The Howitzer alternative that won't get your Reddit account banned.
Howitzer's domain redirects to a LinkedIn tool now. The Reddit auto-DM product is gone, likely because automated commenting at scale collides with Reddit's account-quality enforcement, and customers were getting shadowbanned faster than the tool could replace them.
Heardley does the discovery half of Howitzer's job: finding the threads where buyers are openly asking for what you sell. We deliberately don't do the auto-reply half, because that's what kills Reddit accounts. You write the comment. We make sure it doesn't read as AI-generated.
Read-only by design.
Howitzer's value prop was speed, find a thread, post a reply, done. The problem: Reddit's 2024-2025 account-quality flags specifically target replies that look automated. Same opener across multiple subs, formulaic structure, em-dashes, "Hope this helps!" closers, those are the patterns the flag looks for, and once you're flagged, your replies are invisible to everyone except mods.
Heardley flips the model. We surface high-intent threads (scored 0-3 by intent, only 2s and 3s hit your digest). We give you the angle, what to say, why it matters. You write the actual reply, and the built-in linter checks it for the exact patterns Reddit's flag looks for before you post.
The 90-second migration.
If you had a Howitzer setup, you already know your keywords, your target subreddits, and your competitor names. Paste them into Heardley's onboarding wizard, add your OpenRouter key, hit Scrape now, the first triaged batch is in the dashboard within a minute and you're back in business at $9/month instead of $59+.
Questions former Howitzer users actually ask.
What happened to Howitzer?
Domain now redirects to HeyReach (a LinkedIn outreach tool). The Reddit auto-DM product was effectively shut down, Reddit's account-quality enforcement targeted the kind of automated commenting Howitzer enabled.
Does Heardley auto-reply?
No, by design. Automated commenting is what got Howitzer's customers shadowbanned. We find the threads and give you the angle. You write the comment. The linter checks it before you post.
Will my Reddit account get banned using Heardley?
We never post anything. We only read public threads. The reply linter actively keeps your account safe by catching the AI-tell patterns Reddit's quality flag targets.
What's the reply linter check for?
Em-dashes, banned vocabulary (delve, leverage, robust, seamless), parallel bullets of suspicious uniformity, AI openers ("Great question!"), AI closers ("Hope this helps!"), pitching your product too early in the comment. Plus an optional LLM second-pass scoring naturalness, vendor energy, and subreddit fit.
Can I import my Howitzer data?
Paste your keywords, subreddits, and competitor names into the onboarding wizard. AI-suggest buttons fill in anything you're missing based on your company description. 90 seconds.
What does the $9 cover vs. what do I pay OpenRouter?
The $9/month is the software. You pay OpenRouter directly for the AI calls, typically $2-$5/month for heavy users on the free-tier model. Other tools bake $20-$60 of LLM markup into their subscription.
Open it in 90 seconds.
Hosted SaaS at $9/month or $54 lifetime. Monthly cancels any time.