About r/aww
In its own words:
Things that make you go AWW! -- like puppies, bunnies, babies, and so on... Feel free to post original pictures and videos of cute things.
The community was created on Jan 25, 2008, which makes it 18 years old. Since Oct 19, 2026, it has gained 4,164 subscribers (+0.01%). It sits just behind r/Music (#7) and ahead of r/movies (#9) in our ranking. Reddit files it under the “animals” category and its main language is English.
What sets r/aww apart
r/aww is far more image-driven than most big subreddits: 58% of its recent posts are images, against a median of 9% across the Top 100. People mostly look and upvote here rather than comment — about 6.2 comments per post, against 16.2 for a typical large subreddit. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (16:00 UTC) sees about 3.4× as many posts as the quietest (02:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Oct 29, 2026, r/aww climbed from 37,875,601 to 37,898,738 subscribers (+23.1K, +0.06%). That is about 578 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (8 so far), so it gets longer every week.
Top posts on r/aww this week
The most upvoted posts of the past seven days, in the order Reddit ranks them (collected Oct 29, 2026).
- I was driving by a house and noticed a groundhog sneaking up and eating their pumpkin.u/Luke750 · Oct 23 · video
- I carry shelter dogs around NYC in a dog backpack to help them get adopted. Meet Grits!u/kittytime · Oct 23 · video
- "I sleep." "I sleep too."u/LenCoka2 · Oct 25 · video
- Just taught our new puppy how to play cornhole!u/CalculatedRlsk · Oct 26 · image
- I think the cat distribution system chose me! (kitty outside office)u/yunapayne · Oct 26 · video
- My cat prefers sleeping on the wallu/Yes_ThisIsBrett · Oct 26 · video
- My dog thinks , my cat is her son.u/Virgotheterrible · Oct 29 · image
- He just stood there sniffing it like he'd discovered something amazing. I didn't want to interrupt his little moment... so I just let him enjoy his plant.u/Due-Operation3665 · Oct 24 · gallery
- Big Baby Jim is baking up a storm!u/sarotto · Oct 23 · video
- Her tongue when she sleepingu/No-Flan-5273 · Oct 25 · image
All-time top posts
The highest-ranked posts in the history of r/aww, from 2018 to 2022, ranked by Reddit.
- Heat index was 110 degrees so we offered him a cold drink. He went for a full body soak insteadu/FootLoosePickleJuice · Jul 20, 2018 · 254,669 points · 3,622 comments · video
- Man stops to rescue kitten, gets ambushed by platoonu/JediWithAnM4 · Jun 8, 2022 · 297,075 points · 6,854 comments · video
- Meet the newest member of the family, Dutch!u/GovSchwarzenegger · Jul 28, 2020 · image
- Ever since my niece saw Toy Story, she shouts “I’m leaving!” and then peeks at her room like thisu/finestjun · Dec 29, 2019 · 224,534 points · 2,012 comments · image
- Bunnies flop over when they feel completely safeu/iamnobodyelsel · Feb 2, 2020 · 196,825 points · 1,576 comments · video
- My deaf puppy doesn’t notice whenever I come home, so I get to wake her up gently and see her innocent excitement.u/devinmburgess · Apr 13, 2021 · video
- The dog is supposed to run up in front of her and sit.u/socialpronk · Aug 6, 2019 · 170,037 points · 2,505 comments · video
- Update on the 13 kittens that ambushed this man. They’re getting their first bath this morning.u/JediWithAnM4 · Jun 9, 2022 · 200,266 points · 3,461 comments · video
- While showing my 3 year old my Game Boy, I discovered a picture of my best friend from 1999.u/newsilverdad · Mar 23, 2020 · 175,104 points · 1,340 comments · link
- His favorite spot when traveling.u/sirmakoto · Jan 18, 2019 · 170,916 points · 1,877 comments · image
What r/aww talks about
Across 693 recent posts (Oct 21–Oct 28), the words that come up most are “cat”, “dog”, “baby”, “cute” and “love”. Other frequent themes are meet, eyes, sleeping, kitty, happy and halloween. Recurring phrases include “cat toy”, “fell asleep”, “front porch” and “cute kitten”. By format, 58% are images, 21% are videos and 20% are galleries.
Activity and best time to post
r/aww gets about 130 new posts a day. The public archive holds 6,797,432 posts and 42,062,180 comments in total, about 6.2 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Thursday (159 posts) and the quietest was Sunday (105). Posting peaks around 16:00 UTC and is lowest around 02:00 UTC.
Rules of r/aww
The moderators of r/aww list 11 rules. In short:
- No "sad" content
- No captioned pictures/videos
- No asking for interaction (asking for upvotes, names, etc)
- No harassment
- Posts must link to sites on our approved list
- No NSFW content
- No asking for donations or adoptions
- No bots, bot-like behaviour, or spam
- Original content only
- No social media
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/aww and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many members does r/aww have?
r/aww has 37,898,738 subscribers (Oct 29, 2026), which makes it the #8 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 23,137 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Oct 29, 2026.
How old is r/aww?
r/aww was created on Jan 25, 2008, so it has been around for 18 years.
How active is r/aww?
Very active: r/aww gets about 130 new posts a day (average of the last week). Over its lifetime the archive counts 6,797,432 posts and 42,062,180 comments. In a sample of 693 recent posts we counted 517 different authors.
When is r/aww most active?
Based on post counts from Oct 21, 2026 to Oct 27, 2026, the busiest day was Thursday and the quietest Sunday, and most posts arrive around 16:00 UTC, with the fewest around 02:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What is r/aww about?
The community describes itself as: “Things that make you go AWW! -- like puppies, bunnies, babies, and so on... Feel free to post original pictures and videos of cute things.” Recent post titles often mention cat, dog, baby, cute and love. Most posts are images (58%).
Is r/aww safe for work?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/aww as an 18+ (NSFW) community, and its own rules forbid NSFW content. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
How do I post on r/aww?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/aww accepts link and media posts (no plain text posts), with images, videos and galleries enabled. It has 11 posted rules, starting with: “No "sad" content”; “No captioned pictures/videos”; “No asking for interaction (asking for upvotes, names, etc)”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
Which communities are like r/aww?
Communities with similar topics include r/AnimalsBeingDerps (8.5M), r/rarepuppers (8.1M), r/cats (9.5M), r/mildlyinteresting (25.4M) and r/MadeMeSmile (12.7M).
Stats from public data (data updated Oct 29, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Oct 29, 2026; top posts from Reddit’s public feeds). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/aww.