r/DIY vs r/HomeImprovement

Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.

Swap sides New comparison Related to r/DIY Related to r/HomeImprovement

DIY project showcase vs home-repair Q&A

r/DIY’s collected rules require content to be DIY and push “Google First, Reddit Last,” with limits on sales, promotions and low-effort posts. Our activity sample is mixed galleries, images and text—fit for finished projects and build photos. r/HomeImprovement’s public description states only text posts are allowed, mentions a minimum-karma bar, and points some questions at diy.stackexchange.com.

DIY is a large Top-cut community (about 27.5M members, directory rank #17) with a full SubMouse page. HomeImprovement is listed in the directory (about 4.8M, rank #188) but outside the current live page cut, so explore links open the info tool. DIY’s related list includes HomeImprovement.

Use DIY when you have an original project to show or discuss as a make/fix. Use HomeImprovement for text troubleshooting of house systems and repairs—after meeting its participation bar—and do not treat either as a substitute for a licensed tradesperson on safety-critical work.

r/DIY: original DIY projects; galleries/images common in our sample; no sales/promo (collected titles).
r/HomeImprovement: text-only home questions; karma gate noted in its public description.
DIY lists HomeImprovement as related. DIY has a full SubMouse page; HomeImprovement opens in the info tool.

Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-06.

r/DIY

DIY

Members: 27.5M
7-day growth: +2.6K
Posts/day: 61
Directory rank: #17
Created: Jan 25, 2008
Submissions: Text or links

Sample mix: galleries 40%, images 31%, text posts 27%

Topics: DIY

Rule titles (short names we collected)

All content must be DIY
Basic Community Rules
𝗡𝗼 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 | 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 | 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴
Google First, Reddit Last | Product Search
Low effort posts
Content / Topics not suited for r/DIY
Rating & Reviewing Products or Brands
Sometimes you let the professionals handle it
No AI Content

Open r/DIY on SubMouse

r/HomeImprovement

The Hivemind Improving Homes

Only text posts are allowed here. YOU MUST have minimum karma to participate in the sub. Submit here: https://diy.stackexchange.com/

Members: 4.8M
7-day growth: +2.7K
Posts/day: 72
Directory rank: #188
Created: Aug 18, 2008
Submissions: Text posts

Sample mix: text posts 100%

Topics: Home Improvement

Rule titles: n/a — we have not collected short rule names for this community yet.

Open r/HomeImprovement on SubMouse

Supported differences

Aspect	r/DIY	r/HomeImprovement
Public focus (from each community’s public description)	DIY	Only text posts are allowed here. YOU MUST have minimum karma to participate in the sub. Submit here: https://diy.stackexchange.com/
Size r/DIY is larger in our directory (about 5.7×).	27.5M members	4.8M members
Posting activity (our sample)	61/day	72/day
Common post types in our sample	galleries 40%, images 31%, text posts 27%	text posts 100%
Allowed submission type (meta)	Text or links	Text posts
Topic tags on SubMouse	DIY	Home Improvement
Selected rule titles (short names we collected)	All content must be DIY; Basic Community Rules; 𝗡𝗼 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 \| 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 \| 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴; Google First, Reddit Last \| Product Search; Low effort posts	n/a

What they share

Our directory lists each of these communities on the other’s related list.

Rules and tone we can verify

DIY collected titles include: All content must be DIY; No Sales / Promotions / Advertising; Google First, Reddit Last; Low effort posts; topics not suited for DIY; Sometimes you let the professionals handle it. We do not yet have collected short rule titles for HomeImprovement, so that side stays n/a in the comparison table beyond its public description.

Where this comparison comes from

Public descriptions and member counts from SubMouse’s safe-for-work directory. Short rule titles and an activity sample for DIY. HomeImprovement description and directory listing only where extras are missing.

Members and public descriptions come from SubMouse's safe-for-work directory (as of 2026-11-02 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-10-26. Posts/day and post-type mixes appear when we have an activity sample. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order — communities outside the current Top 100 open in the info tool instead of a full community page.