Executive Summary
We analyzed 30 hardware communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.
The big picture: hardware communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.
Source: Hive Index community database · Updated periodically
- Communities
- 30
- Platforms
- 7
- Avg members
- 1.2M
- Median members
- 130K
Where Hardware Communities Are Hosted
- Reddit: 12 communities (40%)
- Independent Platforms: 9 communities (30%)
- Discord: 3 communities (10%)
- Slack: 2 communities (7%)
- Facebook: 2 communities (7%)
- Telegram: 1 communities (3%)
- Discourse: 1 communities (3%)
- 12(40%)
Reddit - 9(30%)
![Independent Platforms]()
Independent Platforms - 3(10%)
Discord - 2(7%)
Slack - 2(7%)
Facebook - 1(3%)
Telegram - 1(3%)
Discourse
Format mix
- 24(80%)Forum / feed-based
- 6(20%)Chat communities
Forum / feed-based is most common (80%), but chat communities is also well represented (20%).
Reddit leads, but Independent Platforms and Discord also represent meaningful shares.
Audience Size & Access
Community size
- Tiny: 0 communities (0%)
- Small: 0 communities (0%)
- Medium: 3 communities (10%)
- Large: 2 communities (7%)
- Huge: 3 communities (10%)
- Massive: 6 communities (20%)
- Gigantic: 4 communities (13%)
- 0(0%)Tiny<20 members
- 0(0%)Small20-100 members
- 3(10%)Medium100-1,000 members
- 2(7%)Large1,000-10,000 members
- 3(10%)Huge10,000-100,000 members
- 6(20%)Massive100,000-1M members
- 4(13%)Gigantic1M+ members
12 communities have unknown member counts.
Free vs paid
- Free to join: 29 communities (97%)
- Paid or apply-to-join: 1 communities (3%)
The average is much higher than the median (1.2M vs 130K), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.
How Hardware Differs From Other Categories
Hardware is more free-to-join, and larger, compared with typical Hive Index topics.
| Metric | Hardware | Hive Index average |
|---|---|---|
| Free to join | 97% | 84% |
| Median members | 130K | 25K |
| Average members | 1.2M | 668K |
| Paid or apply-to-join | 3% | 16% |
| Live chat | 23% | 41% |
| Discord share | 10% | 17% |
Feature Mix
Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.
Common Features
- Forum: 25 communities (83%)
- Live Chat: 7 communities (23%)
- Online/Offline Events: 6 communities (20%)
- 83%Forum
- 23%Live Chat
- 20%Online/Offline Events
Niche Features
- Paid Community: 1 communities (3%)
- Pairing: 1 communities (3%)
- 3%Paid Community
- 3%Pairing
Forum appears on 83% of listings.
What Visitors Click
- Outbound clicks / mo
- 44
Platform supply vs. clicks
| Platform | Communities | Share of communities | Outbound clicks | Share of clicks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 40% | 5 | 11% | |
| Discord | 3 | 10% | 25 | 57% |
| Slack | 2 | 7% | 6 | 14% |
| 2 | 7% | 6 | 14% | |
| Telegram | 1 | 3% | 2 | 5% |
Share is calculated within this topic.
Discord gets 57% of clicks but only 10% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.
Most-clicked formats
- 33(75%)Chat communities
- 11(25%)Forum / feed-based
Most-clicked features
- 33(75%)Live Chat
- 21(48%)Forum
- 4(9%)Online/Offline Events
Most-clicked size ranges
- 26(59%)Medium
- 3(7%)Massive
- 3(7%)Huge
- 2(5%)Gigantic
Top-clicked listings
- 12(27%)Robotics
- 10(23%)1 Bit Squared
- 5(11%)Robotics and Automation Community
Most clicks go to chat communities and forum / feed-based communities.
Trends
Founded year
- 2005: 1 communities (17%)
- 2008: 1 communities (17%)
- 2009: 1 communities (17%)
- 2010: 1 communities (17%)
- 2012: 2 communities (33%)
24 communities have no founding year on file.
Most listed groups were founded around 2012.
Methodology & FAQ
Methodology
This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Hardware. We exclude removed or suppressed listings. Member counts, traffic, features, reviews, and ratings may vary by source and are updated periodically.
Updated periodically
FAQ
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