Executive Summary
We analyzed 49 indie business communities listed on Hive Index to understand where people gather, what these groups offer, and which communities attract the most interest.
The big picture: indie business communities are broad and fragmented, with many small groups and a few very large outliers.
Source: Hive Index community database · Updated periodically
- Communities
- 49
- Platforms
- 9
- Avg members
- 19K
- Median members
- 600
Where Indie Business Communities Are Hosted
- Independent Platforms: 14 communities (29%)
- Slack: 12 communities (24%)
- Discord: 8 communities (16%)
- Reddit: 4 communities (8%)
- Circle: 2 communities (4%)
- Heartbeat: 2 communities (4%)
- Skool: 2 communities (4%)
- Facebook: 1 communities (2%)
- Campfire: 1 communities (2%)
- 14(29%)
![Independent Platforms]()
Independent Platforms - 12(24%)
Slack - 8(16%)
Discord - 4(8%)
Reddit - 2(4%)Circle
- 2(4%)
Heartbeat - 2(4%)
Skool - 1(2%)
Facebook
Format mix
- 20(41%)Chat communities
- 19(39%)Forum / feed-based
- 6(12%)Other platforms
- 4(8%)Private membership
Chat communities is most common (41%), but forum / feed-based is also well represented (39%).
Independent Platforms leads, but Slack and Discord also represent meaningful shares.
Audience Size & Access
Community size
- Tiny: 0 communities (0%)
- Small: 5 communities (10%)
- Medium: 17 communities (35%)
- Large: 11 communities (22%)
- Huge: 1 communities (2%)
- Massive: 3 communities (6%)
- Gigantic: 0 communities (0%)
- 0(0%)Tiny<20 members
- 5(10%)Small20-100 members
- 17(35%)Medium100-1,000 members
- 11(22%)Large1,000-10,000 members
- 1(2%)Huge10,000-100,000 members
- 3(6%)Massive100,000-1M members
- 0(0%)Gigantic1M+ members
12 communities have unknown member counts.
Free vs paid
- Free to join: 30 communities (61%)
- Paid or apply-to-join: 19 communities (39%)
The average is much higher than the median (19K vs 600), which usually means a few large groups are pulling the average up.
How Indie Business Differs From Other Categories
Indie Business is less free-to-join, smaller, more platform-diverse, more chat-heavy, and more paid or gated, compared with typical Hive Index topics.
| Metric | Indie Business | Hive Index average |
|---|---|---|
| Free to join | 61% | 84% |
| Median members | 600 | 25K |
| Average members | 19K | 670K |
| Paid or apply-to-join | 39% | 16% |
| Live chat | 71% | 41% |
| Discord share | 16% | 18% |
Feature Mix
Common features appear in at least 15% of listings.
Common Features
- Live Chat: 35 communities (71%)
- Online/Offline Events: 27 communities (55%)
- Forum: 24 communities (49%)
- Newsletter: 24 communities (49%)
- Member Perks: 18 communities (37%)
- Paid Community: 17 communities (35%)
- Courses: 8 communities (16%)
- Pairing: 8 communities (16%)
- 71%Live Chat
- 55%Online/Offline Events
- 49%Forum
- 49%Newsletter
- 37%Member Perks
- 35%Paid Community
- 16%Courses
- 16%Pairing
Niche Features
- Tools: 3 communities (6%)
- Job Board: 2 communities (4%)
- 6%Tools
- 4%Job Board
Live Chat appears on 71% of listings.
What Visitors Click
- Outbound clicks / mo
- 288
Platform supply vs. clicks
| Platform | Communities | Share of communities | Outbound clicks | Share of clicks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Platforms | 14 | 29% | 22 | 8% |
| Slack | 12 | 24% | 87 | 30% |
| Discord | 8 | 16% | 119 | 41% |
| 4 | 8% | 7 | 2% | |
| Circle | 2 | 4% | 18 | 6% |
| Heartbeat | 2 | 4% | 8 | 3% |
| Skool | 2 | 4% | 4 | 1% |
| 1 | 2% | 2 | 1% |
Share is calculated within this topic.
Discord gets 41% of clicks but only 16% of listings, so visitors click it more than you'd expect from supply alone.
Most-clicked formats
- 206(72%)Chat communities
- 31(11%)Forum / feed-based
- 29(10%)Other platforms
- 22(8%)Private membership
Most-clicked features
- 277(96%)Live Chat
- 241(84%)Online/Offline Events
- 205(71%)Newsletter
- 129(45%)Member Perks
- 103(36%)Forum
- 96(33%)Paid Community
Most-clicked size ranges
- 148(51%)Large
- 79(27%)Medium
- 38(13%)Small
- 8(3%)Massive
- 1(0%)Huge
Top-clicked listings
- 53(18%)AIMidUs
- 35(12%)Early Stage Founders
- 30(10%)SoloFounders
Most clicks go to chat communities and forum / feed-based communities.
Trends
Founded year
- 2012: 1 communities (3%)
- 2013: 1 communities (3%)
- 2016: 1 communities (3%)
- 2017: 1 communities (3%)
- 2018: 1 communities (3%)
- 2019: 4 communities (12%)
- 2020: 8 communities (24%)
- 2021: 9 communities (27%)
- 2022: 5 communities (15%)
- 2023: 2 communities (6%)
16 communities have no founding year on file.
Most listed groups were founded around 2021.
Community Quality & Ratings
Rating breakdown
- 50(100%)
- 0(0%)
- 0(0%)
- 0(0%)
- 0(0%)
50 reviews across 11 communities · 5.0 average rating.
Among highly rated communities
- Live Chatover-indexes91%vs 71% overall
- Newsletterover-indexes91%vs 49% overall
- Online/Offline Eventsover-indexes91%vs 55% overall
- Member Perksover-indexes82%vs 37% overall
- Paid Communityover-indexes73%vs 35% overall
Based on 11 communities rated 4+ stars.
Among reviewed communities, highly rated groups often include live chat, newsletter, and online/offline events.
Methodology & FAQ
Methodology
This report uses communities in the Hive Index database tagged as Indie Business. 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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