How to find beta testers on r/alphaandbetausers
TL;DR
r/alphaandbetausers is a free subreddit with about 51,000 members (GummySearch, 23 October 2026) where makers post products in alpha or beta and ask strangers to test them. Posting costs nothing, and self-promotion is the whole purpose of the community. It suits founders with a working build who want first testers and honest feedback, and it gives little to founders who only have a waitlist.
How we checked: we read these rules through public subreddit trackers in October 2026. Read the sidebar and the pinned posts before you post, since moderators update the rules.
What is r/alphaandbetausers?
Alpha and beta are the two early test stages of a product: an alpha is the first rough build, and a beta is close to release and open to outside testers. r/alphaandbetausers was created in January 2014 and sums up its purpose in one line: "Our innovators need people to use their products to give them feedback!"
The community is growing fast. GummySearch counted a gain of about 26,000 members in the year to October 2026, which more than doubled its size. In the same sample of recent posts, self-promotion threads outnumbered every other theme (51 posts against 9 advice requests), and the most common topics were testing, testers, apps and AI tools.
Who should post on r/alphaandbetausers?
Good fit:
- Founders with a build people can use today: a TestFlight link, an Android test track, a web app with a free login.
- Solo makers who need their first 10 to 50 testers before a public launch.
- Teams who want feedback on first use: sign-up friction, confusing screens, missing features.
Skip it:
- Pre-launch landing pages: ThreadFox's October 2026 summary of the community lists email-capture, waitlist and "apply here" pages as not allowed.
- NSFW products, which the same summary excludes.
- Founders after SEO: links in Reddit posts carry nofollow, and the DA 92 belongs to reddit.com, so your own site gets no ranking credit from a post here.
How much does r/alphaandbetausers cost?
Posting is free. The subreddit has no paid listing or featured slot. Paid reach on Reddit goes through Reddit Ads, which runs separately from the community.
How do you share your startup on r/alphaandbetausers?
- Open r/alphaandbetausers, join, and read the sidebar rules and pinned posts first. ThreadFox found no written rules on the community's rules page on 4 October 2026, so the sidebar and the moderators set the terms.
- Write a title that names the platform and the stage, in the format the community uses: [iOS, Beta] AppName: one line on what it does.
- In the post, say what the product does, who it is for, what you want testers to check and how long a test takes. Put the direct test link in the post, then reply to every tester the same day.
Tips to get more out of r/alphaandbetausers
- Ask one clear question, such as "Where did you get stuck during sign-up?". Testers answer narrow tasks and skip vague "thoughts?" posts.
- Remove friction: no credit card, no long form, and a demo account if creating a login takes time.
- Test other members' products and leave useful comments. Reciprocity earns replies to your own post.
- Post a follow-up when you ship fixes from tester feedback, with what changed and why.
- Collect contacts with consent inside the product, so your testers can join the public launch later.
Our verdict
r/alphaandbetausers is one of the few large subreddits built for self-promotion, and it costs nothing. Bring a product people can open in two minutes and a precise ask; a waitlist page breaks the community's posting norms and wastes your one shot at its attention.
More options: see all subreddits for founders. Planning the launch around this listing? The Fe/male Switch startup game walks women founders from idea to first customers.