Reddit is preparing to capitalize on huge growth in its own search functionality. To dramatically improve the user experience, they’re launching a new AI-powered search engine to take the place of Google. Over the past year, the platform has increased by 30% in weekly active users for discovery. It now proudly claims an all-time high total of 80 million users (previously 60 million). This increase is evidence that more riders are diving into Reddit’s unique content. As a result, the company is looking for alternative solutions to enhance user experience and maximize revenue.
In Q4 of 2025, Reddit boasted of its “other” revenue growing 8% YoY to $36 million. This progress is part of a national trend. Through the first three quarters of 2025, “other” revenue had increased by 22% to $140 million, compared to the same period of 2024. These kinds of monetary windfalls strengthen the argument for adding all those AI-powered abilities to its original search-related core activities.
We’ve seen accessible design and tech openness help Reddit release five new languages on its platform, welcoming more users and engagement in the process. The company is testing dynamic agents in search results pages, making them rich with “media other than text.” Beyond improving the user experience, this shift enhances the variety of responses users receive.
Nothing has grown like Reddit’s AI-powered Reddit Answers, which is currently going through explosive adoption. As for weekly active users, they skyrocketed from only 1 million in Q1 of 2025 to a mind-popping 15 million in Q4. This points to clear market demand and high opportunity for continued innovation in AI-powered capabilities.
The search engine, given its AI foundation, might be our business’s biggest opportunity in the next five years.” – Official Statement from Reddit The company has made “significant progress” in unifying its core search functions with its AI features during the last quarter. Plans to merge these two components aim to streamline user interactions and improve overall satisfaction.
Steve Huffman, Reddit’s co-founder and CEO, expressed optimism about the platform’s potential growth. “There’s a lot of growth there, and I think there’s a lot of potential too,” he stated. He highlighted the platform’s strength in addressing complex queries: “There’s a type of query we’re, I think, particularly good at — I would argue, the best on the internet — which is questions that have no answers, where the answer actually is multiple perspectives from lots of people.”
As great as these improvements may be, Reddit does admit that it hasn’t yet achieved monetization with its newly improved search capabilities. The company’s leadership sees this as “an enormous market and opportunity,” suggesting that monetization strategies may follow as user engagement continues to rise.
Sarah Perez is a technology reporter at TechCrunch, where she’s been a full-time TechCruncher since August 2011. She previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb and brings extensive experience in information technology across various industries, including banking, retail, and software. Those that would like to get in touch with Sarah should email her at sarahp@techcrunch.com or on encrypted signal at sarahperez.01.