I just don't understand why developers underprice their apps so much. You're talking about an app that people are constantly raving about, and that people use for multiple hours per day. Charge $5/month, that's half the price of Netflix or Disney+.
Same with Twitter. So many businesses were built upon basically free API access and are now shocked the company responsible for their app's customer appeal wants some of that action.
It's not Reddit's responsibility to float OP's business and make it profitable. OP's billions of monthly requests have a real cost for Reddit - and now that Reddit's API is so coveted, they can charge whatever they want for it's access.
No Twitter - no Twitter App.
No Reddit - no Reddit App.
It's really simple...
Apple takes at least 15% of that, or 30% depending on the developer's revenue, leaving $2.55 or $2.10.
Reddit, Twitter et all don't owe you anything. They do not make money via read-access API calls - they lose money. It's super simple...
Only a fool would build a business around a free service with no escape plan.
Twitter eliminated 3rd party clients, and now Twitter is estimated to be worth 1/3 of its acquisition price.