you, though. Conversation runs well in this one with new topics multiple times a day. You may have a plugin request, need help with a specific feature, or even just want to talk about  higher-level concepts like promoting your plugins or what the best pricing strategy is. Whatever it is, you need to subscribe to /r/WordPressPlugins.

3. /r/WordPress_Themes

Rounding out the trifecta, here is the sub that’s home to another 5,000 Redditors. /r/WordPress_Themes is basically the same thing as /r/WordPressPlugins, but for themes. (Who knew?) We have seen everything from job offers to theme advertisements to coding help in this one. If it’s theme related, then it’s probably somewhere in this subreddit.

4. /r/WebDev

A personal favorite of many, /r/WebDev is by far one of the most active subs out there. There is always a well-moderated discussion here, but that comes at the price of not always being WordPress related. It has topics from every corner of the internet: PHP, servers, terminal and shell commands, SSH, digital security, front-end and back-end development, and even those other CMSes out there like Drupal or Rails. You definitely need to subscribe to this one, but be aware that the 216,000 readers keep new posts coming at a steady clip.

5. /r/Web_Design

Again, like themes and plugins, you can’t have web dev without web design. They’re peas and carrots, yogurt and granola. The 316,000 Redditors here think so, too. You will see posts and links for every kind of web design topic under the sun — as I write this, the top posts are on refactoring UIs, sequential animations with Sass, making duotones, the best desktops for professional design, and what to charge by the hour when a dev friend asks you to do the design for a project. Pretty cool stuff for you design folks.

6. /r/ProWordPress

Actually titled Professional WordPress, this particular subreddit was made for advanced users of WP. That applies to devs, designers, plugin and theme makers, engineers, Core Contributors, whatever. There aren’t a lot of entry-level tutorials here, but when you need help with something like your theme’s CSS overriding a content area from a plugin, this is where you will go. Reading about other people’s issues helps you overcome them when (not if) they happen to you. So even if you don’t think you’re an advanced WordPress user, it’s worth your time to subscribe to /r/ProWordPress. That’s how you become an advanced user.

7. /r/WebHosting

You know and I know that one of the main questions people ask about WordPress is “what’s the best host?” If you want, you can just send them here. Or you can read it and sound like a genius when you have to answer that question. There are discussions here about individual hosting companies, what you may need to run specific kinds of sites, how to get started and understand what specs are even important for hosting, and other server/bandwidth/cloud-centric topics. It’s not just about WordPress, but it is better that way. You have nearly 18,000 other people’s expertise to draw on, from all corners of the nerd-o-sphere, which makes this particular sub worth keeping an eye on.

8. /r/LearnJavaScript

Quite the opposite of the advanced subs I mentioned earlier, /r/LearnJavaScript is a place where you can feel totally comfortable asking as many entry-level questions as possible. Matt Mullenweg said in 2016 that we should all be learning JavaScript deeply to keep WordPress going (and Divi, since the visual builder is built on React). This is a great place to start. Not only do you get topics like “can JavaScript do X, and if so how?”, you also get tons of people talking about how they solved problems that they ran across and talking about victories along their path to being JS gurus. This sub can’t be recommended enough. And if you already know JavaScript, maybe check it out and pay it forward a little.

9. /r/ReactJS

In that same vein, because React is the way of the WordPress future, I’d be making a huge mistake if I didn’t suggest checking out /r/ReactJS. The 51,000 subscribers here will absolutely keep your head above water as you move through the library that’s changing WordPress. Not only is Gutenberg written in React, so is the Divi Visual Builder like I said before. And since both are extensible by you, it really would be in your best interest to check this out. We really love the monthly, sticky “Beginner’s Thread / Easy Questions” post that pops up, too. It helps new members stay organized, while the rest of the sub isn’t cluttered with redundant posts. Again, you need to learn JavaScript deeply, and we’d say that you need to learn ReactJS deeply, too.

10. /r/ForHire

Need a job? Well, someone needs a worker. Lots of people find side projects and gigs that eventually turn into full-time work on /r/ForHire. Enough that you should subscribe just to keep an eye out, even if you’re not currently looking for any opportunities. While there are some people who post underpaying gigs or work for “exposure,” you find those filtered out quickly because of the way Reddit works. It’s a great place to find help, too. If you need to outsource part of a project that you just can’t get finished in time, hit /r/ForHire, and your inbox will be bursting with replies before you know it. You can also keep an eye on current trends in the industry, too. And on top of that, it’s a heck of a lot better than Craigslist.

11. /r/CodingHelp

And rounding out the list, I wanted to give a shout out to /r/CodingHelp. A big part of Reddit is the community, and this sub is dedicated entirely to making each other succeed. If you have a question, one of these 3,500 Redditors has an answer. It isn’t all web dev related, but it’s all coding related. You might find AI and machine learning questions, discussions on Git, C# and Swift discussions, and people trying to figure out if they should learn React Native or Java. And all the problems that might come with each one. And what that means for you is that you can find new and cool ways to tackle problems by applying solutions from other areas to your project. It’s a really good sub that has a good community because of it being a help sub. You have a lot of nice people who want to help other folks succeed. That’s enough for me.

Get to Redditing!

If you haven’t already, go sign up for Reddit and hit up some of these subs. You will not only learn a crazy amount about web development, WordPress, coding, and the whole culture surrounding it all, you may also make a few new friends along the way. Plus, if you learned something interesting on Reddit and what to share it with the world, you can use the Reddit embed block to embed Reddit posts on your WordPress blog. If you’ve shied away from Reddit before, take my advice: try again. Unsubscribe from all the default subscriptions and replace them by these. Suddenly, Reddit becomes a much nicer place. Have fun!

What are your favorite, must-read subreddits?

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