What are data science communities?

Communities for data scientists and analysts covering machine learning, statistics, Python, and real-world data projects. Slack, Discord, and Reddit all have active communities, ranging from beginner-friendly spaces for breaking into the field to more technical groups discussing research papers and production ML systems.

Where do most data science communities live?

Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (37% of 30 listings).

Are most of these communities free?

90% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.

How big is a typical data science community?

Among listings with public size data, the average is 859K members and the median is 12K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.

What do these communities usually include?

Forum is the most common (67%). Others that show up often include online/offline events, live chat, and newsletter.

How does Hive Index collect this data?

Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.

Where can I see the full list?

The full directory is on Hive Index's Data Science topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

Data Science Communities Report: Stats, Platforms,...

Executive Summary

We analyzed 30 data science communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.

The big picture: data science communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.

Source: Hive Index community database · Updated 2026-06-08

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Communities: 30
Platforms: 8
Avg members: 859K
Median members: 12K

Where Data Science Communities Are Hosted

Independent Platforms
11(37%)
Slack
5(17%)
Discord
4(13%)
LinkedIn
4(13%)
Reddit
2(7%)
X / Twitter
2(7%)
Facebook
1(3%)
Discourse
1(3%)

Format mix

Forum / feed-based
15(50%)
Chat communities
9(30%)
Other platforms
6(20%)

Forum / feed-based is most common (50%), but chat communities is also well represented (30%).

Independent Platforms leads, but Slack and Discord also represent meaningful shares.

Audience Size & Access

Community size

Tiny
<20 members
0(0%)
Small
20-100 members
2(7%)
Medium
100-1,000 members
5(17%)
Large
1,000-10,000 members
3(10%)
Huge
10,000-100,000 members
4(13%)
Massive
100,000-1M members
2(7%)
Gigantic
1M+ members
5(17%)

9 communities have unknown member counts.

Free vs paid

The average is much higher than the median (859K vs 12K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.

How Data Science Differs From Other Categories

Data Science is smaller, and more platform-diverse, compared with typical Hive Index topics.

Metric	Data Science	Hive Index average
Free to join	90%	85%
Median members	12K	25K
Average members	859K	669K
Paid or apply-to-join	10%	15%
Live chat	37%	38%
Discord share	13%	16%

Feature Mix

Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.

Common Features

Forum
67%
Online/Offline Events
57%
Live Chat
37%
Newsletter
23%
Job Board
17%
Pairing
17%

Niche Features

Courses
13%
Paid Community
10%
Member Perks
3%
Token
3%

Forum appears on 67% of listings.

What Visitors Click

Outbound clicks / mo: 93

Platform supply vs. clicks

Platform	Communities	Share of communities	Outbound clicks	Share of clicks
Independent Platforms	11	37%	1	1%
Slack	5	17%	16	18%
Discord	4	13%	46	52%
LinkedIn	4	13%	12	13%
Reddit	2	7%	12	13%
Facebook	1	3%	2	2%

Share is calculated within this topic.

Discord gets 52% of clicks but only 13% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.

Most-clicked formats

Chat communities
62(70%)
Forum / feed-based
15(17%)
Other platforms
12(13%)

Most-clicked features

Live Chat
66(74%)
Online/Offline Events
37(42%)
Forum
27(30%)
Pairing
23(26%)
Newsletter
17(19%)
Job Board
16(18%)

Most-clicked size ranges

Medium
28(31%)
Huge
24(27%)
Gigantic
21(24%)
Large
10(11%)
Massive
2(2%)

Top-clicked listings

Learn AI Together
22(25%)
Data Nation
18(20%)
r/MachineLearning
11(12%)

Most clicks go to chat communities and forum / feed-based communities.

Trends

Founded year

2007

2008

2010

2011

2014

2018

2020

2021

17 communities have no founding year on file.

Most listed groups were founded around 2020.

Methodology & FAQ

Methodology

This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Data Science. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.

•Last updated 2026-06-08

FAQ

: Communities for data scientists and analysts covering machine learning, statistics, Python, and real-world data projects. Slack, Discord, and Reddit all have active communities, ranging from beginner-friendly spaces for breaking into the field to more technical groups discussing research papers and production ML systems.
: Independent Platforms is the most common platform in this report (37% of 30 listings).
: 90% are free to join. The rest require payment, an application, or both.
: Among listings with public size data, the average is 859K members and the median is 12K. The median is usually the better signal for a typical group because a few large ones inflate the average.
: Forum is the most common (67%). Others that show up often include online/offline events, live chat, and newsletter.
: Listings are submitted by community builders and researchers, reviewed for relevance, and updated with platform, feature, member, review, and traffic data where available.
: The full directory is on Hive Index's Data Science topic page, where you can filter by platform, size, features, and more.

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